The 13th Age roleplaying game grew out of the many RPG campaigns that designers Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet have run for their own gaming groups over the years. Given full creative control by Pelgrane Press, they drew on decades of design experience to create the game that they most wanted to play together. The result? 13th Age is a game that’s both familiar—adventurers explore dangerous places and fight horrific monsters—and new, taking d20 design forward with storytelling mechanics inspired by modern indie roleplaying games.

Because it grew out of actual play, 13th Age focuses on your experience at your table. It’s designed to either be played as-is, or hacked, modified, customized, and personalized to make it the most fun for you and your group of friends. Feel free to tweak the game to suit your group, the way Rob and Jonathan tweak systems to suit their needs.

Playing 13th Age

In 13th Age, adventurers seek their fortunes in the Dragon Empire: a fantastic setting with living dungeons, flying realms, and demon-haunted hellholes. In this world’s chaotic 13th age, powerful individuals known as icons—classic fantasy archetypes such as The Elf Queen, The Archmage, The Lich King, and the Orc Lord—pursue goals that may preserve the Empire from chaos, or send it over the edge.

Players decide which icons their characters ally with, which ones they oppose, and which ones they have conflicted relationships with. These icon relationships, along with free-form character Backgrounds and a One Unique Thing, help define an adventurer’s place in the world of 13th Age and lay the groundwork for epic stories that emerge through play.

13th Age Resources

This quickstart document includes the rules and advice you’ll need to run or play a game or three of 13th Age. You’ll also need a couple of other things: an introductory adventure, pre-generated characters, and some d20s, d8s, and other dice.

The adventure: We recommend Crown of Axis, an introductory adventure written with first-time players in mind. Using the rules below, you should have everything you need to run it.

If you want to browse other free adventures, the 13th Age Resources page at PelgranePress.com has a number of adventures to choose from. None are as deliberately beginner-friendly as Crown of Axis, but the Free RPG Day adventure Make Your Own Luck by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan is intended to be played by newcomers. (Make Your Own Luck also includes a less-polished version of the rules summary that’s part of this Quick Start. Use the version in the quickstart!)

If you’re inspired to pay a bit more money, there’s a good short intro adventure at the back of the 13th Age core rulebook; or for something more extensive, pick up Robin Laws’ 38-page The Strangling Sea.

Pre-generated characters: The 13th Age Resources page at PelgranePress.com has a wide variety of low-level pre-generated characters to choose from.