'Tales from Xadia' Dragon Prince RPG Announced

Tales of Xadia is an upcoming RPG powered by the Cortex system, based on the Netflix series The Dragon Prince. It will be published by Fandom, the company which owns D&D Beyond.

The RPG was announced during a Comic Con panel this weekend which announced four more seasons of the TV show. Tales of Xadia will "bridge" seasons 3 and 4 of the show. The game is slated for a 2021 release, with a pubic playtest preceding it.

There's an official website, with a trailer.

The Cortex system is a universal modular tabletop gaming engine. It was originally crated by Margaret Weis Productions for the Serenity roleplaying game, and has been used for various games since. Fandom, the owners of D&D Beyond, acquired the system last year.

 PRESS RELEASE

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Players can explore the ruins of Lux Aurea, try to restore the corrupt sunforge, and fight to stop the evil monstrosities they emanate from spreading. This off-screen story comes alive in both game additions and organized game events prior to the release of Season 4.

“Stories from Xadia is being prepared by Cortex, a rule system previously used in award-winning games in the Universes of wonder, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, and more. Cortex Prime was developed by Cam Banks and is the latest version of the system. While waiting for the public game test from Stories from Xadiayou can try out the Cortex Prime rules for free with Hammerheads Spotlight game, available now at cortexrpg.com.

‘The Dragon Prince’ Tabletop RPG ‘Tales Of Xadia’ Announced

Wonderstorm and Fandom have teamed up to create a tabletop roleplaying game set in The Dragon Prince universe called 'Tales of Xadia' powered by the Cortex Prime system.

www.forbes.com

 

[Umbran]

I haven't seen the whole series though

Nobody has - it isn't finished yet. They've had tree seasons, and they've just gotten renewed for your more (of 9 episodes each).

so I don't know if that has been addressed.

Well...

Spoiler

There is one character who seems to defy the rules. He and his brother both have special qualities, though, so it is probably more about them than about magic in general.

I think humans don't have a default connection to a magic source, but they can all forge their own connection.

I think, "ALL humans can forge their own connection, but over the centuries NOBODY has figured this out" is not terribly plausible storytelling, so I hope they don't go that way. YMMV.

 

[Stone Dog]

Why would they try to figure out something that there might not be any observable evidence for when they have their own magic that they can have a good persecution complex about?

If it is as hard as it seems from what little I've seen it would be a discovery as profound and game changing as germ theory, and we all know how long that took to show up.

It would be like learning about bacteria and viruses when balancing the humors kinda works.

 

[Umbran]

Why would they try to figure out something that there might not be any observable evidence for when they have their own magic that they can have a good persecution complex about?

So, the answer to this requires talking about events in the show:

Spoiler

We are shown some history, back to the time of the first human to use dark magic. There's a strong suggestion that one of the antagonists of the series actually gave the human the secret. Presumably, before they were given the secret of Dark Magic, humans were trying to work magic, and failing.

Meanwhile, in the "present," a human character just puts a little effort into it, and discovers he can forge his own connection!

Those don't sit together well. Over the centuries before humans were handed a way, nobody figured out what this one kid just stumbles upon? That fails a sniff test of plausibility - too many people trying for too long should have discovered it before the series starts, at least not without some reason why discovery was delayed so long. And... the show is pretty smart, so I don't think "just happens" is going to be their explanation.

It is also a little too convenient that the two half-brothers just happen to both have semi-magical powers (one can cast spells, and the other can talk to, and develop long-distance telepathy with, animals), the likes of which are apparently not heard of. It speaks instead to how maybe the kids are special, not that all humans can do this thing.

 

[SehanineMoonbow]

As a The Dragon Prince and D&D fan (particularly the Forgotten Realm setting), I am curious to see how this pans out.

 

[Aldarc]

FYI, there will also likely be a Masters of the Universe RPG that also will use the Cortex Prime System.

 

[Umbran]

FYI, there will also likely be a Masters of the Universe RPG that also will use the Cortex Prime System.

With the current reboot of She-Ra, I can see that.

However, the He-Man side of things hasn't been updated yet... and I think it'd take quite a mind to manage that. Hard to figure how they'll manage that one for the game.

 

[Aldarc]

With the current reboot of She-Ra, I can see that.

However, the He-Man side of things hasn't been updated yet... and I think it'd take quite a mind to manage that. Hard to figure how they'll manage that one for the game.

I guess we'll see:

Masters of the Universe Power-Con 2020

3:00pm – 5:00pm Pacific Time, UTC -7
Masters of the Universe Tabletop RPG Reveal
Panelists: Adam Bradford, Cam Banks
Special Guests: Felicia Day, “Masters of the Universe: Revelation’s” Tiffany Smith, “Masters of the Universe: Revelation’s” Phil LaMarr
Join the hosts and some very special guests to discover an exciting new adventure from the all-star team behind some of the world’s most iconic tabletop digital tools and games.
RAFFLE PRIZE: five random attendees will each win a copy of the 2021 Legends of Grayskull Game Handbook!

 

[Randomthoughts]

I finally binged on The Dragon Prince and...wow! The time period between Seasons 3 and 4 (the start of the new seasons) seems like an ideal time for adventurers to jump in. Can't wait to play in that world and play more Cortex.

But questions remain:

• How will magic work? Magic has some interesting dynamics in TDP and would like to see how Cortex brings that out.
• The cast is pretty diverse. Intrigued to see how this is structured. Will there be classes? (Kind of hope not)
• I initially wasn't sure about using Values (thought Relationships would work better). But @BadEye 's explanation convinced me.
• Most of all, how will the online tools work? Posts way back when inferred that Fandom will be rolling out a fairly comprehensive tool to support your version of Cortex. Will screen sharing be part of this? A VTT?

So, SUPER EXCITED!