Tell me about Dragon Age

[Plane Sailing]

I've heard some mention by people of Dragon Age the RPG, and of Dragon Age the computer game. I know nothing about it, but people I respect seem to think well of it.

So, what can you tell me about the Dragon Age setting, the mechanics, the RPG and experiences you have with it!

I look forward to enlightenment

 

[Stumblewyk]

I've never played the RPG...from what I've heard of it, it's quite disappointing. And I've only played the first Dragon Age game, Dragon Age: Origins, but it was an enjoyable fantasy RPG.
[sblock]The story of the first game focused on the only surviving member of an order of knights who dedicate themselves to battling a dark horde of demonic invaders. Due to the actions of a traitorous lord, the order is blamed for the death of an overly enthusiastic young king during a calamitous battle.

As the only surviving member of the order you're tasked with clearing your order's name, wiping out the demonic threat to the kingdom, and gathering allies to your cause along the way.[/sblock]
The setting is definitely dark fantasy. Magic is only possible through a dangerous connection to spirit realm that can easily corrupt the caster. All those afflicted with magical powers are either under the protection (and control) of a group of specially trained "mage killer"-type warriors or they are outlaws. The reason for this is that magic-users are the reason why the dark horde of orc-like baddies exist at all, and if they fall and become corrupted they can quickly become one of them, IIRC.

 

[Glade Riven]

Too bad the expansion was of poorer quality. It killed my love for the game...

Then again, I played it on the PC, and the PC version was buggy as all get out (even before the expansion). Still, it was fun until the expansion.

 

[Treebore]

I enjoyed it on my 360, and we had fun with the RPG, but the mechanics weren't anything that blew me away. It does do a reasonably good job of evoking the same feel, though.

As for detailed info I would read over the Dragon Age wiki.

Dragon Age Wiki

Plus I seem to remember someone over on the Green Ronin boards putting together a real nice setting document.

 

[MrMyth]

The Setting: As noted above, dark fantasy. Elves live as second-class citizens in walled-off portions of the city (the Elven alienage) or as wild folk clinging desperately to their forgotten traditions. Magic is dangerous and mages are either apostates on the run, or kept as near-prisoners of an order of templars. Politics and intrigue are abundant amongst the human kingdoms - and amongst the dwarves, down below, of which only a few of their great kingdoms still remain.

The rest have fallen to the Darkspawn - twisted and monstrous creatures that seem a dark reflection of the other races. Their origin is not entirely clear, but myth attributes it to mages who tried to enter heaven, and in so doing, corrupted the realm of the gods, and became monsters themselves.

Either way, the Darkspawn now reside throughout the deep roads underground - and occasionally boil forth to threaten the upper lands in what is called a Blight. That is what is happening in Dragon Age: Origins.

As a setting, I like it - it mostly hits the right notes on having interesting twists on familiar elements. A solid if occasionally rail-roady storyline, good characters, and the chance to play through several really interesting and engaging origin stories.

I have the RPG but have not yet had the chance to play it. I like the look of it - simple chargen and an interesting 'crit' system look like they will make it entertaining to play.

 

[rogueattorney]

The Dragon Age computer games are done by Bioware who also did the Baldur's Gate games a decade ago. The Dragon Age games are clearly descendants of the B.G. engine. I have only played the first game (is the sequel out yet?) a little bit on the PS3, and it was a reasonably fun computer-based rpg, with all the goods and bads of that genre. I would say that anyone who liked the BG-engine games (incl. Ice Wind Dale and Torment) will probably like the D.A. games.

I have, but haven't played, the Dragon Age p&p rpg. I liked it upon read through. It has a similar rules depth of the old Basic D&D games. It is quite D&D-ish and no one who has any experience with any version of D&D will have any problem picking it up.

Despite its claims of being "dark fantasy," there wasn't anything in the rules that made it seem like anything other than fairly generic fantasy. That said, despite its fairly light package, there is a lot of setting information and the rules, especially the character backgrounds ("backgrounds" essentially take the place of D&D's races), bring this setting information to the forefront through the rules.

There's an interesting crits system. The engine is entirely 3d6 based. One of the three dice are colored. If, when rolling a check, you get doubles on any dice, then the number on the colored "dragon die" are the stunt points you get towards performing some stunt or another.

If I had any one criticism it would be that the magic spells in the game are entirely combat oriented, with no "utilitarian type spells. But all told, I wouldn't hesitate to run or play the game if I had a group that was interested.

 

[Stoat]

I've not played the RPG.

I played the video game, and I wasn't overwhelmed. I didn't dislike it, it just felt very familiar. Elves live in the woods, Dwarves live underground, mages live in towers and don't get along with priests, there's a big, generic human city with an elf ghetto. There's a The Holy Grail. There's a big bad guy somewhere raising up an army of goblins and hobgoblins. Demonic activity is evidenced by big blobs of flesh that start growing out of the walls. I didn't think the fantasy was particularly dark, any given Warhammer supplement will be darker.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's dark in the Song of Ice and Fire sense, particularly each origin type's individual story line. (Dwarves are not the cuddly guys they are in most generic fantasy worlds, for instance.)

My wife and I didn't encounter any particular bugs in the PC version and she's played something like 20 characters all the way through.

It's a very solid Western-style CRPG. If you like games like Baldur's Gate, you'll like this. The relationships between the characters and the NPCs are especially strong and the consequences can change the game quite a bit and even carry over, to an extent, into the expansion and into the newly released Dragon Age 2, which is actually about a different character who fled the aftermath of the pivotal early battle in DAO for a neighboring city state.

 

[mach1.9pants]

I played it for a little before RL split our group, I really like it. Simple and fast, flexible and the Dragon Die/ Stunt system rocks. I recommend to all, if that is the style you are after. I would be dead easy to ditch the Dragon Age part and just use the AGE system as a generic rule set. In fact in an issue of KQ there are Freeport based character backgrounds by Pramas (issue #16???)

 

[Lancelot]

Context: I've played every Bioware CRPG game to completion, multiple times. I love the company, and I love their games. I only play PC CRPGs; I don't own a console.

Dragon Age: A traditional "western" CRPG in the mold of Baldur's Gate. Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, etc. A large world to explore. Complex skill/magic trees and extensive inventory management. Many quests and NPCs. Rich storyline. I'd say it's definitely worth playing, but I also admit that it has some weaknesses.

• Highlights: interesting and memorable companion characters, lots of gameplay, good tactical combat (very 4e - PCs have clear striker/defender/controller roles, monsters are explicitly divided into minions/regulars/elites/solos), some interesting moral choices especially near the end of the game, epic scope of quest.
• Lowlights: core enemies are cliche (big bad enemy with hordes of "orcs"), extensive copying from other sources (several scenes are almost shot-for-shot copies of the cinema-version Lord of the Rings, and other elements will seem very familiar if you've played the earlier, and more "adult", CRPG The Witcher).

Dragon Age 2: A "simplified" version of Dragon Age. Less inventory management, fewer skill choices, more linear maps, simpler combat (with "splashier" moves - enemies explode into clouds of blood, even from simple sword strikes). If you prefer console RPGs, this will seem more familiar... faster paced, easier, and quicker to complete.

• Highlights: In my opinion... very few. There are a couple of companion characters who are interesting, and there have been maybe 3-4 quests (out of many dozens) which really surprised and/or impressed me.
• Lowlights: In my opinion... nearly everything else. This is the only "bad" CRPG Bioware have made, in my opinion. In addition to the extreme simplification, the game is simply lazy. For the first time in a Bioware game, nearly every map is extensively re-used. For example, there is a "rich house" map. Every time you go into a manor, palace, or upper-class home... it will use the "rich house" map. Same is true of caves, ruins, slum house, back alleys, etc. There are, perhaps, 12-15 different interior maps in the whole game. And you will revisit those maps a dozen times each. The monsters, traps and treasures may be different, but that's it. Even the main setting remains the same: in the first part of the game, you're in a city. In the other two parts, you're still in the same city (with the same maps)... but simply 3 and 6 years later, respectively. It's extremely repetitious and, frankly, somewhat embarrassing coming from a company renowned for creating memorable settings. Further, the primary setting (where you'll spend 80% of your game-time; dozens of hours) is a generic fantasy city. There is nothing exotic about it or its inhabitants in the least. The storyline is also extremely generic - there are no truly compelling protagonists (unlike Baldur's Gate or Jade Empire or Mass Effect) and no interesting character motivations (unlike Planescape Torment or Mass Effect 2). My advice is to play the first game, and pretend that the second doesn't exist. Much like watching The Matrix movie.

Dragon Age RPG: I've had limited exposure to it (played demo copy once). It feels like a generic "entry-level" RPG to me, although the rules seemed poorly structured in the rulebook (difficult to find certain things - could have done with better editing). Little guidance to encounter design, so perhaps not a great game for the DM. PCs seemed okay, but it didn't grab my attention. Without the setting fluff (which isn't exactly novel, in the first place), I'd say that 4e, Pathfinder and Warhammer FRPG are all richer choices.