Has anyone been playing the Dragon Age RPG?

[Treebore]

In particular since the complete Core book was released?

Thoughts on it?

[jdizzy001]

I just bought Fantasy AGE, green ronin's dragon AGE without the dragon. The AGE system was such a hit, they scrubbed away all the copyright DA stuff until only the core system remained. Anyways, to answer your question, dragon age has been accused of begin a beginner's rpg, not suitable for experienced gamers. I'm not sure why. The only thing this rpg is guilty of is being written in such a way that a beginner will understand it, and being innovative. Needless to say, i like it.

A quick run down, there are three classes: warrior, mage and rogue. To add diversity the game includes many specializations such as bard, duelist, swashbuckler and templar. Thes function akin to dnd 4e's paragon paths, meaning they afford you a title (ie, Bard) and some in game mechanical bonuses. Additionally, you receive your specialization fairly early on, level 4 in Fantasy AGE and level 6 (I believe) in DA. Skills function like background skills in cnc (providing a limited bonus) awarding a +2 bonus. Other than that one uses their attributes to resolve tasks. My only complaint is that both games use magic points for spell casting. I really hate MP. And it is baked so deeply into the system, in the various specializations and such, that removing it is nigh impossible. The game also includes backgrounds which award skills, called focuses. The game has gone to great measures to limit your bonuses. Focuses cap out at +3 and attributes cap out at +5. So a level 20 character who spend their whole career becoming a master pickpocket is going to have at best a +10 to their pick pocket check. 5 from dex, 3 from their focus and maybe a few points from a magic item. I am a real big fan of the limited bonuses. On average a good hero will have a plus 4 or 5 to their signature skills (+2 from a focus and a two or three from attributes).

Task resolution, this is where the AGE system really shines. Green ronin abandoned all polyhedral dice for this game, all you need is 3d6. To resolve a task, roll 3d6, add attribute bonus, add focus and compare the total to your TN. The cool part comes into play if you roll doubles. If you roll doubles on any of your three dice you are awarded stunt points equal to the value of your dragon die. The dragon die is one of your three rolling dice. It is distinguished by being a different color than the other two dice. Once you know how many stunt points you have been awarded (1-6), you may consult the stunt table and spend your points. You may not save your stunt points, they are used immediately or lost.

There are stunts for melee/ranged combat, magic, exploration and social situations. A total of 4 tables, they range from pushing an opponent away 5' to dealing extra damage to hunkering down so you cant be knocked around to reducing the mp cost of a spell to finding an extra item during a search to making an extra attack. It is the best "critical hit" system I have ever seen. Very fun, and a great way to add a bit of epic swashbuckling to any game. The implementation of the stunt system sold me on this game, it was so innovative! I overcame my anti mp sentiment as a direct result of the stunt system. As one is rolling 3d6 and only needs one set of doubles to activate a stunt you have nearly a 50% chance of performing a stunt with each die roll, so stunts happen a lot.

If you havent figured it out yet, I really lik DA or Fantasy AGE. The game is a bit crunchier than cnc but that's okay. Could I port my cnc stuff to DA? Not so much. It would be very difficult. Of all the not-dnd d20 games i've played, this one strays pretty far from the d20 formula. It has been compared to E6 as far as power level goes (If you are familiar with E6). If you don't know what E6 is, it is heroic tier play of dnd, meaning pc's cap out at level 6.

With that said, DA's starter rules are available for free from green ronin. As much as I like DA the video game, I don't like playing rpg in proprietary universes so I prefer Fantasy AGE over DA, but they are both very well built rpgs, so much so, that green ronin is converting a lot of their stuff over to the AGE system, such as free port for example.

[Treebore]

Yeah, I played DA when the first boxed set came out. I just wanted an idea of where the game has gone, "grown too", since then, since the single HC book is out.

I was wondering where their AGE system came from.

[alcyone]

Yeah, I played DA when the first boxed set came out. I just wanted an idea of where the game has gone, "grown too", since then, since the single HC book is out.

I was wondering where their AGE system came from.

I have all of the boxed sets. I was thinking of getting the HC, but I thought it was pretty much the same content as the boxes reorganized, and like jdizzy says, I'd prefer Fantasy Age anyway and not use the Dragon Age canon. Wil Wheaton's Titansgrave uses Fantasy Age for a future game, so it's pretty flexible (and Titansgrave is available to buy too).

[Treebore]

Yeah, while I like the DA video games, I actually think the lore, especially on the monsters, is rather limited, in the range of adventures you can do, so the scenarios would eventually become the same kinds of encounters with the dressings changed. Which, for me as a GM, becomes boring. So I'd probably be more interested in their AGE system as well. So if I buy the DA HC, it will be to simply have such info expressed in game terms. I wasn't really thrilled by the mechanics in the first boxed set.

[jdizzy001]

The mechanics didnt change, it is still a roll 3d6 to accomplish tasks, choose talents, focuses or specializations at level up. Fantasy age did change the attributes. They removed most of the da one's and replaced them with something else. They also split up the rogues attack and def stat. In da the rogue's atk and def is derived from his dex stat. In fantasy age, atk is derived from accuracy and der from dex. I wasn't a fan of the change, but it was kind of needed. The game, da and fa, has a lot of rogue love, they had to do something to balance it out a bit.