13th Age is finally getting some decent support (outside of its copious fans) as the 13th Age Bestiary is finally in print and on store shelves, and 13 True Ways is in PDF format and available for pre-order in print. I pre-ordered mine and have been absorbing this great book in PDF format...it's too cool to wait for the physical edition.
This is an overview for now, less of a review as yet since I'm still plowing through it all, but the content speaks for itself. 13 True Ways starts off with six new classes, including some really exotic spell casters such as the occultist, who is a unique individual (literally) that can interrupt the flow of time and probability. There's the chaos mage, who's basically the class for people who want to screw around with the campaign and other players at the table. There's the 13th Age take on druids and monks, which for the druid is a very robust class with a lot of interesting options (monk too), and there's the 13th Age version of the warlord in the form of the commander, utilizing a command-point mechanic that is very smart and intuitive. Lastly there's the necromancer, busy consorting with and summoning undead. These classes introduce the first real summoning mechanics into 13th Age, and also include a retooling of animal companions for the druid (and retroactively for the ranger from the core).
A rather complex but detailed section on multiclassing is offered. Not being in the playtest for this I was surprised....didn't know they were working on it. The rules are detailed, as they must be for the interesting ways classes are designed in 13th Age, but it looks like you can make the creepy barbarian necromancer of your dreams here.
More of the Dragon Empire world of 13th Age is presented in this book as well, including cities of noteworthy status with more than enough material to run games with the material as presented. Additional sections later on in the book provide thematic seeds for 13 dungeons, taverns and other ideas.
The book includes a few artifacts (a new concept for 13th Age) and a plethora of new magic items. It also has a surprisingly robust bestiary addition, which includes devils and metallic dragons as well as a variety of other classics and a few new beasts. Devils get additional treatment in a section from Robin Laws on how to introduce them to your version of the default setting, which may also be useful for those running their own unique settings that somehow need a foil to introduce devils.
Needless to say its beautifully illustrated. The PDF is a hefty size right now (102 MB in a zip file) but it is complete. I printed out a copy and had it bound, since I have no idea how long it will be before my physical copy arrives....and I know I'll want to utilize this book in my next 13th Age game.
Anyway, check it out. Well worth the money if you're a 13th Age fan like me.
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