Escalation Issue 7 is Available

I'm pleased to announce that the whopping, 124-page Escalation Issue 7 is now available! You can find it on the Vault of the 13th Age. This issue's theme is The Divine. We dive into pantheons that you can use in your 13th Age game. Signs of the gods are manifested in their followers in the world. New barbarian talents expand the class and add complexity. God Time and heroquesting is discussed for our Glorantha fans. Ashley Law presents new divine spells, magic items, and flavorful options from the overworld. John Marvin provides sample gods from Gods and Icons. And remember, in a world where the gods (potentially) fuel the magic of their followers, these articles aren’t just for clerics and paladins in your party. We sought to include content that’s useful for world building and for PCs of all varieties.

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.

Please consider submitting articles that expand upon Kobold Press' support of 13th Age in the Midgard campaign setting. Issue 8 is dedicated to bringing Midgard to life using 13th Age. See the information on the right side of the page if you'd like to submit an article or art.

Thanks again to everyone who made this possible!

Articles Needed: Midgard

As a long-time fan of the awesome products from Kobold Press, I'm excited to announce that we're ready to begin work on the next issue of Escalation, focused on the Midgard campaign setting. Not familiar with Midgard? Then check out this short primer.

The Midgard Bestiary: 13th Age Edition offers dozens of Midgard creatures and NPCs, thirteen icons, and nine PC races. Combined with the Midgard Worldbook, the bestiary provides the basis for entire Midgard campaigns using 13th Age. Yet, available 13th Age content only scratches the surface of Midgard. We need the help of the community to flesh out Midgard for 13th Age gaming groups.

Here are some ideas for articles:

• There are many Midgard races that aren't detailed in the Midgard Bestiary. A selection includes alseid, bearfolk, shadow fey, trollkin, derro, dhampir, jinnborn, lamia, ratfolk, sahuagin, lizardfolk, hiveless, werelions, and winterfolk halflings.
• The icons presented in the Midgard Bestiary were drawn from a time period about a decade in the Midgard metaplot's past. What icons are present, now?
• Midgard features several continents. Many powerful NPCs—potential icons—are limited in scope. What advice can you offer GMs to select the right icons for their adventures and campaigns? What might the icons in a Zobeck- or Margreve-focused campaign look like? How would they differ from a campaign where PCs are from all over Midgard?
• Deities are more present and important in Midgard than they are in 13th Age's Dragon Empire. This leads to several cleric domains that haven't been explored in 13th Age. These include apocalypse, beer (yes, beer!), bird, cat, clockwork, dragon, glyphs, hunger, hunting, insect, labyrinth, mountain, ocean, prophecy, speed, travel, and void domains. 
• Ley lines are an important aspect of arcane magic in Midgard. How can they be represented mechanically in 13th Age?
• The Status attribute offers mechanical benefits and drawbacks in Midgard. The system wouldn't be hard to port to 13th Age, but how can it be syncretized with icon relationships?
• Some archetypes might work well as talents. For example, Midgard features ghost knight fighters, vampire slayer rangers, and clockwork wizards.
• Ring magic, rune magic, blood magic, and void magic offer new spells and even approaches to tapping into the arcane. How can these be represented in 13th Age?
• The Tome of Beasts and Creature Codex are filled with hundreds of new Midgard monsters. What 13th Age campaign wouldn't be richer with more foes?

For further ideas, the Midgard Swords & Wizardry Guidebook could serve as a good template for bringing Midgard to 13th Age.

Take a look at the link at the top right corner of the page for submission guidelines and contact information.  Please spread the word and help us create an issue that will help the World Tree grow!

Nachtfalter PC Race from Nocturne

The Savage Mojo wiki appears to no longer be supported. That's a shame because it was home to my fan creation: the nachtfalter playable race from the Nocturne campaign setting. Fortunately, I captured a copy of the wiki page and uploaded it to my cloud drive in the summer of 2017. I'm providing the content from that page for the Nocturne player who recently asked about it. All credit for the creation of the nachtfalter monster goes to Sam Phillips. I merely took his evocative work and made it a PC race.

Nachtfalter original race concept and concept art by Sam Phillips

Nachtfalter (aka Moth-Men)

by Tim Baker - 13th Age kickstarter backer. Thank you Tim - great work making the moth-men fly as a playable race.

+2 Int or Wis
The moth-men of Nightfall are the enforcers of the realm. One in a thousand nachtfalter is corrupt and gains free will. These outcasts are lonely indeed: feared by the people of the land and hunted by their own kin.

Silvered Wings (Racial Power)

One battle per day, your adventurer gains flight as a move action. He must land at the end of his turn or fall and take damage (as per the tier).

Champion Feat: Your adventurer also gains silvered wings while the escalation die is 4+, but loses it at the end of his turn in the round when the escalation die can no longer advance.

Moth From the Flame (Optional Racial Power)

If you choose, your adventurer can gain this optional racial power in addition to his normal racial power. One battle per day, when staggered, he can turn into a cloud of moths as a standard action. As a cloud of moths, your adventurer can only take move actions and gains resist 16+ to all damage except fire damage. He can reform from the cloud with a normal save.

When you pick this power, fire is your adventurer's weakness. While affected by his weakness, your adventurer is vulnerable to all attacks, and must either lose the benefits of his racial powers or lose the benefit of the escalation die (your choice) until the source of the weakness is gone.

Original Date Created: 18-Aug-2016 04:29:05 PM UTC

Escalation Special: Under Pressure Adventure is Available

I'm pleased to announce that the second Escalation Special is now available! This issue is dedicated to Under Pressure, a 13th Age Glorantha adventure. You can find it on the Vault of the 13th Age.  This adventure was written by Ulf Bengtsson, with editing by Scott Martin and art by Patricia Baker. It includes five pre-gen 13th Age Glorantha characters. 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 think of the Special Issue format. Would you be interested in future Specials? This is the community's fanzine, and we want to make it as useful as possible for you.

We're working hard on Issue 7, and aren't seeking articles with a particular theme at this time.  However, we're always open to new articles that will be of general interest to 13th Age players and game master, so don't hesitate to send more content our way. See the information on the right side of the page if you'd like to submit an article or art.

Thanks again to everyone who made this possible!

Articles Needed: The Divine

Work on Issue 7 is underway while Sherm wraps up layout on Escalation Special 2. Going through the submissions that we've received thus far, I noticed that we still had a few gaps.

• What celestial beings inhabit your version of the Dragon Empire? As Christopher LaHaise put it: "I want to see those angels and archons and daevas and such, how they tick, how they can act as protagonists and antagonists, how they can provide aid to heroes like the demons and devils can aid enemies."
• Have you created a pantheon for your Dragon Empire? What deities are in it? How do they interact with the icons? Do you use them in addition to the icons? As substitutes? Note: Please don't use the names of deities from other games' intellectual property.
• Are you a Glorantha expert? Much of the 13th Age community is just starting to learn about the setting. What can you tell us about the divine in Glorantha what wasn't already included in 13G?

Take a look at the link at the top right corner of the page for submission guidelines and contact information.  Please spread the word and help us create an issue that will be praised from the Overworld!

Preservation of the 13th Age Google+ Community's History

The 13th Age Google+ community's history has been preserved at Tapatalk! Yes, the six years of fantastic discussion is all there, and you can continue the conversation by logging into Tapatalk using your Google account, if you so choose. You can also login with your Facebook account or create an account with an email address.

Please check it out, and let me know if you run into any issues. The developers have been super easy to work with when I found a couple of issues.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/13thage/discussion/all

Escalation Issue 6 is Available

I'm pleased to announce that Escalation Issue 6 is now available! You can find it on the Vault of the 13th Age.  This issue's theme is The Underworld and Dungeons.  Inside, you'll find numerous dungeons, ranging from the traditional to the gonzo.  We also offer some new options for both GMs and players, including icon-themed one-use items, the Warrior class, new racial options, and living spellbooks.

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.

Please consider submitting articles that expand upon the theme of Faith and the Divine for Issue 7.  This isn't limited to the Dragon Empire but can include Glorantha, too.  See the information on the right side of the page if you'd like to submit an article or art.

Thanks again to everyone who made this possible!

Escalation Special: Skyfall – Actual Play

In September, Escalation published the 13th Age Glorantha adventure Skyfall.  Much to my delight, I just learned that Play from Ponape has started an actual play using the adventure.  Two episodes have been provided so far.  Here are links to Episode 1 and Episode 2.

If you'd like to hear how this group ran the adventure, queue it up on your podcast app of choice and give it a listen!  This adventure was written by Ulf Bengtsson and Richard Black, Jr., with editing by Scott Martin and art by Patricia Baker.