Dragon Age RPG

[anarkeith]

Mike Evans suggested looking at Dragon Age as a rules-light RPG with depth. On the first read-through, the system is pretty straightforward and doesn't break out of the basic RPG framework in any way (so it'd be easy for regular RPG players to learn.)

The basic mechanic is roll 3d6 and compare the result to a target number. The twist on this is that one of the 3d6 is a unique color (called the "Dragon Die"), and it can be used to determine degree of success, or (when doubles are rolled) as a point pool to fuel "stunts" (which come from an established menu).

The stunts are what add spontaneous fun to the game, similar to the encounter and daily powers of 4e D&D, except that they are randomly triggered, but then the player gets to define the effect of the stunt.

It's a cool mechanic, and relates to what I'm working on with my point-buy powers for combat and magic.

Feel free to ask questions if you're interested in the system, and I'll try to post more details as I read through more carefully.

[wrathofzombie]

I can also offer any advice or questions on the system. The main thing that struck me when I was reading the rules is that it doesn't sacrifice Narrative for mechanics, which is something we have been addressing with 4e and even 3.5/Pathfinder.

I may have mentioned this in an email a few weeks ago but I was reading on mounted combat in DARPG. You are on a horse and get +1 against ground enemies. If you are hit, that's it.. No riding check nadda. You just keep on playing. The only way you can be dismounted is if your horse dies or if someone uses the knockdown stunt to knock you off of knock your horse down.

I've always hated mounted combat or really mounted anything in 3.5/Pathfinder because you have to make a ton o' checks to do it sufficiently at the cost of being effective in many other realms of the game.

Also in Kobold Quarterly 13 a person from Green Ronin released race info for the "normal" races (not ones in DARPG) for a game set in Freeport. Def worth taking a look.

[grogtard]

Yeah, that was Chris Pramas that wrote that for KQ. He's The Guy at Green Ronin.

[wrathofzombie]

Grogtard! I love you!

[wrathofzombie]

Dragon Age Char gen is definitely "old school" in that you roll randomly and assign the results in order to the attributes.

I know some people find that limiting because they may want to play a mage, but due to their rolls they are pretty much stuck with a rogue. However it isn't hard to just have the GM say, roll and allocate the results where you wish.

Dragon Age may also rub some people the wrong way because not all races can be all classes.

When creating a character you choose a "background" and that will lead you into which of the three classes you can be.

[anarkeith]

Dec 7, 2010 10:00:25 GMT -5 wrathofzombie said:

Dragon Age Char gen is definitely "old school"

Mike, the examples you site were things that bothered me in 1e AD&D, but don't really bother me in the context of Dragon Age. In DA, they just seem to fit. I think it works because there are so many options to help me define my character. And, they're elegantly and logically linked. In 1e, so many thinks just seemed arbitrary and capricious. "Let's see what rule Gary can pull out of his ass on this page!"

[djkester]

[glow=red,2,300]"Let's see what rule Gary can pull out of his ass on this page!"
[/glow]

This is so funny.

Thanks for that image. And suprisingly it fit so well. However, to his credit I don't think Gary was driving many of the rules development efforts. I think he was trying to create a company and had a lot of people adding stuff.

My observation is that AD&D was far to organic in its development. I don't think it was until WoTC that much of these issues were resolved.

One thing to note however, was even with all the rule problems why did it remain the most popular?

I think these idiosyncratic designs appeal on some level to people.

There is something special about being the only one who can fall any distance without damage as long as you are within 10' of a wall. With no explanation as to why or how.

Because at the end of the day if your character can't do something unique and awesome compared to the others you don't have something to write home about.

BTW: I never felt that Wizards were more powerful or too powerful compared to fighters because we never made it past 8th level in any AD&D or DnD campaign I've played in.

[anarkeith]

Dec 7, 2010 18:39:40 GMT -5 djkester said:

BTW: I never felt that Wizards were more powerful or too powerful compared to fighters because we never made it past 8th level in any AD&D or DnD campaign I've played in.

Agreed. Although, I think I made 9th with a Transmuter named "Morfalot". (That should tell you about all you need to know.)

[wrathofzombie]

I like that the author describes this product as "Neo-Retro" because it takes what is awesome about the old school of thought and incorporates what has been learned over the last 30 years of RPGing and game design.

One major thing I like about DARPG as opposed to my time playing 1e and 2e dnd is that chargen is quick. I have little problem with a game being deadly EXCEPT when chargen takes a butt-ton o' time.

I remember in a 2e game I played, I rolled up a rogue which took about an hour- hour and a half, and we go into the first dungeon, first room and I fail on my disarm trap and a poison needle killed me. Now I also fault the GM for putting insta-death traps in a dungeon for level 1 characters, but then he hands me a new sheet and says start rolling up a new character.

I told him I was done for the night. I didn't come to play to have my character die in the first 15 min and spend another hour and a half creating a new character.

[wrathofzombie]

Here is a good review of Box Set 1 for Dragon Age Tabletop RPG.

bagofgames.com/02/dragon-age-review/

[wrathofzombie]

I wanted to put a few links that I have come across for Dragon Age.

I will be starting a Skype DA game soon for friends of mine back in MT (I live in NJ now w/ my g/f who is getting her PhD in toxicology at Rutgers Uni).

So I will definitely have much more to say about DA after I start playing.

Newbie DM is going to do more for DA:
newbiedm.com/2011/01/10/a-potential-new-direction-for-my-blog/

This is the Codex from Dragon Age Origins and has a TON of information:
da-codex.appspot.com/

Here is a great Fan Source for DA stuff both official and fanmade:
www.users.on.net/~jekias/

A new website dedicated to just DA:
dragonageoracle.wordpress.com/

And I've attached on here the Playtest 2 for anyone who wants to take a look at it

Attachments:

[anarkeith]

One of the things that's really interesting about DA to me, is that I could help my players get tied into the game world more. The background is a mechanical part of the character more than it is in D&D.

[wrathofzombie]

I think that the background choice is so much more enriched than your standard DnD game, largely because it is tied to a world rather than the generic core rulebook description of the race.

I also think that it helps because with the way DA starts off it is more like Star Wars: A New Hope. You're Luke Skywalker. A whiny moisture farmer in bumblefucknowhere. This means there is room for the character to grow through the game right from the get go.

Where as 3.x/Pathfinder/4e you are already a cut above the rest and are already on your path to being a hero.. Which always leaves me with the question of HOW/WHY? Oh sure the players can come up with a cool backstory and read it to each other but we don't feel it because we don't experience it.

I think that when you start a character out as a nobody and watch them grow you become more engaged. A players character that actually does heroic things around the table rather than a bulleted backstory will have our attention and interest much longer.

[djkester]

Jan 14, 2011 8:09:11 GMT -5 wrathofzombie said:

...
Where as 3.x/Pathfinder/4e you are already a cut above the rest and are already on your path to being a hero.. Which always leaves me with the question of HOW/WHY? Oh sure the players can come up with a cool backstory and read it to each other but we don't feel it because we don't experience it.

I think that when you start a character out as a nobody and watch them grow you become more engaged. A players character that actually does heroic things around the table rather than a bulleted backstory will have our attention and interest much longer.

I think it has to do with the desired story experience. For me most of the time I want to feel like my character can do something cool no matter the power level. For story purposes I like the idea of stories where the characters start out as not-powerful or unrealized power and then over time discover or develope to their true capability.

For me the starting power level of ADnD was just fine. With the exception of the Magic User.

[wrathofzombie]

I did a post yesterday on getting to play Dragon Age wrathofzombie.wordpress.com/2011/01/18/no-pirate-session-due-to-player-illness-on-sunday%E2%80%A6-however-we-did-get-to-play-ourselves-some-dragon-age/.

Keith asked a good question:

Mike, any thoughts on DA as structure for a campaign? Enough monster variety and incentives to challenge players for a year?

To which I gave a rather lengthy reply:

I think that DA will be able to last as a campaign. While I acknowledge that info is extremely limited as of right now with only Set 1 (levels 1-5 out) right now. However Box Set 2 is set to be released in March and hopefully Set 3, which will have levels 11-20 sometime in fall or winter of 2011, there will be a plethora of info for a campaign.

As far as monsters go, there are quite a few in the GM Guide of Set 1. The important distinction of Dragon Age is the darkness and motivations of people. Darkspawn are a direct result of mans trifling with things that they should not. Blood Mages, desiring more power can transform into abominations and wreak havoc on people and settlements.

DA emphasizes that your next door neighbor could be a potential enemy due to your characters decisions or the situations of the area. I think in DnD we tend to think of enemies as a challenge in the story, while they are tied into the history of whatever the character is doing, etc.. Encounters are kind of apart.

In Dragon Age, I think that the encounters are shown to be a part of the story. Look at the adventure in the GM Guide, the Dalish Curse. The characters don’t hit it off so well with the local blacksmith and later he and a group of his chums attempt to jump the players. If the group kills them then during the climax then the plot is affected.

In Dragon Age: Origins when you killed someone it had an effect on the people in your party and those around you. Make that part of the story. You throw a giant spider at your party and they think it is a random encounter and slay it. A couple weeks later you could have a Dalish Elf approach the party enraged at what they have done. That giant spider ate Darkspawn that wandered into its web and now the Dalish have been raided more frequently by the foul creatures.

I think DA puts more of the situation and stage at the center of an encounter rather than having 2-3 books filled with tons of enemies. Just my philosophy though.

I'm curious about others philosophy in designing encounters in DA or any other game.