Dragon Age Playtest

[fireinthedust]

Dragon Age RPG by Green Ronin, based on the video game. I like it, though I have to say I wish there was more of it all at once rather than in three boxed sets.

On the bright side, they're having an open playtest of the second boxed set. This is good, as fans can wade in on things they'd like to see.

Howevre, they don't want fans coming up with new system ideas, or sub-systems, to fix stuff or the whole game. Fie to that, I say. Well, it makes sense: my project, I don't want everyone else wading in. Game design is an art, it is an expression as well as an achievement, so I get it.

On the other hand, there are things I want to see in this game. it's a really great system, but there are things that could be tweeked here and there to make it classic. To the point, perhaps, of having its own book for different settings from the game (not a business reality, frankly, but it's a neat little obscure system)

I propose brain-stroming here.

more when I have time.

 

[Rune]

Can you describe the system, somewhat? I've been curious about whether I might want to pick it up.

 

[Tharian]

One quick note: The playtest already came and went earlier this year. Lots of discussion on their forums about not proposing new sub-systems and such. Good feedback from Green Ronin about the whys and whynots about that.

The system was a lot of fun to check out. Very free form when compared to very rules-heavy systems like Rolemaster or Pathfinder.

During the one session of it I've run, we had fun with it and enjoyed the abstractions available in the game. We weren't looking to set up a long-term game at the time or else that may have led to something very different.

 

[fireinthedust]

Tharlan: Led to something very different? You mean you would have kept going with it, or made changes to it?

Also: They finished the playtest already? Drat. i had things I wanted to say. I even wrote the start of my playtest report!


Currently I think the Talents and Focuses system needs a minor alteration: allow players to choose at least one Talent they want at first level, if not every level. There are 24. As it stands, I can't get a human circle mage to take the free Chirurgy talent from the mage class because he doesn't have the ability to take focus: healing. Nor can I take any of the talents related to magic use, like Primal, Spirit, Entropy, Creation, etc. How sucky is that?
I also have issues with forcing PCs to do an ability focus either for their primary or their secondary stats depending on which level they gain (ie: even or odd numbered). Given it's only 5 levels, and first doesn't count, they're severely limited in the things they can focus on. It's weird.

I like the system, though. For the most part it works, but I want to change the access to talents so they're more accessible. Also I'd use the point buy from the playtest (10 points, arrange to choice), or an array, rather than random rolls; that was fun when I'd never done rpg's before.

Content is fantastic, however, and I can see the game working.


These changes are best done as House Rules. Otherwise, the game's pretty fun. It's less work than 4e, for sure, at low levels. It playes like Pathfinder.

The Classes are limited to 3: mage, rogue, warrior. This covers the concepts you'd need (as mages can heal in this game).

There are backgrounds (so if you're a barbarian Avvar, you take that one; if you're a circle mage, take that one; an elf or a dwarf, take that one; and so on). That gives you the different options, and lets class remain class.

All abilities are based off your stats. If you attack with a heavy sword you do a Strength check; if you have special talent with Heavy Blades, you get +2 to that kind of Strength check.

Every level raise one ability score by +1. Your score adds to your die rolls, so it's instant increase.

Spells use Mana points, so you can know any spell of any level (I think) but you can't cast it without enough Mana. What few spells are given are pretty neat.

I see this game as having a lot of potential in terms of what could be included in it.

 

[kitsune9]

I have the first box set and enjoyed the video game a lot. I did download the playtest for the second box set and will definitely pick it up once it gets published.

 

[Tharian]

Tharlan: Led to something very different? You mean you would have kept going with it, or made changes to it?

I think we would have started with just the first box and eventually mixed in material from the playtest (or second box set, if it were out in time). The rules were very light and let us narrate a lot more of the action and activity than what we had seen in D&D (3.x and 4e) and Pathfinder.

For the campaign story we were putting together (based on a short story my gf had written), the DA (and AGE, as a result) rules seemed a much better fit. Other commitments were getting in the way at the time so we were unable to proceed.

Since then, we've also taken a look at the WFRP 3e rules and that also seems to have a bit more in line with the tone that had been set in that short story. It's about time for us to revisit the plans so we'll see where things go.

Also: They finished the playtest already? Drat. i had things I wanted to say. I even wrote the start of my playtest report!

Yep, the playtest has already closed. They originally announced the playtest in September and the deadline to submit comments was mid-October. I believe the first couple of pages in the playtest material actually documented all that information.

However, the forum is still hashing through much of the material and people are still talking about the rules (both the released box 1 and the play test material). You can find the Dragon Age Forum through the link. I believe a few from these boards haunt there as well. The Other RPG Discussion forum here on ENWorld had a thread or two about Dragon Age and the rules in general, too.

There's always ways to contribute thoughts about the material. Don't let the calendar stop you.

Enjoy.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Can you describe the system, somewhat? I've been curious about whether I might want to pick it up.

The base mechanic is to roll 3d6 (2d6 plus one Dragon Die) and add the relevant Attribute (plus miscellaneous bonuses) against a TN set by the GM (between 7 and 21; average ~13).
If you roll doubles on any two of the dice, the value of the Dragon Die is a number of "Stunt Points" that can be used to do special stuff (depending upon the situation). The Dragon Die is also used to resolve ties and other comparison checks.

Fast and simple, with hit points and mana points (for casters). Armor is damage reduction, characters earn Talents (kind of like D&D feats) that let them do stuff better than other characters. Three classes, (very) random character generation, and no multi-classing. Light and fun, in my opinion, and it fits the source material pretty well.

 

[rogueattorney]

I've read, but not played the game. It looks like a fun game. Quite obviously a D&D descendant, and anyone with any experience with any version of D&D isn't going to find anything particularly alien.

Attributes are generated on a roll of 3-18. But instead of having the result of the role equal your attribute, the modifier is. In other words, in D&D, if you Strength is 13 (depending on what version you're playing) you'd have a modifier of +1. In Dragon Age, your ability score is simply +1.

Like a number of other rpgs, the attributes are roughly analogous to the 6 D&D attributes, with a couple others added on.

There's a class system, with "backgrounds" standing in for D&D's races. "Backgrounds" include things like elves and dwarves, but also nationalities of humans. There are only three classes - warrior, rogue, and mage - but there are both feat and skill analogues that allow for greater customization. In all, I think the game strikes a reasonable balance between simplicity and customization.

A spell point magic system that is extremely heavy on combat oriented spells and nearly devoid of utility type spells.

Combat is 3d6 rolls against a target number AC. Armor reduces damage.

Both combat and skill rolls have a neat crit system with the dragon dice.

The rules are heavy on campaign "fluff" information. It's not a generic setting in that the rules are very tied to the setting, especially the backgrounds. However, I think it's generic enough that you could run a fairly standard fantasy campaign with the rules. It advertises itself as "dark fantasy," but I don't see anything particularly dark about it.

 

[ExploderWizard]

We are having fun with a Dragon Age campaign now. We have only played a few sessions (hopefully getting back on track after the holidays) and are pretty much just using the first boxed set stuff so far.

Combats are dangerous and fast. The stunt system adds a high level of unpredictability to the mix. I would like to see these lists get expanded to provide more variety for longer running games. While fighting a bunch of nasty genloc humanoids on a narrow bridge spanning a deep chasm we made heavy use of the knockback stunt effects to push foes off the bridge.

So far the game has been very entertaining, the system easy to learn and simple enough to not get in the way of play. I give it a thumbs up thus far.