{"id":2815,"date":"2016-11-20T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T18:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2815"},"modified":"2016-11-19T23:50:34","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T07:50:34","slug":"review-gods-and-icons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2815","title":{"rendered":"Review: Gods and Icons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gods<\/a><\/p>\n

The Icon mechanic in 13th Age is one of the more interesting additions to a system that builds on your standard d20 game. The Icons can help, or hurt you, depending on the relationship you build with them. Each have different priorities and strong suits, and of course allies and enemies. Gods and Icons, from Dread Unicorn Games<\/a>, builds on the existing world to add more flavor to the Icons.<\/p>\n

The Icons are well fleshed out in the 13th Age core book, but Gods and Icons goes even further, giving the players and the GM the option to incorporate alternative icons that have clear analogues in the core book, but provides names and a much more expanded history for each. For example, The Dwarf King analogue is King Thorbal of the Glittering Gem. There are then examples of his politics, and a list of organizations operating under his purview. It also details his relationships with each of the other icons, and gives some ideas of variants that you could use to make King Thorbal slightly more unique in your game.<\/p>\n

The one thing I like with each Icon page is that it also provides a list of gods that the Icon is associated with. I play a cleric in 13th Age, and I wanted a solid list of gods to grab onto and explore for building up my character. I\u2019m incredibly bad at coming up with names on my own. So, the gods aspect of Gods and Icons is particularly useful for me.<\/p>\n

Gods and Icons introduces three pantheons of gods, the Bright Gods, the Thirsty Gods, and the Old Gods. Each pantheon is based more on geography, though certain races are more likely to follow one pantheon then another. The book describes the gods in each pantheon, including the cults that follow them and their cultural impact. I think these small details can flesh out the world, and helps you build a believable culture in the game that your character is a part of. There\u2019s also alternative names and variant rules for the gods, which also helps you make your world your own.<\/p>\n

In addition to the new gods, there\u2019s new domains for Clerics and new talents for Druids, Paladins, and Rangers to go along with the new pantheons. For example, your Druid can take Blessing of the Sparrow, giving you a bit of mischief to your magic. There is also a list of new locations, holy sites and unhallowed grounds related to the gods for your players to explore.
\n
\nIn addition to expanding the world of 13th Age with both gods and Icons, this supplement lists new items to give to your players based on Icon rolls. What\u2019s really cool is they include tables, that are divided up by class for you to roll on to decide what items to hand out. And even more, you can decide if you want to give a useful item, in which case only a few items in the table will be in the pool you roll for. If instead you want to truly randomly hand out the loot more options are available. The tables you end up with include loot from the core book, 13 True Ways, and the Gods and Icons book.<\/p>\n

The last additional worldbuilding included in the book are new races and NPC appearance tables. These tables can help you randomly decide on a race, gender, icon, and quirk for each of your NPCs. The new races give your players a lot more options on what they want to play \u2013 I didn\u2019t even know half-owlbear was a thing. A few of the other options include Dhampir, Goblin, and of course, Gelatinous Troglodyte. I want to see an adventuring part with one of those guys!<\/p>\n

Gods and Icons also has a Player\u2019s Guide version that you can give to your group. This includes most of the same information, excluding the loot tables and the locations. There is also an introductory adventure available, called Towers in the Mist, which includes pre-generated characters and helpful hints to GMs running 13th Age for the first time. This includes suggestions on boons from Icon Relationship rolls and how to present them, which should give the GM an idea of ways to frame such interactions in the future. Like with Sleeping Lady, another Dread Unicorn release, the adventure gives the GM ideas on how to alter it depending the number of players and experience they have with RPGs, something even somewhat experienced GMs can lack confidence in doing for the first time.<\/p>\n

Overall, if you\u2019re looking to make your campaign of 13th Age a little more expansive, I would highly recommend picking up Gods and Icons. Even if you\u2019re not quite at that stage yet, I think Tower in the Mist is a great introductory adventure, for both the players and the GM.<\/p>\n

Gods and Icons is available on DriveThruRPG <\/a>for $14.95 as a PDF, or $29.95 as a softcovered book. The Players Guide is $9.95<\/a>, and The Tower in the Mist is $4.95<\/a>. If you want all three, you can purchase them as a bundle<\/a> for only $18.45.<\/p>\n

*The Redacted Files received a free copies of these supplements for review purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Icon mechanic in 13th Age is one of the more interesting additions to a system that builds on your standard d20 game. The Icons can help, or hurt you, depending on the relationship you build with them. Each have different priorities and strong suits, and of course allies and enemies. Gods and Icons, from… Continue Reading Review: Gods and Icons<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41,46],"tags":[151,14,56],"class_list":["post-2815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-reviews","tag-13th-age","tag-megan","tag-review"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5r9Oo-Jp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3440,"url":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=3440","url_meta":{"origin":2815,"position":0},"title":"Review: Icons and Conditions Deck for 13th Age","author":"Megan","date":"June 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This past year, Dread Unicorn Games released Gods and Icons, which expands the Icons in the game, giving them names, organizations, relationships with over icons, and even variations to make them more unique for your game. Each Icon also has a list of gods associated with them, which I love\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "13th Age"","block_context":{"text":"13th Age","link":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=159"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eaxamples of each of the condition cards and three of the icon cards","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2962,"url":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2962","url_meta":{"origin":2815,"position":1},"title":"What’s Cool on Kickstarter","author":"Megan","date":"January 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"There's many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week. Harlem Unbound There's many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week. The 1920's is a very popular era for Call of Cthulhu games. Harlem Unbound\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2178,"url":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2178","url_meta":{"origin":2815,"position":2},"title":"What’s Cool on Kickstarter","author":"Megan","date":"March 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There's many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week. Dice: Rendezvous with Randomness I really love dice. I love the cool dice that show up on Kickstarter and Shapeways and other online stores. So I really love the idea of a photobook\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2191,"url":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2191","url_meta":{"origin":2815,"position":3},"title":"What’s Cool on Kickstarter","author":"Megan","date":"March 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There's many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week. MythosMonsters: A Lovecraft Art Book and Coloring Book This collection of Mythos art is stunning. There are a lot of great prints, but what I'm most excited for is the coloring book. You\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2199,"url":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=2199","url_meta":{"origin":2815,"position":4},"title":"What’s Cool on Kickstarter","author":"Megan","date":"April 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There's many interesting items to be found on Kickstarter, but these are the coolest ones this week. C is for Cthulhu Coloring Book Cthulhu Coloring books are pretty popular this month on Kickstarter, but they're so cute I can't help wanting them. This one seems aimed more towards kids, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4777,"url":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?p=4777","url_meta":{"origin":2815,"position":5},"title":"Venture City: The Disney Store Thanksgiving Day Parade","author":"trfadmin","date":"November 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American listeners, and Happy Random Thursday to everyone else! We're so grateful for all of you! Aser surprises the group with the announcement we're recording a Thanksgiving special. It's time for an annual television tradition, this year featuring Drum and Bass, and some larger\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fate"","block_context":{"text":"Fate","link":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/?cat=128"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2815"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2821,"href":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2815\/revisions\/2821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theredactedfiles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}