13th Age: Dark Empire (Revised setting ideas)

Started by eternaldarkness, June 18, 2015, 03:19:23 AM

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PaleEnchantress

So far its necromancer, occultist, chaos mage, and ranger?
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eternaldarkness

#76
Quote from: PaleEnchantress on August 11, 2015, 07:07:31 PM
So far its necromancer, occultist, chaos mage, and ranger?

And Avenger when Shadowfox gets done.

Edit: And Crash's Eldritch Knight

I redid Hakon's BG's too, since you guys were so inspiring:

Backgrounds: Tutored by the Lich King 3
Hakon is the Lich King's namesake and great grandson, and like all the members of his bloodline he has an affinity for arcane magic, especially necromancy. Hakon has extensive knowledge of Arcane lore in general with a specialty in necromancy, since he was taught by the originator of the art.

Acolyte Priest of Atropo, Goddess of Endings 1
Before his wanderings, Hakon studied briefly at the Cathedral in Santa Cora, and was ordained as a priest of Atropo, the goddess of endings, though he was never very religiously inclined.

Aura of the Future King 4
It is written in the stars that someday Hakon will ascend to his throne as a mighty king, and others can sense the weight of destiny on him. It pulls them in like fish caught in a net and makes them inclined to obey his commands and heed his words no matter how they feel about him. This is especially effective on Dragons, though creatures who respect no human ruler such as orcs, demons and devils are unaffected.

PaleEnchantress

Quote from: eternaldarkness on August 11, 2015, 07:15:32 PM
And Avenger when Shadowfox gets done.

Edit: And Crash's Eldritch Knight

I redid Hakon's BG's too, since you guys were so inspiring:

Backgrounds: Tutored by the Lich King 3
Hakon is the Lich King's namesake and great grandson, and like all the members of his bloodline he has an affinity for arcane magic, especially necromancy. Hakon has extensive knowledge of Arcane lore in general with a specialty in necromancy, since he was taught by the originator of the art.

Acolyte Priest of Atropo, Goddess of Endings 1
Before his wanderings, Hakon studied briefly at the Cathedral in Santa Cora, and was ordained as a priest of Atropo, the goddess of endings, though he was never very religiously inclined.

Aura of the Future King 4
It is written in the stars that someday Hakon will ascend to his throne as a mighty king, and others can sense the weight of destiny on him. It pulls them in like fish caught in a net and makes them inclined to obey his commands and heed his words no matter how they feel about him. This is especially effective on Dragons, though creatures who respect no human ruler such as orcs, demons and devils are unaffected.

Oooh great reads! What kind of class is Avenger?  I think this may be a group who relies on control and minions for "tanking"  so we are a 6 person group? cool.
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eternaldarkness

I anticipate losing a few people after the first few weeks of the game, so I recruited a few extra. If everyone stays, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Avenger is a single-target damage class focused on accuracy and locking down a tough target then swording their ass to death.

ShadowFox89

Call me Shadow
My A/A

Crash

My EK will be heavily defensive focused forcing foes to fight her and warding others.  Should be different for me and fun.  I will try to get most of her finished tonight.  I have night work tomorrow, funeral Thursday, Tabletop RPG Friday and the beach on Sunday so I will be busy this weekend.

"Sorry, you must survive at least 3 games with me before we can chat like this."
Congratulations, you've unlocked Flirtatious Crash! - Envious

PaleEnchantress

Eternal darkness can help me fill in the important details of the flat personality expendable npc beefcake that follows me around, like "is he more a nearly naked monk" or "is he more nearly naked barbarian?"
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eternaldarkness

Quote from: PaleEnchantress on August 11, 2015, 07:48:01 PM
Eternal darkness can help me fill in the important details of the flat personality expendable npc beefcake that follows me around, like "is he more a nearly naked monk" or "is he more nearly naked barbarian?"

Nearly naked barbarian, most likely.

eternaldarkness

#83
So far, we have three deities known in the setting just from backgrounds: Atropo the Lifecutter who brings the end of life so that it may begin anew, Dark Mother Cybelee who shapes the raw living flesh thus created into lifeforms pleasing to her, and Oinari of the Bountiful Harvest, who guides and guards the mortal races until their ends come.

These three goddesses were not originally related, or even part of the same pantheon (Oinari followed her Kitsune children to Midgard from the Jade Empire, far across the sea to the east, and Cybelee comes from the frozen Northlands beyond the Frost Range mountains following in the wake of the orcs who worship her alongside their war god) but they have since joined forces to advance their own collective interests and for mutual defense against their enemies.

The three goddesses have a stronghold in the overworked, based on their ever-moving cloud kingdom called Arcadia where the souls of their devout followers go to receive their just rewards according to their piety in life and the whims of their goddesses. It is relatively easy for a mortal to find Arcadia, but once there gaining audience with any of the goddesses is quite a bit harder and potentially hazardous.

It is worth noting that priests and followers of the goddesses usually get along and cooperate for the greater good, often even sharing temples and shrines, but that conflicts and schisms are not unknown both between and within the faiths.

eternaldarkness

For a good example of what a multiclassed character looks like, look at Hakon. He's a Necromancer/Commander. Cuz he's the boss (for now).

Crash

I am thinking of these backgrounds for my EK.  In order of oldest to most recent background.

Backgrounds:

Maiden of the Fallen Stars: 2

Maerwen was a Handmaiden to Queen Sidera before her betrayal of the Court of Stars.  The Handmaidens were adept at courtly duties and trained in etiquette and diplomacy.  The more capable of the maidens were used as ambassadors to other kingdoms and some say spies.  Only those Maidens that were away from the Court of Stars escaped the massacre.  Possible Skills include Speak Elvish, Diplomacy, Knowledge (Ettiquette), Knowledge (Nobility), Sense Motive

Scholar of Lost Souls: 2

Driven by despair and vengeance Maerwen used her arcane knowledge to delve into the dead realms.  She studied with the Death Priests of Callowell, the Orcish Nightwitches and the ancient texts of Elven Shadowseers trying to understand the nature of death in hopes of reconciling the pain and loss within herself before the necromancers of the Lich King offered a way to ease her pain and gather a measure of revenge against her former Queen.  Possible Uses: Spellcraft, Knowledge (Arcane), Knowledge (Theology)...etc...

Knight of the Eternal Chorus:  4

The Knights of the Eternal Chorus guard the mausoleums and graveyards of the Lich King’s kingdom.  They are tasked with the continuous song of lamentations that keep the dead at peace when not called upon by the necromancers of the Lich King.  The Knights of the Eternal Chorus have a reverence for the dead and the positive energy, sentient undead who exist within the kingdom.  The Eternal Chorus are chosen from the ranks of Death Knights that make up the Lich Kings personal guard and as such have been trained in skills such as Performance (Song), Riding, Intimidate, Perception.

"Sorry, you must survive at least 3 games with me before we can chat like this."
Congratulations, you've unlocked Flirtatious Crash! - Envious

eternaldarkness

Crash, those look like solid Backgrounds from my first reading. They add to the setting and we're fun to read, and give a good idea what they generally cover. Thumbs up.

Crash

Okay I need to write up her background and formalize her relationships with the icons and I should have here character sheet done.  Maybe By Saturday night I am thinking.

"Sorry, you must survive at least 3 games with me before we can chat like this."
Congratulations, you've unlocked Flirtatious Crash! - Envious

eternaldarkness

Quote from: Crash on August 11, 2015, 10:50:05 PM
Okay I need to write up her background and formalize her relationships with the icons and I should have here character sheet done.  Maybe By Saturday night I am thinking.

No hurry. So you guys know, if you have your characters basics down you can hop in the main story thread and roleplay until everyone's done. Nothing combat-wise will happen, and in the unlikely event something absolutely must be rolled and your sheet isn't done, we'll figure it out.

If you are done, though, post your sheet in the character thread so I know who we're waiting on.

PaleEnchantress

Aaha you went commander? And I thought I was the premiere leader type of the group (Mechanics wise). Do you think your Con score might get in the way? Before I went Occultist quite a few multi classes were looking good
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eternaldarkness

Quote from: PaleEnchantress on August 11, 2015, 11:10:37 PM
Aaha you went commander? And I thought I was the premiere leader type of the group (Mechanics wise). Do you think your Con score might get in the way? Before I went Occultist quite a few multi classes were looking good

I've used this build before. Con isn't an issue because you're never in melee unless you fuck up horribly.

PaleEnchantress

Quote from: eternaldarkness on August 11, 2015, 11:15:19 PM
I've used this build before. Con isn't an issue because you're never in melee unless you fuck up horribly.

Ah, I thought commander practically had to meele. Cool that it isn't the case.  I posted my charsheet and might start on an IC post, not sure if it will be finished tonight.

I wanted to ask, when we level up you're cool with a bit of retraining? Like move a background point, swap a feat out, maybe change a icon relationship point. Im quite pleased with my character at the moment but it's very possible something wont be as fun or useful as I thought it was or I might want to try something a bit different.  Also you're cool with helping us make custom feats? I've got nothing particular in mind at the moment but i expect experiencing the gameplay will get me scheming.

13th age is a very unique change for me. In D&D I'm quite an optimizer and a big part of that is that I need to use various tricks and synergies to be able to do what I want to do. I'm not satisfied if my character doesn't have the the proper feats/abilities/scores/skill/whatever to accomplish what I have in mind. Part of its charm is I do have a bunch of things that can interact and show the mechanics of how I can control people by influencing their dreams or whatever.

13th age has neither the need nor ability to be an exercise in number crunching. Normally I tend to hate systems people hail for being "Balanced" because they are boring as hell. Also anytime I hear someone  something like "I'm a role player not a roll player, lol" I want to spend some quality time introducing them to water torture. 13th age is wonderfully different though because the simple rules aren't simple to limit your options, but to expand them.  Its a backdrop that lets everyone work out what they want and get there. Its a great system for DMPC's too since a lot of story telling power is in the other players. The DMPC will have lots to work with that isn't just stuff planned out from their own head.
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eternaldarkness

#92
Don't worry, you get to retrain one thing every level, and shifting Talents and Backgrounds/icon relationships, or having them grow and change organically is exactly what I intend to have happen. I can already tell you that unless the players intervene, Icons will change, Hakon will be a king, and the 13th Age will be the last age. You all know this IC too, especially our Occultist and Chaos Mage - they can feel and see the weight of destiny hanging over Hakon and the rest of the party like a Sword of Damocles.

Speaking of Hakon, he's pretty much just a walking plot token. His effectiveness depends entirely on the rest of you, and what he does will depend on what you all would have him do. Mechanically, he's just there for support - make everyone better just by being there, without doing a lot himself.

At the end of the intro, you'll get one chance to make any changes you want too. Nothing is finalized until you reach Shadow Port, so think of the current chapter as a tutorial.

Crash

Quote from: PaleEnchantress on August 11, 2015, 11:50:36 PM
Ah, I thought commander practically had to meele. Cool that it isn't the case.  I posted my charsheet and might start on an IC post, not sure if it will be finished tonight.

I wanted to ask, when we level up you're cool with a bit of retraining? Like move a background point, swap a feat out, maybe change a icon relationship point. Im quite pleased with my character at the moment but it's very possible something wont be as fun or useful as I thought it was or I might want to try something a bit different.  Also you're cool with helping us make custom feats? I've got nothing particular in mind at the moment but i expect experiencing the gameplay will get me scheming.

13th age is a very unique change for me. In D&D I'm quite an optimizer and a big part of that is that I need to use various tricks and synergies to be able to do what I want to do. I'm not satisfied if my character doesn't have the the proper feats/abilities/scores/skill/whatever to accomplish what I have in mind. Part of its charm is I do have a bunch of things that can interact and show the mechanics of how I can control people by influencing their dreams or whatever.

13th age has neither the need nor ability to be an exercise in number crunching. Normally I tend to hate systems people hail for being "Balanced" because they are boring as hell. Also anytime I hear someone  something like "I'm a role player not a roll player, lol" I want to spend some quality time introducing them to water torture. 13th age is wonderfully different though because the simple rules aren't simple to limit your options, but to expand them.  Its a backdrop that lets everyone work out what they want and get there. Its a great system for DMPC's too since a lot of story telling power is in the other players. The DMPC will have lots to work with that isn't just stuff planned out from their own head.

Huh.  Role players and not Roll Players are exactly the kind of players I prefer to GM and RP with.  I won't insult the Min/Maxers with water boarding but maybe this isn't a game for me.

"Sorry, you must survive at least 3 games with me before we can chat like this."
Congratulations, you've unlocked Flirtatious Crash! - Envious

eternaldarkness

#94
Quote from: Crash on August 12, 2015, 07:44:44 AM
Huh.  Role players and not Roll Players are exactly the kind of players I prefer to GM and RP with.  I won't insult the Min/Maxers with water boarding but maybe this isn't a game for me.

I find it pretentious and more than a little bit elitist to say crap like that, mainly because there's a lot of baked-in assumptions in saying it. First being that wanting to play a game well (because an RPG is a game, its right there in the name) makes you bad. The second assumption is that one cannot be a good role player while also enjoying and being good at the game part; one does not preclude the other. The idea that it does is a myth made up by people who want to feel superior to others, but the truth is those are often the people who have the least impact on the narrative because they tend to be bad at the game side - the part that has a big effect on the narrative (this is less true with 13th age since everyone gets ways to affect the narrative directly).

Not to mention the fact that it's insulting to people who put forth the effort to learn a systems ins and outs and translate an idea into stats. It's a lot of work and a labor of love for even the worst of power gamers. If we didn't care, we wouldn't bother - we'd just go play videogames (yes, I consider myself a power gamer.) And say screw these stupid nerd games. Powergamers are your allies, not your enemies. A writer makes a great story and the artist a pretty picture, but its the mechanic - the engineer - who can bring those words and images to life and make them move. It is the same with rpg's - you can say you're the world's greatest swordsman all day long, but if the numbers on your sheet say otherwise and you keep losing to mooks, you aren't.

So what I'm saying is this: leave if you want. Personally, i would prefer you stayed because i think you have a lot to contribute. But if you leave, do so informed, and next time you hear someone spout that 'role play vs. roll play' malarky, give a thought to my spiel above.

Dhi

13th Age for me was the spiritual successor to D&D 4E with an addition of narrative game elements like Icons, OUT, and improv-based character powers. It took a game I already enjoyed and evolved it more in a direction I like, a direction WotC would never be in a position to do themselves.

Of all the complaints I saw leveled at 4E, and there have been a lot out there on the untamed vistas of the internet, the most common was that it was too gamey, too bolted down in its assumptions for the sake of game balance. It's interesting that our perceptions of the system could be so different; to me it's almost 4E with the serial numbers filed off.

Crash

#96
Oh I understand both sides of Roll Play vs Role Play (I see it as more of a gradient than an absolute). I simply lean towards the Role play side of things as a preference and do not consider myself a power gamer so I will bow out.  Enjoy, 13th Age is a really fun game I am sure you will all enjoy it.

"Sorry, you must survive at least 3 games with me before we can chat like this."
Congratulations, you've unlocked Flirtatious Crash! - Envious

eternaldarkness

Quote from: Crash on August 12, 2015, 12:14:59 PM
Oh I understand both sides of Roll Play vs Role Play (I see it as more of a gradient than an absolute). I simply lean towards the Role play side of things as a preference and do not consider myself a power gamer so I will bow out.  Enjoy, 13th Age is a really fun game I am sure you will all enjoy it.

Alright man, happy gaming.

ShadowFox89

>Can't player 13th age because you're not a power gamer

Eternal, have you ever known me to be GOOD at mechanics? :P

My only day off today, so I'm working on EVERYTHING that I need to do for all my games.
Call me Shadow
My A/A

eternaldarkness

Quote from: ShadowFox89 on August 12, 2015, 01:21:12 PM
>Can't player 13th age because you're not a power gamer

Eternal, have you ever known me to be GOOD at mechanics? :P

My only day off today, so I'm working on EVERYTHING that I need to do for all my games.

You have a tendency to be enthusiastic about making characters that are good at what you intend them to be good at, so I'd say you're pretty good at making characters that are fun to play and play with, which is really what's important.