I was floored to learn that community member Heath Glandon spent over three months building an index for the content found in Escalation issues 1–7. You can find Heath's labor of love on
the Vault of the 13th Age. There are three different indexes: Topical, Author, and Artist. Definitely check it out!
This incredible collection is available as both a web page, which can be picked up by search engines, and as a consolidated PDF—perfect if you want to print it out or refer to it offline. Just scroll to the bottom of the 13thage.org page to find the PDF download.
I wanted to learn more about Heath and what prompted him to create this index, so I sent him some questions. He was kind enough to respond and grant me permission to share his reply with the community.
Escalation: It’s not every day that a fan takes the time to build something like this on the community’s behalf. What motivated you to do it?
Heath: I’ve been playing 13th age for awhile, and have even searched for and used some of the many user-contributed resources at 13thage.org. I had even noticed the Escalation Fanzine issues there on the site, but never really got into them until recently. I think the way people find things most of the time these days, is through searches. I’d be looking for something specific, like some additional Cleric spells, so I’d do some web searches or browse the folders at 13thage.org or 13thagesrd.com. Never did it occur to me to look through the Escalation issues. Once I started reading them I realized how valuable they are, how useful the content is, and how they are being overlooked by the average player. If there were some way for the contents of these issues to be indexed and searchable, well, that would make all the difference. I knew what a huge task it would be, and that it might never end, but so worth it. It can be frustrating when you remember reading something and then being unable to find it later.
Escalation: What’s your methodology? Are you using any technology to help?
Heath: I had already gotten my user-contribution feet wet by uploading a resource for character creation, so I thought to myself, “I’m going to be reading through all of these issues anyway, why not just build the index as I go, then paste it into an article so it will come up in searches?”
My methodology was simple. I read through every issue, one page at a time, and tried to categorize everything as simply as I could, typing into a word processor. As I read each article, I would ask myself, “Where in the index would I hope to find this information? What word or section would I be looking in and be excited to find this article? What words would stand out if I was trying to find this article in the future?”
Escalation: How has the index already been a help to you? How might someone use it that they might not have thought of?
Heath: For me, it’s often trying to find that thing again that I read that one time. I’ve used the index to find those things, like when I wanted to share with someone the way ASH LAW described the classic alignments. Or that magic item that made it hard to lie. Or how to do a wedding (which wasn’t under “wedding” but under “marriage”).
When it’s time to create a new character, I’ll see if there are any variations in the index that might apply to my class (Oh yeah, forgot about lycanthropy. THAT would make an interesting character...), or wrap some lore around one of the magic items in my background, or consult the list of divine blessings for a One Unique Thing.
Planning new campaigns is easier when you skim through the index, too. All these ideas just start flowing. So many possibilities for those duergar underdwellers. I need a town like Sun Falls, and they’ll be at war with the frost giants. These guys over here are going to be in league with a necromancer baddie, maybe someone like Nemo Haze.
Escalation: How long did it take you to create it, so far? When did you get started?
Heath: I started in the middle of November 2020 and got through issue 7 at the end of February 2021. At work, I am often writing and testing scripts so I’ll code for a while, then launch the script, and while it’s running I’ll check my email and tech tickets. But if there are no issues for me to deal with while I’m waiting for my script to finish, I do some other something. From November to February that something was reading and indexing the Escalation issues. I’ve still got issue 8 to go, plus I hear 9 is on its way. And I haven’t even looked at the Skyfall and Under Pressure adventure issues.
Escalation: Would you mind sharing a little about yourself?
Heath: I’ve been happily married for almost 30 years, with four awesome kids, who are no longer kids (all of which are currently in a 13th Age campaign together). I’ll even be a grandpa this year, Lord willing. I’m a Christian with a seminary degree, hoping to become a pastor one day (find me on YouTube or sermonaudio.com if you have trouble sleeping). I’m also an IT guy, but that’s just my day job.
Escalation: When did you get started with RPGs? With 13th Age? Are you typically the GM, a player, or a mix?
Heath: I got started as a kid around 1985 with the D&D Basic set. Soon after, I purchased the Expert, Companion, and Master sets. I had a small group of friends that would play with me. One of which bought every Advanced D&D book that came out. I preferred the less-restrictive rules but enjoyed reading his books anyway. Planning out adventures and creating NPCs consumed all of my time. Countless hours were spent drawing continents, dungeons, traps, and battle scenes, all on graph paper of course. Other genres besides fantasy always intrigued me, but as a player, I never found one that worked well.
College happened and role playing stopped altogether. When my kids got old enough, I realized I had a whole group of people to role-play with living in my own house! But alas, my two boys were the only ones truly excited about it at first. I searched around for a generic game and got involved in play testing Strands of Fate with my boys. Later on, they wanted to get into a more meaty game, so we bought D&D 5e and played around with that some, until one of my sons heard about 13th Age. Wow. Just wow.
Once my sons grew old enough, they have typically been the GMs of the games I’ve been playing, including my current games. One of my sons has led the last four 13th Age campaigns I’ve played. The other son is currently creating his own superhero based system and we are in the process of creating our characters now.
Escalation: Thank you so much for sharing that information about yourself. I'm a huge proponent of passing our hobby along to the next generation, so kudos to you for gaming with your kids!
I'm so appreciative of the hard work you've put into this project. It's such an amazing tool for the community. Many thanks to you!
