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PantsOptional posted:They got dropped from the Bestiary, sadly. I liked them, but I suspect they got dropped because combat with them could get insanely complicated/annoying. "Okay, now this round the fighter is in a different plane of reality, the eidolon switches initiative with the Rogue, and it teleports the wizard and the paladin to each others' places and is now engaged with the wizard. Everyone who interacts with it, record Insanity points. Next round, you're all in a different plane of reality and can do nothing." I thought the Eidolon existed in all levels of reality at all times, so no matter what you could attack it directly. Still, if it's getting dropped from the Bestiary we can steal the mechanics for any monster with an existence greater than the heroes.. Just put some big ole' statue (or a god chained to a pillar or an angel perpetually falling from heaven) right in the middle of four maps and each turn randomly move the players and any other monsters back and forth between them. For advanced or otherwise snobbish GMs, add environmental effects to two of the maps.
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Oct 14, 2013 17:10
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My group had its second session yesterday, and it was pretty awesome like the first was! Highlights included the part-time accountant Barbarian defeating a dretch by tearing its head off with his bare hands, said Barbarian killing two enemies at once by hitting both with a whirlwind attack and killing one thus proccing barbaric cleave and using that to finish off the other one, and a climactic battle with a Frenzy Demon which ended with the Tiefling fighter turning her arms into buzzsaws and eviscerating said demon (crits, man). I also learned during this session that I really need to step up my boss fights. The Frenzy Demon was 3 levels above the party and went down having only seriously injured the fighter. Of course, the mentioned crit probably had something to do with that, but more minions could have been added, I guess.
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Oct 14, 2013 17:15
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Mystic Mongol posted:I thought the Eidolon existed in all levels of reality at all times, so no matter what you could attack it directly. There were a ton of temporal-related monster abilities in the early drafts that got cut just due to the glut of ideas. The Empyrean dragon, for example, started the fight by warping spacetime such that if your initiative count wasn't right next to an ally's, you were out of phase and couldn't target them with abilities or spells. Rogues, Bards, Clerics, Paladins and the occasional Fighter would have to keep delaying or readying actions to move across the temporal "terrain" and interact with allies.
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Oct 14, 2013 17:44
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Lord_Ventnor posted:My group had its second session yesterday, and it was pretty awesome like the first was! The joy of minions and mooks in any system is human wave tactics. Whenever one wave is faltering or defeated, and it seems appropriate, send in another wave. With the encounter die being a thing, the later mooks will explode quickly, but that's what they're there for. Essentially, I use them as ablative armor and a pacing tool for my big fights. You might not even want the big bad in the fight until the encounter die hits 3 or so. I've had several fights already that started with the "boss" getting curb stomped and the rest of the fight was mook/regular enemy mop-up. E: if your players don't prioritize and coordinate their fire on the "big guys" consistently, feel free to have them in the fight from the beginning. For me, it just means that the party will leave the important monsters a smoking crater just a few turns in.  Pvt.Scott fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Oct 14, 2013 |
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Oct 14, 2013 17:46
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Relevant to 13th Age, Nightfall is actually going to come out after all.
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Oct 14, 2013 19:59
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Mikan posted:Relevant to 13th Age, Nightfall is actually going to come out after all. So, is that the source of all the "turbodracula" jokes and jokes about Red Mage running off with the money? Also, considering how powerful players seem to be (from my gaming experiences) in 13th Age, how are you planning on properly adapting the game to a horror setting? Any changes on the player side or is how monsters and obstacles are handled? Optional subsystems like the often used sanity system? I mean, I am aware the page mentions character options and a guide on how to keep the proper tone, but I am wondering how you plan on doing so.
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Oct 14, 2013 22:33
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Covok posted:So, is that the source of all the "turbodracula" jokes and jokes about Red Mage running off with the money? You could do it all in tone and description, and making sure that events in the world trend downward. Like the PCs save a village from some ghouls and come back 3 months later to stay at the inn, only to find it a smoking ruin. I do like mechanics that reinforce tone though. That was my problem with Ravenloft. It was D&D in a gothic horror setting, but was pretty much D&D with a coat of spooky paint.
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Oct 14, 2013 22:41
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Covok posted:So, is that the source of all the "turbodracula" jokes and jokes about Red Mage running off with the money? Yes, "jokes". quote:Also, considering how powerful players seem to be (from my gaming experiences) in 13th Age, how are you planning on properly adapting the game to a horror setting? Any changes on the player side or is how monsters and obstacles are handled? Optional subsystems like the often used sanity system? I mean, I am aware the page mentions character options and a guide on how to keep the proper tone, but I am wondering how you plan on doing so. That's actually the main thing we're working out as a design team. We don't have any of the previous team's design notes to work from so we're building from the ground up. My whole design gameplan is about mechanics that enforce the theme so this is going to be consideration #1, I am all about the psychology of mechanics.
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Oct 14, 2013 22:45
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So who actually was the mechanics guy for Nightfall now Nocturne? Was there one?
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Oct 14, 2013 22:53
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Mikan posted:Yes, "jokes". Mikan posted:That's actually the main thing we're working out as a design team. We don't have any of the previous team's design notes to work from so we're building from the ground up. My whole design gameplan is about mechanics that enforce the theme so this is going to be consideration #1, I am all about the psychology of mechanics.
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Oct 14, 2013 23:04
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Mr. Maltose posted:So who actually was the mechanics guy for Nightfall now Nocturne? Was there one? In theory, Red_Mage was going to have done that.
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Oct 14, 2013 23:10
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quote:Eidolon stuff Rob told me the eidolon will see the light of day in another book, and hinted that it'll hook into the icons more. Mikan posted:Relevant to 13th Age, Nightfall is actually going to come out after all. Thank you so much for stepping in and taking the project on. And also many thanks to Darren Pearce for continuing to work on the book. It's going to be very cool to see the finished product.
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Oct 14, 2013 23:14
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neongrey posted:In theory, Red_Mage was going to have done that. Oh lord I was afraid that would be the case.
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Oct 14, 2013 23:19
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Mr. Maltose posted:Oh lord I was afraid that would be the case. I have no idea who that is, so why would that be so bad?
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Oct 14, 2013 23:35
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Red Mage being the guy who took the money and ran, so there is literally not a chance of getting any work he did. Except Turbodracula, which has been excised as the unfunny joke tumor that it is.
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Oct 14, 2013 23:38
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Mr. Maltose posted:Red Mage being the guy who took the money and ran, so there is literally not a chance of getting any work he did. Except Turbodracula, which has been excised as the unfunny joke tumor that it is. I wouldn't worry about it. We're in good shape, given the circumstances, got more mechanical material done than he ever did. 
neongrey fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Oct 15, 2013 |
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Oct 14, 2013 23:56
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Mr. Maltose posted:Red Mage being the guy who took the money and ran, so there is literally not a chance of getting any work he did. Except Turbodracula, which has been excised as the unfunny joke tumor that it is. Wait, he literally took the money, did piss amount of work, and quit? Isn't that like a drat fine example of a civil lawsuit?
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Oct 15, 2013 01:30
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Doublehex posted:Wait, he literally took the money, did piss amount of work, and quit? Isn't that like a drat fine example of a civil lawsuit? I don't want to derail this thread too much about this (it's probably better suited for this thread). I don't know exactly what happened to the Nightfall money or what the previous management did with it, all I know is that it's gone and my team is funding the project out of our own pockets.
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Oct 15, 2013 01:36
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Okay, just a few questions: I just recently got 13th Age and really want to give it a spin. With that, I've now got a group set up for this weekend, but two out of three players of said group are completely new to RPGs. My question is manifold: how involved is 13th Age character creation all in all in terms of time? Second of all, one of the truthisms I've heard around the net about 13th Age that it isn't exactly written as a baby's first RPG and actually assumes previous knowledge of D&D to fully understand. With that in mind, should I maybe start these people off with something simpler, such as Dungeon World? The thing is, we're starting late-ish anyway, so if character creation is too involved and time-consuming and the game has a really high learning curve for new players, I might put off trying it out for now.
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Oct 16, 2013 19:29
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It's hard for me to say how long it takes to make a group of characters for play... I'd guess about an hour if your group is as unfocused as mine usually are. However, 13th Age should be simple enough to grasp for people new to RPGs. The onus is on the DM to have had previous experience, particularly with d20 games. If you have already played Dungeons and Dragons or similar RPGs, it should be easy enough for you to comprehend what the game is doing and pass on the relevant concepts to your players.
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Oct 16, 2013 19:42
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Ratpick posted:Okay, just a few questions: I just recently got 13th Age and really want to give it a spin. With that, I've now got a group set up for this weekend, but two out of three players of said group are completely new to RPGs. My question is manifold: how involved is 13th Age character creation all in all in terms of time? Second of all, one of the truthisms I've heard around the net about 13th Age that it isn't exactly written as a baby's first RPG and actually assumes previous knowledge of D&D to fully understand. With that in mind, should I maybe start these people off with something simpler, such as Dungeon World? Show up with a few pre-statted characters and just tell players to come up with One Unique Things and backgrounds.
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Oct 16, 2013 19:43
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Ratpick posted:Okay, just a few questions: I just recently got 13th Age and really want to give it a spin. With that, I've now got a group set up for this weekend, but two out of three players of said group are completely new to RPGs. My question is manifold: how involved is 13th Age character creation all in all in terms of time? Second of all, one of the truthisms I've heard around the net about 13th Age that it isn't exactly written as a baby's first RPG and actually assumes previous knowledge of D&D to fully understand. With that in mind, should I maybe start these people off with something simpler, such as Dungeon World? Funny you should bring this up because I was in your shoes about a week or so ago. I mean, they all had a little roleplaying background, but one of my friends, according to her own words, "didn't do math" and one of my other friends had only played rules light games before like FATE. The way I handled it was just being very supportive during the character creation process. What I mean is, I made sure to answer their questions as quickly and accurately as I could and walked them through it. I also made sure to refresh my memory on what each class does so that I could just ask each player what they were interested in playing and direct them to a class that suited the character they wanted to make. I also allowed them to choose any method they felt most comfortable with for generating their stats including taking stats from the standard array table in the back of the book if they were so inclinded. Funnily enough, everyone choose to roll for their stats and they rolled pretty drat well. So, yeah, got some pretty strong PCs to manage. I also used also gave them all this automated character sheet. It handled some of the math for them. If you want to know how long it took for everyone to make a character, it varied depending if they had a clear goal or not in mind. The girl who didn't like math actually made her character the fastest because she immediately feel in love with the idea of having huge panther for an animal companion and the rest came with it. The person who had only played FATE before skimmed the entire book looking for something interesting to play which added time to his character generation. Once he decided one Sorcerer it moved quicker, but not quick: he had some troubles choosing spells and other such things. I should mention making spellcasters is a bit involved in this game. All in all, I think it took about an hour to an hour and a half.
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Oct 16, 2013 19:47
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Covok posted:Funny you should bring this up because I was in your shoes about a week or so ago. I mean, they all had a little roleplaying background, but one of my friends, according to her own words, "didn't do math" and one of my other friends had only played rules light games before like FATE. The book has a handy list at the beginning of the chapter on character classes listing the classes by mechanical complexity. Barbarian is at the top of the list and Wizard is at the bottom.
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Oct 16, 2013 20:12
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Yeah, if you make a barbarian/non-casting ranger/non-casting paladin it's relatively trivial to bang together a character.
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Oct 16, 2013 20:16
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Pvt.Scott posted:The book has a handy list at the beginning of the chapter on character classes listing the classes by mechanical complexity. Barbarian is at the top of the list and Wizard is at the bottom. I did mention the list to them, but it didn't really matter to them. They sort of ignored it. Edit: Rangers can cast? Edit Edit: Nevermind, just found it. Forgot about the Fey Queen's Enchantment class feature.
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Oct 16, 2013 20:19
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There's also Ranger Ex Cathedral, which gives them Heal with the feat. FQE is fantastic though because you can key it off any stat and because sorcerer spells that hit multiple targets are pretty great in conjunction with the various critrange talents (first strike, favored enemy, lethal hunter) to make the daily/recharge you get even more murderous.
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Oct 17, 2013 00:06
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Counterpoint: Barbarians murder everything with less paperwork.
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Oct 17, 2013 00:10
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Pvt.Scott posted:Counterpoint: Barbarians murder everything with less paperwork. Funnily enough, the Barbarian in my campaign is a bureaucrat when he's not out murdering stuff for the Dragon Empire.
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Oct 17, 2013 01:36
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I'm starting up a goon-game of 13th Age on Roll20 previously mentioned that seems to have two dedicated players and two maybe players, which means there's room for more. Our first session will be on Oct 27th at 9AM PST/Noon EST and will run for 2, 3 hours tops. If you want to join, just let me know, there's no real requirements or commitment yet. More is always merrier.
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Oct 17, 2013 04:49
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Ratpick,13th Age is bad for new GM's but awesome for new players. If you come with pregen characters but let them come up with their OUT, backgrounds and relationships (as Mystic Mongol suggested) and explain the rules as you go along, they won't have any trouble picking it up. With three players fighter-cleric-sorcerer would be a good combo. If the experienced player is comfortable with complexity, you could ask him/her ahead of time what class they want to play in case they want to play a wizard, bard or rogue. If you think one of the new players needs a super simple character, make a ranger with an animal companion.
HomegrownHydra fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Oct 17, 2013 |
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Oct 17, 2013 05:51
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CaptCommy posted:I'm starting up a goon-game of 13th Age on Roll20 previously mentioned that seems to have two dedicated players and two maybe players, which means there's room for more. Our first session will be on Oct 27th at 9AM PST/Noon EST and will run for 2, 3 hours tops. If you want to join, just let me know, there's no real requirements or commitment yet. More is always merrier. I am super down for that! I've always wanted to play a live-ish game of 13th Age.
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Oct 17, 2013 08:01
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Hi Capt, I'd like to play - I make that 17:00 GMT?
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Oct 17, 2013 12:31
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I'm running 13th Age pretty soon and I'm wondering is there a place where I can grab some level 1 pre-gens? All I can find are level 2 pre-gens. If not, I suppose I can take the level 2 pre-gens and just delevel them but I was hoping for as little work as possible so I can focus on actually preparing to run the game.
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Oct 17, 2013 13:05
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Do a ranger, a cleric and a barbarian using one of the recommended stat arrays in the appendix. Give them a mix of fairly generic but useful backgrounds, like I don't know... ex-circus performer, McGyvering, underworld contacts, worlds strongest man winner, raised by wolves, heavy drinker.... And their OUTs can either come with the characters or think of characters from other stories - bastard of an icon, sometimes hears voices, secretly a cylon.... whatever. Ranger, Cleric (specced for healing) and Barbarian, along with fighters, take about 5 minutes to create, tops. Barbarian is literally a stat array, a race and a single feat.
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Oct 17, 2013 13:13
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HomegrownHydra posted:Ratpick,13th Age is bad for new GM's but awesome for new players. If you come with pregen characters but let them come up with their OUT, backgrounds and relationships (as Mystic Mongol suggested) and explain the rules as you go along, they won't have any trouble picking it up. With three players fighter-cleric-sorcerer would be a good combo. If the experienced player is comfortable with complexity, you could ask him/her ahead of time what class they want to play in case they want to play a wizard, bard or rogue. If you think one of the new players needs a super simple character, make a ranger with an animal companion. This and all the other stuff people have said sounds heartening, but I might still give trying 13th Age a miss this weekend: I might be projecting a bit, but I don't really like the idea of pregen characters (except for convention games), because half the fun of playing an RPG to me is in getting to create your own character. That said, I'll definitely give 13th Age a shot with these peeps some day when we're not so pressed for time, because just by reading it I have to say that it's definitely my cup of tea. But yeah, it's good to hear that the game itself is easy to learn even though character creation can be a bit more involved. At this point I just don't want to run a game which requires and hour to set up, since we're already pressed fo time, but once we do have the time I want to give my players the benefit of creating their own characters.
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Oct 17, 2013 14:25
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The OUT and Backgrounds offer a lot more customization in practice than on paper. New players can get a lot more out of defining their guy than how he interacts with monsters. Seriously, just use pre gens for a first game, explain that these aren't permanent characters, and then recycle them as NPCs later in the campaign after everybody has made their own characters.
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Oct 17, 2013 14:44
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Evil Sagan posted:I am super down for that! I've always wanted to play a live-ish game of 13th Age. Forgot to mention, you and Angrymog should email me at CaptCommy@gmail.com and I'll add you in to our current discussion chain.
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Oct 17, 2013 15:04
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CaptCommy posted:I'm starting up a goon-game of 13th Age on Roll20 previously mentioned that seems to have two dedicated players and two maybe players, which means there's room for more. Our first session will be on Oct 27th at 9AM PST/Noon EST and will run for 2, 3 hours tops. If you want to join, just let me know, there's no real requirements or commitment yet. More is always merrier. If you still have table space, I'd like to give this a go. Sundays are when I run my games, but since you're starting at 9 AM my time I'm good. Just means I'll have to do my 20 minutes of game prep on Saturday instead. Are you using the setting in the book or homebrew, etc?
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Oct 17, 2013 15:14
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Pvt.Scott posted:If you still have table space, I'd like to give this a go. Sundays are when I run my games, but since you're starting at 9 AM my time I'm good. Just means I'll have to do my 20 minutes of game prep on Saturday instead. Are you using the setting in the book or homebrew, etc? Using the setting in book, with maybe some minor adjustments. You'll probably be the last spot for now, just so this doesn't get too insane, since we're now looking at potentially eight players. Doesn't bother me though, I've done big groups before. As above, email me to get in on the discussion.
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Oct 17, 2013 15:25
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CaptCommy posted:Using the setting in book, with maybe some minor adjustments. You'll probably be the last spot for now, just so this doesn't get too insane, since we're now looking at potentially eight players. Doesn't bother me though, I've done big groups before. As above, email me to get in on the discussion. Totally sent you an electronic missive. Has anyone run a fight against a dragon yet? If so, how'd it go, and any tips or observations?
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Oct 17, 2013 15:40
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