The Boys RP for the first time in 13th Age!

I finally got to continue my game with the neighbor boys. As a refresher, I’m running them through the Blood & Lightning sample adventure from the back of the 13th Age book. Our last session was spent getting the game started, and the first fight with the goblins, who they discovered were quite ominously in the service of the Lich King. This was especially significant for the Half-Elf Fighter, who has earned the Lich King as a special enemy in his back story.

This session the group reached Boltstrike Pillar, and got introduced to the residents. In this version, Boltstrike is an outpost of the Elf Queen. I prepared some image handouts for the two major NPC’s at Bolt Strike, and had a 3×5 card for myself for each of them with attitudes, motivations, appearance, and mannerisms. The kids really respond well to anything physical I can give them, so finding character portraits for NPC’s will definitely be a priority.

Quellis, the High Wizard at Boltstrike Pillar

Zanj, Quellis’ right hand man, commander of the non-wizard staff

This session didn’t move forward nearly as much as I expected because the boys started roleplaying the hell out of this place! I was shocked. One of the boys got hung up on studying a secret tome that he was bringing with him, and keeping it secret from the other PC’s (but not from the other players). Well this naturally led to one of the other PC’s getting suspicious of what the Dark Elf is doing while  he keeps sneaking off from the group. It turned into some good-natured cat & mouse RP, and was a hoot for all at the table. They also took a lot more joy in exploring the outpost and chatting with the staff.

The two spellcasters got oddly fixated on asking about whether the place had a library they could study. No real purpose, but they were definitely trying to play to their characters’ motivations as they imagined them. I was kinda surprised by it, honestly, but it brought back memories of myself doing the same thing when I was a kid playing wizards.

Oh, and their dad got to join us this time! He spent his time spreading the good word of the goddess Anoia to the residents of Boltstrike Pillar. It was fun having the whole family (not mine, but hey, still cool!) playing together. We’re having a rough time getting together, especially since I’m knee deep training for my fight, so I’m not sure when we’ll play next.

Nothing really peculiar to 13th Age came into play this session, other than the odd background roll for skill checks (which I freaking love, BTW!). But it was really the boys first experience with the non-combat side of an RPG, and I consider it a total victory!

-Razorstorm