Assault on the Aerie

This week sees the release of Assault on the Aerie, the adventure I wrote for the Modern AGE Missions series. The brief was to write a “high-level” adventure, and Assault is recommended for Modern AGE characters of 13th to 15th level. But what does “a high-level adventure” mean in the context of the action-adventure style of Modern AGE? We took some time to look at that, with an initial section in the adventure on handling high-level challenges in the game. In particular, how to adjust test difficulties, advanced tests, and adversaries, as well as taking into account improved Health levels and resources for player characters. The TL;DR version is that you can throw a lot more at a high-level Modern AGE character! They can take some punishment before they’re taken out of the game, and Game Masters should treat them as such.

Assault on the Aerie is also a highly modular adventure: The focus is on the eponymous “aerie,” a high-altitude lair located atop a sheer rocky outcropping that takes some dangerous climbing, flying, or paragliding to approach, and the same to escape! Exactly what the heroes are there to find and do, and exactly who is there to oppose them, is up to the GM and the type of adventure they want to run. We offer five pre-made options or paths you can use, with adjustments to the adventure for each, and they range from paramilitary techno-thriller to urban fantasy, alien invasion, and even stranger. The self-contained nature of the Assault on the Aerie makes it an excellent one-shot adventure for anyone curious to see how high-level Modern AGE plays, or to run on a live-stream or at a convention table.

Even without the kaleidoscopic adventure options, Assault on the Aerie is useful for the location itself: An abandoned monastery on a high outcropping in the middle of nowhere, usable as a lair, base, hideout, or even ruin to explore (with a few adjustments). The adventure contains a map of the Aerie and all of the game information you need to know about its features and the challenges of reaching it, making it a place you can drop into your own AGE System games with ease—or any RPG system, really. (For example, the Aerie would make any Mutants & Masterminds supervillain an excellent lair.)

Modern AGE Missions: Assault on the Aerie is also available at DrivethruRPG!