Today, I got to play 13th Age at The Roleplayers Guild of Kansas City, Ltd. game day at Game Cafe. I’ve been itching to play a bard, and I played one that was very different than any other I have seen. I played a pirate bard.
My character inspiration.
My character was Captain Sam Bellamy (named after an actual pirate). His basic story is that he is a pirate captain who dared to sink a ship of the Emperor…who later repaid him in kind. Down on his luck, without a ship or a crew, he’s trying to survive by his whits and his musical talent. I figure he looks a lot like Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time.
I also took some inspiration from the Musical Blades. I think the song Brave and Mighty Captain kind of sums it up. In fact, one of my character’s backgrounds is Musical Blade. He was performing at the local castle when everything went haywire.
His intro to the party was perhaps the best intro I’ve ever had with a character. He was hanging upside down inside a spider web cocoon.
We had a castle full of undeath to tackle, and finally made our way to the big boss at the end. And this is one of the most unique monsters I’ve ever faced. It was a mechanism that was attached to the castle, causing the castle to shift. It spat razor-sharp cogs at us, and was powered by 12 dead wizards.
So, mechanics-wise, the bard is one of the most challenging classes to play in 13th Age. I tried to work in a battle cry, but I didn’t quite get it. I need to work on that more. One of my bardic songs was a Song of Heroes. So my character sang about the greatest hero he knows – himself! He also used a Song of Thunder to help take the huge mechanism down.
This was the most fun character that I’ve played in a long time. The rules are going to take a little getting used to, but they are familiar enough. It’s D&D, and yet it has its own vibe.
The best part is that this has a chance of becoming a regular monthly game. Which is great, because I absolutely LOVE this group!