The Silver Spider, as PC

That story was originally focused on a dark elf monk, serving the interests the Elf Queen could not express.

He has a 3 point complicated relationship with the elf queen, because he's part of her forces but they do not always know it or are at liberty of showing such knowledge.

His backgrounds are probably divided between his public occupation and his secret occupation. 

Maybe secret agent sounds too modern, but elf queen's spy, ...saboteur or even ...assassin are good. The public backgrounds could be dark elf exiled mercenary, ...hunter, ...trader or ...wanderer. I would probably put 4 points on the secret one and 2 each on a couple of cover ones.

The original thought was to make him a monk, but the same relationships and background ideas could work with a rogue, sorcerer, fighter or ranger. And bards make usually good spies.

As Bard I think the Spider would be primarily a Charisma bard, with the talent Balladeer to help him blend in. Also, Spellsinger and Jack-of-Spells seem nice enough, considering the Elf Queen's status as one of the best sorceress in the world. If he was to primarily spy on a particular group (in particular, Archmage, Lich King, Priestess or Great Gold Wyrm), Mythkenner or Loremaster could help making a cover, with the two additional background points and the extra icon relationship.

As Fighter I imagine him being the quick, expeditious kind of fighter, favoring Strength and Dexterity, fighting with two longswords or maybe scimitars. The talents Comeback Strike and Counter-attack help making that image, letting him taking advantage of a foe's failed attacks and having less chances of failing his own. The third talent could be Deadeye Archer to bring in the idea of covert killer. His initial maneuvers would probably be among Carve an Opening, Deadly Assault, Precision Attack, Second Shot and Two Weapon Pressure.

As Ranger I think he's probably a good candidate for Favored Enemy: humanoid. A spider Animal Companion is drow-flavored, but he's supposed to be undercover, so I wouldn't take that one. First Strike, Lethal Hunter and Two Weapon Mastery match the assassin kind of character, while Fey Queen's Enchantments connects him with the powers of Elf Queen.

As Rogue, the talents Improved Sneak Attack or Murderous make him the assassin type, while Smooth Talk is more spy-like and Shadow-Walk links him with the darkness drow character everyone expects him to be.

As Sorcerer I would clearly take the Fey Heritage talent and probably Sorcerer's Familiar. Blood Link is interesting to let another relationship into the character and help his cover.

Finally, as Monk, the forms that most call my attention are Greeting Fist, because it seems like a good way to end a fight quick, Heaven's Arrow match the secret, stealthy and ranged style of ninja-style kunai, as Spinning Willow Tree gets him a nice projectile dodge ability and Leaf on Wind gives him the extra movement I expect from a mainly infiltration ninja kind of character.

There you go, six different characters with the same story.

Mountain's son, as 13th Age PC

Today I just want to elaborate on the different versions of character that (almost) the same story can make, in particular, Mountain's Son.

We left him as a dwarf, with the unique of having been born from a geode. I think he has 3 points in a positive relationship with the Dwarf King; as for backgrounds, he's Miner in the north mountains 4 since it's been most of his life, and then Dwarven traveler 2 and Legend seeker 2, because of the travels he's made searching clues about the meaning of his birth.

And the class is the point of that post I mentioned before. The Dwarven armored Fighter is the first image of a lot of people. He would dress in heavy armor, carries a shield and a war-pick. Maybe his helmet is made from the geode he was born from. He definitely has the Tough as Iron and Heavy Warrior talents. Defensive Fighting is a combat maneuver that makes him even harder to hurt and Carve an Opening brings me images of hacking at a foe as he picked at the mine.

Now let's make him a more primal warrior. He has not any training, after all, just natural toughness, mulishness and muscles made from mine work. Now he's a Barbarian. His gear is the same but for the armor, now lighter, maybe the hides he used to protect from cold weather or burning from melting ore. As Barbarian, two talents are clearly Unstoppable and Strongheart, letting him shrug off his foes' hits. I would probably give him the Cleave talent too, mostly because of the adventurer feat to let him heal (again), although at first level I would probably select the Unstoppable feat.

If that's not primal enough, we can make him a druid, most probably Terrain Caster adept since he has such a strong connection with earth in general and mountains in particular.

A final option, maybe more surprising to other characters and players, would be to make him into a Bard. He should have the Mythkenner talent to let him use Wisdom instead of Charisma and raise his Legend Seeker background to 4. Since he's legend seeker and not song seeker, I would take the Storyteller talent too, and probably the Battle Skald talent, to not forget dwarves are famous warriors.

Now, he does not use a shield and probably he sings without instruments, with his low, rumbling, dwarven voice. In this case, though the typical bard we have in mind is more a rapier or sword swashbuckler, I would want him to use the pick he used when mining, to not forget where he came from.

The Silver Spider

Kumoel had been living at the monastery for so long he barely remembers his parents as blurry faces. Kumoel is a silver elf, as they call themselves, a dokkalfar as they were called in old times or a dark elf, as most people calls them nowadays. Kumoel has grown in the monastery since he was adopted, or so he's been told, it's not that easy to trust in what another person tells you, specially when that person gains something out of that trust.

Kumoel sits patiently, waiting for one of the masters, the highest he's ever seen, though not the highest there is. While he sits, he observes the room. The tactical factors were noticed in the first moments after entering, while the monk who showed him the way told him to wait there. A dark oblong room with luminescent fungi in pots at the points; eight columns, thick as a man, so he sat against the column in the dark enough limit, having it between him and the door.

Nothing else to do until the master arrives, so he observes the bas-relieves in the walls picturing spiders and half spider half elf creatures, the carvings in the floor making it look like a spider web, the ceiling adornments as a giant spider's abdomen, the columns sculpted as the spider's legs...

Kumoel pressed his lips: the whole monastery seemed designed by a spider fetishist, no wonder other people had prejudices against silver elves. Not that Kumoel has anything against spiders, but enough is enough.

Kumoel got up when he heard soft footsteps getting near the door, and he was ready as it opened. The soft footsteps got to the room's center and, after some moments, its owner's voice broke the silence.

You have trained for many years, we have taught you as much as we could, but there are lessons that are better learnt than taught and there are needs that need to be taken care of. Tomorrow, you will leave the monastery, you will be known as The Silver Spider and you will walk, speak and fight to help our Queen in whatever task she can't say out loud.

We, Silver Folk, have been feared and hated. Even our cousins of Wood and Sun fell under that deception, but be not angry for that hate or mindful of that fear, for it is the way of this world. Forgive their actions, for they are ignorant, for the End Times are near and the survival of the Shards lay in those who further the same goals.

Go, now, find your weapons and sleep for the last time in our sheltered refugee, for tomorrow you will be shown the sun for the first time and sent in the surface world as another thread of the web that serves the Queen.

Kumoel waited until he heard the visitor go outside and then he went out of his hiding place as quietly as he could. When he got to the room he had been sleeping for the last years of his training, he found a black leather backpack, a wire with spider shaped handles to strangulate people and throwing knives with handles in the shape of, yes, spiders. Kumoel inspired deeply, resolving to sell that conspicuous gear as soon as he could and getting something more ordinary.

For now, though, he packed everything and lay in the bed to rest, thinking. He had been training all his life to reach this point, when he'd be allowed outside, to have his own way. Of course he was willing to help the Queen of Elves, it just wasn't the only thing he wanted to do.

The monastery taught that the Sun Elves were to further the magic's knowledge and power in visible places of power throughout the lands and that the Wood Elves were to keep the natural elven lands strong and protected with more mundane methods. That was obvious enough for everyone, but the masters taught that the Silver Elves were to find ways to help the Queen that she would not be able to ask out loud without damaging her reputation with her allies. An example was the conquest of dwarven underlands through guerrilla, assassination and poison tactics, something that brought metal resources to the three Shards of the Court, while keeping the reputation damage only on the Silver Folk. The monastery of the Spider was devoted to train spies, thieves and occasional assassins, and the particular order that raised Kumoel taught that the most dangerous assassin was that who didn't looked the part. That's was the reason behind all the emphasis on unarmed and unarmored combat, since a commoner with no weapons or armor wasn't thought of as that much dangerous. Kumoel had his doubts, since the idea of calling himself a creepy name like "Silver Spider" or carrying spider-themed gear all around kind of was the opposite idea. Above all, he wanted to go out and actually see the sun and all the lands he could see. He had been in the surface a few times, but only at night, and knew more of maps and pictures of sun-lighted lands than about the actual soil and sunlight. He smiled, happy and wondering what wonderful adventures would live and what interesting people he'd know in the years to come.

Finally, he had actually started a real life.

Player characters in 13th Age

13th Age is a game so different from D&D versions I've played (3-5, including Pathfinder) that I just don't know where to start with what I'm enthusiastic about, but the main thing I was thinking when writing this post was that the character has a lot of times between little and nothing to do with its class.

Something that used to set me back from class-based games was precisely the rigid class/archetype thing, with multi-classing being a half-solution attempt to more flexible systems such as Ars Magica, World of Darkness or Fading Suns, in which you get a set of points for skills, talents, etc and you make whatever you can with them. Of course they have archetypes too, but the archetypes are either character concepts or lore things, not only creation constraints.

In some cases, the archetype includes personality traits because they're educated in a particular way and culture (just like us). That's the case of werewolf tribes or Fading Suns noble houses.
In other cases, it's because they're chosen by a particular group, such as Vampire clans.
The point is, there's an easy, real-world related explanation for those traits.

In the D&D versions I played, classes defined not only what were the "right" skills of other people of your class (read, class-skills) but how many points you had, so rogue and bard classes had the more general life experience of all, while fighters were usually semi-ignorant, socially challenged brutes because they hadn't the points not to be.
In 13th Age all classes have the same points because thy're not skill points but background points. You have not Perception +3, but you spent half your life as explorer in the Imperial army, so you have a Explorer in the Imperial Army +4 background.
The point idea to backgrounds may even give meaning to what have you done with your life most of the time, and solves a couple problems: one, everybody have a past, being a soldier gives you a different experience than being a rock star, but not less, only different experiences. The second problem is the typical skills importance in RPGs. Some RPGs have so many combat/survival oriented traits that you need a lot of points to be somewhat good at them, while it's easier having a social/intellectual character. Usually that's no problem because most players (as far as I've met) are not the Geyperman type, but I remember that a friend, using the skill descriptions on World of Darkness books, had not enough points to describe what he could do - being a member of army's special forces.

Anyway, on with 13th Age's backgrounds. The point I want to make is that everybody have different experiences based on their past and profession, not that much or little. I know, in real life people do have different experience levels because some people learn faster than other, but I'm not saying that 13th Age's more realistic, but that is more flexible, character centered, than other systems.

Setting backgrounds aside, let's talk about the unique thing. Every player character must have something that sets them aside from the rest of the members of the same class and race. It can be something simple but when I've played, most players have more complicated ideas that are somewhat difficult to imagine in other systems, such as being a dragon trapped in human form or the only survivor of an old battle.

Finally, there's the icon relationships. They provide a connection with the great schemers in the world (or at least the setting) This is a bit more at fault, because not all the character types are going to be related to organizations. As for a system thing, it helps relate what motivates the characters with what happens in the adventures and with the world at large.

The great thing of those three traits is that they have nothing to do with your character's class. I wanted to use a couple examples to illustrate, so let's start with The Mountain's son. That character is a dwarf because it's in its story, as for the backgrounds, I'd say at least 4 points are in something like Dwarf Miner in the North Mountain Range and there's probably some in Dwarf Rock legends because he wants to know what means its unique. Of course, that is being born of a geode. What class is he? He could easily be a barbarian or a fighter as a lot of dwarves used to pickaxes, or a druid (possibly with terrain caster) to relate with the powers of the earth. He could even be a bard if he had time to travel enough, learning legends and stories.
A second example is the Crusader's Foundling. The kid that killed his demon-cultist family have that as unique, but what class is he? Paladin, fighter and barbarian all mix well with the violent twist, but he could also be a cleric (of the dark gods of punishment and revenge, of course, Inquisitor comes to mind) Changing the hammer detail, he could be a sorcerer related with the Great Gold Wyrm's power or a monk of the Crusader's Fist's Order, an order of warriors who only have in common the hate against demons, the will to use violence against them despite the odds, and a past without weapon or armor training. Also, making it a kitchen knife or even a sacrificial dagger, he could had develop his talents into being a rogue to infiltrate other cults or stealth missions to assassinate cult leaders while the main forces attack the cult's base. Or he could be a demon hunter, a ranger. In every case he knows about demons and cults and most probably have some skill at stealth (he freed the other children without the need to kill every cultist, after all)

Both characters' stories relate to what they know, what they do and what their allies are, but not to what class they are. I know, you can use the unique and the relationships in other games, but in 13th Age you have to, and that forces you to think about who your character is, how the world is and how they relate to each other, setting you in the mood.

Crusader's foundling

Farmers everywhere grow or raise most of the things they need. The rest, they buy in shops, like this one in a town just like any other.
'Something important today, Marsh?' - asked the clerk
'A bit of a family meeting. A few of the boys have grown enough for their name-choosing' - said the woman, smiling, by the sound of it.
- 'That's nice, isn't it? The young ones growing into adults, I mean' -
- 'It is, right? More hands, less work, they say' - 
They spent a few more minutes chatting while a rude looking man in a badly-battered armor walked slowly through the merchandise, paying attention to a few items. The clerk and the client seemed a bit nervous, but when the conversation started sounding awkwardly as if the clerk didn't want to be alone with the stranger, he plod to the counter.
- 'I want half a dozen coils of rope, the sturdiest you have. Also, rolls of fabrics, thread and sewing needles. Where could I buy milk, and dried meat and vegetables?' - 
The clerk seemed nervous and scared, the stranger seemed taller and stronger this near, so it was the client who answer, smiling charmingly.
'We use to change our surplus milk and harvest here, but I think Bill - she signaled the clerk with her hand - sells them to John, down the street. John's sister smokes and dries provisions for selling adventurers, mercenaries and whatnot passes through, if that's what you want. - The stranger looked at her calmly, Marsh thought he looked to people as if they were a different species.
- 'Thanks' - he said, before turning his head to the clerk - 'Now, could you help me with the other supplies?' -
While the clerk gathered the thread and sewing items, the stranger shouldered the ropes, three and four coils at a time, and loaded in a cart outside, helped by a younger and even quieter man. After everything was loaded, the young took the reins, the man looked at the clerk first, and at Marsh after. Then he climbed up the cart and the two drived down the street, to John's store.
- 'What a weird couple' - said Marsh.
- 'Didn't like them. Muscled, armored brutes aren't of my liking' -
- 'Their money was, though' -
- 'Gold's always good. Besides, things are not so good I can pass on good money.' - answered the clerk, before going inside again.

***

The stranger was now with his captain. - 'Name-choosing?' - he was asking. The second in command, an old but still strong, one-eyed man, said - 'Some cults have that kind of ceremonies, but are not so much name as host choosing. Children are not strong enough to host most demons, so they wait till they grow and then they're possessed. We should storm that farm right away, before they can reinforce their ranks.' - 'Such cults are not the only ones using that kind of ceremonies. - countered the captain - In the south and north there are tribes we believe each person has the right to decide how he's to be called. We're not going to storm anywhere if we are not sure. Sergeant, tell the troops tonight is a stealth. Light armor, no horses. Get them ready.'

***

The wet soil's smell filled the nose of the sergeant, bringing him memories of youth. They felt as old as if they were another man's memories. Happy times, green grass, cattle... a simple, happy life. The sergeant and his troops were crawling as stealthy as they could, considering the bulk of their bodies and weapons. Light armor was riskier, but their work was to make sure before signaling the heavier armored soldiers, so they had to get there in silence, so, light armor.
It was a cold night, the fog made it eerie and colder, and the tension could be felt in every man. They were almost wishing for this to be a fight and to start as soon as possible. That always meant rushing into problems, so the sergeant had to control them, and himself, as best as he could while they got near enough the farm's buildings to crouch by them instead of crawling like beasts. The sergeant could hear words, but not understand them, so he slid along the wall, toward a window.
- 'What do you mean, killed them?' - asked an old man's voice
- 'What does 'kill' usually mean? That bloody child killed his parents with a bloody hammer.' - the voice sounded just like the woman at that shop
- 'Could have been the mercenaries you saw in town' - 
- 'They seemed more like the ride-in, kill-em-all type. And then that child is the only one missing' -
- 'And today of all days!' - 
- 'It's a Black Moon, for heavens' sake. They're brutes, but even they must be able to learn with time. That's why I propose to bring forward the ceremony.' - 
- 'The ceremony can't be rushed! The proper respect must be paid, the proper rituals must be followed' -
- 'I fucking know! That's what you all said before, but if those were Crusader's soldiers, the sooner we can count our reinforcements, the better' - 
- 'It'll be hours before the new hosts are completely taken' - 
The woman's voice was strained with frustration, managing to convey the shouting even when she was whispering.
- 'I already know! So let's start the bloody ceremony now, get ready as soon as we can and kill that blasted child when we find him instead of wasting time looking for him' - 

The sergeant was thinking that the lieutenant had been right about storming in, but now was too late to change plans and... what was that burning smell?

- 'Smell that?' - asked the old man
- 'Something's burning' - hurried steps drew near the door while the sergeant walked back as fast as he dared and as quietly as he could.
They opened the door worrying about the smoke, though
- 'You don't think...' -
- 'Better be sure. Let's go...' - 
A loud crack interrupted the woman, Marsh, the clerk called her, and part of the barn's roof fell in, letting red flames through.
- 'The barn! the barn's burning!' - the woman shout, as the two of them ran towards it. At that point, the sergeant thought he had hear enough and things were going south too quickly to wait more, so he nod to one of his men and that one signaled the main force with his hooded lantern.

The night's air filled with shouts of surprise and war cries when the riders reached the farm and started hacking the farmers, and the sergeant was proved right when hellish fire sprout from them, and they grew horns and claws and fangs, and pounced on the riders. The sergeant and his men also joined in the fight, using surprise to get some easy kills. When no one else came forth to challenge the soldier's strength, they checked the buildings before setting them on fire and then gathered in the fire's ligths.

- They were talking about children sir, and a ceremony. -
- I told you, dammit! - 
- Silence, lieutenant. Have you checked the buildings? -
- All but the barn, sir, that was in fire already. - 
- Short as the fight was, if the children were there, they'll be dead already. Let the trackers get their dogs and look for tracks outside. If some of those demons have flee, I want them captured or death before sunrise. -

***

The dogs did find a track, children by the size of the footprints, and not too many. They got to them in the forest, illuminated by the lanterns, bows aiming at them. A small group of three girls and four boys, and a fifth standing before the armored soldiers and the barking dogs, a bloody hammer in his hands, covered in blood. More blood splattered his face and stained his clothes, and his expression was grimly regarding the soldiers, waiting for them to move and willing to fight with a farmer's hammer against steel swords and shields, and armored men.
Brave or crazy as he seemed, demon seemed not. The captain dismounted slowly, weapons sheathed, hands empty as he walked forward, towards the boy.
- 'Calm down, boy.' - 
- 'Go away. I have already killed more of you than you can gain by taking our bodies, so learn from that and go away.' -
- 'We don't want your bodies, boy. We are the Crusader's soldiers. We were warned that children were going to be sacrificed tonight, so we came. You're safe, now.'-
- 'We trusted the demons we had as parents while they raised us. I know better than to trust you.'-
- 'I understand, boy. Lieutenant, we won't go further tonight, organize guards, tend the wounded, recover the dead. Boy, we have food, milk too, if there's a baby among those other children. Tomorrow we all will go to the town's temple for them to take care of you. We're no demons'-

The Mountain's son

Balin and his wife Kera lived in the mountain range, north of the Empire. When they were younger, Kera used to joke about Balin's true love being the mountain, but with the decades, the joke had lost in humor and Kera had gained in bitterness. "This is an absurd place to live, far from other Dwarfs, far from the more populated outposts, far from the richer veins..." Her complains hurt Balin for he loved his wife dearly, although, certainly, nothing could compare to the magnificence of the Mountain. It was just another mountain on the range for everyone else, but for Balin, it always was the Mountain, with capital M.

One night, Balin came back and found the fire out, the pot empty, and their home, cold. Thinking that something must had happen to Kera, he took a lantern to keep the mountain winds from putting out the light, and went out searching for her. He shout her name to the dark until he could not talk anymore, and he finally came back to the house, determined to search again the next day, with sunlight.

Balin lit the fire and, when he got warm, looked around, for any clues about where could Kera had gone. And he found a clue in the shape of a message written with coal over a piece of leather. Dwarves' runes are made to be engraved in stone, a laborious work, so their sentences tend to be as short and clear as they can. Translated, Kera's message would have been more or less "I went back to my family. Be with your mountain."

Sadness and realization overcame Balin while he drop to sit on the floor. He didn't remember having ever felt so alone.

The next day he almost woke up already in the mine, in the last shaft he had opened on the Mountain. He was already hitting the rock with his pick, although he didn't even remember how he got there. He wonder what he was doing, what was the point of discovering the Mountain's secrets and gifts with no one to share them with. And got angry. And then he got furious and started hitting the rock harder, complaining first and then shouting the Mountain for his love for it made him lose his wife.

And then the rock gave way and left a hollow under the pick. At first, Balin didn't understood, lost as he were in his fury, but years of mining took control and he realized he had found a geode, the first one he had found in the Mountain.

And he could hear a child's cry from it.

Astonished, he looked inside the geode, pouring light with his lantern, and saw a little wounded baby inside the geode, crying. Balin knew not what to do but to take the baby out of there, so he took the smaller pick he used when he had to get gems out of the rock, and started hitting as delicately and fast as he could until he could put his hands in and take the baby out. He (he was a "he") was still crying, but Balin's was relieved when he could see better the wounds and realized it was barely more than scratches. He wrapped the baby in his own coat and ran with him back to the house, looking for something else to protect him from the cold and then go down to the hamlet and look for advice about taking care of babies.

For the next months he fed the baby with goat's milk, following the advice of Mara, an old, half-blind dwarf-woman who was also considered half-crazy. At least she was crazy enough to accept Balin's story without questions and giving him the advice the baby needed. For the next years the hamlet's opinion was that Balin had a lover, the mother of that child, and that that was what made Kera leave. Since Mara helped Balin but was too old to be his lover herself, they thought she knew the affair and had helped keeping it secret.

Be as it may, Balin named the child "Berg" and raise him as miner. However, Balin often caught Berg with the sight lost to the horizon and got thinking that a dwarf born from the Mountain wasn't meant to be kept there, less so considering the relationship with the hamlet's people. They kept to the lover's story and so the dwarves Berg's age taunted him, until the day he lost his temper and badly beat a few of them. Finally, Balin decided he should do something for Berg's future but he had grown old by then, and that winter was going to be his last. "I'm dying, son." he told Berg "as grand Mara did. You will be by yourself now, but I think fate has more for you than mining the Mountain. Open that chest" Berg did so and found a piece of a geode, half carved. "I intended to make a shield for you with that, part of the geode you were born from, but I had not enough time or skill. I ask you, take it when you go and find somebody able to make a shield from it, for I hope it'd be a link with your mother's strength in your traveling."

Spoiler warning, Make your own luck

Haldron suspiró, cansado. Los ritos funerarios élficos son tal como puede esperarse de una especie que tiene todo el tiempo del mundo para rituales y para quienes la muerte siempre es una tragedia debida a violencia de algún tipo, accidentes o, raramente, una enfermedad mágica.

Por suerte, no cambia la parte esencial, la que impide que el Rey Liche levante a sus muertos para que luchen contra quienes les lloran.

En todo caso, los largos rituales resultan agotadores para un humano como Haldron. Al menos le queda el consuelo de saber que, si los asediantes consiguen pasar las puertas, la atención que ha puesto en respetar sus costumbres puede haberles perdonar que sea un nigromante.

La ciudad de Leafall, donde Jaria había tenido su problema con los gólems de Iñigo Sharpe, había resistido un asedio troll durante las últimas semanas. Varios de los ciudadanos pensaban que el motivo del ataque era tomar o destruir uno de los artefactos del archimago, localizado allí. Algunos decían que era uno de sus dispositivos para controlar las lluvias y las tormentas, otros, que era un detector de monstruos que vivían en la oscuridad entre las estrellas. En cualquier caso, su destrucción no supondría nada bueno.

Los trolls que asediaban la ciudad consiguieron abrir un hueco y los personajes tuvieron que encabezar la lucha. El que encabezaba el ataque tenía pintada una calavera en el rostro, como si ya estuviera muerto. Quizá en ese momento fueran sólo las expectativas de los jugadores las que les hicieran pensar que el Rey Liche estaba involucrado, pero cuando, tras un golpe mortal de necesidad, la carne del troll se convirtió en ceniza mientras su esqueleto seguía luchando, quedó confirmado.

El combate fue aprovechado por un grupo de trasgos para colarse, y los personajes les persiguieron por las callejuelas, subiendo hacia la ladera donde se situaban las casas de los más ricos. Por supuesto, les mataron sin dificultad.

Por la mañana, un soldado fue a ver a Eiseman, que estaba liderando las fuerzas de los defensores, para decirle que habían encontrado un mensaje entre las pertenencias de uno de los trasgos. El mensaje pedía a alguien llamado Jareh que siguiera con el plan. 

Empujados por los trolls atacantes, muchos refugiados habían buscado y encontrado refugio en la ciudad, así que hicieron que la guardia buscara entre ellos a alguien llamado Jareh, y sólo algunas horas después volvieron para decirles que le habían encontrado en la zona alta y que había tomado como rehén al hijo de la familia que le había acogido.

Los personajes entraron en el sótano donde se habían alojado los pasados días: Jareh, la mujer, esperaba junto al pozo con su daga en el cuello del muchacho, y un hombre armado esperaba a su lado, preparado para defenderla.

"¿Crees que me importa la vida del chico?" preguntó Eiseman. Jareh sonrió y degolló al muchacho. "¿Y ahora?" preguntó, mientras empujaba, con la daga ensangrentada, unos guijarros al pozo. No habían llegado a caer cuando el guardaespaldas de la asesina se puso en el camino de uno de los personajes, que se lanzaba al combate. Éste no fue fácil, pero no hubo daños graves entre los compañeros. Y si alguno de ellos esperaba oír arrepentimiento en la voz de Eiseman cuando dio a la familia la noticia de la muerte del chico, quedó decepcionado.

No hubo mucho tiempo para la decepción, sin embargo, pues un temblor de tierra silenció a todos. El temblor se repitió una y otra vez, cada vez con más fuerza y con menos tiempo entre ellos, y de pronto la casa donde Jareh se había refugiado se hundió en la tierra.
Como si se abriera el mundo bajo la ciudad, casas enteras caían por las grietas que se abrían en el suelo, partes de la muralla cayeron sobre atacantes y defensores, permitiendo que los trolls entraran, indiferentes al peligro del terremoto, sólo la matanza en sus mentes.

Eiseman acudió de inmediato a la zona más peligrosa y empezó a combatir, arengando a gritos a los hombres cuyo valor flaqueaba. Los demás personajes llegaron después y ayudaron en la lucha como pudieron, hasta que sólo quedó el jefe de los atacantes, un troll infame conocido como Médulaliento. La lucha se prolongó lo suficiente como para que se abrieran enormes grietas que se tragaron a muchos combatientes e incluso casas enteras. Finalmente, consiguieron eliminar a Médulaliento y escapar antes de que la ciudad entera se hundiera. Cuando el polvo se asentó, sólo quedaba un cráter de Leafall.

Cientos de vidas se habían perdido. ¿Cuántas más se cobraría la destrucción del artefacto del Archimago?

Iñigo Sharpe (Spoiler Warning, Strangling Sea)

Iñigo escuchó con atención, intentando extraer alguna información de las voces que escuchaba, pero estaban demasiado amortiguadas por los gruesos paneles de madera de aquel maldito barco. Tras las voces, empezaron los gritos, sin embargo, y golpes pesados contra la cubierta. Luego, pudo oír pasos alejándose y acercándose, hasta que se abrió la puerta de la sala donde le tenían prisionero. Le levantaron y giraron y pudo ver a quien le sostenía: un humano con armadura de cuero tachonado y sangre fresca sobre ella, detrás de él, otro humano y una elfa, ninguno de ellos con armadura, le miraban con una mezcla de sorpresa y curiosidad, la reacción que Iñigo esperaba frente al resultado de su genio, de todos modos. "¿Iñigo Sharpe?" preguntó el humano armado. "Sí, soy yo"

Tras la muerte de los piratas, los PJs registraron su barco sin encontrar ni rastro del inventor al que estaban buscando. Suponiendo que sólo podía estar con el único bando restante en este lugar, convencieron al oficial enano que había venido con ellos de que les dejara hablar con su capitán para buscar a Sharpe. Sin embargo, dándose cuenta de que el oficial pensaba conducirles de algún modo a una emboscada, decidieron disminuir sus incentivos para hacerlo traicionando primero a los enanos. Sólo uno de ellos, muy malherido, sobrevivió a la demostración para abrir las puertas de la empalizada con la que los enanos protegían su barco.

Cuando llegaban, sin embargo, la lealtad pudo más y el oficial avisó a gritos de las intenciones de los personajes. No fue una lucha larga, sin embargo, y al atravesar la empalizada vieron como las pesadas puertas del barco se cerraban para dejarles fuera. Mirándolo desde fuera, resultaba sorprendente que este barco pudiera flotar siquiera, no ya navegar, pues parecían haberlo construido como una fortaleza - no sólo en cuanto a dureza y seguridad - sino en que tenía la misma hidrodinámica que un ladrillo e incluso almenas en lugar de la baranda de cualquier barco construido por una cultura más pendiente de las diferencias de entorno que supone el mar que de la construcción tradicional. La única concesión que habían hecho a la realidad del viaje marítimo era construirlo con madera en lugar de piedra, al parecer.

Sea como fuere, los personajes consiguieron abrir una de las puertas, tras la que obviamente esperaban los enanos del interior y, ya sin paciencia, mataron como paso previo a buscar sin más resistencia ni falsa diplomacia por parte de los enanos. La sorpresa vendría al descubrir que Iñigo Sharpe no era ya más que una cabeza mecánica dotada de la mente del famoso inventor.

Eso no les detuvo a la hora de pedirle ayuda para reparar los motores del barco - por supuesto, los enanos no confiaban el movimiento de su navío a viento ni a remos cuando podían hacerlo a sus ingenios mecánicos - Con las instrucciones de Sharpe y la experiencia de Turgosh - relojero, al fin y al cabo - pudieron poner en marcha los motores y alejarse del maldito Mar Estrangulador, poniendo rumbo al norte, donde la elfa Jaria aún esperaba su regreso.

En el muelle del pueblo al que llegaron, sin embargo, se las verían con otro problema. Una emboscada llevada a cabo por varios humanos y una osga tremendamente hábil que, por algún motivo desconocido, les atacaron. Las heridas que recibieron nuestros protagonistas fueron importantes, pero las que recibieron sus atacantes fueron mortales, sólo uno de ellos, un arquero que ni siquiera se había acercado al combate desde la seguridad de su atalaya, pudo huir para pelear otro día o contar historias sobre la sorprendente capacidad de los personajes. Las preguntas que acosarían a los personajes, sin embargo, eran obvias ¿quién había enviado a los atacantes? ¿cómo les habían reconocido? ¿por qué les habían atacado?
La primera intuición, por supuesto, fue que los hechizos de localización que los antiguos clientes de Sharpe habían estado usando para encontrar al genial pero chanchullero inventor, por fin habían tenido éxito al alejarle de la maldición del Mar Estrangulador.

Sea como fuere, el tándem de las instrucciones de Sharpe y las hábiles manos de Turgosh pudieron desactivar los golem que tantos quebraderos de cabeza y mobiliario habían dado a Jaria, y los personajes pudieron recibir por fin la recompensa a sus esfuerzos y reflexionar, orgullosos de su éxito.

13th Age (Spoiler Warning: Strangling Sea)

El hombre despertó sobresaltado con una mano en su hombro y la hoja de un cuchillo en su cuello. El dueño de ambas le indicó silencio y apartó la mordaza de su boca. "¿Cómo te llamas?" preguntó. Notaba humedad en la hoja en contacto con su garganta, así que, intentando no moverse, respondió "Jacob". El cuchillo se retiró entonces y soltó sus ataduras.

El cazarrecompensas decidió rescatar a sus compañeros de las manos de aquellos trasgos semi acuáticos. Avanzó en silencio y se coló en el barco, degollando a los goblins que dormían confiando - erróneamente - en los guardias fuera. Liberó a la elfa y el enano, que seguía sin despertar, posiblemente como efecto de una fea herida en su cabeza, y luego pensó en qué hacer con los otros dos hombres atados en el barco. Ambos estaban amordazados y eso no era buena señal, así que finalmente decidió liberarles.

Cuando salieron del barco le falló la puntería intentando eliminar a un centinela y tuvieron que luchar con ahínco para sobrevivir, pero al menos estaban libres y, aunque con algunas heridas de importancia, alcanzaron la victoria.

Decidieron alejarse. En el otro lado del mar de sargazo se veían dos barcos más o menos enteros. Uno de ellos parecía diseñado con la estética de un bloque de piedra, lo que le delataba como de factura enana. Quizá fuera la empalizada levantada a su alrededor lo que hizo que prefirieran el otro barco, pero al menos les granjeó una recepción, si no cálida, al menos no hostil. El barco naufragado al que habían llegado llevaba semanas o meses atrapado, sus tripulantes no podían precisar cuánto. Varios de ellos estaban afectados por la maldición de este lugar, que impulsaba a las personas a sacrificarse por él y a perderse en alguna niebla dentro de sus mentes.
Los marineros confirmaron que, en efecto, los refugiados del barco cuadrado eran enanos, y que les habían negado ayuda por la fuerza cuando se encontraron por primera vez.

El grupo, reforzado con la unión de un nigromante y otro estudioso de lo arcano, decidió acercarse a parlamentar con los enanos, en busca de una forma satisfactoria de que todos consiguieran sus fines. La versión que los enanos dieron del primer encuentro con los marinos no fue exactamente igual, acusándoles de intentar robarles su barco a las armas y situándose como defensores legítimos. Conseguir que los enanos aceptaran reunirse con los hombres con quien tan mal había ido el primer encuentro no fue tan difícil, pero en cuando se vieron empezaron los insultos y acusaciones mutuas y finalmente todo estalló en violencia.

Cuando terminó el combate, los humanos que no habían huido habían muerto, y varios enanos yacían también sobre las algas.

13th Age los viernes, (Spoiler warning, Strangling Sea)

Jaria apartó su pelo dorado, destacando más sus altos pómulos de su rostro de elfa. "¿Cómo que no puedes desactivarlos?" preguntó al enano frente a ella - un enano como en 'Gimli el enano' y no como en 'un humano bajito'. Sin dar tiempo a responder, continuó "Me dijiste que podías. ¡Me convenciste de que eras capaz!"
"Bueno, mi señora, quizá sobreestimé ligeramente mis capacidades..." En realidad, Turgosh Kazamien, pues tal era el nombre del enano, ni siquiera se había acercado a ninguno de los cuatro golems que, presa de algún tipo de mal funcionamiento, habían destrozado el salón principal de la mansión y trataban como intruso a cualquiera que entrara. A Turgosh le gustaban los ingenios mecánicos, pero cuando los ingenios son tienen la forma de cuatro fuertes humanoides de bronce de casi cuatro metros de alto... encontraba formas de disminuir su interés.

Obligada por las circunstancias, Jaria decidió encontrar al diseñador original, Iñigo Sharpe. Un cazarrecompensas como Natham Northgate podría encontrarlo. Por si no era posible traerle, extender el contrato de Turgosh, para que aprendiera de Iñigo cómo desactivar a los gólem, parecía buena idea. Ante la idea de una aventura, Libertah, prima de Jaria y algo así como trotamundos profesional, expresó su deseo de participar.
Los tres atravesaron el mar rumbo a Newport y fueron a caballo desde allí hasta Ensenada de Plata, un pueblo de pescadores donde Firigin, un mago, antiguo colaborador de Sharpe, vivía. Allí, tras acabar con unos bandidos que pretendían entrar en casa del mago, supieron que Sharpe tenía la costumbre de desviar fondos de sus clientes a sus proyectos personales y que el propio Firiguin había sufrido las consecuencias de algunos de sus trapicheos. A cambio de la promesa de no dejar que Sharpe estuviera cerca de él, Firiguin les cedió un barco que había diseñado presa del deseo de venganza contra Iñigo. Por suerte para el inventor, a Firiguin le relajaba crear objetos así y para cuando terminó, ya había decidido que no merecía la pena vengarse. El barco encantado estaba preparado para ir directamente a donde Sharpe estuviera, así que tras obtener algunas provisiones en la aldea, pusieron rumbo desconocido, confiando en que la magia diera con Sharpe, cuya localización precisa no había podido obtener una magia menor.

Y el motivo resultó ser la maldición del Mar Estrangulador, un mar de sargazo famoso por los barcos que se habían visto atrapados sin escape hacia su siempre hambrienta y verde superficie. Las algas estaban entremezcladas tan fuertemente que podían caminar sobre ello, pero con la dificultad de un suelo flexible que obedecía a las corrientes marinas en lugar de a la firmeza del suelo de verdad.

Debería haber sido suficiente, pero la mala fortuna y el exceso de confianza les impulsó a atacar sin palabras a un nutrido grupo de goblins acampados en el camino a un barco aún a flote, aunque atrapado. Sólo Natham consiguió escapar con vida, y vio desde lo lejos cómo se llevaban a sus compañeros al barco, posiblemente para variar la dieta de pescado a la que estaban acostumbrados. Con el consuelo de saber que, al menos, la captura les había costado media docena de sus congéneres, el cazarrecompensas se dispuso a seguirles a distancia y planear el rescate.
Y, posiblemente, la venganza

Un enemigo desconocido (Spoiler Warning, Shadows of Eldolan)

Eldolan, una ciudad portuaria, pero no como cualquier otra. La magia está tejida en la propia ciudad: los mejores artesanos murmuran hechizos mientras se concentran en su última obra, los estudiantes de la universidad se retan, a veces por rivalidad entre escuelas de magia, a veces por demostrarse sus nuevos hechizos, incluso para la persona más normal, la visión de las torres flotantes de Horizon, ciudad del Archimago, es un recuerdo constante de la magia que alimenta la ciudad de visitantes en busca de objetos mágicos, libros raros o conocimiento arcano, relegando el mundo "normal" a un segundo plano.
El mundo como el de la plaza de Hawker, un día más. Los vendedores gritan desde sus tenderetes, intentando vender sus productos, convencer a los que pasan que es una oferta que no pueden dejar escapar, que se acaban, se acaban... Algunos compran, otros no. Akrish es uno de los que no. Una leve sonrisa tuerce la comisura de sus labios mientras arregla su túnica verde, una de sus formas de desafiar las convenciones de los Maestros Arcanos, su escuela, y distinguirse de los demás académicos. Un estrépito le hace levantar la vista, pero la calma vuelve a sus rasgos cuando ve que sólo es un carro de calabazas, que ha volcado su mercancía. Apenas aparta la mirada cuando el estridente grito de una mujer le hace girar el rostro hacia ella. Grita, señalando al otro lado de la plaza, un guardia está siendo atacado por varios hombres con túnicas desastradas y entonces uno de ellos se lanza sobre el hombre, mordiendo y desgarrándo su garganta. El guardia se aferra mientras cae a la túnica de su asesino, que se termina de romper y revela el cuerpo de un hombre, abierto y con órganos desaparecidos. Más gritos llaman su atención al centro de la plaza, de donde salen varios cadáveres más, caminando por su propio pie. Tras ellos, cerca del carro volcado, dos hombres con túnicas oscuras, encapuchados, le señalan a él y a otros en la muchedumbre, que ya corre despavorida, y una niebla sombría se arremolina a su alrededor. Como si les llamara, los no-muertos giran el rostro hacia él y otros dos marcados, y se lanzan contra ellos.

Además de Akrish, un Alto Elfo con piel extrañamente olivácea, hay dos personas más marcadas por los encapuchados: Edielle, una soldado de los Elfos de los Bosques, y Libertah, una guerrera enana con más instinto que entrenamiento.
Los no-muertos no fueron rivales para ellos, pero era extraño que se hubieran centrado en ellos tres y, no fiándose de los esfuerzos que los Escudos Plateados, la guardia de Eldolan, pudieran hacer en la investigación, tomaron cartas en el asunto. El grueso de los zombies había salido de un cuarto de mantenimiento de alcantarillas en el centro de la plaza, pero el paso a las propias alcantarillas no se había usado en años a juzgar por el estado de la cerradura, así que dedujeron que sólo había sido un lugar para esconderse hasta el momento del ataque. Más tarde descubrirían que un guardia, para pagar una deuda de juego, había dejado hacer una copia de la llave a un tipo de los muelles, pero mientras, una sacerdotisa que dirige un albergue para mendigos, les dijo haber reconocido a dos de ellos y que había oído rumores de desapariciones recientes.

Decidieron investigar primero en los muelles, lo que les llevó a quienes habían encargado la llave. Se escondían en un almacén más o menos abandonado. Tuvieron que vérselas con un escarabajo-demonio de dos cabezas y un culto de adoradores infernalistas antes de llegar hasta la líder y el demonio que estaba invocando. Heridos como estaban, sacaron fuerzas de flaqueza y obtuvieron la victoria.

No hubo supervivientes a los que interrogar, pero encontraron el diario de la líder del culto, en donde, entre desvaríos apocalípticos, se hablaba del tipo de los muelles que les había dirigido aquí y se decía que hechizos de adivinación habían revelado que su lealtad no era para con el culto, sino para una sociedad secreta con infiltrados en varias organizaciones de la ciudad, incluso en las Bóvedas de los Muertos, en donde se preparaba a los fallecidos para su descanso eterno, protegiéndoles de los poderes oscuros que podían levantar sus cadáveres para utilizarlos como armas.

Icon Morality By Players' Point of View

The 13th Age RPG includes the concept of "Icons" of the campaign. An Icon is a NPC/Organization that has enough influence to define the setting. 13th Age includes a mechanic to make them influence the PCs abilities in the form of help and complications. Sometimes the relationship between a PC and an Icon's organization may be useful to the PC (help) and sometimes may get him/her into more problems than usual (complications)

13th Age considers three kinds of Icons:

• Heroic Icons are the "good guys"
• Villainous Icons are the "bad guys"
• Ambiguous Icons are in the middle, sharing some traits with the Heroic and some with the Villainous.

13th's Age relationships between a PC and an Icon (more often, the Icon's organization) can be fleshed as desired, but mechanically it has a 1-3 points value. The relationship may be positive if the Icon/Organization opinion about the PC is good, negative if bad, conflicted if both.
In character creation there are some guidelines about limits for the relationship values that consider the PCs to be, at worst, not-bad-guys:

• If the Icon is evil, the limit is 1 point to positive relationships, 2 to the others.
• If the Icon is good, the limit is 1 to negative, 3 to the others
• If the Icon is in the middle, the limit is 2 for negative, 3 to the others.

The "official" setting (and the books reminds a lot of times that it's only an example) sets the morality of the Icons and then limit the relationships, but maybe you find this idea interesting:
Make the characters with these relationship limits:

• Negative relationship: 2 points limit
• Other relationship: 3 points limit

Now you can use the relationships to define how the Icons are according to their PCs' perspectives.
If any PC has a 2-point negative relationship with an Icon, then the Icon is not completely good. It may be Villainous or Ambiguous.
If any PC has a 3-point conflicted or positive relationship with an Icon, then the Icon is not completely bad. It may be Villainous or Ambiguous.

13th Age Soundtrack Review

Finally I came to buy the 13th Age Soundtrack, not only to use it with 13th Age but looking to use it with other games too. Since I had some doubts about buying it, I'd like to share what I think about it in a track-by-track way.
Before starting, though, you'll want a player that can toggle between song-looping and song play once, and lets you change songs as easily as you can.

13th Age

is a two minutes long song with a bit of epic tones. If everything's right, you should see a player to let you hear it, so you can get your our opinion there. The final smoothness and silence make this song not-loopable.

Dreams of a Lost Age

This song has a certain tint of nostalgia that makes me think about The Shire being look by Frodo after everything happened, kind of a place that you used to know and love, but that you can't really go back to because you've seen too much out of it.

Exploration

This song is really nice to enter some dark catacomb, forest or similar place, where secret scriptures speak of forgotten things and there's something hiding among the shadows projected by the torches. It can be looped, but would have been nice to have it in a loop-ready version

High Dock

It is a serene song, relaxing in a cloud-flying-kind of way. Maybe something from where look at past adventures and victories, and the world you and your companions have saved.

Omen

Is another ominous song that promises problems are near, but not in so a immediate kind of way as other songs in the soundtrack.

Tales Around the Fire

This song belongs to a tavern or maybe a encampment's fire, shared with some other travelers. A way to rest, and relax between adventures or maybe in long rests.

The Demon Coast

It's an ominous song, with whistles beyond the mist, hinting that something bad is going to happen.

The Eyes of the Stone Thief

This song is related to a Champion campaign, starts with a warning that a disaster is about to happen, and ends just as it does.

The Fangs

Feels like the background music an adventure movie would have when taking shots of the main characters traveling from the start of their adventure to the climax of it. Makes me think about a ship's trip, grim determination in their eyes, to fight and be victorious or die trying.

Starport

This song sounds like something mystical and epic is going to happen in some calmed way, maybe the immolation of a beloved hero after being recovered from the fight that saved the world but took his life as price.

Icons

There is a song for every Icon except for the Shadow Prince (go figures...). All are about two minutes long, not loopable (because of ending silences and/or too abrupt changes between start and end, depending on the song), so they're not good for background, continuous music, but they are for the presentation to an Icon's place of power.

Archmage

Includes some magic-inspiring bassoon to bring about imagery of magic, mystical energies doing their work around an Archmage's place of power, and also a couple of thunder to remember there's a promise of very serious power going on.

Crusader

This song is perfect for Crusader, starts with a startle and keeps rolling as a juggernaut crushing its way inexorably, with a few touches of chorus to remind listeners there's some holy in its leitmotiv. 

Diabolist

I like how Diabolist theme has a kind of relation with Crusader's, considering they are the proverbial touching extremes. 

Dwarf King

This song has some epic tones, hammers hammering metal and all you can think of a movie sequence flying over Khazad-Dûm. 

Elf Queen

Elf Queen's song is a quiet, smooth song with strings and flutes for melody and violin kind in the background. It can make you think about the elven, kind way of nature, but it has a part too that seems a bit more serious, like for the dark elves part. 

Emperor

Emperor's has kind of martial sounds. This is a presentation music too, majestic and all that, but the ending is too sharp to make it background.

Great Gold Wyrm

This song reminds the kind of place Great Gold Wyrm is, and what it does there, starting with a slightly hard bit but transforming it in a melody that speaks of untiring work and epic vigilance.

High Druid

Uses sound from forests, chorus and tribal kind of sounds. The voices and main sounds are simple percussion and woods, as it should for this Icon. It's not loopable, though.

Lich King

Is ominous, with chorus, bells and chains, and a violin tension-rising as the PCs influence, something foreign to the rest.

Orc Lord

His music promise another unstoppable force, not unlike the Crusader, but with a bestial, reckless kind of feeling that separates both songs.

Priestess

Her song's main sound is a smooth female voice leading a chant, with some rising epic thing that makes it another presentation.

The Three

The other icons songs were easy to link to their Icon, but not this one. The Three's song makes you feel there is some danger going on, and that things are going to get serious and hard quickly, but nonetheless it lacks something to make you think about the triad of the world's most powerful dragons.

Loopable songs

They have included these songs kind of duplicated. First, there's the original song, then there's the loop version, made so it can be loop continuously without breaking the feeling. These songs are around a minute long each.

Chase

The chase brings tension and urgency in a way no other song of the pack does. It's not quick enough that makes the rolls and choices seem like dragging the action, but close to it.

Escalation 0

A very slow song, like nothing's happening but something may or may not start. It has a bit of tension, but barely.

Escalation 1

Feels like a version of Escalation 0 with a bit of melody having been added to the Escalation 0, something that feels right when you're going to change from one to the other.

Escalation 2

A new step up, just rising from Escalation 1 as that rose from Escalation 0.

Escalation 3

This song breaks the pace of the previous three. Played just afterwards, it has hints it belongs to the same series, but it's clearly a different level.

Escalation 4

Action rose clearly to a new level from Escalation 3, but doesn't do that as the first three did, adding bits to the previous one.

Escalation 5

This feels like being from Escalation 4. Strangely enough, beat seems to go down a little while tension goes up a little.

Escalation 6

This one feels like another step down in pace but another up in importance. Maybe these last three could be reversed when using them as Escalation Die theme.

To close this, the soundtrack is composed of good songs not only for 13th age, but for probably any medieval fantasy kind of game. The inclusion of loopable versions of action songs is really nice. The only step up I can think off would be a player that could change between songs, repeat none and repeat continuously with one touch and probably something that could merge one escalation level into another.

13th Age, Icon ideas

I really liked the idea of 13th Age's Icons. For the ones who don't know, the idea is to have an array of more or less generic characters in the world, interrelated, to whose forces the player characters can have relationships with. You could be a survivor of an Orc Lord attack, a guard in the Archmage's city, a soldier in the Priestesses' one, a cultist of the Great Gold Wyrm...
Those relationships are described with a kind (among three, a relationship is either good, bad or conflicted) and a number, indicating how often it influences your live.

The core book also suggest other uses beside what icons have some interest in each session's play, but I miss a more particular hook into the stories. I mean, a history about a group of heroes fighting against the Orc Lord? Sure, go ahead, but if no character has any relationship with the Orc Lord, Elf Queen, Emperor or Dwarf King it may seem a bit far fetched. At least a bit more than if the characters have such relationship.

What if the first session of an adventure could determine the main icons of the story? Since I discovered Polti's arguments in the GM's survival guide they became a kind of exercise to me. A few stories in this blog are result of such. The thing is to select randomly one or two arguments, maybe a complication, and a style (The argument could be "Disaster", but the story is far different if the style is "Horror" or "Action") and try to get something out of that.

This suggestion means a lot more work to the GM, but it may be worthy. Instead of deciding beforehand who has which role in the story, you just select the argument and style. For instance, I randomly select a Mistery story, with clues, investigation, roleplaying... The argument is Involuntary Love Crime: there are two lovers, and one of them committed an infidelity against the other one, but as results of an error, drugs, a curse or something. Now let's say the icons rolled by your players are the Great Gold Wyrm (positive relationship), the Crusader (positive relationship) and the Elf Queen (conflicted relationship). Just so you know, I just rolled them too. You've got some clues to who the actors of the story are. Let's say that there's a female paladin of the Great Gold Wyrm and her husband is another paladin with a more sinister bent. He belongs to the same order, but it the last months he's been thinking that the Crusader's way of dealing with demons (namely, enslave them and using them against other demons) has its advantages. While he was away, she went with other paladins to share stories and toast to the absent comrades. Unbeknownst to them, one bottle was faerie magic wine, and the next morning the wife and her husband's best friend woke up together in bed. The discovery of the infidelity could be the final straw that pushes the husband to the more violent, more ethically arguably way of the Crusader, besides breaking a marriage, a friendship and weakening that order.
Who got the faerie wine? Was it an accident or an ambush? Were they the intended targets or otherwise? If the real targets were the head of the order and whoever woman he could find under the wine's intoxication, maybe the puppeteer will try again, and the PCs have two problems to solve.

What if the icons where Great Gold Wyrm (positive), Orc Lord (negative) and Emperor (conflictive)? Let's keep the paladin husband. He is tricked by a captain of the emperor legion, gotten drunk, and awakes in a brothel. The captain is secretly in love with his wife - something the wife can know about or otherwise - and he wanted to provoke the infidelity to get them to divorce and get a chance with her. Or maybe he just was jealous of the admiration the people was giving the paladin and wanted to show his moral weakness. Or maybe he wants to blackmail him. The result of all this could be that the captain has to leave the town with the forces under his command a few days before an orc horde attacks the town.

Of course this approach means more improvisation work, but the stories will always relate to a PC's icon. Actually there are chances of no icon influencing a particular story. There's 30% probability a particular PC's relationships don't matter, that makes it about 0.2% in a 5 players group of no icon involved. You'll have to design every adventure giving some thought to which icons could be in every place. If your group has their characters created already, that work simplifies because you only need to consider their icons.

If you can't get any ideas for a particular icon, check its Allies & Enemies section, looking for the simplest way to relate to the icons you got.

What if the Icon's morality depends on the player choices? The core book uses some guidelines to limit the value of PC's relationships with the icons, depending on what kind of icon the icon is (good, evil or something in between) You can let your players choose whatever relationships they want (except for the 2-point negative, that's for the players not to be so single-minded fighters against a particular icon's interests) and then use the relationships to shape the icons:
- Somebody has a 2-point negative relationship with an icon? That icon is not going to be "good"
- Somebody has a 3-point conflicted or 2/3-point positive relationship with an icon? That icon is not going to be evil.
What can result from that?
An ambiguous or evil archmage: Maybe he's more interested in magic than in the preservation of the empire. Maybe he's secretly interested in the Lich King's necromancy knowledge.
An ambiguous or evil Great Gold Wyrm: after so much time fighting restlessly hordes of demons, it could have grown to be more like the crusader in a destroy everyone, just in case, way, unbeknownst for or kept secret by his followers. Or maybe he was corrupted and his goals now are not avoiding demons to pour into the world, but conquered them and then pour them.
An ambiguous or evil Priestesses: Richelieu? Rodrigo Borgia?
An ambiguous or good Orc Lord: Maybe he's fighting for a place for his forces, for long time oppressed by the Empire legions. Maybe most the bad things and brutality they say about him is but Imperial propaganda.
An ambiguous or good Diabolist: The Diabolist could be the one keeping in check the devils. Everyone likes the golden scales of the Great Gold Wyrm and people has learned to relate horns and leathery wings with devils, so the popular opinion still is that she's evil, but she could be a selfless mage looking for a way to keep the world safe, even if that way means she's hated forever.
An ambiguous or good Lich King: For his point of view, the new emperor could be nothing more than an usurper of the throne. In the first age he fought against that time Orc Lord to defend life and civilization, so he could have been heroic. Maybe he used the lich-thing as a last resort method to keep fighting for his people, no matter how many soldiers died, he could raised them to keep the living from the horrors of the war. Maybe he was then betrayed by his sons, who shared out the authority over the people and became the new emperor, the new archmage and the first centralized head of all religions.

Icons need names and maybe other looks. From a generic point of view, the icons work great because they are the "slots" for a lot of characters, but any world needs more customization. Fading Suns's Emperor Alexius is an emperor, Sauron, the necromancer of the Hobbit or Arthas Menedil, are Lich Kings, any Pope or important cardinal of our world aspired to fill the Priestess slot. Elminster is an Archmage, Thror is a Dwarf King and Galadriel an Elf Queen.

I suggest that you decide on the icons names, gender and other traits like you did they're morality, guided by the PCs relationships. Ask the players who chose to relate with a particular icon about how that icon is (to help define its morality), how they see it (maybe they go for an Empress, the dwarven kingdom becomes a matriarchy led by a Queen and the Priestess becomes the Pope) and suggest names for them (keep it serious, thought)

And, of course, things could shift unexpectedly. Star Wars' emperor could be an Emperor or a Lich King, Darth Vader could be a Crusader, Yoda and the "live force" sounds like a Druid or an Archmage... Same roles, different morality, different relationships between them.

And every campaign you play will be more player bent, less generic-flavored and thus more personal for you and your group.

13th Age, Icons

After some friends introduced me to 13th Age I discovered I like it. There's not as much detail as in D&D (3-4), its rules are more streamlined (without being the IMO oversimplistic system in D&D 5/Next), but, above all, the system forces you to think about the character.
I have read and heard a lot of complaints about D&D 4, how it "prevented" the players from getting into character with all the skill challenges and the encounter-block-kind-of-adventures, and I have long pointed that the system actually doesn't prevent from acting, just starts rewarding as heavily the roleplaying as it did the combat. That it's material for another post, but what I want to emphasize here is that 13th age's system you are kind of forced to think about your character by two core things:

1. The Unique Thing: every player character has something that marks him apart from every other member of its race and class beyond game traits, feats and other customization. What's more, being a unique thing it means it allows the player to intervene in how the campaign world is. A few examples of how to do that are given in the core book. If your character is the only halfling in the Emperor's legions, then there's no one more. In other worlds, in other campaigns, in other teams there could be, I don't know, a imperial halfling scout platoon, but not in yours. See what just happened? Now there's another world in which there exists the Imperial Flying Stones, a halfling scout platoon.
What's more interesting of the Unique Thing is that it can't have mechanical effects. Story effects? Sure, of course; just not mechanical.

2. The Backgrounds: instead of a skill system 13th age tries to make you think how, where and/or why your character knows what it knows. For every character class they suggest a few cool inspiring background examples, like barbarian's Wolf Tribe Member but above all encourages the player to invent the ones for the character. My first character was a fighter from the Gray Imperial Legion who had participated in a joint forces thing with a Dwarf King's army's platoon.
The backgrounds are as open as the players and the GM (gamemaster, just in case) accept them. I could have used my background with the dwarven army to understand a few dwarven words or to improve how well I can find my way in a dwarven city or the big cavern networks so frequent in these kind of games.

So, yeah, no game system prevents you from roleplaying, but there's at least one that forces you to.