Blackmoor games!

[Mythlym]

I love Blackmoor so naturally I always try and fit in in in some shape or form in any game I'm running. I have even DMed a Gamma World Blackmoor game for a bit.

Right now I'm on a break from DMing but I'm always thinking about the next game.

The two top games for me right now are 13th Age and DCCRPG. Both scratch different role playing itches. DCCRPG is all about survival and the constant struggle to just live. It's a great fun game with weird dice and wild crazy magic and how that magic is going to kill you.

13th Age is Epic! The characters are all larger than life up and coming movers and shakers of the world! Each one is unique and tied to the pillars of the game world with social or political or even familiar strings. 13Th Age is all about the Drama and just flat out Epicness!

One of the things 13Th Age has going for it is Icons. Each Icon is a major force in the world or at least region. they don't HAVE to be people.
Possible Icon List

- The King of Blackmoor
-The Egg of Coot
- The Cabal
-The Lord of The Mines
-




Now also I was thinking of placing Blackmoor north of The Dragon Empire (instead of replacing it).


Anyway....any of you guys play 13th Age? What do you think would work best? i'm really torn between DCCRPG and 13Th Age right now but leaning towards 13th Age as DCCRPG at least had a lot of play time recently

If I decide to go 13Th Age Blackmoor I will open a thread for it. I'm just not sure.

[finarvyn]

I've been involved in playtest of both DCC RPG and 13th Age and enjoy both games, but they are very different. (By the way, there is a DCC Blackmoor thread already, so I'll avoid talking about it here.)

I love the way 13th Age plays overall. It's a very "hero centered" system where the characters are assumed to be bigshot dudes and not just some shlubs who wander the wilderness. And with so many "d20 Blackmoor" products out there (plus a 4E sourcebook) I should think that working out a "13th Age Blackmoor" should be pretty easy. (You know, I assume, that 13th Age is sort of a simplified and streamlined version of 3E/4E. Funny, because I'm not a fan of 3E or 4E but love 13th Age. Weird.)

Anyway, specific comments:

(1) The icon concept is a great one, and I like the idea of applying it to the Blackmoor campaign. Whether these would be a whole new list of icons or an add-on to the rulebook list, either way this could be a lot of fun.

(2) My initial thought would be to have Blackmoor be its own place rather than a northerly expansion to the 13th Age map, but I think it could work well either way. That would probably have an impact on how you deal with icons, whether they are a list of their own or an extension.

(3) I think that the way I would approach this campaign is to work out icons for the Blackmoor area only and any special classes or monsters that fit the Blackmoor area only, and see where that takes you. I figure that if you work through things that don't tie to the campaign world of 13th Age then you can decide at a later time if it ties to their world or not, but if you link it all together then you are stuck with that decision.

I'm excited about this! 8)

[finarvyn]

Each Icon is a major force in the world or at least region. they don't HAVE to be people.
Possible Icon List

- The King of Blackmoor
-The Egg of Coot
- The Cabal
-The Lord of The Mines
-

When constructing an icon list, it seems most productive to keep a few things in mind:

(1) 13th Age icons try to represent the top person of each character class, so one ought to make a list of classes to see that each is covered in some way.

(2) As you noted, the "movers and shakers" of the Blackmoor campaign make great icons. Looking at my FFC I see the following list of "Blackmoor's More Infamous Characters":

• Egg of Coot
  
• Ran of Ah Foo
  
• Gin of Salik [wizard]
  
• Marfeldt [barbarian]
  
• Duke of the Peaks
  
• The Blue Rider [paladin?]
  
• Mello [hobbit]
  
• Great Svenny [fighter]
  
• The Bishop of Blackmoor

In addition I might add:

• Baron Fant [vampire]
  
• King of Blackmoor
  
• Wizard of the Wood [wizard]
  
• Chief of the Nomads
  
• Gertie [dragon]

And from d20 Blackmoor I found a few more:

• Alwyn Morland [bard]
  
• Bsacom Ungulian, Baron of Gendower [fighter]
  
• Bram Tagus, Baron of Bramwald [fighter]
  
• Brother Richard, the Flying Monk [cleric]
  
• Lord Kharundurhum, Regent of the Mines [dwarf fighter]
  
• Menander, Lord of Northern Elves [elf wizard]

And probably there are others which we could research by looking at the DA modules or other d20 Blackmoor products. The point is, I think there are many cool characters who could be chosen as the key icons for the world without having to use any of the ones in the core rulebook. That way one could create a "13th Age Blackmoor" rules set which could be entirely seperate from the world if a DM didn't want to blend the two.

[Rafael]

I personally have come to use the DCC RPG for most of my games, these days.
It's simplistic compared to other systems, but it's fast paced, and works well for my purposes.

For the kind of game that Blackmoor - classic BM, not the grimdark variant I ran around here - demands,
I am not sure if the system would be truly satisfying, though, because it's too focused on classic fantasy, and not on BM's trademark S&P.

[Havard]

I wasn't overwhelmed by DCCRPG, but it looks like 13th Age has some interesting concepts in it. I'd love to hear more about it if you decide to run Blackmoor with that system.

Currently I am happy with BECMI, but I am also seriously looking into D&D 5th Edition...

-Havard

[RobJN]

We're I to run "classic-age" Blackmoor, I think I would stick with Alternity -- cinematic yet gritty enough not to be an anime when it comes to combat The rules are mostly in place for PL3 (Medieval) and there is plenty of magic to be had with Beyond Science and Mindwalking.....

[Rafael]

I think 5e might be interesting on the long run for me, too. Generally, I am a bit lazy when it comes to switch a working system,
and DCC serves most of my needs for D&D-style games. With 5e, the main criteria will be the support of settings that I like:
Like, I will likely never run FR, and I haven't played it in fifteen years. So, unless I really get into a 5e game, or, WotC releases something truly stunning,
I might well skip 5e; I participated in the new C&C kickstarter that ended a few weeks back, so my gaming schedule is already somewhat packed for the next 18 months...

[finarvyn]

I've been playing both 5E and 13th Age for a year or more now and really like some of the elements in each system. I'm in a tough situation where I have two groups that play at my local game store at the same time each week, one 5E and one 13A. My solution so far has been to play at whichever table is short players, but I'd like to decide which system I like better long term. It's a tough call.

Neither one "replaces" my old school games, but they do have a niche for my players who enjoy a powered-up version of gaming.

[Mythlym]

I would play in the 5E game. I think for game store play it would be the more exciting option.

I'm not thrilled with 5E though,too much I dislike that seems core. I will be buying the three core books however so it still has a chance to grab me. I Will buy any Greyhawk, Blackmoor or Spelljammer settings they put out.

For in store play however I would go with 5E for the excitement, probably better rewards and more populated games(eventually 5E will prob far surpass the other games).

[Havard]

I love trying different systems with Blackmoor. Sometimes it can have some surprisingly cool effects to make use of a familiar setting with a new ruleset. As long as you are open minded about things being a bit different. I think Mythlym's DCCRPG Blackmoor thread illustrates that really well.

-Havard