Tommy's Take on Dragon Age Set 1

I kinda like boxed sets. So releasing Dragon Age as a boxed set was a cool thing, to me. I’m a big fan of the video games, and Jodi Black of Beautiful Brains Books & Games gave the pen and paper version a stellar endorsement, so I wound up ordering the first two boxed sets. This is the review of the first one…

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The set retails for $29.95, though the PDF is available for $17.50. This review is of the physical boxed set. The boxed set includes two 64 page books: The Player’s Guide and the Gamemaster’s Guide. Additionally, it includes a full color, foldout map of the nation of Ferelden, featured in the Dragon Age: Origins video game, and three six sided dice (two white and one red, the latter being the Dragon Die). Finally, it is worth noting that this set only includes information for character levels 1-5.

The boxes are sturdy stuff (I know because I accidentally set a chair on Set 2, and the damage is easy to miss), and the books are all full color and with some good production values. The Player’s Guide does a really good job of speaking to the reader from a “first time gamer” standpoint, probably a wise move.

The first chapter gives a decent overview of the setting, bringing you up to speed with the important elements like the Circle of Mages, the Chantry (who police the Circle), the lives of Elves and Dwarves and so on. It sets a rough starting point for the campaign, not pinpointing an exact year. It is also worth noting that Grey Wardens, a big feature of the first game, are mentioned at the beginning of the book, but only telling you that the Grey Warden information will come later.

Character creation is pretty simple, rolling 3d6 for eight abilities (Communication, Constitution, Cunning, Dexterity, Magic, Perception, Strength and Willpower) and cross referencing against a chart for a score ranging from -2 to 4. Additionally, you can gain Ability Focuses, which raise your effective Ability by 2 when using it for the related action..like a Dwarf with the Constitution (Drinking) Focus trying to outlast a rival in a bar. Next, you pick a Background. The Background will either determine your Race outright, or limit your options, and will likely do the same with Class. For instance, an Apostate must be a Mage, and can only choose between an Elf and Human. An Avvar Hillsman can only be Human, but can be a Warrior or a Rogue. Similarly, a Surface Dwarf is locked in as, you guessed it, a Dwarf, but can be a Warrior or Rogue. (I use these examples because these were the backgrounds used in our game last weekend.)

Once this is selected, you generally get a choice of a relevant Focus, then roll twice on your Background’s Benefit chart (which can grant you Ability bonuses, new Focuses, new Languages or new Weapon Groups).

Once you have your Class, record your appropriate Class Powers. Mages cast Spells and have Mana, as well as a Ranged Attack called Arcane Lance. Rogues can backstab and ignore armor penalties for lighter armor. Warriors are skilled in more weapon groups. Additionally, you gain one or more starting Talents (one for Rogue or Mage, with Warriors gaining two Weapon Talents). As you advance in level, you gain new Talents (or improve existing ones), gain new spells (if you are a Mage) or learn to use some Stunts easier than other characters. Every level gains you *something*.

Characters are rounded out with a starting equipment package and money to spend on more personalized gear, and every player is encouraged to create goals for their characters, as well as connections between their PC and the other PCs.

While Focuses give your characters bonuses to your rolls, Talents grant you other benefits and are ranked (in this set) as Novice and Journeyman. For instance, a Novice rank Command Talent gives all of your allies a +1 bonus to Willpower (Courage) rolls as long as you spend an action making a grand gesture first. Journeyman rank Horsemanship allows you to mount as steed as a free action AND increases your steed’s speed by 2.

The equipment chapter is your standard fantasy fare, on the low magic end as you can’t buy things like healing potions and the like.

Magic is cast by making a roll, like anything else, and beating a target number. Additionally, you have to spend Mana in order to cast the spell. The first set includes 18 spells and five starting Spell packages that can be selected so you can make a Mage and drop right into the game. These include basic attack spells like Arcane Bolt, defensive spells like Rock Armor, standard healing stuff like Heal and slightly more off-beat stuff like Walking Bomb, which turns your opponent into a ticking time bomb, and if they die before the spell ends, they erupt in a damaging explosion. The book hints at more dangerous magic to come in later sets.

The mechanics chapter only takes up a few pages, as the game is pretty straight forward. In combat, for instance, you roll 3d6, add your relevant Ability and Focus (if you have one) and try to beat the opponent’s Defense. If so, roll damage and add the relevant ability (usually Strength) and subtract the opponent’s armor. Where the fun begins is if you roll doubles and succeed on the roll, because you use the value of the red die to generate Stunt Points, which let you do things like inflict extra damage, make your attack affect two targets, immediately reload a missile weapon or even change the initiative order! The Stunt system can also be used with spellcasting, making spells easier to cast, or making the spells stronger.

The game assumes that you will not be using maps and minis, but includes a sidebar on doing just that if you prefer.

The Gamemaster’s Guide is written very much to try to walk a new GM through the process of running a game, featuring a lot of material that’s going to be old hat to experienced GMs. For instance, I don’t need advice on my game space. I’ve gotten that one worked out over the last 20 years or so of gaming. This also includes pros and cons of GM styles (Adversarial or “killer” GMs, Benevolent GMs and Director GMs) as well as eight kinds of “Problem Players” to look out for (Rules Lawyers, Wallflowers, Hangers-On, etc). There is also a bit about Dark Fantasy versus Standard Fantasy, which is kinda helpful.

The GM has a chapter on the mechanics, guiding them through the penalties that might apply to tests, as well as advice on setting Target Numbers. Dragon Age also recommends the use of Morale rolls, rather than having every enemy fight to the death every time. There’s also a bit on Hazards, with some mechanical support and then examples, like a Pit Trap or a Burning Inn.

The bestiary begins with a pair of templates to make quick and dirty boosts to the stat blocks, to make Elite and Heroic versions of the monsters included. The bestiary covers animals like Brontos, Mabari War Dogs and Giant Spiders, as well as NPC types such as Dalish Raiders, Fereldan Brigands and Avvarian Hunters, plus undead types like Enraged Corpses (corpses possessed by Rage Demons), Fanged Skeletons (possessed by Hunger Demons) and Shades, and finally a selection of Darkspawn, such as Genlocks, Hurlocks and even Blight Wolves.

The Rewards chapter gives advice on awarding Experience points, as well as summarizing what each character gains by going up a level, as well as a guideline to treasure rewards and a list of magic items, from basic stuff like Healing and Lyrium (magic) potions to more powerful items like a Spawn Cleaver (a sword that gives a bonus to damage versus Darkspawn) and Boots of the Outlaw which penalize attempts at tracking the wearer.

The Dalish Curse adventure puts the PCs in a rough spot between some Dalish Elves and some human settlers, as well as introduces two new Darkspawn and a horrific adversary. There’s a couple of points where the PCs’ actions can definitely have consequences, which is always promising.

The back of the Player’s Guide includes a one page character sheet and the back of the GM’s Guide includes a summary of the mechanics as well as the Stunt charts.

WHAT WORKS: The stunt system is very fun in play, and character generation is optimized to be fast and easy, while still allowing for customization. The production values are top notch, and fans of the Dragon Age setting will find a lot to get excited about. We had a first time roleplayer play it, “get” the system quickly and have a blast. Did I mention I love boxed sets?

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: The “this will be included in later sets” thing can get annoying, especially if you were dying to play as a Grey Warden. As with any system that uses randomization in character generation, it can be easy to wind up with a character that just doesn’t work, which happened with one of ours. It could use a random adventure generator. EVERY book could use a random adventure generator.

CONCLUSION: The proof is in the fun and my first Dragon Age session was an incredible amount of fun. The four of us that sat down to play this had never played or ran it before, and it ran nearly as fast and smooth as Savage Worlds does for us now, which is really impressive for being our first time with the AGE system. The stunt system was HUGE for us, with everyone eagerly awaiting rolls of doubles. If I had to do it over again, I would have used maps and minis, as some of the tactical options would just work better with some kind of concrete imagery, I think. It IS worth noting that when we played, we also had access to Set 2, which includes three sets of handout cards, featuring the rules and Stunt Tables, and I would say those are almost invaluable in play, ESPECIALLY for the first time running the game.

Dragon Age gets picked on by some for being “incomplete”, but the tiered releases was done by Dungeons and Dragons first, and Dragon Age actually has character creation rules, unlike the new Star Wars RPG, which has had a Beta and a Quickstart and still doesn’t. The combat CAN get a little “swingy”, as stunts can make a huge impact on how quickly an enemy is defeated, an Dragon Age doesn’t have a Drama Point or Benny style mechanic in place to save PCs from great rolls by the bad guys.

As a Dragon Age setting fan and a pen and paper gamer, I’m incredibly pleased with my purchase and I dearly, dearly hope to run Dragon Age again soon.

An Arl's Ransom - A Dragon Age Actual Play

So last night I ran the Dragon Age RPG by Green Ronin for the first time. We had a new player at the table, my friend Russ, and I didn’t want to drop him into the middle of something with a ton of built up history (like our Necessary Evil game), because I thought that might make the first session a tad more uncomfortable. Everyone involved was new to the game, though I’ve owned the first two boxed sets for a while, read the rules and went through character generation before.

I decided to print off the Green Ronin Quickstart Adventure, An Arl’s Ransom - so, fair warning, there will be spoilers - and use that for the night’s session. Russ was a little disappointed that his first experience with RPGs was only going to use 3d6 and not “all the funny looking dice”.

Everyone went to work rolling up their characters, with Russ making an Avvar Barbarian Warrior named Nanoc, Tommy (not me, ANOTHER Tommy) creating a Surface Dwarf Rogue named Hard Bark and Kenny created an Elven Apostate named Pharaxis. I knew we were off to an interesting night when I asked them to create connections between each other…and they were linked by Nanoc having dated/slept with/defiled Pharaxis’ sister, who was now dating/sleeping with Hard Bark. It got worse when I saw that one of Nanoc’s Goals was to “kill the dwarf”, and one of Pharaxis’ goals was to kill both of the other two characters.

That said, character generation really went pretty smoothly for making three characters at once with players who had no prior experience with the AGE System. Maybe half an hour or so. Once that was done, we launched into the game. Right here having Boxed Set 2 was a huge benefit, as it includes three sets of reference cards for the rules and stunts, which I handed out to the players (and they actually used..I hand them stuff in Savage Worlds all the time that they ignore).

The adventure opens with the Arl of Stenhold hiring the PCs to accompany his Steward, a Circle Mage named Alenka, to retrieve his children who are returning from a trip to Denerim. He’s entrusting this task to mercenaries because his lands are under attack by Darkspawn. Alenka “drops” a gold sovereign, which Hard Bark quickly snatches up, and Pharaxis gets annoyed as he realizes the Arl has Elven servants who are not being treated well at all. The Arl offers them 50 silver each for the job and sends them on their way, though the Arl’s wife proves to be more sympathic, offering them an additional gold sovereign, which the dwarf politely refuses (having already stolen one).

We get our first taste of combat when the party comes to a chasm which has had the bridge sabotaged, and darkspawn attack (three genlocks and a genlock alpha). The genlocks unload on the party with throwing axes, and Nanoc is forced to rush in, as he lacks any kind of ranged attack. He pays for it when the genlock alpha hits him with a Crippling Attack, right after the dwarf is knocked prone by a genlock. Alenka unleashes her magic on one, freezing it (not solid, but hurting it each round) and draining its life to heal herself, while the elf tries to melee with another, afraid of using his magic in front of a Circle Mage. The dwarf draws his axe, still prone, and tries to fight his attacker, but gets disarmed. The combat was going pretty badly all the way around until the dwarf finally killed his attacker with a dagger, prompting morale checks for the other two normal genlocks, causing the one fighting the elf to break for the trees. The dwarf tried, but failed, to shoot it with his crossbow. Meanwhile, Nanoc was seemingly getting stronger as the genlock alpha was getting weaker, and he finally killed it with a brutal decapitation. The head rolled to the elf’s feet, and he kicked it into the chasm. If it hadn’t been the morale check, this could probably have gotten REALLY ugly for the PCs.

Now they had to figure out how to get across the chasm, leading to Nanoc chopping down a tree that the elf prepared as a bridge. Nanoc nearly dropped it into the chasm, however, so the elf and dwarf had to devise a new plan to get the bridge set…and then they both nearly fell into the chasm trying to cross, only being caught by swift action on the part of Nanoc and pulled to safety.

The group stopped for a breather, with the elf taking a nap while the dwarf went hunting. Alenka slipped away from camp and caught up with the dwarf. See, she had dropped that sovereign on purpose, and seeing what a greedy fellow she was dealing with, offered him the chance to make more money: Kidnapping the Arl’s kids for ransom, rather than returning them right away. The dwarf refused. And also failed to find anything to hunt. Alenka tried a more sympathetic approach with the elf, telling him that he could use the ransom money to maybe liberate some of the Arl’s servants. When THAT failed, she opted not to approach the barbarian, sending the group onwards instead.

As night was falling, the group wandered on, nearly oblivious to the dangers around them, until the elf spotted a horrific owl that was swooping down on them, ripping its talons into him! The dwarf tried – and failed – to hit it with his crossbow, but Nanoc shredded it with a brutal Lethal Blow, a combat stunt that adds 2d6 to his already impressive damage of 3d6+3. This led to a discussion about whether or not it was safe to eat the owl, with Alenka impatiently explaining that anything that is warped by the Blight is not safe to eat.

The night took a more serious turn when the group made it to the rendezvous point, only to find that it had been the sight of a massacre, with guards and darkspawn laying dead all over the place, including the body of a blight wolf in the campfire…which DID prompt the dwarf to ask if it was edible, and Alenka again explaining that it was not. The dwarf took to examining an overturned wagon and finding a strongbox…but he utterly failed at picking the lock. Meanwhile, the elf and the barbarian failed at finding any sign of the children, so the dwarf emerged, dropping the lockbox on the ground, and taking a look himself. This led the hilarious moment of the elf managing to pop the lock on the strongbox and taking the money inside. The dwarf did, however, find tracks leading away from the camp, and ample reason to believe that at least one kid was with the group that departed.

The PCs followed the tracks and found a guard, Ser Blaker, holding a defensible position while genlocks and a hurlock advanced up the hill. The PCs rushed to the edge of a gorge separating them, with Nanoc charging across the gorge while Blaker fired away at the genlocks and the hurlock with his crossbow. Inside the outcropping, Ser Bridget was trying to guard the children. As Nanoc made it across the gorge, he missed the blight wolves charging down from the hill and leaping into the outcropping, shredding the children. The dwarf, elf and Alenka unleashed magic and crossbow bolts to try to halt the hurlock and the genlocks, while Nanoc vaulted over the rocky outcropping and began savagely attacking the wolves. The boy, Joseph, tried and failed to kill a wolf to protect his sister, leading to mocking by Nanoc. A genlock knocked Ser Blaker to the ground to allow one of his allies into the sanctuary, but was then blasted apart by the combined magical might of Alenka and the Elf. Nanoc ultimately brought the combat to a close by hitting a powerful attack that went through the last blight wolf and killed the genlock that got inside!

In the aftermath of the fight, Alenka told Ser Blaker that the road was too dangerous and that he should return the children to Denerim…an exchange that set the PCs off as they realized that Alenka was in cahoots with Blaker. The dwarf and the elf made steps to intervene, accusing Alenka of being a kidnapper, but Alenka tried to convince Ser Bridget that the PCs were the danger, with the Elf being an Apostate and all. Nanoc had no idea about the kidnapping plot, he just knew he smelled a rat. As Alenka pushed the idea that the trip was dangerous, even Bridget agreed, noting the deaths their party had suffered. Nanoc countered that the PCs’ group hadn’t lost a single person. Knowing the big payday ahead of him, Ser Blaker tried to buy the group off with 200 silver, but when that wasn’t going to work, he grabbed the girl, Hana, and put a knife to her throat. This enraged Bridget, but it was the dwarf that struck first with a Backstab, causing Blaker to loosen his grip. Bridget blasted him with an attack and Nanoc finished him off. Alenka sneered and began attacking the PCs, using Winter’s Grasp to try to freeze the elf and draining Bridget’s health every time she was wounded. The combined might of the group was too much, though, and Nanoc ended Alenka as well.

Bridget said she would accompany the group back to Stenhold with the kids, but she wanted to bury all the bodies first. Meanwhile, the barbarian and elf were trying to work out divisions on the money, repeatedly cutting the dwarf out for being a failure. The dwarf tried to pick the elf’s pocket…but got caught. The elf let it go, mocking him for failing yet again. So he tried to pick Nanoc’s pocket…and got caught AGAIN. Nanoc, who had previously threatened to kill him if he tried that, mocked him and let him live.

When the team returned to the Arl, Nanoc made a boast about killing the Arl and taking over the Keep…and the dwarf decided to use the distraction to pick the Arl’s pocket…and got caught. This led to his imprisonment. Nanoc offered the Arl 300 silver to have the dwarf executed and the Arl figured “What the Hell?” and said he’d do it. Then he asked the barbarian if he was seriously going to fight him and his 200 armed men, and Nanoc backed down, saying he was joking. The elf confronted the Arl about releasing his slaves, the Arl said no, and the elf ultimately wound up locked up under vague accusations of being an Apostate.

THOUGHTS: The group popped pretty big any time Stunts came up, in or out of combat. I modified a few things on the fly, as I’d heard that the adventure could be pretty killer, especially the Blight Owl encounter, and I may have nerfed that one a bit too much…but the first combat did a ton of damage to the group. It has been a very long time since I’ve ran a game that turned that adversarial, but there was no bitter feelings at the table, just lots of jokes and very off color humor. The elf’s player is my player that is moving off soon. I think he was the least impressed with the game, but still seemed to enjoy himself somewhat. He did comment on the great chemistry the table seemed to have, and how fun it would have been to have had Russ with us through Necessary Evil. Tommy was less than thrilled with his character, ultimately, but he did come out with a rough combination of rolls. That happens in random roll creation. Russ seemed to enjoy Nanoc quite a bit, going for a Conan-like character and probably getting a decent “Level 1 Conan”. As a GM, I missed a few things (like that you only get Stunt Points if you SUCCEED on the roll, duh), but the handouts made it really easy for us to jump in and run. Russ did tell me after the game that one of the few things he struggled with was combat positioning, so doing it over again, I would have use a map and minis. That said, the whole thing ran about 5 hours, including character generation and lots of back and forth joking around (as much or more in character as out), which is really impressive considering it was our first time with the game and one player’s first time role-playing altogether. I think we wound up a little more humorous than what Green Ronin (and Bioware) assumes you will be with the setting, and it was certainly less serious than most games I run, but it was a great time (and it makes me wanna play with the AGE system some more).