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Re-remembering the Dragon Empire
My work rhythm for this week has been to work on game design for an hour, then read ten minutes. So I'm always going to associate this final week of preparing the first playtest packet of 13th Age 2E...
View Article13th Age 2E playtest timing: Tomorrow or Tuesday...
We've got the chapters together except for some adjustments in Monsters. I should finish that creative and editorial work tomorrow, and that should mean that the Mailchimp packet can go out to people...
View Article13th Age 2E packet going out on Wednesday
It's done, and formatted. I'm showing it to Pelgrane and peeps to catch any glaring errors as I figure out Mail Chimp's current configuration and add newcomers to the playtest list. I think giant...
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Speeding Up, Letting Go, What the Hell
For a person who always loved games, it took me too long to learn that I'd be able to play more often if everyone enjoyed playing with me. I wasn't a bad loser, or an intolerably bad winner. I was...
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Three-Dragon Ante: Giants War Notes & Variants
Three-Dragon Ante: Giants War is an expansion of Three-Dragon Ante, just out from WizKids. (Earlier blog post here.) The set plays off D&D’s story of an ancient war between dragons and giants. Most...
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Alphabet Prime Music: Ada Sings Aie Aie Aie
My Alphabet Prime playlist has 200+ songs that at one point in time, and probably for a lot longer than that, were my favorite songs. It's a playlist of music I listened to over and over that I'm still...
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13th Age 2E Playtest Update
The 13th Age 2E playtest is rolling, with a lot of feedback coming in already on the first playtest packet. I’m still welcoming in new folks, though I’ve fallen a bit behind on that front and have some...
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EN World Interview about 13th Age 2E Streaming Monday the 1st of May
13th Age 2E was voted as one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2023! So Jessica Hancock of EN World and I will be spending part of our May Day doing a streaming interview about 2E on the Not DnD...
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Badger Badger Skunk, aka Badgery!
Two years ago on my birthday, I ran a 13th Age game centered on a game-within-a-game, a sport played underground that the gnomes involved called badgerbadgerskunk. It was the 31st session of the...
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Vault of Mini Things!
Last week before our 13th Age 2E playtest, Jonathan handed me a big plastic bag full of Cardboard Heroes. They were mine, the bag I used as D&D minis and Earthdawn minis and The Fantasy Trip minis...
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Heino Heinsoo, 1929-2023
My father, Heino Heinsoo, died last week at the age of nearly-94. The final fall was bad. There were a couple beautiful moments after the fall. Family, friends, and hospice came together to help him...
View Article13th Age 2E early October Update
In the last couple weeks, I spent a bit of time going over Jonathan’s work on the magic item chapter. It’s one of the chapters I’ve managed to digest all the playtest feedback on, and the version...
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The Bard, an intro adventure, and two playtest campaigns: 13th Age 2E progress
It has been a busy month!Kin powers on the Pelgrane website: I’ve been running some of the new kin powers on the Pelgrane Press website. These are powers that may change in the design process. They’re...
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Greg Stafford & the First Copy of D&D
(Young Greg painted for King of Dragon Pass by Stefano Gaudiano) Before you read my story, read the story in Greg's words from the Chaosium blog, February of last year. It's a great story and I was...
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13th Age 2E Beta Playtest Packet is coming in a few weeks
I’m thrilled to say that we are now weeks away from sending out the 13th Age 2E Beta Playtest packet! Highlights of this second draft include:• A thorough revision of the Monsters chapter to better...
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Jonathan Sells Tekumel
We're still working on the Beta Playtest Packet for 2E, as well as arranging art and helping set up the 13th Age Second Edition Kickstarter. . . details to arrive soon! But in the meantime, Jonathan...
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Armello: The Board Game
It’s March 29, 2024, and I’m in the kinda unique position of reporting that a game I had a blast designing has already made a treasure-trove on Kickstarter and still has about a week to roll. It’s...
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Collected Works of Richard Tucholka
Here's another fundraiser from Jonathan Tweet, who is cutting down on stuff while supporting Planned Parenthood. Jonathan says. . . . Richard Tucholka’s games taught me to write game rules with humor...
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A Live 13th Age 2E Kickstarter and a Correction to Ongoing Damage!
The 13th Age Second Edition Kickstarter kicked off yesterday and it's rolling. Blowing through stretch goals is a high-class problem! You can find the page here. What do you do when a multi-year...
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Update on the Ranger and the 13th Age 2E Gamma Playtest Doc
The 13th Age Second EditionKickstarter is rolling strong! I’m working on finishing two pieces that weren’t in the document while Jonathan is refining monsters, cleaning up rules, and going through our...
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13th Age Interview List, Annotated, with a Bit of 4E
Blue Dragon in Battle, 2E art by Simone Bannach The interview list comes first. At the end there's a note about this weekend's 4E interview and streaming game on the GenCon channel! I’ve been busy...
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Link to a Flames Rising Interview and Notes on 13th Age 2E Art
Monica Valentinelli asked some fun questions about 13th Age 2E and I wrote a few long answers. You can find the interview on Flames Rising here. An interview question about how design philosophy might...
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Calling the Ancestors & Faring Forward Bravely
Laura Galli's painting above, from 13th Age 2E, illustrates the icon connection example when a half-orc with a connection to a High Druid averts bloodshed at a harvest festival invaded by (evil) elves...
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13th Age 2E Pages: Little Demons
For the next few weeks, I’m going to share two-page spreads from 13th Age 2E. The images are showing up first as Kickstarter updates. Here in my blog, I’ll post notes on game design and mechanics. If...
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trumpelon Aims to Shoot the Moon
If you play Hearts, you’ll recognize the strategy of the USA’s current White House. The goal of Hearts is to avoid taking points; 1 point for each of the 13 Hearts, 13 points for taking the Queen of...
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