Storytelling Dungeons & Dragons

In the absence of an actual Dungeons & Dragons RPG between January 2012 and July 2014, between Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition and the recently released Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition there leapt into void not one but two contemporary takes upon traditional fantasy roleplaying. Of course, the term ‘void’ is relative, since Paizo Publishing’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is still available, as are any number of Old School Renaissance titles, from Labyrinth Lord to Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying. The first of these is 13th Age, Pelgrane Press’ action-orientated RPG that energised the Dungeons & Dragons style of play. The second is the Monsters & Magic Roleplaying Game. Published by Mindjammer Press, unlike the other Dungeons & Dragons style RPG, it is not a d20 System derived RPG, but uses its own Effect Engine mechanics to bring in storytelling mechanics that sit upon the architecture of nearly forty years of roleplaying that is Dungeons & Dragons. It has been described ‘Dungeons & Dragons meets FATE’, in that it employs descriptors—in Evil Hat Productions’ FATE called Aspects, in Monsters & Magic called Traits—that can be invoked to grant a benefit to the players’ adventurers. The result is that each and every adventurer brings more of his character to the play of the game and to the game world—more so than traditional Dungeons & Dragons. Further, it is possible to take characters from your existing Dungeons & Dragons game and slip them into a Monsters & Magic game, and in the process bring the characters alive.

Coming with the tagline, “Old School Fantasy, New School Play”, Monsters & Magic is still a classic Class and Level RPG. The classic races are present—Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, Half-Orc, and Human, as are the classic Classes—Cleric, Fighter, Thief, and Wizard. The other classic Classes are treated as sub-Classes, so Druid and Monk are sub-Classes of the Cleric Class. In this way, the Paladin, Ranger, Illusionist and Specialist Wizard, and Assassin and Bard are all present. If there is an edition of Dungeons & Dragons that Monsters & Magic is based upon, it is certainly Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. (It should be noted that the Berzerker Class is present as an example of how to create a new sub-Class, but it is not included in core set of Classes). Further, the classic six attributes—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are rolled on three-six-sided dice and the Classes function as you would expect. So the Cleric Class can Turn Undead, cast Clerical Magic, Wear Light and Medium Armour and use Shields, and so on, whilst the Ranger can Wear Light and Medium Armour and use Shields, use Bows and One-Handed Swords, is an Enemy of Humanoids and Giant-kind, can Follow the Trail, is Solitary, and is skilled in Woodcraft and Scouting and Spying.

Laurenel
High Elf; First Level Magic User
Str 09 (-0) Dex 15 (+1) Con 10 (+0)
Int 16 (+6) Wis 13 (+1) Chr 14 (+1)

Physical Hit Points: 14
Mental Hit Points: 25
Armour Class: 13
Hero Points: 1

Alignment: Neutral
Alignment Focus: Bring the balance to all things
Alignment Drift: People must have the freedom to choose

Background Traits
My family was dishonoured for its dealings with the Dark

Goal
To restore the family honour

Elven Traits
Graceful and Mysterious, Excellent Perception, Speak Elven, Extremely Long-lived, Infravision, Resist Charm, Elf Weapons, The Rising of the Dark, From an Ordered Society

Magic User Traits
Magic, Magical Lore, Read & Write, Use Quarterstaff & Daggers, Perform Rituals, Intimidate the Ignorant, Scribe Scrolls

Spells
Charm Person, Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic, Identify, Light, Magic Missile, Sleep

As can be seen from this sample, a character in Monsters & Magic looks very much like a character from almost any Old School roleplaying game, though there are notable differences. A character has both Physical Hit Points and Mental Hit Points—so he can take both mental and physical damage—and Mental Hit Points means that characters can suffer sanity inducing shock and engage in social conflicts; he has Hero Points to help him get out of bad scrapes; and an Alignment Focus which helps him roleplay his Alignment and an Alignment Drift which represents the temptations that will push him away from his current Alignment towards another. Playing to either his Alignment or his Alignment Drift will gain a character Experience Points for good roleplaying.

One major notable difference between a character in Monsters & Magic and another Old School RPG is that each Class has a primary attribute, the modifier for which is doubled. Thus if a Cleric and a Magic User both had an Intelligence of 16, the modifier for the Cleric would be +3, but doubled to +6 for the Magic User as Intelligence is the Primary Attribute for the Class. What this does is empower each Class through the Primary Attribute.

At the heart of the character and of Magic & Monsters are Traits, each “a single word or short phrase describing something crucial about your character, like an ability, background story detail, or personality aspect”. In play, they enable a character to bring one or more of these into play and have it directly affect the game in play. Most of a character’s Traits will come from his Race or his Class, but they will also come from a come from a character’s Alignment and from his Background Trait—such as Ex-Royal Courtier or Grew up an urchin on Swill Lane. He could also take a special item, perhaps an heirloom. As a character gains a Level, he can gains more Traits. Some of these will come from his Class, others from his Background and his adventuring life, or indeed, he could discover more of the capabilities of his heirloom and give it another Trait.

Both the Attribute Modifiers and the Traits play a major role in Monsters & Magic’s mechanic, known as the ‘Effect Engine’. To undertake an action, a character rolls not a twenty-sided die, but three six-sided dice. To this roll the character adds an attribute modifier, but if the situation warrants it, a character can add not just one, but various Traits up to a certain limit. The first Trait is equal to the character’s Level, but any subsequent ones are worth a simple +1. Rolls can be made against set difficulties—Average is 10, Tough, is 15, Difficult is 20, and so on—or against static values such as Armour Class or the resistance values derived from a character or an NPC’s attributes. All a player has to do is describe how his character uses each Trait and it is allowed by the GM.

The result of a roll in the Effect Engine is where Monsters & Magic gets interesting. If the result of the roll exceeds the difficulty, Effect Points are generated and these can be used in a variety of different ways. At the most basic, if a character targets an NPC or a monster, then the Effect Points can be turned into points of damage, these in addition to the damage rolled for the weapon or the spell. Generate enough Effect Points and they can be used to generate ‘Minor’ Effects (5 Effect Points), ‘Major’ Effects (10 Effect Points), and ‘Extreme’ Effects (15 Effect Points), that are placed on the target. A ‘Minor’ Effect would be to gain a +2 bonus or impose a -2 penalty, move a Range Band, mount or dismount a horse, sheath or draw a weapon, change stance, use up a minor resource such as an arrow or a dropped item, and so on. A ‘Minor’ Effect can be used to negate a ‘Minor’ Consequence that has been imposed on a character. Both ‘Major’ Effects and ‘Extreme’ Effects work in a similar fashion. 

For example, Laurenel is travelling at dusk in the Mountains of the Neck when he is ambushed by an Orc Warrior. Unlike his peers, this Orc likes to hunt his prey using a bow and arrow rather than just his cruel sword. Fortunately for the Elf, the Orc misses, but Laurenel needs to spot where the ambusher is. Spotting the ambusher is a Wisdom check, so that adds +1 to the roll, and his player suggests that both of his Excellent Perception and Infravision Traits will help him. The GM agrees, which adds a further +1 for each Trait. Laurenel’s player rolls 15 and adds the +3 to give a result of 18.

The Orc Warrior has a Dexterity Resistance of 12, so the result of 18 is not only a success, it also gives Laurenel 6 Effect Points to spend.  He spends it on a Minor Effect he calls ‘Obvious’, which he describes as the Orc having camouflaged himself poorly. It grants the Elf a +2 bonus to hit.

Having spotted the Orc Warrior, Laurenel lets fly with a Magic Missile spell.  He will add +6 to this roll for his Intelligence modifier, +1 for his Magic Trait, and of course, +2 for the ‘Obvious’ Minor Effect. In total, he as a +9 modifier to the roll. The Orc Warrior’s Armour Class is 20. Laurenel rolls 14 and adds the 9 to get a total of 22. This generates 2 Effect Points—not enough to buy a Minor Effect, so Laurenel decides to inflict 2 more points damage and rolls 1d4+1 and adds another 2 points to the total to get 6.

If a roll is failed, a character can suffer Consequences. Essentially, these work just like Effects, but with a negative result rather than the positive ones of Effects. Should a character suffer any Consequences, then they can be negated by purchasing counter Effects. 

For example, in a later round, Laurenel decides to push forward to attack the Orc Warrior with his quarterstaff. So he rolls three six-sided dice, adds his Strength modifier (0), his Use Quarterstaff & Daggers Trait (+1), and the ‘Obvious’ Minor Effect (+2). The difficulty for the roll is the Orc Warrior’s Armour Class, which is 20. Unfortunately, Laurenel rolls a total of 15, which is under the target. The GM uses these points under the target to impose a Minor Consequence (-2) on Laurenel, which is ‘Twisted Ankle’ as the Elf gets caught up in the undergrowth.

With its Consequences and Effects, the Effect Engine can be a whole lot deadlier than the standard play of a d20 System fantasy RPG, especially as characters progress in Level and the rules for Scale come into play. At 5th Level, a character gains access to the Heroic Scale, at 10th Level he gains access to the Epic Scale, at 15th Level he gains access to the Legendary Scale, and at 20th Level he gains access to the Mythic Scale. At the Heroic Scale, a character can build himself a Reputation, build a community or gang around him, or put together a ship’s crew; at the Epic Scale a character can build strongholds or domains, and engage in politics, diplomatic, or courtly actions; at Legendary Scale, a character is capable of working at the level of kingdoms; and at Mythic Scale, he can influence the fates of nations, peoples, and even whole worlds! As a campaign grows in Scale, so does the level of Effects, from Heroic (+8) on upwards.

Another area in which the players have input during play is when it comes to determine treasure. A GM can define what loot a monster might have or what exactly is held in a hoard’s horde, but he can award the players Treasure Points. These can be spent to purchase types of coinage, gems and jewellery, and special items. More of the former have to be purchased using these Treasure Points before the latter.

To this point Monsters & Magic is decently supported with some excellent full examples of play that show how the Effect Engine works. These are necessary because the book in places lacks that clarity that it needs to impart the differences between traditional fantasy roleplaying and the narrative demands of Monsters & Magic. The support provided elsewhere in Monsters & Magic is disappointing—only First and Second Level spells are listed and only a handful of monsters are included. This has a number of consequences. First, any spell casting character must have access to the core rules or player’s rule book for another fantasy RPG if he wants spells of a greater level. Second and likewise, the GM will access to the core rules or a bestiary for another fantasy RPG if he wants more monsters. In either case, they will want access to these books, and as a third consequence, in the long term Monsters & Magic is not a wholly standalone RPG.

On the plus side, converting spells and monsters from other fantasy RPGs is not all that challenging. Guidance is included to help a player convert his character from that other fantasy RPG into Monsters & Magic, and the monsters included showcase how they should look after conversion. Just like characters, monsters in Monsters & Magic have their own Traits. This also points to another possibility. That of adapting and running other Old School fantasy RPG settings to run using Monsters & Magic. Want to use these rules to run a Dragonlance campaign or a Dark Sun campaign? Such a conversion could be done because Monsters & Magic would simplify the abilities and backgrounds found in the character types and monsters those settings into Traits.

Rounding out Monsters & Magic is a scenario. ‘Silvermoon’ describes a village wrapped and cowed in the mists known as ‘Moonbreath’ that waft their nightly way down from the craters of Moon Moor. It is a fairly short if detailed affair, and should provide two or three sessions of play.

Physically, Monsters & Magic is decently illustrated in an Old School style. The cartography, what little there is of it, is excellent though. The writing is generally clear, but in places it could be better and the examples of play often do a better job how the rules should work.

Monsters & Magic is not a fantasy RPG designed to introduce new players to the hobby. In places, it is too complex for that, and in others it does not explain the rules quite as well as it should. Rather it is a fantasy RPG in the classic mode of Dungeons & Dragons designed to appeal to more contemporary mores that want a player to have greater narrative input into the play of the game. The Effect Engine and its use of Traits brings in a mechanical and narrative flexibility not present in Old School fantasy RPGs, but builds it around the structure of the Old School fantasy RPGs to make Monsters & Magic accessible and familiar to gamers of all preferences.

Read More

Command Arrows

Lords of War is a tactical fantasy battle game published by Black Box Games. The winner of the award for Best Strategic Card Game at UK Games Expo 2013, it pitches two armies into a fierce confrontation that can be played out in roughly thirty minutes. Designed for two players aged twelve and over, the original set consisted of Lords of War: Orcs versus Dwarves. It was quickly joined by Lords of War: Elves versus Lizardmen and then by Lords of War: Templar versus Undead which was funded via Kickstarter.

Each set is described as “Dual Deck Expandable Gaming Cards”, which means that the army decks from each set are interchangeable with those of another and that the cards in each army deck are also interchangeable with those of any other. This means that each army can be modified with cards from another deck and that rather than battles being fought between the armies in one set, they can be played out as 'Templars versus Orcs', 'Elves versus Dwarves', 'Lizardmen versus Undead', and so on. In this review, the Lords of War: Orcs versus Dwarves set will be under the spotlight. Not only because it is the first set in the line, but because a confrontation between Orcs and Dwarves is very traditional when it comes to fantasy battles.

Each set consists of two armies—represented by two thirty-six card decks, plus a rules sheet and a Battlemat. The latter is marked with a seven-by-six grid of spaces upon which the game’s cards will be placed and is done in a slightly mottled, golden brown. (The colour varies from set to set, so for example, the Battlemat in Lords of War: Elves versus Lizardmen is green, representing the swamps or forests that they fight over rather than the mountains or rough terrain of Lords of War: Orcs versus Dwarves). The rules sheet is large and double-sided, but is only done in black and white. It is easy to read and does a decent job of explain the rules. What stands out about Lords of War: Orcs versus Dwarves—and any of the three sets to date—are the cards that form each army and are the heart of the game.

All of the cards are done in full colour by artist Steve Cox, each one depicting a single warrior or unit in a style reminiscent of Games Workshop’s Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Which is no bad thing since it gives the game a certain familiarity. Besides its illustration, every card has a name; a number of Attack Aarrows that determine the direction in which the unit can attack—forward, back, to the sides, and diagonally out of the corners; and a Defence Value. Each Attack Arrow also has an Attack Value attached to it. The more Attack Arrows a unit has, the greater its flexibility on the battlefield, both in attacking enemy units and pinning them in place.

Every card also has a Class—Infantry, Cavalry, Spear, Ranged, and Berserker. Infantry units are generally balanced in terms of their Attack Arrows, Attack Values, and Defence Values; Cavalry units tend to have broad Attack Values, but low Defence Values; Spearmen have low Attack Values, but high Defence Values; Ranged units can attack enemy units at a distance; and Berserkers have limited Attack Arrows and high Attack Values, but low Defence Values. Every unit also has a Rank from Recruit and Regular up to Command and General. Six of the cards in a deck are Command units and one of these is the army’s general—unlike the standard units, they are all named. 

Throughout the game, each player will have a hand of six cards. At the start of the game, this hand will consist of five cards from his shuffled deck and his army’s General. Once each player has placed a unit in one of the Battlemat’s starting positions, the game begins. A turn consists of three phases.

In the Deployment phase, a player places a unit on the Battlemat orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to an enemy unit so that one of its Attack Arrows points at the enemy unit. A support unit like a Ranged or Spear unit can also be placed adjacent to any friendly unit so that its Attack Arrows do not engage it or it is not engaged by friendly Attack Arrows. This means particularly with Ranged units that they can be placed behind friendly units away from the front lines and enemy units that would attack them directly.

During the Elimination Phase, every unit on the Battlemat attacks—including those of both armies! Thus, if the combined Attack Values of the units attacking an enemy unit via their Attack Arrows exceed the enemy’s Defence Value, it is eliminated. This has to be done unit by unit until every unit on the Battlemat has been checked to see that it has not been eliminated. The result of this is that a player has to consider both how his unit can attack and how his unit might be attacked. 

The third and final phase is the Reinforcement Phase. During this, a player can either refresh his hand back up to six or have one retreat from the Battlemat into his hand. The latter unit must not have been placed or fought that turn, or be engaged by an enemy unit’s Attack Arrows. It is possible to pin an enemy unit to prevent it being removed from the Battlemat during the Reinforcement Phase.

The battle proceeds until one army can defeat four of its opponent’s Command units or any twenty of its units. Then it will have won the battle.

The key to Lords of War is positioning the units so that they make the best use of their Attack Arrows and avoid being subject to attack in return. Placement is all important to controlling the battlefield and as a game progresses, it becomes more and more difficult to find the weak spots in an opponent’s defences. The choice of army will also influence a player’s actions—with the Lords of War: Orcs versus Dwarves, each side has its own strengths. The Dwarves have better Defence Values, whilst the Orcs have better Attack Values.  

As good as Lords of War looks and as simple as the rules are, what it lacks is flavour. There is some that comes through in the cards, but there is none in the rules. For that the purchaser needs to visit the publisher’s website for the background to the game, where he will also find rules for multiplayer battles and more advanced rules. Whilst simplicity of the design does make Lords of War easy to play, the lack of flavour does leave the game lacking substance. Another issue is that there is a certain artifice to the game in that it does not feel as if you are fighting a battle except in an abstract way. This is fine in a game like Chess, but in Lords of War it feels as if you should be fighting each other for something rather than a simple stand-up confrontation because the art on the cards suggests so. Hopefully, the Terrain & Weather Expansion Pack will go some way to alleviate this issue and provide the game a bit more substance as well as variety.

Lords of War: Orcs versus Dwarves is a pleasingly simple combat card game that offers tactical challenges and thoughtful play without overwhelming the participants. The design is attractive and easily expandable and should also serve as solid introduction to wargaming fantasy battles too.

Read More

Dungeons & Dragons 4.95?

So when I said in my review of Against the Slave Lords that it was the only ‘official’ release from Wizards of the Coast for Dungeons & Dragons, this was not exactly true—there was one additional release. It was a release not for any previous edition of the game, but for one to come, one that had not yet been released, that is ‘D&D Next’, the development version that will be released in 2014. Whether it will be released as Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is another matter, but that essentially is what the new game will be. In the meantime, there is Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle: A D&D Next Preview, which was an exclusive release at GenCon 2013 and has since been made available as a PDF.

Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is two things in one. First, it is a mini-campaign consisting of four adventures designed to take a party of adventurers from first to tenth level. The second is an explanation of the rules, complete with monster statistics, spell descriptions, magic item descriptions, pre-generated adventurers, and setting material to support the campaign. Together, these two parts provide a preview of D&D Next—or at least a version of it. For at the time of the publication of Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, the rules for D&D Next had not been finalised. Nevertheless, this preview presents a version of D&D Next that essentially has the feel of Basic Dungeons & Dragons, but with some influences from more recent versions of Dungeons & Dragons. This means that Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle could actually be run with any version of Dungeons & Dragons—bar Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition—and indeed any Dungeons & Dragons retro-clone.

The campaign, Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, consisting of ‘Fane of the Sun Swallower’, ‘The Cursed Crypts of Ambergul’, ‘The Fall of Illefarn’, and ‘Dragonspear Castle’, takes in and around the town on Daggerford on the Sword Coast of the Forgotten Realms. It opens with ‘Fane of the Sun Swallower’, in which the adventurers, either locals from, or visitors to, Daggerford, are attending the town’s midsummer festival. Unfortunately, the poor weather and the recent attack on a local noble’s estate has driven everyone indoors, except that is, for the public hanging of a Red Wizard of Thay who is believed to have been responsible for the attack. Whilst at this hanging, the adventurers are approached by Sir Isteval, a retired Paladin who resides in Daggerford to ride with him to the aid of Cromm’s Hold, a nearby keep that has been attacked by a black dragon! When they arrive, they learn that the dragon was after something—and that is enough for Sir Isteval to direct the adventurers to find what and why…

After a trek through a foetid swamp, this leads to the first of the campaign’s three mini-dungeons, a sun temple that has been desecrated by pestilent lizardmen. It is also the first of the campaign’s well-designed and inventive dungeons, which although quite small, is full of flavour and detail. This is not a dungeon that needs to be fought through, but rather it needs to be explored and learned from. Although there are plenty of combat encounters, there are also plenty of encounters where the DM gets to portray interesting NPCs—sections of boxed text throughout give advice as to how to roleplay each of the more important NPCs—and the player characters get to achieve their objectives without the need to draw a sword or prepare a spell. The dungeon has some memorable moments—the player characters gain an interesting pet, deal with an interesting family or two, and finally get betrayed.

This is perhaps the first and biggest weakness in Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle. Its plot revolves around not just one ‘MacGuffin’, but a quartet of them. Each once belonged to an ancient elemental cult, each is now sought by the Red Wizards of Thay, and each is unlikely to remain in the hands of the player characters—if at all. Which leaves the adventurers chasing, if not after what is in effect nothing, then at least after something to no obvious effect; all right, so they are chasing after a set of ‘MacGuffins’ and not getting hold of any of them is the point of the ‘MacGuffin’ or the ‘MacGuffins’, but the first scenario, ‘Fane of the Sun Swallower’, goes further and ends with the party’s betrayal. Simply, their success in the scenario is snatched out from under them, so not only is this plot device tiresome and heavy-handed, it is dispiriting too. This plot is part of the NPC’s desire for revenge on another NPC.

Should the adventurers decide to persevere, they are asked by a young pregnant woman to go after her child’s father who has been hired by a wanted Red Wizard, Darwa Dalion. She plans to explore ‘The Cursed Crypts of Ambergul’, the last resting place of the Ambergul family. The family were notable members of the ancient elemental cult, so in bringing Darwa Dalion to justice, the party may also be able to find the young man and learn more about the aims of the Red Wizards. In comparison to ‘Fane of the Sun Swallower’, this dungeon is much more sophisticated in its design, with an emphasis on traps and tricks as well as curses—lots and lots of curses. In fact, the player characters may well become tired of being cursed in this dungeon. Nevertheless, there is an inventiveness to the design of this dungeon and lots of interesting NPCs, most of them members of the Ambergul family.

Unfortunately, there is less inventiveness on show in the third part of the campaign, ‘The Fall of Illefarn’. This takes place in a collapsing Dwarven city that is inhabited by a Dwarf clan that has interbred with an Orc tribe. The underwhelming design of the dungeon owes much to its Dwarven heritage, but at least it maintains the same high standard in terms of its NPCs, and it does present an interesting puzzle when it comes to find much of the treasure scattered through its levels. Finding the final MacGuffin is also possible if something of a challenge, and of course, the player characters are unlikely to hold on to it for very long.

Sadly, the dip in quality continues with the fourth and final adventure, ‘Dragonspear Castle’. Although the adventure comes with a rousing though somewhat scripted denouement, getting there feels flat and something of a plod. It also seems rushed and out of step with the rest of the campaign, almost irrelevant to it the plot that the characters have been involved in, rather than the one that the major NPC has been orchestrating. Rounding out the adventure is a section on Daggerford and the surrounding Sword Coast, which should help the DM add flavour to his portrayal of the town and its inhabitants.

One interesting aspect of Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is the magic items it includes. There are almost no ‘+1 swords’ or other archetypal weapons usually found in Dungeons & Dragons. There are scrolls and potions aplenty, but there are items such as an animated dwarf skeleton that will do your bidding and a music box of sobriety whose sober tune negates intoxicated condition. These and similar items are minor pieces of magic, but they are notable and any one of them is a worthy addition to a player character’s possessions.

The second problem with Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is how experience is handled. ‘Fane of the Sun Swallower’ is designed for characters of first level, ‘The Cursed Crypts of Ambergul’ for characters of fourth or sixth level, ‘The Fall of Illefarn’ for characters of sixth or seventh level, and ‘Dragonspear Castle’ for characters of ninth level. The campaign advises that if the adventurers have not acquired enough experience points to reach such character levels, then the DM should add random encounters to boost the party’s experience point reward. Not only is this weak advice, it should be unnecessary advice—the adventures should be awarding sufficient experience points. Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle compounds this by not giving any advice in the DM Guideline chapter as to experience point rewards, nor any advice as to when the experience rewards should be given or levels awarded.

Half of Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle provides a version of D&D Next, covering ‘How to Play’, magic and spells, equipment, DM Guidelines, and a Bestiary. Of course, it is impossible to detail exactly what will be in D&D Next, but some impressions can be gained from reading through the second half of the book, even if, by the time of the publication of D&D Next in 2014, the version here will be a year out of date. The fundamentals appear not to have changed in terms of what the players can play—Elves, Dwarfs, Humans, Halflings, Fighters, Clerics, Wizards, Rogues, and so on. Characters very much look like Dungeons & Dragons characters, though more like those of Basic Dungeons & Dragons than those of other editions—though this does not mean that Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings are Classes in their own right. Characters do have Backgrounds, such as Soldier or Priest or Sage. Each provides a few quite significant bonuses.

The first notable omission to D&D Next is that of skills. Everything is done by ability modifiers—need to ride a horse? Make a Dexterity check by adding the Dexterity ability modifier to a roll of the twenty-sided die. Or a Recall Lore roll? That requires an Intelligence check. In addition, a character can also have one or more proficiencies, which either grant the ability to use various items—such as weapons or dice and cards, or grant a bonus to these checks. A +10 Lore check is one common feature of the book’s given player characters and is typically granted by a Background.

In addition to rolling the twenty-sided die for attacks, saving throws, and ability checks, characters can now gain ‘Advantage’ or ‘Disadvantage’. Both enable a character to roll two twenty-sided dice, having the ‘Advantage’ lets a character keep the better roll, whereas having the ‘Disadvantage’ forces him to keep the worst roll. Examples given in Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle include a character wearing chainmail armour having the ‘Disadvantage’ when attempting to sneak anywhere and a Halfling always having the ‘Advantage’ when making Saving Throws against fear effects.

The list of spells in Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is not exhaustive, being primarily built around the pre-generated adventurers. What is noteworthy is that spellcasting Classes receive cantrips that can be cast at-will and that some spells, for example, Melf’s Acid Arrow, require an attack roll. Healing from rest enables a character to reroll one or more of his Hit Dice back up to his maximum Hit Points, so essentially, how well a character heals depends on his Class. Healing spells work normally. Lastly, a critical hit only adds one extra die to the damage roll, even if the weapon or attack normally rolls two or more for damage. Presumably this applies to spells because a weapon generally rolls just the one die for damage. For the most part, combat seems to have been simplified and streamlined, but still covers most eventualities.

Rounding out Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is an appendix containing six pre-generated player characters designed for use with the campaign. They include a Human Cleric, Dwarven Fighter, Human Fighter, Elven Mage, Human Mage, and a Halfling Rogue—though no Human Rogue. Each is given a two-page spread, much of devoted to the advances made with each level, from second through to tenth levels. These are all set in stone so that no player has to roll for anything. It does seem odd though, that no Human Rogue is included, especially given that two variations are for each Class. (Note that I had planned to include one here as an example character, but unfortunately the difference between this version of D&D Next and the most recent I have access to was too great).

Physically, Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is well presented and for the most part, well written. It needs an edit here or there, and it does suffer from some knowingly silly anachronism. That said, the authors acknowledge that the book is not the finished article, not the definitive version of D&D Next, and do have some fun with their commentary. The book nicely acknowledges the breadth and feel of almost forty years of Dungeons & Dragons in its choice of art, all drawn from the game’s history—it seems fitting that the main opponents of ‘Fane of the Sun Swallower’ are illustrated with a piece by the late David A. Trampier. The cartography is also well done, although annoyingly, the map of the region over which the campaign takes place, is hidden in the middle of the book, rather than being towards the front where it would have been of better use. Absurdly for a book that the DM is meant to make reference to during play, Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle lacks an index. 

Wizards of the Coast has released two sequels to Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, though not direct sequels as neither use the same player characters. The first is the Dreams of the Red Wizards: Scourge of the Sword Coast, which is designed to be used with characters of second level, and will be followed by Dead in Thay.

The sad truth is that Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is a stop-gap product, a book designed to give its audience a taster of things to come during a period when there is nothing else. Which is fine, as after all, it is intended as a preview for D&D Next. As a taster, it is not an unreasonable introduction to the new game, a more simple, streamlined version of Dungeons & Dragons in which—if the scenarios are any basis to go by—there is an emphasis on roleplaying and exploration rather than on set encounters. As to the campaign itself, Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle gets off to a great start with pair of meaty, well thought out, detailed, and flavoursome dungeons, before becoming losing steam with the second two parts and ultimately failing to quite deliver on the promise made in the first two scenarios. It is hampered by a lack of guidance as to how to handle Experience Points and gaining Levels, and the plotting never really strays too far from being a cliché. Nevertheless, it could still be played throughout, though not without some extra effort upon the part of the DM, using either the version of D&D Next in the book, the one officially published in 2014, or indeed most versions of Dungeons & Dragons. Which can only be a good thing as it means that Dungeons & Dragons, in the form of D&D Next, is not going to be as proscriptive as previous editions, is going to be accessible using multiple versions of Dungeons & Dragons, and thus is going to be ‘our’ game rather than just belonging to Wizards of the Coast.

Read More

Game Like It's Another 1974

In January 2012, Wizards of the Coast announced that it was working on the next version of Dungeons & Dragons and that it would take two years’ worth of development time. So whilst the hobby waited to see what D&D Next or ‘Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition’ would look like, it left a gap at the top of the hobby because for intents and purposes, the game, in the form of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition,  was redundant. This is not to say that the style of play that Dungeons & Dragons offered went away. After all, PaizoPublishing’s Pathfinder Roleplaying Game was and continues to be popular, and there are of course any number of ‘Retroclones’ that Dungeons & Dragonsstyle play based on older variants of the rules, most notably Labyrinth Lordand Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Roleplaying. More recently Pelgrane Press has given the style of play a contemporary update with 13th Age. In 2012 the update to this style of play was offered by Goodman Games in the form of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, an ‘Old School’ style nod to the literary sources for the original Dungeons & Dragons.

By 2012, Goodman Games was no stranger to the ‘Old School’ style, having published in nine years some fifty or so titles for its Dungeon Crawl Classics line, starting in 2003 with Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King. What each entry in the series provided was a scenario in the classic sense, as published by TSR in the first ten years of its history, scenarios in which the adventures itself mattered more than the setting and the NPCs were primarily there for the slaughter than the scintillating socialisation. Yet by 2012, the series had stalled, its quality suffering primarily from a new rules system that seemed ill-suited to its intended style, but then by 2012, critics had long been wondering what type of game Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition was suited to. The Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game offered a chance to reinvigorate the line and the concept. The resulting game was and is not a ‘Retroclone’ in the classic sense – one that sets out to emulate a particular set of rules; it is instead a d20 System RPG that goes back to the inspirational source for the original Dungeons & Dragons – the legendary ‘Appendix N’. Penned by Gary Gygax as part of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, ‘Appendix N’ was a list of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror authors that inspired the innumerable elements that made up Dungeons & Dragons, whether it was Fritz Leiber’s thieves or Jack Vance’s magic and spells, or Robert E. Howard’s corruptive influence of magic. From this basis, author Joseph Goodman has developed an RPG that uses the same basis for its rules as the d20 System, but one that sits somewhere between Basic Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in terms of its complexity.

To get into what the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game is about, you need to start at the beginning and in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, that means playing Zero Level characters. Playing characters of Zero Level in Dungeons & Dragons is nothing new. It was done by TSR in 1986 with N1, Treasure Hunt and then again in 1987 with N5, Under Ilefarn, and then in 2005 by Goodman Games in Dungeon Crawl Classics #0: Legends are Made, not Born. Here each player takes the role of not one Zero Level character, but several, each a serf or peasant looking beyond a life tied to the fields and the seasons or the forge and the hammer, looking to prove themselves and perhaps progress enough to become a skilled adventurer and eventually make a name for themselves. Unfortunately, delving into tombs and the lairs of both men and beasts is a risky venture and death is all but a certainty for the lone delver… In numbers, there is the chance that one or more will survive long enough to go onto greater things! This is what the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game terms a ‘Character Creation Funnel’.

Characters in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, just like in Dungeons & Dragons, have six Abilities – Strength, Agility, Stamina, Personality, Intelligence, and Luck, each rolled on three six-sided dice. These are rolled in strict order, because after all, life in the world of the ‘Known Realms’ or Aéreth, that of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, is something of a lottery. That includes not just his basic Hit Points – rolled on a single four-sided die, but also the Zero Level character’s occupation, which will also determine his race, a weapon, and a possession related to his occupation. For example, this could be a cheesemaker with his cudgel and stinky cheese or an animal trainer with his club and pony, but it could be an Elven navigator with his bow and spyglass or a Dwarven chest-maker with his chisel and his 10 lbs. weight of wood. For in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, just as in the original Dungeons & Dragons and Basic Dungeons & Dragons, the races Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings are Classes as much as they are species.

Our sample character is a Halfling Gypsy who seeing no future in reading fortunes has run away from the circus. He is a healthy fellow somewhat lacking in the wits or nimbleness that marks out many of his race. Sadly, his grandmother has read Milo’s fortune, but his Luck may still out…

Milo Tosscobble

Zero Level Halfling Gypsy

STR 12 AGL 7 (-1) STM 15 (+1)

PER 12 INT 7 (-1) LCK 15 (+1)

Hit Points: 5

Saving Throws

Fortitude +1 Reflex -1 Willpower +0

Birth Augur: Four-leafed Clover

Luck Benefit: Secret Doors

Weapon: Sling (1d4)

Equipment: Hex Doll

18cp

Of the six core Abilities, Luck is the one that needs the most explanation. It is used for various different skill checks and rolls, for each character’s single Luck Benefit – for example, in the case of Milo, to find Secret Doors – and can even be burned to gain a one-off bonus. The latter though is a permanent use and any Luck lost in this fashion can only be regained by a player roleplaying his character to his Alignment. The Luck bonus also applies to critical hit, fumble, and corruption rolls as well as various Class-based rolls. For example, the Elf receives it as a bonus one single spell and a Warrior to a single weapon such as a longsword or a war hammer. Further, both the Thief and the Halfling Classes are exceptionally lucky. Not only are their Luck bonuses doubled when they burn Luck, they actually regain Luck each day equal to their Level. In addition, if a party has a Halfling amongst its numbers that Halfling can pass his expended Luck to other members of the party!

So once a Zero Level has been on an adventure or three and acquired enough Experience Points, he can advance to First Level. It only takes ten Experience Points, with an average of two points being awarded per encounter, rather than per monster killed or item of treasure being looted. It should also be pointed out that the Experience Points progression needed to reach Second and subsequent Levels has been substantially streamlined and simplified for ease of play. Human characters can advance from Zero Level into one of the four Classes – Cleric, Thief, Warrior, and Wizard, whilst the demi-humans advance into the Class appropriate to the Occupation rolled during character creation, the Elf Class for Elves, the Dwarf Class for Dwarves, and the Halfling Class for Halflings. Each Class feels very much the Classic version seen in, for example, Basic Dungeons & Dragons, but with sufficient tweaks that make each – and thus the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game – more interesting to play than those of Basic Dungeons & Dragons.

The Cleric must choose a god and matching Alignment and weapons training – which includes the Neutral deity Cthulhu if the player wants his character to be a Priest of the Old Ones! – and in return gains clerical or Idol Magic, can Turn creatures unholy to his god, and can Lay on Hands. The latter includes the ability to heal broken limbs, organ damage, disease, poison, and more – rather just heal Hit Points. It is possible for a Cleric to gain the disapproval of his god and even sin, this including the healing of a character of an opposing Alignment or faith. Thieves are relatively little changed, although their skills – Backstab, Sneak Silently, Hide in Shadows, and so on – are done as a bonus to the RPG’s universal d20 System skills mechanic rather than as percentiles. The skill values and their progression also vary depending upon whether the Thief is Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic. The Warrior receives one single new ability, that of being able to undertake ‘Mighty Deeds of Arms’. Need to sweep an opponent off the stairs or swing on a chandelier to kick a mob down or throw a flask of flaming oil into the eyes of a basilisk? With the simplicity of the Mighty Deed of Arms mechanic, a Warrior can. Wizards of course cast magic spells, but their initial spells are randomly known and they also are encouraged to take a patron, like Bobugbublilz, demon lord of amphibians or Sezrekan the Elder, the wickedest of sorcerers, whom they can also invoke to gain powerful, but dangerous magic.

The Dwarf is like the Warrior and can match that Class’ Mighty Deed of Arms, but in addition gains a random bonus to each attack and do a bash attack with his shield. The Elf is susceptible to iron and so must use mithril arms and armour, and can use many martial weapons as well as cast spells, but must work closely with an extra planar patron to do so. Lastly, the Halfling, as well as being intrinsically lucky, is also stealthy and capable of using two weapons together in a fight. There are lots of elements in these takes upon the classic character Classes that add both a mechanical benefit and flavour. The addition of the Mighty Deed of Arms not only gives the Warrior an edge, but also gives the player room to develop his character’s style of play and match it to his weaponry; the Cleric gets to both role-play and ‘roll-play’ his faith; and in both cases, the Dwarf and Halfling Classes are far more capable than the classic versions of either Class. In addition, each of the Human Classes, bar the Wizard since the pursuit of magic is a solitary affair, are each given a pair of pages devoted to suggested backgrounds and organisations for those Classes that add further flavour.

To undertake an action, a player rolls an Action Die and adds to the result any of his character’s Attribute bonuses, Luck bonus, and Level bonuses that apply. This is usually against the base Difficulty Class of ten, with difficulties raising or falling by five. This also applies to Spell Checks for Clerics, Wizards, and Elves, and also to combat, although the target in combat in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game is an ascending Armour Class. In most cases, the Action Die is a twenty-sided die, but this can change. For example, as a gypsy, Milo might have a way with ponies that allows him to make a skill check using a twenty-sided die as his Action Die to determine the health and value of any pony that he wants to purchase. Were he to attempt to illuminate a forged manuscript, he would only roll a ten-sided die as his Action Die – and that is in addition to the penalties he would suffer to the roll for his lack of skill!

Where Dungeons & Dragons and other games of its ilk use the usual polyhedral panoply – the four, the six, the eight, the ten, the twelve, and the twenty-sided die, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game employs another seven in addition to those standard six. These are the three, the five, the seven, the fourteen, the sixteen, the twenty-four, and the thirty-sided dice. These are arranged in a ladder or ‘dice-chain’ that goes up from the twenty-sided die to the twenty-four-sided die and then to the thirty-sided, and down from the twenty-sided die to the sixteen-sided die and then to the fourteen-sided die and so on. Different Action Dice are rolled when a Warrior or Dwarf makes his second attack which he gains at Fifth Level and also when a Dwarf rolls his Attack Bonus.

Suggestions are given if the Judge and his players lack these different sided dice. If the Judge does want them, they are only available from Gamescience. None of these are inexpensive dice and that is just ordering them within the United States. International orders are another matter… This is an issue with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, but how much of an issue will vary between one Judge and his players and another Judge and his players.

Combat in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game is relatively little different to that of d20 System. Bar the use of a second Action Die type to grant certain Classes second actions in combat – the Warrior and the Dwarf gain a second attack and the Wizard and the Elf gain a second spell to cast at higher levels, the extra combat rules add rules for Fumbles, Critical Hits, and expanded details for Mighty Deeds of Arms. In each case these are accompanied by tables and charts, which in the case of Critical Hits is varies according to a character’s Class and Level, so there are several of them.

Magic in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game is no longer a matter of casting a spell and forgetting about it. Instead magic is deadly and dangerous, sometimes corrupting, but it can be very powerful. A Wizard can enter duels with enemy Wizards and Clerics to counterspell their spells and a Wizard can also Spellburn points in his Abilities to gain temporary bonuses to regain lost spells. This is only temporary – rest and recuperation will let the Wizard regain these Ability points. Spell duels increase the capabilities of both Classes, although the rules do add a degree of complexity and time consumption not readily found in the rest of the game. Within the game itself, there is the danger of the spells perfectly countering each other and setting up a ‘Phlogiston Disturbance’ that might cause the spells to merge, the summoning of supernatural creatures, or set up a backward time loop! In addition, whenever a Wizard learns a spell, he learns it in a slightly different way to any other Wizard and that means that the spell has a slightly different extra effect that varies from one Wizard to another. This mercurial nature means that when the Wizard casts one spell, he might suffer the Sleep of Ages, whilst with another he might gain a temporary Psychic Shield. A Wizard’s Luck bonus applies to the roll to determine this effect whenever he gains a new spell.

Over a third of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Gameis devoted to one thing – spells for both the Wizard and the Cleric. Each receives roughly a page each that details how the spell works, what its effects are, and what can go wrong with said spell; in other words, an effect chart. For example, the classic standby of First Level Wizards everywhere, Magic Missile, might manifest as a meteor, a screaming, clawing eagle, a ray of frost, a force axe, or so on. When cast, a Wizard might throw a single Magic Missile that only does a single point of damage; one that might normal damage; multiple missiles or a single powerful one; and so on. Alternatively, the Wizard’s casting might result in a Misfire, which for Magic Missile might cause the caster’s allies or himself to be hit by multiple Magic Missiles, or to blow a hole under the caster’s feet! Worse, the casting of the spell might have a Corrupting influence upon the caster, which for Magic Missile might cause the skin of the caster’s hands and forearms to change colour to acid green or become translucent or to become invisible every time he casts Magic Missile! This is in addition to the chances of the Wizard suffering from Major or even Greater Corruption…

Rather than listing magic item after magic item, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game presents both a discussion of their nature in the ‘Known Realms’ and the means for the Judge to create them. Magic items in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game are rare and of a singular nature and purpose. They may even be of such power as to arouse the ire of a demi-god! In keeping with the sources within ‘Appendix N’, the creation of swords receives particular attention, whilst guidelines are also given for the creation of wands, rods, rings, and other items. The mixing of potions is covered by the Make Potion spell. Monsters are treated in a not too dissimilar fashion. Although standard versions of each are included, from the Basilisk and Bugbear to the Wolf and the Zombie, there are rules and suggestions as to how to make them mysterious, if not necessarily unique, essentially to spice them up a little, and so ensure that they are not simply generic. The monsters have access to broad set of their own Critical Hits table to roll on when fighting against the player characters.

The last fifty or so pages are devoted to a series of appendices that cover everything from languages and poisons to names and the fabled ‘Appendix N’, as well as two short scenarios. ‘The Portal Under the Stars’ is designed for Zero and First Level characters and sees them enter a supernatural portal and delve into the burial tomb of an ancient war-wizard. It is followed by ‘The Infernal Crucible of Sezrekan the Mad’, an adventure for Fifth Level characters in which the experienced player characters enter one of the workshops of the notorious sage, diabolist, and warlock, Sezrekan, who was obsessed with attaining immortality. Both scenarios are relatively short if deadly affairs that that are accorded plenty of detail and flavour. They also previously appeared in the DCC RPG Free RPG Day Adventure Starter released for Free RPG Day 2011 and reviewed here. In addition, certain editions of the game have a copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics #66.5: Doom of the Savage Kings inserted inside the front cover. Designed for First Level characters, this has them visit the village of Hirot which of late has become besieged an immortal hound, a devil-beast that hunts the inhabitants of the settlement. It can be played by Zero Level characters, but will be even deadlier than the ‘The Portal Under the Stars’. Unlike ‘The Portal Under the Stars’ and ‘The Infernal Crucible of Sezrekan the Mad’, Doom of the Savage Kings is much more of a full scenario than a simple dungeon delve and serves as a good adventure for First Level characters and the Judge new to the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

Physically, the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, despite being almost five hundred pages long, is surprisingly light in the hand. A wholly black and white hardback, what strikes the reader about the volume is that it is profusely illustrated, not quite one illustration per page, but certainly not far off. Every one of these illustrations is drawn by artists familiar to the Old School Renaissance – Jeff Dee, Jeff Easely, Jim Holloway, Erol Otus, Jim Roslof, and more. Many of the pieces delightfully illustrate the text and all of them invoke not just the Old School style, but also the look of the core three books of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons – the Monster Manual, the Player’s Handbook, and the Dungeon Master’s Guide; the latter in particular with its little cartoons that dig at the mores of Dungeons & Dragons. In addition, the cartography for all three adventures is excellent.

On the downside, the book lacks an index and that is inexcusable in this century and age, especially given how often a Judge needs to refer to the contents of the book. The Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game is not a complex game by any means, but it makes heavy use of charts – and often, especially if one of the player characters is a Cleric, an Elf, or a Wizard when every casting of a spell requires the consultation of a particular chart. This is more an issue than the need to purchase special dice in order to get the most out of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, but there are ways around this whereas there are no means given to play the game without the charts. Nor though, would you want to. The charts and the tables are fundamental to handling both the high and the low points of combat and both the high and the low points of casting spells. Nor are the charts just mechanically important, as they add both flavour and feel aplenty to the game’s play.

Whilst the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game is not an Old School Retroclone per se, it is a love letter to the Old School. This shows in the choice of artists, the use of the fundamentals of Dungeons & Dragons’ architecture – the character Classes, the spells, and so on, and in what by modern standards is an imbalance between one character and another. This imbalance can be as simple as better core Abilities for one character and not another, but it also shows up in the differences between the Classes. For example, the Warrior is a consistently powerful Class with its Mighty Deed of Arms capability, whereas the spell casting Classes are powerful, there are also debilitating constraints to the use of magic, whether it is the chance of mishaps and Corruption for the Wizard or the possibility of disapproval by his deity for the Cleric. That said, when roleplayed, these are entertaining aspects of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game.

As the first major publisher to delve into the Old School Renaissance with the Dungeon Crawl Classics line, Goodman Games was best placed to publish a roleplaying game like the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. There is no doubting that it would have been easy for Goodman Games to publish just another Retroclone, but in the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, Goodman Games did something different. It designed and published an Old School style RPG that draws on the same sources as Dungeons & Dragons, but yet stands on its own mechanically, thematically, and tonally. As much as there is the familiarity of both Dungeons & Dragons and the d20 System to the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, the differences in terms of its mechanics, its themes, and its tone all serve to give the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game an engagingly brutal charm.

Read More

What killed Dungeons & Dragons?

It is difficult to approach 13th Age without a sense of hyperbole. In effect, Rob Heinsoo and Jonathon Tweet, respectively the designers of Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition and Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition have backstabbed their respective editions of Dungeons & Dragons, taken the corpses of both and revivified the choicest cuts with action and drama. Where Dungeons & Dragons – and most variants and retro-clones – are perhaps a little staid in their play style, 13th Age is a d20 System variant is written to be anything but that… It employs streamlined mechanics and choices in play to speed the play of the game and it employs mechanics that actively work to engage the player characters in both the setting and the story. In effect it takes the war game simulation origins of Dungeons & Dragons and sacrifices them on the altar of dramatic action and storytelling. Although it very much has the underlying architecture and many of the elements of the archetypal Dungeons & Dragons game, 13th Age is what would have happened if Dungeons & Dragons got its arse handed to itself by Feng Shui and its corpse was stamped on by Dungeon World. 

Hyperbole aside, 13th Age is a Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG unlike anything that that ‘style’ in gaming has ever seen. What it brings to Dungeons & Dragons are contemporary mechanics that encourage storytelling as part of the game’s play that combine the best features of the last two official versions of Dungeons & Dragons – and it does this before we have the next official version, D&D Next. Published by Pelgrane Press, better known for its GUMSHOE System family of games, including Trail of Cthulhu, Ashen Stars, and Night’s Black Agents, 13th Age just might be everyone’s next fantasy heartbreaker.

At the heart of 13th Age are three core elements that change Dungeons & Dragons as we know it – Icons, “One Unique Thing”, and Backgrounds. The setting does not have gods as such, but thirteen Icons, each a being or personality that shapes part of world. They drive and direct the events of the world, and include the Archmage, the Crusader, the Diabolist, the Dwarf King, the Elf Queen, the Emperor, the Great Gold Wyrm, the High Druid, the Lich King, the Orc Lord, the Priestess, the Prince of Shadows, and the Three – the latter being ancient evil Dragons. In another setting they might be Sauron or Vecna, Elminster or Gandalf, Conan or Drizz’t Do’urden, Orcus or Tiamat, and so on, but either way, each player character has relationship with one, two, or three of the Icons. Each relationship can be Positive, Conflicted, or Negative depending upon how many points are assigned to it and will further vary depending upon if the Icon’s nature is Heroic, Ambiguous, or Villainous. Before each session each player will roll for his Icon relationships to see if one or more will somehow influence the events of the forthcoming session. As a player character progresses from First Level up to the maximum of Tenth Level, the strength of his Icon relationships will also grow, whether becoming an Icon’s champion, enemy, and so on, or indeed as is inferred by 13th Age, eventually supplanting the Icon. The question is, would such a change inaugurate the 14th Age?

One further influence that the Icons have on any setting is that they replace the Dungeons & Dragons sacred cow that is Alignment. Without the presence of Alignment in the game, 13th Age has no need for player characters to select it or to have spells that work with it, such as Detect Evil or Protection from Good. Whether or not an Icon or an NPC is ‘Lawful Good’ or ‘Chaotic Evil’ is down to the story that the GM and his players are gaming. Of course it will be obvious that the Great Gold Wyrm is good, that the Diabolist is evil, and so on, but when it comes to the Ambiguous Icons, such as the Crusader, the Dwarf King, the Elf Queen, the High Druid, and the Prince of Shadows as well as occasionally the Emperor and the Three, there is more flexibility in their attitudes and actions. Thus there is also a greater flexibility to telling stories where they are involved. (Of course, the GM and his players are free to re-adopt Dungeons & Dragons’ Alignment system if they want, and it should be noted that 13th Age actually places all of the Icons on an Alignment diagram for such an eventuality.)

Every player character has One Unique Thing, an aspect of his origins or personality that singles him out in the 13th Age. No other character will possess this aspect, and whilst it cannot confer a mechanical benefit of any kind, including a combat benefit, it serves as one big fat story hook for the GM to play with and give that character his moment in the spotlight. For example, “I hear the Music of the Spheres and sometimes it guides my song” or “My true father was not a blacksmith, but the Prince of Shadows who never stayed to raise me.”

13th Age forgoes traditional skills in favour of Backgrounds. Each Background is essentially a flexible package of skills represented by single catch all phrase or word. How each Background works or can be applied in each situation is determined by the agreement of both player and GM. For example, ‘Lady of the Emperor’s Court +4’ would indicate a person with an understanding of etiquette, a head for court politics and intrigues, and who possesses a certain status. Whereas ‘Bounty Hunter +5’ would be able to investigate where his target is, interrogate suspects, track his target, and so on.

Of course, the Icons, the One Unique Things, and the Backgrounds are not the only changes in 13th Age when compared to Dungeons & Dragons, but these changes escalate aspects of the game and how it is played. They lie at the heart of characters in 13th Age. The game gives nine familiar choices for a character’s Race – Dwarves, Dark Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halflings, and Humans plus some further options if the GM wants to add them to his world. Each Race provides a bonus to one of two characteristics – the player’s choice, though the bonus cannot stack with the one gained from his chosen Class – and a Racial Power that a character can use once per battle. For example, a Dwarf has the choice of +2 Con or Wis and receives the Racial Power of ‘That’s Your Best Shot?’ which lets him heal as a Recovery free once per battle.

Similarly, the choice of Classes available will be familiar, but each is different to the familiarity of Dungeons & Dragons. The differences are given up front in a Play Style section for each Class which describes how easy it is to play, who it would appeal to, and so on. Certain elements of each Class are optimised – Armour Class and choice of armour and weapons and choice of weapons for example. Thus the Rogue can wear any armour, but wearing heavy armour or wielding a shield imposes an attack penalty. His optimal choice of Armour is Light which gives him a base Armour Class of 12. The Rogue can use any weapon, but with Martial or Heavy weapons he again accrues an Attack Penalty, so small, light, or simple are a better option. What is interesting is that weapon damage is determined by how well the Class can use it, so that the Rogue is as deadly with his knives or his shortsword as a Fighter is with his longsword. In effect this is dramatic damage rather than simulationist and this only escalates because a character gets a damage die per Level. So a Third Level Rogue would roll not 1d8 for his knife attack damage, but 3d8! 

Every Class has its selection of Powers and Talents, many of which a player can enhance though his choice of Feats. Both Talents and their accompanying Feats come in three levels – Adventurer, Champion, and Epic – and barring the general Feats, every Feat serves to enhance one of a character’s Powers or Talents. The selection of Powers and Talents available varies in number and complexity from one Class to the next and 13th Age is again quite open about which Classes are more complex than others, from the simple Barbarian and Paladin Classes to the complex Bard and Wizard Classes. At the heart of each Class is a singular feature that only members of that Class can do in 13th Age. For example, the Barbarian can Rage once per day – more if certain Feats are selected – allowing him to roll two twenty-sided dice in combat and if both roll eleven plus and hit, then the attack is a Critical, while the Paladin can ‘Smite Evil’ several times a day to add more damage. In comparison, the Bard sings magical Songs that have initial effects, continuing effects, and a final effect when the song ends. For example, the Song of Spilt Blood levies a penalty against a Bard’s attackers equal to the number of his allies with greater Hit Points than the Bard when first sung and sustained, and then grants the Bard or an ally a heal using a Recovery when it is ended. The Wizard can of course cast arcane spells, whether that is Cantrips, Cyclic spells that can be cast from one battle to the next, and Ritual spells that can take hours to cast, but have a greater effect. The complexity of the Class comes in knowing when to cast what spell and in taking the right Talents and Feats to customise the Wizard according to the player’s design.

Of the other Classes, the Cleric possesses Domains and can modify some of his spells for broad or power effect and the Fighter can use flexible attacks called Manoeuvres that are triggered under certain circumstances, the player selecting which one to be triggered. The Ranger focuses on Talents that might for example make him a better archer, an expert tracker, or give him an Animal Companion, whilst the Rogue has a Sneak Attack and Trap Sense as well as Momentum, which is gained and lost in battle and then spent to fuel the Class’ Powers. Lastly the Sorcerer gets spells, but can also re-use Breath Weapon spells over the course of a battle, chain spells to attack multiple opponents from round to round, and can Gather Power to cast double-strength spells, amongst other Powers. At first it might seem that in creating a character has a lack of choice when it comes to the selection of Talents and Powers, but 13th Age does not so much restrict a player’s choice as focus it, enabling a player to better define the character that he wants and what he wants his character to do.

Our sample player character is a Dwarf and a Barbarian – the simplest of the Classes available in 13th Age. In keeping with that simplicity, his Backgrounds and his One Unique Thing pretty much define Fandor whilst leaving room for further detail to come up in play. Plus whatever the GM comes up with…

Fangor
Dwarf; First Level Barbarian
Str 18  (+4) Dex 15 (+2) Con 17 (+3)
Int 12 (+1) Wis 08 (-1) Chr 13 (+1)

Hit Points: 30 Armour Class: 15 (Ankheg Hide)
Physical Defence: 14 Mental Defence: 12
Recovery Die: d10 Recoveries: 8
Initiative Modifier: +3
Melee Attack: +5 (Orc F’ckin’ Kleaver 1d10+4 damage)
Ranged Attack: +3 (Orc Bone Bow 1d8+2 damage)
Feats: Barbarian Rage (Adventurer), That’s Your Best Shot?
Talents: Building Frenzy, Unstoppable, Whirlwind

Icon Relationships: The Dwarf King (+2), The Orc Lord (-1)
One Unique Thing: “I am Fangor, son of Fandin the last son of lost Second Host of the Forge; and the adopted son of the Orc Lord, Zildak, and I have fought my way out of the Underhome and  beyond – and will fight my way back in!”
Backgrounds: Master of the Forge +2, Orc Pit Fighter +4, Underhome Refugee +2

Although there is flexibility in designing a character within the limits of his Class, what 13th Age does not allow a character to do is Multi-Class. This is not a wholly slaying of a classic Dungeons & Dragons sacred cow, for a future supplement will give the rules for it, plus some Class’ Talents allow the Class to use certain aspects of another Class. For example, the Paladin can select one of the Domains from the Cleric Class, whilst the Sorcerer has access to lower Level Wizard’s spells.

Combat in 13th Age is also streamlined and focused to speed up play. In addition to the simplified choice of weapons and armour per Class and the increased damage a character does as he rises in Level, a character also does damage when he misses – usually half damage, which means that a character is always doing something, just not always effectively! This works well when facing Mooks where their damage is listed as big block for all of them and as damage is done to their Hit Points, a Mook is lost from the pack. Range and position are also simplified; this by abstracting what would be a map in Dungeons & Dragons to three range bands – Engaged, Nearby, and Far Away. Characters are more freely allowed to move around the battlefield, with some Talents and Feats, such as the High Elves’ ‘Highblood Teleport’ Racial Power almost encouraging it. 

As well as simplifying combat, 13th Age also intensifies it with the Escalation Die. This is a six-sided die placed in the midst of the table on the second round of a combat. It is initially set at one and on each subsequent round it is increased by one until it reaches six. What the Escalation Die represents is the momentum of a battle, driving it forward to a climatic outcome. It can be de-escalated if the player characters do not really engage with the enemy, but as long as the Escalation Die keeps rising, the player characters receive a number of benefits from it. First, a player character always receives a bonus to his Attack roll equal to the value on the Escalation Die, but second, the Escalation Die can trigger certain Powers. For example, as a Barbarian, Fandor can Rage once per day, but because he has the Barbarian Rage Feat at Adventurer level, he can Rage for free if the Escalation Die is four or more – and this gets better if he takes the same Feat at Champion and Epic levels!

13th Age takes two approaches to magic. First it divides magic items into two types. One-use items that a character purchase, such as potions, oils, and runes, and ‘true’ magic items that are amazing and rare and therefore special. The latter are not only special, but like the intelligent swords of Dungeons & Dragons, actually have an influence over the wearer or user, particularly if the character wields too many items. For example, the Boots of Ferocious Charge has the quirk of “You like to start fights as much as you like to finish them”. Simply, a character can own and use one ‘true’ magic item per level. Beyond that and the character is in trouble… Second, just as each Class has a limited range of Talents to choose from, so all spell casters have a limited number of spells to choose from, but their spells get better at higher level as they learn to cast the higher Level versions rather than the lower ones. So at First Level, a Wizard can cast five First Level spells, and then six at Second Level, but at Third Level, he can cast three First Level spells and four Third Level spells. This progression continues as he rises from First to Tenth Level, so that at Tenth Level, he can cast three spells of Seventh Level and nine of Ninth Level.

One effect of the limited number of spells available to the Wizard Class is that it loses a lot of the spells from Dungeons & Dragons that do not inflict damage, for example, Feather Fall, Hold Portal, and Levitate. What 13th Age does instead is amalgamate all of these spells into one single Utility Spell. This gives the Wizard access to a number of non-combat spells that grow with the Level of the caster and further, the Wizard chooses the effect that he wants when he casts the spell rather than when he takes the spell. Similarly, the Wizard’s cantrips and rituals are intended to be as versatile in their use, this being limited by the player’s imagination and the GM’s agreement.

Roughly half of 13th Age is devoted to supporting the GM. This includes advice and rules on handling the storytelling elements of the Icons; building battle encounters – at higher levels, they are intentionally unfair, or ‘challenging’; and handling healing. Characters can take a quick rest after a battle to heal using Recoveries and even recharge some Powers, but more dramatically, the GM decides when a Full Heal-Up occurs and everything is restored and if the players demand one, the GM can impose a Campaign Loss, the latter something that will hinder the player characters in some way… 

It should be noted though that the fact that the player characters can heal themselves with the use of Recoveries divorces 13th Age of the need to construct the player character party along traditional lines. No longer is there the need to have a party consist of a Cleric, a Fighter, a Thief (or Rogue), and a Wizard. Thus it also divorces it away from the obvious need to have four players or more in a party, so 13th Age has the capacity to work with smaller as well as larger groups.

Another sacred cow that 13th Age sacrifices is Experience Points. Indeed, the authors’ opinions are that XP are better left to computer games! Instead, the characters should ‘Level Up’ when it is dramatically appropriate, plus they should each receive an Incremental Advance at the end of each successful session, such as a bonus to an attribute, a new Feat, or a new or altered Icon Relationship.

Characters in 13th Age need something to fight and unsurprisingly, they come in the form of monsters. There are no surprises when it comes to the choice of monsters included and to be honest, there is no reason for there to be. The monsters are all very traditional – dragons, goblins, skeletons, what have you, but all are presented with the minimum of fuss and the minimum degree of detail. More detail would just have got in the way… Every monster though is associated with one of the Icons, which enables the GM to tailor his choice of monsters to the Icon Relationships selected by the players and to the Icon Relationships that come up in play. The sparse simplicity of the monster stats in 13th Age make them easy to use and customise as well as prepare for an adventure.

The setting of 13th Age – The Dragon Empire, is given in broad swathes, leaving room aplenty for the GM to add his details. What is given in terms of setting tends towards the dynamic, for example, gladiatorial games regularly take place in the Dragon Empire’s capital, Axis, City of Swords, including a boardgame played with living pieces; there are numerous flying realms in the overworld above The Dragon Empire and demon-infested Hellholes transformed by the Diabolist that beg to be explored; and a ruined coastline of castles, cities, and villages that are regularly assaulted by tsunamis and inhuman aberrations coming in from the Iron Sea. What matters here is not the day-to-day lives of the natives of The Dragon Empire, but where the player characters can adventure. Rounding out 13th Age is an adventure, ‘Blood & Lightning’, which is specifically designed to introduce the players to Icon Relationships and combat 13th Age style.

Physically, 13th Age is a full colour hard back, neatly illustrated and laid out. The writing style is again unlike any Dungeons & Dragons rulebook that you can think of; it is light, conversational, and throughout takes time to step away from the rules to talk directly not only to the GM, but also the players about various elements of the game. Further, where another rulebook would maintain a single voice, 13th Age allows both authors to speak about how each approaches each rule or how they run it in their campaigns. Overall, whilst you might not want this with every RPG, here it is engaging and often it gives a slight alternative to a given rule. One final, very pleasing touch is the combination of the index and the glossary into one and it is very effective, quickly recapping the rule and giving its page number elsewhere in the book.

Given all of the hyperbole so far placed at the 13th Age’s feet, it is really quite difficult to identify issues that count against it, but in the interests of some semblance of balance, here goes… Whilst 13th Age is very much written for anyone who is familiar with Dungeons & Dragons and the d20 System, such that it is very easy for them to pick this game up and play, it does not serve those who are less familiar or even new to roleplaying as well. Primarily this shows in the lack of an example of character generation and in an example of play, though there is an example of combat given somewhat later in the book. Mechanically, it seems rather odd for a classic Dungeons & Dragons-style game not to include the Druid Class, especially given that one of the Icons is the High Druid. Another Class not present is the Monk, but this is less of an issue, and anyway, both Classes will be presented in a future supplement. That said, once the Monk is presented it would be nice to see it accompanied by some cinematic style rules or mechanics, perhaps in the Wuxia style, to reflect the Class’ Oriental origins; and if so accompanied, perhaps such rules could be expanded to cover the other Classes in 13th Age too?

13th Age can be best described as the first post Dungeons & Dragons, Fourth Edition ‘Dungeons & Dragons’-style RPG. It is a Dungeons & Dragons-style RPG that looks to contemporary sensibilities rather than looking back to 1974 and it does so in three primary ways. First, it takes account of the fact that most roleplayers have less time to play, offering optimised character design, easier encounter and monster design, and faster, much faster combat. Second, it takes account that in playing a roleplaying game we are telling stories, with the Icon Relationships that tie the characters to the setting and their use to improvise elements of the on-going story, and the use of the familiar advice to ‘Fail Forward’ and reinterpret a character’s near failure as a success with consequences. Third, the game wants the characters to be ‘great’, not necessarily to be heroic, but to have their moment in the spotlight, and this again is supported by the Icon Relationships as well as the mechanics that escalates both what each character is capable of and the challenges that he will face. The resulting combination of these three ways is a game that is AD&D – ‘Action Dungeons & Dragons’ or perhaps DD&D – ‘Dramatic Dungeons & Dragons’, but whatever you call it, in summing up 13th Age it is difficult to avoid the clichés; so I am not going to… Thus Dungeons & Dragons and its staid playing style is dead, because in taking the familiar architecture and elements of Dungeons & Dragons Pelgrane Press’ 13th Age not only makes them its own, it also energises fantasy roleplaying up to eleven.

Read More