Product Name: Dragon Age Set 1
Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing
Author: Chris Pramas
System: Dragon Age
Setting: Dragon Age: Origins
Series:
Theme: Dark Fantasy
Type: Core Rulebook
Link: http://www.greenronin.com/
Dragon Age is a dark fantasy system published by Green Ronin Publishing and based on the Dragon Age: Origins video game by Bioware. Without worrying about the Dragon Age: Origins video game, the setting is filled with chaos ready to strike from anywhere. The basics is that the current era is falling into another ruinous age where darkspawn and demonic beings are beginning to invade the landscape. Elves and dwarves are primarily repressed and much of the continent is filled with tyranny, war, or just general hatred toward other countries/regions. This is not a land filled with pegasi and unicorns.
Dragon Age is powered by a roll-under 3d6 system which only requires the use of three 6-sided dice (except for the occasional roll from the GM) to resolve all in-game mechanics. It is an incredibly simple but effective system that creates a great gaming experience. The mechanics are very well balanced for all tasks including role-playing, exploration, and combat. The system avoids becoming bloated through a much different implementation of skills (although technically it has none), ability/conflict resolution, and character creation (especially character templates). The system is called “Adventure Game Engine”, a new system designed by Green Ronin, and is very easy to learn and should be just as easy to play.
PLAYER’S GUIDE INTRODUCTION
There are two books included with the box set: Player’s Guide and Game Master’s Guide. The Player’s Guide contains the setting background, character creation, and system rules. Introduction begins with the fairly standard look at role-playing games and then moves on quickly to the Dragon Age setting. This setting, while wildly important, is discussed like an overview, almost too much like an overview. There are many, many points that are touched on but none of them in detail. While you get a feeling for the time-line and an understanding of the setting, you don’t really get a full description. I would like to see an expanded gazetteer of the setting, especially if it was offered as a free download! While I like this section and understand its purpose, I really wish it was longer. I often found myself confused with some of the content as the time-line was moving so quickly from paragraph to paragraph.
CHARACTER CREATION
Dragon Age is not like a standard class and level system. Characters cannot be created by combining any type of race with any type of class. Players start by rolling stats for the character abilities: communication, constitution, cunning, dexterity, magic, perception, strength, and willpower. From there, you determine the actual starting ability by matching the 3d6 roll to the ability number -2 – 4. This ability number not only defines a characters stats, but it is the actual number used to modify all dice rolls.
Next a player chooses a character background. Backgrounds are the mechanics that bring out a character concept by defining where your character came from and thus what they are capable of. The background chosen modifies a characters stats, applies any applicable focuses, what race they may choose from, and what class archetype they may choose from. Players then choose which race from the background they want and which class archetype they want. There are (currently) three races to choose from: dwarves, elves, and humans, and three class archetypes to choose from: mage, rogue, and warrior. Each class archetype has defined primary and secondary abilities, starting health, weapon groups, and applicable powers (powers is a generic term that encompasses magic, talents, and focuses).
Now its time to give your character the final touches through focuses and talents. A focus is a way of augmenting the applicable ability as if the character is more skilled with that particular use of the ability. An example is Dexterity (Acrobatics); any character can make a dexterity check. If the check is related to acrobatics, then those with the (Acrobatics) focus get a +2 bonus to their roll. That’s it, easy enough. You don’t roll against the focus like it’s a skill and you don’t need to add additional levels. If your character is trained with that focus, then they always get the benefit.
Character creation finishes up with adding the talents. Talents are a way of adding special abilities to your character such as Animal Training or Thievery. This is one way of giving your character more focus within its class archetype. Each talent carries special bonuses or abilities that help to define your character. There are two levels for each talent: novice and journeyman. Each level carries its own bonuses or abilities. Many of these talents are similar to how classes in other epic fantasy systems are defined. Now you have a fully playable character designed with fairly simple mechanics.
MECHANICS
Weapons and equipment follow the same simple mechanics as the rest of the system. Damage is based upon d3’s and d6’s along with various modifiers. When you see the weapon damage and compare it to ones health, it’s quick to see that combat can be deadly. Previously chosen focuses and talents augment attack rolls which are simply calculated by rolling your 3d6, adding the modifiers, and comparing the result to the opponents defense – only one defense rating.
Magic works very similar to weapons in combat except they are based off a different ability with different modifiers. However, the underlying mechanics are the same and don’t require you to learn different mechanics to deal with them as opposed to how you deal with standard melee attacks.
From here the mechanics move on to all the basic game rules including ability rolls and combat. Everything list is fairly simple and standard and attempts to group everything into standard categories. There is plenty of flavor and additional, basic mechanics that I won’t get into. All you need to know, is that everything follows a very simplistic template and avoids making the system bloated.
GAME MASTER’S GUIDE
The Game Master’s Guide contains much of the standard GM information for running adventures. This includes tips and tactics about being a GM and how to use the rules to create an interesting adventure. Included in this guide is a somewhat short listing of adversaries. A good portion of the book is dedicated to the adventure.
ADVENTURE
The included adventure is designed to be an introduction adventure. It’s an extremely well written adventure filled with exploration, role-playing, and combat. It includes a good listing of NPCs, description of the applicable village, and a few new adversaries. Most introductory adventures within core rulebooks are written at a very basic level, this one is written like a stand-alone adventure module that you’re simply getting for free! It’s a fantastic way of introducing the system and its capabilities to players and game masters.
OVERALL
Dragon Age is considerably different from popular epic fantasy systems. There are (currently) only 3 class archetypes (mage, rogue, and warrior), only 3 races (dwarf, elf, and human), and characters are limited by what type they can be based on their background. These characters are based upon their upbringing (background) to coincide with the setting. The key to understanding characters is to understand how they correspond to the setting. This allows players to create characters that are colorful with lots of depth as they are an integral part of the setting and its background. Understanding this allows you to become fully immersed within the setting and the system regardless of how simple the characters may seem.
This set is a great introduction to the entire system, setting, and the mechanics while leaving plenty of space for further expansion (especially with new backgrounds providing new options). This is a solid set to bring players into everything and leave them anticipating the arrival of subsequent releases.
RATINGS
Publication Quality: 10 out of 10
Both the Player’s Guide and Game Master’s Guide utilize the same type of layout and presentation. The content is extremely easy to read, flows very well, is laid out wonderfully, and they really know how to make the best use of the space available on each page. There are numerous illustrations showing the dark fantasy asepcts of the setting and everything is in full color. The best part is that the Player’s Guide, all you need to play if you’re not GM’ing, is only 64 pages in length!
Mechanics: 9 out of 10
The mechanics within Dragon Age are designed to be simple, and that’s what they are. While this box set only goes up to Level 5 (which may be all many groups will ever need), there are lots of great mechanics that are made easy using their Adventure Game Engine. Examples of this is the removal of skills and using Focus mechanics which simply add +2 to ones’ ability roll. Character creation is simple but you can still make unique characters through backgrounds (with new ones that could be easy to create), focuses, and talents. The system does not pigeon-hole players into creating specific character types and gives the more freedom to create the character they desire. The biggest drawback of this is set is that dwarves cannot be mages and backgrounds are tied specifically to the class (or rather the archetype). This removes some of the character creation flexibility while supporting the setting.
Desire to Play: 10 out of 10
I may be a bit biased, but I love this system and the setting (and I’ve never experienced Dragon Age: Origins). The dark fantasy appeal really comes out when you dig further into the setting (by looking at the demonic possession and darkspawn creatures) even though the characters may feel similar to other epic fantasy systems and settings. I love the simple 3d6 mechanics and how the character’s stats are the same as the roll-modifier (again corresponding to the simplicity of the system). Character sheets are simple and straight-forward and the entire game could really keep game-play moving quickly. The currently available grouping of adversaries is a bit small but subsequent publications will most likely expand that.
Overall: 10 out of 10
Dragon Age is a fantastic system and setting, as long as you like the dark fantasy appeal and a character creation that is meant to be simple. It doesn’t present the players with a wealth of character options, but then the setting doesn’t support that. If you’re looking for a more epic fantasy gaming experience, this is definitely not what you’re looking for. But if you’re looking for a dark, chaotic game with simple mechanics and fast character creation, then Dragon Age is a definite must have!
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