13th Age Second Edition (2025)
Tabletop Roleplaying Games
13th Age Second Edition (2025)
High-Fantasy
English
Rules-medium
13th Age is a heroic fantasy tabletop roleplaying game built on the d20 rules tradition, published by Pelgrane Press. The first edition was released in August 2013 and designed by Rob Heinsoo, lead designer of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, and Jonathan Tweet, lead designer of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. It won the 2014 Silver ENnie Award for Best Rules. The Second Edition, funded on Kickstarter in May 2024 and released in 2025, splits the core rules into a Heroes' Handbook and a Gamemaster's Guide, reworks the nine core classes, monsters and magic items, and is designed to stay fully compatible with first edition books.
The system is heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, with several ideas borrowed from 4th Edition.
Description
Players take on heroes tied to the Icons, thirteen archetypal figures of power in a default setting that is meant to be reshaped at the table. The Game Master (GM) runs a story in which the characters' backgrounds and personal ties to the Icons drive the plot as much as the monsters do. Play favors big fights and big gestures over careful dungeon bookkeeping.
The game asks a table to be loose with the setting. Players write their own history and invent a trait that has no rules attached, and the GM is expected to fold those into the story. It suits groups who like crunchy d20 combat but would rather invent than look things up.