Not DnD: Rob Heinsoo Talks 13th Age 2nd Edition

Designed by lead designers on D&D 3E and 4E, 13th Age was the most anticipated game of the year way back in 2013 right here on EN World. 10 years later it's back with a new edition, and has been voted the 3rd most anticipated game of 2023 by EN World users. Join us as we speak to Rob Heinsoo about this new edition.

Not DnD is a weekly show where Jessica Hancock chats to the creators of tabletop roleplaying games.

You can catch Not DnD every week at 10-pm on our Twitch channel, catch up on past episodes on YouTube, or listen to it as a weekly podcast wherever you get your pods! Past episodes include Dune, Star Trek Adventures, WFRP, Blade Runner, and many more.

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[Blue]

Any news about the kickstarter for the second edition?

A bit of a thread necromancy, but the kickstarter will be starting very soon. It's up, just hasn't been opened.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pelgranepress/13th-age-second-edition-storytelling-action-fantasy-game

 

[SteveC]

This is going to be a first day back for me. Really excited by it.

 

[Zaukrie]

This is going to be a first day back for me. Really excited by it.

Same

 

[Zaukrie]

Same

Even though I've still only read the game

 

[Blue]

Even though I've still only read the game

It's my favorite D&D-like game, including D&D. Not saying it doesn't have it's warts, such as casting is too combat focused for non-Wizards, original monsters were too D&D-based (fixed in the Bestiaries) and it could use better Icon Relationship guidance in the core book, but generally I really enjoy it.

It's going to be two core books, one for players and one for DMs.

 

[Jahydin]

So excited for this!

Glad to see Jonathan Tweet is back designing again too.

 

[Staffan]

It's my favorite D&D-like game, including D&D. Not saying it doesn't have it's warts, such as casting is too combat focused for non-Wizards,

I was going to ask if they had revised the rules for rituals to be more like 4e, but then I looked at their website and saw that they had doubled down on the previous version. That's a shame, because siloing off non-combat magic into rituals was one of the better ideas in 4e, and none of its successors have gone with that – those that do have rituals have all made them into "Spells ++" instead.

 

[Derulbaskul]

I love 13th Age except for one thing: The designers make Gygax look capable of hitting deadlines by comparison.

Everything takes forever with 13th Age.

 

[Retreater]

The icons were my least favorite part of the game. It seems like every session I'd get "enemy with the priestess, friendly with the great wyrm, and foot massage from the orc chief" - just had no idea how to string together the results into a sensible arc.

 

[Distracted DM]

The icons were my least favorite part of the game. It seems like every session I'd get "enemy with the priestess, friendly with the great wyrm, and foot massage from the orc chief" - just had no idea how to string together the results into a sensible arc.

I think the Icons were one of the biggest sore points and house-rules of the first edition- I'm looking forward to the revised playtest/beta and seeing what they do with them.

I ran 13A for years and loooved it.