Comments on: Tribal Knowledge: Three-Way Conflict

By: crimfan

crimfan — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 15:05:00 +0000

In Michael Moorcock’s multiverse, the Balance is poorly understood by most people. Many of the Eternal Champions end up questing for it but often start out serving one power or the other. For instance, Elric starts out passively serving Chaos, kind of as a legacy given that his ancestors had switched from Law to Chaos in the distant history of the founding of the Melnibonean kingdom. By Elric’s time they’re mostly too stoned to really know much of their history, though. Elric’s actions loose Chaos into the world and he switches to Law, but by the end seeks Tanelorn. Other Eternal Champions end up there eventually, though often through different paths. Corum is always a Champion of Law, though, again, passively so. Agents of Chaos, especially do seem to attack Tanelorn, the city of the Balance, with fair frequency.

The example of the Western democracies and the Soviet Union teaming up in an unlikely alliance to defeat Fascism is a very good one from real life. There are a number of other examples of “politics making strange bedfellows” in history. And, indeed, international systems with three substantial players tend to lead to a temporary alliance between two to defeat the third.

By: Brandes Stoddard

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 19:57:00 +0000

In reply to Tim Baker. I don't know that I want to use the Icon mechanics in every session or situation, but it's fantastic as a trick up your sleeve and a content-generation engine. As long as you don't have trouble keeping the PCs at the center of the action, any two clashing Icons should be unlimited episodic soap opera. =)

By: Tim Baker

Tim Baker — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 19:39:00 +0000

When 13th Age icons are used to their potential, you get these delicious alliances and conflicts between the factions of the world. The icon relationship dice help to ensure that these come up in the campaign, even when the heroes least expect it. Once I experienced this kind of richness in a setting, I was unable to go back.

By: Manos Ti

Manos Ti — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 13:13:00 +0000

Love it. It is just that these kind of situations put PCs in either dilemmas or two-way fights; both make really memorable encounters.

In my current D&D campaign (tied to SKT, but not the module per se) the PCs are tasked to deal with the Giants situation all the while having to cope with various factions and power groups. It’s fun to see them trying to focus on the real problem all the while trying not to overtly show favoritism, although some of them ARE members of certain factions with their own agendas. This is will either turn on its head and the campaign will end with a PvP battle royale (we already had two PvP encounters) or it’ll turn out phenomenal. Time will tell.