13th Age 2e: Gamemaster's Guide

This reference guide for GMs includes additional information on the rules included in the Heroes' Handbook, as well as advice for running adventures and campaigns, setting material for the Dragon Empire, monsters, treasure, and a new introductory adventure. “Our goal with 13th Age is to recapture the free-wheeling style of old-school gaming by creating a game with more soul and fewer technical details. …13th Age makes the play group’s campaign the center of attention, with a toolkit of rules that you can pick and choose from based on the kind of game you want to play. The mechanics draw from classic games as well as newer, story-based games.” – Jonathan Tweet, co-designer Wide Open Stories An evocative setting that’s deliberately half-designed so that you and your players can customize it for your campaign. Each player character is connected to one or more icons, high-fantasy archetypes such as the Archmage, Lich King, or Prince of Shadows, which gives them a place in the world’s story, even at 1st level. Crunchier Crunch Streamlined combat rules harness the good bits of crunchy tactical combat without ticky-tacky measurements. Innovations like the escalation die ensure that battles crescendo instead of getting bogged down. Each character class has its own unique features, advantages, and play style. In this Gamemaster’s Guide, you’ll find: The Dragon Empire, ready to embellish and reimagine for your campaign. Guidelines to help you set up memorable campaigns, perilous adventures, and challenging battles. Hundreds of monsters, newly revised to highlight each creature’s unique place in the ecology of heroic fantasy battles. Hundreds of redesigned magic items for when the heroes earn loot that matters…or when you want to equip monsters with magic weapons! An introductory adventure that shows how to work with heroes’ backstories, develop icon connections, and run a living dungeon filled with surprising encounters. You’ll also want the 13th Age Heroes’ Handbook for the nine different character classes, info about each of the icons, and other core rules a GM has gotta know, or buy both together with a GM Screen in a boxed set! This new second edition is fully compatible with earlier 13th Age adventures, sourcebooks, and bestiaries. Read more