Escalation! Issue 3 is Available

I'm pleased to announce that Escalation! Issue 3 is now available! You can find it on the Vault of the 13th Age.  What better theme than Festivals during the month of December?  Inside, you'll find a wide variety of festivals that you can add to your game, new talents for paladins, a monster that will keep players guessing, a new entry in the Dragon Empire gazetteer, and more!  It's free, so take a moment to download it and give it a read.

We love to hear feedback, so let us know what you enjoy and would like to see more of in the future.  What's missing that you'd like us to include next time?  What didn't work so well, and we should consider omitting?  This is the community's fanzine, and we want to make it as useful as possible for you.

Thanks again to everyone who made this possible.  On behalf of the Escalation team, may you have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the winter holidays!

Article Requests for Issue 3

The theme for Issue 3 is Festivals.  While the issue's December release will surely evoke thoughts of Christmas, we seek to include a lot more than that.  Here are some ideas to get you, our dedicated and helpful fans, thinking about content that you can contribute.

• What other holidays are celebrated in the Dragon Empire?  What events are being commemorated?
• What do these celebrations look like?
• Do other races have holidays of their own?  Or do they celebrate universal holidays in their own way?
• The Dragon Empire is described as a big, flat disk.  Does that impact the frequency of holidays that would otherwise follow a solar calendar?  A lunar calendar?
• What temporary or permanent magic items might best capture the feel of the Dragon Empire's various holidays?
• What festivals aren't tied to holidays?  What do they look like?  Why are they celebrated?
• Can you think of a one-shot adventure that fits the festival theme?
• What monsters might take advantage of a festival?

Please spread the word and help us celebrate (get it?) the upcoming issue!

Image from Jean Charles Meissonier.

Issue 2 Has Been Updated

Gremlins. We hate them. A couple cropped up in the 2nd issue of Escalation, most notably the changing of Dax Thomas' name to Max Thomas. Sorry, Dax! Also, we incorrectly included the stats for the base Gelatinous Cube in the Especially Nasty Haunted Gelatinous Cube. These Gremlins have been squashed, and updated files have been placed in the Vault (13thage.org).

Single page version here:
http://www.13thage.org/index.php/tabletop-aids/676-escalation-issue-two

2 page spread print version here:
http://www.13thage.org/index.php/tabletop-aids/675-escalation-issue-two-spreads

See you all in December for Issue 3!

Image from kikicianjur on Deviant Art.

Escalation! Issue 2 is Available

I'm pleased to announce that Escalation! Issue 2 is now available! You can find it on the Vault of the 13th Age.  In this horror-themed issue, perfect for October, you'll find advice for running a horror game using 13th Age, rules for PC lycanthropy, a new monster that will keep players guessing, a fresh twist on the popular warlock class, and more!  It's free, so take a moment to download it and give it a read.

We love to hear feedback, so let us know what you enjoy and would like to see more of in the future.  What's missing that you'd like us to include next time?  What didn't work so well, and we should consider omitting?  This is the community's fanzine, and we want to make it as useful as possible for you.

Thanks again to everyone who made this possible.  It's exciting to see the fan submissions continue to roll in!

Article Requests for Issue 2

We're looking for one specific article and a category of articles for Escalation! Issue 2.  Thus, we're looking to you, our wonderful community members, to spread the word, dust off the word processing program, and help round out the next issue.  Can you help us with the following?

1. An article on how to run a horror game with 13th Age.  Horror requires a certain feeling of powerlessness, and 13th Age is a game that's typically run in a high fantasy setting with heroic characters.  A character in the Dragon Empire is generally anything but powerless.  What advice can you give GMs to run horror games using 13th Age?  Do you include house rules?  Nocturne is set in a horror setting -- do you use it to run your horror games?  If not, what setting do you prefer?
2. Articles that are quirky and perhaps written from the perspective of a Dragon Empire local.  A couple of examples we came up with off the top of our heads are "Pumpkin Spice Lattes of the Empire" and "Interview with the Emperor: Where He Sits on the Koru Problem."

Image from triciab79 on Deviant Art.

Escalation! Submission Guidelines

As we put together Issue 2 of Escalation! we thought it might be helpful to provide our imaginative and generous contributors with some guidelines for future submissions.  By standardizing the way we receive articles and art, it aids us in spending less time doing file conversions and more time making Escalation! the best fanzine we possibly can.  If you'd like to suggest an update to our guidelines, please comment below and provide a brief justification.

Submissions

• Please send the article or art as an email attachment to escalationfanzine@gmail.com.
• Articles should be labeled, "Submission: [article title], [your last name]" in the subject.
• Art should be labeled, "Art: [subject] (e.g., orc smashing things), [your last name]" in the subject.
• Be sure to include your name in the article and as part of the file name for art.

Note: all contributions give permission for Escalation! to print the article or art, or excerpts from, in all issues of Escalation! and in advertising for the fanzine in perpetuity, unless other arrangements have been made.

Articles

Please send article contributions in .RTF format or as a Google Doc.

Art

Please send art as a .JPG, 300dpi file. If a file is particularly large, consider sending it via https://www.hightail.com, a free service for sending large files, or Google Docs. 

If you have any problems or difficulties, please contact us at escalationfanzine@gmail.com.

Escalation! Issue 1 is Available

I'm pleased to announce that, thanks to the awesome imagination of the 13th Age community, the Escalation! fanzine is now available! You can find it on the Vault of the 13th Age.  There are all sorts of goodies from our talented contributors: GM advice, tiefling variants, a nastier bulette, and more!  It's free, so take a moment to download it and give it a read.

We love to hear feedback, so let us know what you enjoy and would like to see more of in the future.  What's missing that you'd like us to include next time?  What didn't work so well, and we should consider omitting?  This is the community's fanzine, and we want to make it as useful as possible for you.

Thanks again to everyone who made this possible.  It's exciting to see the first issue come to fruition!

Progress on Issue 1

+Sherman S has graciously volunteered his time to help get Escalation Issue 1 out to the community!  While we're not quite ready to estimate the completion date, progress is being made.  I thought it was worth providing a quick update with the good news.

Escalation Seeks a New Chief

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the creator and editor in chief of Escalation is unable to continue in his role.  He asked me to reach out to the vibrant, wonderful 13th Age community to see if someone else has the time and know-how to step in and at least get Issue 1 out the door.  He's collected enough content for a solid issue, but needs to hand the reins over to see it through to completion.  Once Issue 1 is out, we can evaluate future issues.

I (Tim) am happy to continue acting in a supporting role, sharing information with the community.

If you're interested in the position or simply learning more, please contact escalationfanzine (at) gmail.com.

ASH LAW Will Write About Tieflings

+Minor Illusion and I are super excited to announce that 13th Age's own +ASH LAW has generously provided us with an article focused on tieflings.  If you enjoy these often misunderstood, infernal-touched individuals, then you're in for a treat.

And as a quick reminder, please be sure to email escalationfanzine(at)gmail.com your last-minute entries before March 31, 2017, if you'd like it to be considered for our first issue.

Image from Banzayaz on Deviant Art.

Races and Alternate Racial Traits

Feel like the Wood Elf's racial abilities are overpowered?  Want to give your players a reason to play a Half-Elf with a class that doesn't use Flexible Attacks?  Create a bunch of races for your homebrew world?  If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you very well may have content that would be useful to the 13th Age community!

Please send us your races and alternate racial traits for inclusion in Escalation!  There's a bunch of great content that I've seen floating around social media groups and on The Vault, so you may need to do nothing more than copy-paste something you've already written.  We'd love to get some more options out there into players' hands.

Image from Yaoi-Bear on Deviant Art.

Random Monster Ability Tables and More Monsters

I don't know about you, but I find the random monster ability tables in the 13th Age core book very helpful.  I'm specifically referring to the Dire, Dragon, and Demon tables, which allow each monster of this type to be unique with little effort on the part of the GM.  With the roll of a d12, you know that the dragon your PCs are facing can shapeshift into humanoid form.  That can have interesting campaign implications that you hadn't considered before rolling that die.

Escalation! would be richer, indeed, if we receive new random monster tables that GMs can put to good use.  For example, I've seen a system that provides random tables to generate unique undead.  Perhaps you could come up with a table of unique trolls, whose regenerative abilities and interaction with Icons' forces have resulted in some truly unusual specimens.  Please email those tables to us for inclusion in the fanzine.

And if random tables aren't your thing, how about some new monsters?  What have you created for your home game that the community could enjoy?  Send them our way!

Playtest Material

Are you interested in having the 13th Age community playtest your content?  Send your playtest material to Escalation!, and we'd be happy to consider adding it to the fanzine.  We'll include an appropriate disclaimer, provided by you.

If you don't want to share your playtest material with everyone who picks up a copy of Escalation!, send us a description of what you'd like playtested, your timeline, and how the community can get in touch with you, and perhaps we can help drive some more playtesters to your project.

You get more playtesters, and Escalation! serves a valuable role connecting readers with fun opportunities like this.  It's a win-win.

Interesting Uses for Icon Relationships

In the 13th Age Google+ community, Facebook group, and Slack channel, I've come across several discussions describing interesting uses for Icon relationships.  Do you use Icon relationships in a way other than what's described in the core book or the GM's Resource Book?  Do you have a unique twist on how you handle or define Icons?  If so, why not share your ideas with the community?

The integration of Icons and Icon relationships, advantages, and complications into a 13th Age game is often considered one of the more challenging parts of GMing the game.  If you can shed a new light on how to use Icons or have advice to pass along to those who are still struggling with the concept, we'd love hear it.  As always, please email us at escalationfanzine(at)gmail.com.

Get Your Issue #1 Submissions in by 31-Mar

While there are still some content areas that Escalation! Issue #1 is light on, we have enough submissions that we can safely provide a cut-off date for our first issue's submissions: March 31, 2017.

We'll share some follow-up posts in the next few weeks for those who are curious about what type of content we could still use more of.  So stay tuned for that.  And in the meantime, feel free to browse through prior posts, as we still need more content in those categories, too.

As always, many thanks to our awesome community for pulling together and taking the time to share your creativity with us!

GM Advice

13th Age was written with experienced GMs in mind.  What tips do you have that will help beginner GMs run a successful adventure?  A whole campaign?  What advice do you wish had been passed along to you prior to running 13th Age, or even RPGs in general?

Share your GM advice with the community by emailing us your ideas for inclusion in the upcoming issue of Escalation!

Image from Zutyn on Deviant Art.

Story Seeds

Do you have story seeds that you can share with the 13th Age community?  These are short descriptions of interesting settings, a small number of characters, an event that has just occurred or is about to occur, or some other tidbit that can grow into an adventure.  Story seeds often leave you wanting more.  Questions are raised and left to the reader to answer on their own.

Get creative and send us some story seeds that we can include in the upcoming first issue.

The Escalation! Logo

Artist and volunteer +Kris Wagner did an awesome job creating a logo for Escalation!  I can't wait to see this grace the cover of the first issue.

There's still plenty of time to send your content, so please email that to us.

Send Us Your Icon-Related NPCs

Escalation! a 13th Age Fanzine wants your favorite icon-related NPCs for its first issue! Please share a short description of an NPC associated with one of the icons by emailing escalationfanzine(at)gmail.com.

Here's an example, to get you started:

Albrect
Castellan of Drakenhall

Physical description - Male blue dragonspawn who walks with a limp

Motivations - power (he is happy in his position but wants to rise higher), greed (he's been taking a portion of the tolls charged at the gate)

Secret - "I know what the Blue's secret project is and why she hides it from the Red and the Black."

Calling All 13th Age Fans

Hey, 13th Age fans! As +Minor Illusion mentioned, the call is going out for submissions for the new 13th Age fanzine: Escalation! Your submissions are welcome and encouraged. Not only do we need content, but we also need fantasy art (your own creations only, please), help with the layout, and an eye-catching logo. Send your content or questions to escalationfanzine(at)gmail.com.

Not sure what kind of content is appropriate for a fanzine? Here are some ideas, but please don't limit yourself to the categories below. If you think of other suggestions, add them to the comments.

• Your take on locations in the Dragon Empire
• Alternate icons
• Monsters
• House rules
• Short adventures
• Races
• Classes
• Magic items
• Consumables, such as potions
• GM advice, especially if it's 13th Age specific
• Examples of One Unique Thing
• NPCs associated with the icons
• Improved/redesigned character sheets
• Creative uses of the escalation die
• Random monster ability tables