Okay, so things got a tad more hectic than expected, but at least it's not been as long in between updates this time around.
My old PC, an eMachines tower I got fairly inexpensively for a pretty low price several years ago started developing all sorts of worrisome habits, foremost of these being random crashes and trouble starting up. Which meant a new PC, which I now have.
Having had a really good track record with Dell PCs, I went with an Inspiron, and the difference in performance between the two is night and day. It was on the costly side, but my financial situation is a lot better than it was several years ago, thanks to a steady job with a very nice pay rate and having managers that weren't trying to screw me out of pay increases. Sure, I could have custom built one for cheaper and with bigger/badder performance, but I'm not super tech-savvy and my Dell covers what I need it to do and then some.
But since I started this blog to mostly talk about gaming, I figure I should start doing that.
A few weeks ago, I kicked off a brand new Force and Destiny campaign. I'm sure most of you that read this blog have already seen reviews praising the quality of the book (the art is astounding from start to finish), and how FFG seems to have circumvented the problem that Force users presented in prior Star Wars RPGs of simply overshadowing the rest of the party. I know that was a major concern in Saga Edition, and it cropped up in WEG's d6 system if a Jedi was played for more than a dozen or so sessions.
I've got a pretty interesting mix of characters, ranging from Nolt, a Zabrak Seeker/Hunter to Stell, a Human Smuggler/Thief/Gunslinger that attacks with throwing knives instead of blasters (and mechanically seem to be working quite well) to Ordo and Zara, a pair of Human fraternal twins that were once Jedi initiates (Guardian/Soresu Defender and Mystic/Seer respectively). They're an interesting group, thanks in no small part to the quality of the players I've got.
Thus far, I've run them through Mountaintop Rescue from the Beginner Box and a part of the Lure of the Lost expansion module, though I've dropped the multiple holocrons plot and instead focused on the icewolf caves as the main source of the dark side corruption that drew Malefax in the first place. Overall, the group's having fun, though I do feel bad for Ordo's player and share his frustration that his attacks with an Ancient Sword (rolling 3 proficiency at this point) frequently tend to end in failure with lots of Advantage. Maybe that will change when Ordo is ready to stop hiding from his Jedi past and once again take up a lightsaber (something the player has advised he wants to wait for until the "timing is just right" for his character). After the last adventure, the group did pick up a mascot in the form of an icewolf pup. I think that after a tough fight with the revenant icewolf den mother (module isn't clear if she's still alive or not, so I went with undead), asking them all to make Daunting Cool checks made them all sweat... although the check was simply to see if they could avoid going "awwwww" at the cute little icewolf pup. I'm really looking forward to their next few adventures, especially as they won't be quite so heavily focused on the Force.
Although we're not currently playing Linda's Age of Rebellion game (where none of the PCs actually used AoR careers), I've been taking a fresh look at the modified Shii-Cho Knight that I created back during the FaD Beta as an alternative to the purely melee-focused official version. I was hoping that maybe the final product would at least give nod to Shii-Cho having some inherent defense against ranged attacks, but alas that was not to be.
With the new PC set up and running, I decided it was time to scratch a particular gaming itch, and go about replaying Dragon Age: Origins. I bought the game when it came out (though only my laptop of the time could actually run it), even buying a decent portion of the DLC. Well, sadly it seems that it'd been so long that I'd used my old EA account that it had been deleted. However, a far less costly alternative presented itself in the form of the DA:O Ultimate Edition, which has all the DLC included plus Awakenings, as well as it being pretty easy to snag all the pre-order bonuses for free on top of that. Best ten bucks I've spent in a while.
So yeah, been playing through the various origin stories, which was the one thing that really hooked me into the game, that each PC had a pretty in-depth introduction as opposed to the general trend of "here's your main hero, and off into the grand adventure you go!" With the origin stories, you actually have a chance to get to know the history of your character a bit more, with the Human Noble and Dalish Elf probably being my two favorites of the lot.
Of course, playing the computer game has also gotten me to thinking about the RPG that Green Ronin created, as well as their Fantasy AGE system that is an evolution of the DA:RPG. My Friday night gaming group seemed to grove on DA:RPG the couple times I got to run the system for them. Maybe something to keep on hand as a back-up just in case one of our regularly scheduled games gets put on hold for some reason.
I've also been reading through my copy of Feng Shui 2, another game I'd like to try running at some point. Being an incessant tinker monkey as Cyril put it, I've been toying around with tweaks to the various archetypes. Nothing super-drastic, mostly little things like altering the weapons load-out the Maverick Cop (probably my favorite of all the archetypes, if only because it was so fun to play at GamerNationCon) is packing, or what Fu Powers the Martial Arist has (namely swapping out the Dim Mak stuff for Wing Chun to make true Bruce Le clone), or simply tweaking what skills and skill bonuses the Spy has (little less Connery/Moore!Bond, little more Craig!Bond).
Lastly, also been playing in Eric's re-launched Emerald City Knights campaign for Mutants & Masterminds 3e, and still playing my take on Spider-Man. After playing in Kyle's cosmic-themed game, it was nice to pick up Spidey once again. He's a fun build, with a lot of variety and options to handle most situations, both in and out of combat. Still has no clue when it comes to women though, as there are early signs of him getting embroiled in a love triangle involving two other super-powered ladies, and he might be super-aware to most forms of danger, I get the feeling this one is going to wind up blindsiding him. The most recent session was a bit rough, as there was some miscommunication between me and the GM on a couple points, but it all worked out and we're on our way to a big throwdown with what I suspect is the current arc's BBEG.
That's about all for this week in terms of gaming-related stuff. I do have a new job (same company, different department) that's had its own challenges but so far I seem to be doing pretty good and managing to stay on top of things.
Showing posts with label Dragon Age. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dragon Age. Show all posts
August 23, 2015
August 1, 2015
What a week it's been...
So made it through July without completely loosing my sanity, though will confess there were a couple points it was a near thing.
It's now the month of August, and I've made it through my first week in my new job. I'm still with the same company, but I've finally been able to transfer out of the department that I've spent over a decade working in. While the old job was steady, it had also become pretty mind-numbing in terms of routine; much like Jack Skellington I'd grown quite tired of the same routine day after day. As for the new job, it's been a gradual start as there's various bits of access that I still need, but already there's been new challenges and next week's looking up to be quite interesting indeed.
On the downside, my personal computer is pretty much started to give up the ghost; I've joked with my long-time friend Linda that it's decided to take a page from her laptop (semi-affectionately dubbed HAL) in terms of not being very cooperative in working. Had a lot of hassles getting into Windows, but I've got a work-around so that I can at least use the machine in the interim. Now, I knew that a new computer was going to be on the horizon, as my current one quite a few years old and wasn't a top-line model when I got it; it was cheap and did what I needed it to do, so I can't complain too loudly. I do have a new PC on order and en route courtesy of Dell, though FedEx is taking its sweet time in delivering it, but hopefully I'll have it on my doorstep by the middle of next week.
And speaking of FedEx, there's a reason I don't use them unless I've got zero other choices. Dell's shipping options were FedEx or nothing, and an online gaming shop that I pre-ordered a book from also relies solely upon FedEx. Well, in terms of that RPG book, it was shipped this past Tuesday and from what my tracking number says, it's not showing up until Thursday at best. My new PC hasn't suffered any delays, but with the craptastic track record that FedEx has in terms of delivering my purchase, I'm half-expecting some kind of delay and that new PC to now show up until the week after next.
But, the week's not been all bad or all crazy. Though it's a day late, I am enjoying a bit of Christmas in July, at least in terms of getting various goodies.
First of these was snagging my copy of the Force and Destiny core rulebook for Fantasy Flight Game's excellent Star Wars RPG. I pretty much spent most of my evening poring through the book, enjoying the A+ artwork (which is pretty much standard with FFG products) as well as seeing what changed between the Beta+Updates and the final product. The number of changes were pretty minor, with only the Protector spec getting a major revamp in terms of layout and Heal/Harm also being tweaked. Sadly, the Shii-Cho Knight is still pretty much melee-only in terms of defensive traits, so it seems I'll still be employing my homebrew Shii-Cho Knight specialization. But overall, I like the book and am really looking forward to kicking off a new brand new Force and Destiny campaign. Most of the players have their characters ready to go, though we were mostly waiting for the FaD corebook to drop so we could see what tweaks would need to be made; luckily the careers and specializations selected didn't have any major changes that would impact the characters.
The new adventure in the back of the core rulebook was amusingly familiar, being quite similar to the Force and Destiny adventure that was being run at GenCon last year, although with some rather notable changes to make it more suitable for beginning characters. It's also a nice contrast to the Beta adventure in that "Lessons from the Past" doesn't end with the PCs now having lightsabers, though they do get a nice resource at the adventure's conclusion that can be used to convey a bevy of plot hooks to a group.
I also picked up the GM Kit, and while the screen is nice, the main draw for me was the supplemental rules on lightsaber construction and discussion on Knight Level characters. Truthfully, while nice I probably won't make use of the expanded lightsaber construction rules; the main quest in this system is more about the PC getting their crystal with the building of the lightsaber handled as more of a side element. The adventure was kinda meh; not sure I'd ever run it for my upcoming campaign as-is, but I could always adapt it down the line.
Now a while back I'd backed the Kickstarter for a new edition of the classic RPG Feng Shui. Sadly, I never really got the chance to play the game before, but simply loved how cool it looked and just the basic notion of an RPG that was meant to replicate the sort of things you'd expect to see in a Hong Kong martial arts flick as well an 80's action movie. I did get a chance to play Feng Shui at this year's GamerNationCon, and while the dice weren't overly cooperative and my one-liners needed some work, I still had a lot of fun playing as the Maverick Cop. I'm not sure if or when I'll have a chance to play or run this myself, but I may angle for at least a one-shot with either my Friday Skype group or my Saturday face-to-face group. Well, the hardcover copy of Feng Shui 2 showed up yesterday, though I've not really gotten a chance to pour through. I've got the PDF so I've got a pretty good idea of what's inside, but I just find reading the actual book so much more enjoyable than reading a PDF.
In similar news of hardcover RPG books, the copy of the Dragon Age RPG core rulebook arrived as well. Now I've not touched Dragon Age in a while, so again this will probably be a "find time to sit down and read" to really get up to speed on what's changed in regards to the three box sets. Of course, in a sense this RPG is already outdated as Green Ronin has released their Fantasy AGE system, an updated version of the rules used in Dragon Age. Not sure when or if I'll pick that up, but since I was a backer for the AGE version of Blue Rose, I guess I'll get those newer rules one way or another.
But aside from the obvious capstone of getting the Force and Destiny books (let's face it, when it comes to RPGs, the fact that I am a major Star Wars nerd is going to very heavily flavor my preferences), earlier in the week I also got a very LARGE package courtesy of BigBadToyStore, something I'd ordered a while ago as kind of an early birthday present to myself. Between computer issues and various RPG books, I'd not opened that box until this morning. And inside was something that made my inner child grin with glee...
While my big fave amongst fandoms is and always will be Star Wars, a close second is Transformers. I had a bunch of them growing up, and as an adult have picked up a whole bunch more from various product line ranging from the re-issues to the Classics to the movies (only a few though) to Masterpiece series and up to Combiner Wars, as well as a few 3rd party kits. But one of the figures I'd never picked up was the Constructicons, mostly as I remember that they were pretty flimsy (a friend of mine had them) and you could tell that they were a first attempt at designing a combiner out of components that were themselves transforming robots.
But when combined, this version of Devastator is not flimsy and you can tell that Hasbro/Takara have learned a lot about designing figures for the Transformers series since the 80's. Each individual Constructicon is a Voyager-class figure, meaning their big and frankly pretty beefy; I could see these guys standing up to actual play without much fear of breaking. It also means that in their robot modes they generally dwarf the Deluxe line figures.
And the combined robot... yeah, this sucker is HUGE. It's pretty sturdy, although the balance isn't perfect as the right leg is reliant upon Scrapper and the front scoop could very easily shift and cause the whole figure to go tumbling down. Which given the price point is a pretty worrisome thought even to a very casual collector like me. Were I an actual kid, this sucker would quite probably be the holy grail of potential gifts. I put a LEGO mini-fig (a Clone Commander specifically) up next to Devastator, and the little clone trooper was absolutely dwarfed. While I've not checked out much else of the Combiner Wars line (the figures are getting ridiculously expensive at this point), I have to say I'm pretty darn impressed with the quality of Devastator, both combined and in individual components. It was a very pricy purchase (well over $100 bucks), but I think it was worth it.
Last but certainly not least, though it is kinda leaning into the week prior (but still part of July), I got to spend last Saturday evening enjoying dinner with my good friends Amy and Tiff, enjoying some very good sausage and ziti as well as finally playing a round of Betrayal at Haunted House on the Hill. I've heard a lot of good things about the game, but just never got the chance to sit down and play. We lost spectacularly once the Haunt came up, but it was still fun and many laughs were had, which is why people get together to game in the first place.
Well, that's enough yapping from me this time out. I've got a series of Force and Destiny pre-gens that I'm going to be getting ready to post in the coming days, to commemorate the power of this fully armed and operational Star Wars role-playing game, so expect to see various posts next week. I've also got a two groups of ready-made PCs for Age of Rebellion and Edge of the Empire, all set to be used in an extended campaign or pulled in for a single one-shot, so expect them as well later on.
It's now the month of August, and I've made it through my first week in my new job. I'm still with the same company, but I've finally been able to transfer out of the department that I've spent over a decade working in. While the old job was steady, it had also become pretty mind-numbing in terms of routine; much like Jack Skellington I'd grown quite tired of the same routine day after day. As for the new job, it's been a gradual start as there's various bits of access that I still need, but already there's been new challenges and next week's looking up to be quite interesting indeed.
On the downside, my personal computer is pretty much started to give up the ghost; I've joked with my long-time friend Linda that it's decided to take a page from her laptop (semi-affectionately dubbed HAL) in terms of not being very cooperative in working. Had a lot of hassles getting into Windows, but I've got a work-around so that I can at least use the machine in the interim. Now, I knew that a new computer was going to be on the horizon, as my current one quite a few years old and wasn't a top-line model when I got it; it was cheap and did what I needed it to do, so I can't complain too loudly. I do have a new PC on order and en route courtesy of Dell, though FedEx is taking its sweet time in delivering it, but hopefully I'll have it on my doorstep by the middle of next week.
And speaking of FedEx, there's a reason I don't use them unless I've got zero other choices. Dell's shipping options were FedEx or nothing, and an online gaming shop that I pre-ordered a book from also relies solely upon FedEx. Well, in terms of that RPG book, it was shipped this past Tuesday and from what my tracking number says, it's not showing up until Thursday at best. My new PC hasn't suffered any delays, but with the craptastic track record that FedEx has in terms of delivering my purchase, I'm half-expecting some kind of delay and that new PC to now show up until the week after next.
But, the week's not been all bad or all crazy. Though it's a day late, I am enjoying a bit of Christmas in July, at least in terms of getting various goodies.
First of these was snagging my copy of the Force and Destiny core rulebook for Fantasy Flight Game's excellent Star Wars RPG. I pretty much spent most of my evening poring through the book, enjoying the A+ artwork (which is pretty much standard with FFG products) as well as seeing what changed between the Beta+Updates and the final product. The number of changes were pretty minor, with only the Protector spec getting a major revamp in terms of layout and Heal/Harm also being tweaked. Sadly, the Shii-Cho Knight is still pretty much melee-only in terms of defensive traits, so it seems I'll still be employing my homebrew Shii-Cho Knight specialization. But overall, I like the book and am really looking forward to kicking off a new brand new Force and Destiny campaign. Most of the players have their characters ready to go, though we were mostly waiting for the FaD corebook to drop so we could see what tweaks would need to be made; luckily the careers and specializations selected didn't have any major changes that would impact the characters.
The new adventure in the back of the core rulebook was amusingly familiar, being quite similar to the Force and Destiny adventure that was being run at GenCon last year, although with some rather notable changes to make it more suitable for beginning characters. It's also a nice contrast to the Beta adventure in that "Lessons from the Past" doesn't end with the PCs now having lightsabers, though they do get a nice resource at the adventure's conclusion that can be used to convey a bevy of plot hooks to a group.
I also picked up the GM Kit, and while the screen is nice, the main draw for me was the supplemental rules on lightsaber construction and discussion on Knight Level characters. Truthfully, while nice I probably won't make use of the expanded lightsaber construction rules; the main quest in this system is more about the PC getting their crystal with the building of the lightsaber handled as more of a side element. The adventure was kinda meh; not sure I'd ever run it for my upcoming campaign as-is, but I could always adapt it down the line.
Now a while back I'd backed the Kickstarter for a new edition of the classic RPG Feng Shui. Sadly, I never really got the chance to play the game before, but simply loved how cool it looked and just the basic notion of an RPG that was meant to replicate the sort of things you'd expect to see in a Hong Kong martial arts flick as well an 80's action movie. I did get a chance to play Feng Shui at this year's GamerNationCon, and while the dice weren't overly cooperative and my one-liners needed some work, I still had a lot of fun playing as the Maverick Cop. I'm not sure if or when I'll have a chance to play or run this myself, but I may angle for at least a one-shot with either my Friday Skype group or my Saturday face-to-face group. Well, the hardcover copy of Feng Shui 2 showed up yesterday, though I've not really gotten a chance to pour through. I've got the PDF so I've got a pretty good idea of what's inside, but I just find reading the actual book so much more enjoyable than reading a PDF.
In similar news of hardcover RPG books, the copy of the Dragon Age RPG core rulebook arrived as well. Now I've not touched Dragon Age in a while, so again this will probably be a "find time to sit down and read" to really get up to speed on what's changed in regards to the three box sets. Of course, in a sense this RPG is already outdated as Green Ronin has released their Fantasy AGE system, an updated version of the rules used in Dragon Age. Not sure when or if I'll pick that up, but since I was a backer for the AGE version of Blue Rose, I guess I'll get those newer rules one way or another.
But aside from the obvious capstone of getting the Force and Destiny books (let's face it, when it comes to RPGs, the fact that I am a major Star Wars nerd is going to very heavily flavor my preferences), earlier in the week I also got a very LARGE package courtesy of BigBadToyStore, something I'd ordered a while ago as kind of an early birthday present to myself. Between computer issues and various RPG books, I'd not opened that box until this morning. And inside was something that made my inner child grin with glee...
While my big fave amongst fandoms is and always will be Star Wars, a close second is Transformers. I had a bunch of them growing up, and as an adult have picked up a whole bunch more from various product line ranging from the re-issues to the Classics to the movies (only a few though) to Masterpiece series and up to Combiner Wars, as well as a few 3rd party kits. But one of the figures I'd never picked up was the Constructicons, mostly as I remember that they were pretty flimsy (a friend of mine had them) and you could tell that they were a first attempt at designing a combiner out of components that were themselves transforming robots.
But when combined, this version of Devastator is not flimsy and you can tell that Hasbro/Takara have learned a lot about designing figures for the Transformers series since the 80's. Each individual Constructicon is a Voyager-class figure, meaning their big and frankly pretty beefy; I could see these guys standing up to actual play without much fear of breaking. It also means that in their robot modes they generally dwarf the Deluxe line figures.
And the combined robot... yeah, this sucker is HUGE. It's pretty sturdy, although the balance isn't perfect as the right leg is reliant upon Scrapper and the front scoop could very easily shift and cause the whole figure to go tumbling down. Which given the price point is a pretty worrisome thought even to a very casual collector like me. Were I an actual kid, this sucker would quite probably be the holy grail of potential gifts. I put a LEGO mini-fig (a Clone Commander specifically) up next to Devastator, and the little clone trooper was absolutely dwarfed. While I've not checked out much else of the Combiner Wars line (the figures are getting ridiculously expensive at this point), I have to say I'm pretty darn impressed with the quality of Devastator, both combined and in individual components. It was a very pricy purchase (well over $100 bucks), but I think it was worth it.
Last but certainly not least, though it is kinda leaning into the week prior (but still part of July), I got to spend last Saturday evening enjoying dinner with my good friends Amy and Tiff, enjoying some very good sausage and ziti as well as finally playing a round of Betrayal at Haunted House on the Hill. I've heard a lot of good things about the game, but just never got the chance to sit down and play. We lost spectacularly once the Haunt came up, but it was still fun and many laughs were had, which is why people get together to game in the first place.
Well, that's enough yapping from me this time out. I've got a series of Force and Destiny pre-gens that I'm going to be getting ready to post in the coming days, to commemorate the power of this fully armed and operational Star Wars role-playing game, so expect to see various posts next week. I've also got a two groups of ready-made PCs for Age of Rebellion and Edge of the Empire, all set to be used in an extended campaign or pulled in for a single one-shot, so expect them as well later on.
July 4, 2014
May the Fourth (of July) Be With You!
For my fellow American residents, a Happy 4th of July to you.
The past few posts have been predominantly geared towards Mutants & Masterminds. But as I am first and foremost a Star Wars fan, I think it's time to head back in that direction.
In terms of Star Wars gaming, the big news is that the Age of Rebellion core rulebook has officially hit shelves as of yesterday. I was fortunate enough that my FLGS had the book on the shelves along with the GM Kit, so I snagged both of those. I've not really had a chance to look through the GM Kit yet (had other matters to attend to), but I'm really impressed with the layout and artwork of the AoR core rulebook. The action scenes on display are, to me at least, really evocative of the fact that one of this game's central themes is war. Kudos as usual to Zoe Robinson for her work in getting her art team to once again produce some great work.
There weren't as many changes to the mechanics as there had been for the EotE core rulebook, though Foresee has a rather major change in the left-hand side of the tree (the initiative boosting portion) that makes that first upgrade a lot more useful to a PC, and makes me glad I picked up the Foresee power for Valin when the opportunity presented itself. In fact, it looks like most of the specializations are the same as they were in the Beta + Final Week Update. That's good for folks that have been playing AoR characters, as they don't have to worry about their characters suddenly needing to be severely tweaked. Admittedly I've not gone over the material with a fine tooth comb, so there might be some minor changes that I've overlooked.
Another reason is that in spite of thinking I was done with it, I've been tinkering with my Ways of the Force supplement. Yeah, I know that it's just over a month to GenCon and the (hoped for) release of Force and Destiny Beta rulebook, but as a self-avowed "tinker monkey" I found myself going back and re-reading and revising various bits of material from version 1.3, with the top item on the list being Deflect Blasters.
While I like the idea of a competitive check, as it makes the opponent's degree of skill count for something, it was ultimately a clunky implementation, particularly when it got to the point of having the split a single talent into two separate talents just to keep them from being too overpowered. I've got a newer version of the talent that looks very promising, as it's quite simple to implement and doesn't have to worry about whether the shooter is using autofire or not. However, the one concern that I have is that it's very powerful, even if still limited to a once-per-round effect. Right now, the current method plants the talent right back at Row 5 and nearly being a capstone talent of the Jedi Initiate specialization.
A few other talents are being revised, in particular Force Talisman and Fortified Body (which was always a bit of a 'meh' talent in prior versions).
Force Powers got some work done on them as well, particularly Message and Rebuke. They probably still won't be to everyone's liking, but I think they work much better than the earlier versions I'd published.
I've also been revisiting the rules I created for lightsaber construction, and again have simplified the process, particularly where Advantage and Threat are concerned, but also Triumph and Despair with each having an effect but one that's simple to implement during play. Gave those a bit of a test run for Valin with the GM's permission, and they worked pretty well, as it's a single roll that would be made during "party downtime" in between encounters and does carry the risk of failure for novice Force-users (i.e. Force Rating 1 with a sub-par Discipline dice pool).
I think version 1.4 is about ready to be released upon the internets and go zipping through the tubes, but I'd like to try and get a bit more testing done on the newest iteration of Deflect Blasters this weekend (time permitting).
I've also been making progress (slowly) on Fallen Stars, a FFG SWRPG module that was meant for the Order 66 Kickstarter last year. Unfortunately, a series of real-life events made it next to impossible for me to finish that module in anything resembling a timely manner. At one point I did have it "finished" but a test-run of the final portion of the adventure turned out so horribly that I felt it was better to just scrap what I had and start over rather than foist a crappy final act on the backers. Admittedly, with Age of Rebellion now being a thing, I'm working on an Appendix discussing what tweaks to make to use this adventure with AoR characters, in addition to providing two sets of pre-gen characters, one group of EotE-themed ne'er-do-wells and the other a team of Alliance operatives. The central theme of the group getting into a situation much deeper and far riskier than expected still carries through though, no matter if you're part of the Alliance or just an independent-minded spacer.
I've also been getting back into the Dragon Age RPG, particularly as Green Ronin has been dropping hints that Set 3 is actually on the horizon to becoming a reality instead of looking to just be vaporware due to various delays in getting the material approved. Though with BioWare being focused on Dragon Age III: Inquisition, I guess I can't fault them too much in not getting the RPG stuff approved in anything resembling a timely fashion; guess I'm just spoiled by how Lucasfilm is able to get their end of the approvals process done in fairly short order. I wasn't able to participate in the Open playtesting for Set 3 (didn't have a reliable group that was interested in the AGE system or the Dragon Age setting), but the material suggested does a lot to expand the world of Thedas for the RPG, even if one doesn't get into the higher (11+ levels of play). I doubt that Set 3 will be available at GenCon (though I'd be pleasantly surprised if it was), but I may bring the materials needed to run "Duty Unto Death" with a group of custom PCs with me this year for a possible pick-up game.
Speaking of GenCon (just over a month away!), I lucked out and was able to snag a seat at a couple of FFG Force & Destiny events, so I've got at least two confirmed game sessions for the convention, as well as whatever pick-up games I manage to get into. Even if the adventure didn't last too long on account of the GM being rather punchy, the pick-up run by Jay Little last year was quite amusing, and I still crack a smile at "drink vouchers." Though a fair chunk of that has to do with the time spent in the lobby of one of the Marriott hotels with Jay and the other players, each of us taking turns changing lines from Star Wars to use the words "drink vouchers." Some were really cheesy, some were really good, but they were all funny... at least to us. I'm hoping that this year's GenCon will have a similarly memorable moment.
Well, I think I've rambled on enough for one day. Again, to my fellow Americans, enjoy the holiday and stay safe. And may the drink vouchers be with you...
Edit: Seems I might have accidentally overstepped a boundary with a portion of that post. In the interest of "better safe than sorry," I've removed it, and would thank folks that might have read it before I removed it to not make mention of it here or elsewhere.
The past few posts have been predominantly geared towards Mutants & Masterminds. But as I am first and foremost a Star Wars fan, I think it's time to head back in that direction.
In terms of Star Wars gaming, the big news is that the Age of Rebellion core rulebook has officially hit shelves as of yesterday. I was fortunate enough that my FLGS had the book on the shelves along with the GM Kit, so I snagged both of those. I've not really had a chance to look through the GM Kit yet (had other matters to attend to), but I'm really impressed with the layout and artwork of the AoR core rulebook. The action scenes on display are, to me at least, really evocative of the fact that one of this game's central themes is war. Kudos as usual to Zoe Robinson for her work in getting her art team to once again produce some great work.
There weren't as many changes to the mechanics as there had been for the EotE core rulebook, though Foresee has a rather major change in the left-hand side of the tree (the initiative boosting portion) that makes that first upgrade a lot more useful to a PC, and makes me glad I picked up the Foresee power for Valin when the opportunity presented itself. In fact, it looks like most of the specializations are the same as they were in the Beta + Final Week Update. That's good for folks that have been playing AoR characters, as they don't have to worry about their characters suddenly needing to be severely tweaked. Admittedly I've not gone over the material with a fine tooth comb, so there might be some minor changes that I've overlooked.
Another reason is that in spite of thinking I was done with it, I've been tinkering with my Ways of the Force supplement. Yeah, I know that it's just over a month to GenCon and the (hoped for) release of Force and Destiny Beta rulebook, but as a self-avowed "tinker monkey" I found myself going back and re-reading and revising various bits of material from version 1.3, with the top item on the list being Deflect Blasters.
While I like the idea of a competitive check, as it makes the opponent's degree of skill count for something, it was ultimately a clunky implementation, particularly when it got to the point of having the split a single talent into two separate talents just to keep them from being too overpowered. I've got a newer version of the talent that looks very promising, as it's quite simple to implement and doesn't have to worry about whether the shooter is using autofire or not. However, the one concern that I have is that it's very powerful, even if still limited to a once-per-round effect. Right now, the current method plants the talent right back at Row 5 and nearly being a capstone talent of the Jedi Initiate specialization.
A few other talents are being revised, in particular Force Talisman and Fortified Body (which was always a bit of a 'meh' talent in prior versions).
Force Powers got some work done on them as well, particularly Message and Rebuke. They probably still won't be to everyone's liking, but I think they work much better than the earlier versions I'd published.
I've also been revisiting the rules I created for lightsaber construction, and again have simplified the process, particularly where Advantage and Threat are concerned, but also Triumph and Despair with each having an effect but one that's simple to implement during play. Gave those a bit of a test run for Valin with the GM's permission, and they worked pretty well, as it's a single roll that would be made during "party downtime" in between encounters and does carry the risk of failure for novice Force-users (i.e. Force Rating 1 with a sub-par Discipline dice pool).
I think version 1.4 is about ready to be released upon the internets and go zipping through the tubes, but I'd like to try and get a bit more testing done on the newest iteration of Deflect Blasters this weekend (time permitting).
I've also been making progress (slowly) on Fallen Stars, a FFG SWRPG module that was meant for the Order 66 Kickstarter last year. Unfortunately, a series of real-life events made it next to impossible for me to finish that module in anything resembling a timely manner. At one point I did have it "finished" but a test-run of the final portion of the adventure turned out so horribly that I felt it was better to just scrap what I had and start over rather than foist a crappy final act on the backers. Admittedly, with Age of Rebellion now being a thing, I'm working on an Appendix discussing what tweaks to make to use this adventure with AoR characters, in addition to providing two sets of pre-gen characters, one group of EotE-themed ne'er-do-wells and the other a team of Alliance operatives. The central theme of the group getting into a situation much deeper and far riskier than expected still carries through though, no matter if you're part of the Alliance or just an independent-minded spacer.
I've also been getting back into the Dragon Age RPG, particularly as Green Ronin has been dropping hints that Set 3 is actually on the horizon to becoming a reality instead of looking to just be vaporware due to various delays in getting the material approved. Though with BioWare being focused on Dragon Age III: Inquisition, I guess I can't fault them too much in not getting the RPG stuff approved in anything resembling a timely fashion; guess I'm just spoiled by how Lucasfilm is able to get their end of the approvals process done in fairly short order. I wasn't able to participate in the Open playtesting for Set 3 (didn't have a reliable group that was interested in the AGE system or the Dragon Age setting), but the material suggested does a lot to expand the world of Thedas for the RPG, even if one doesn't get into the higher (11+ levels of play). I doubt that Set 3 will be available at GenCon (though I'd be pleasantly surprised if it was), but I may bring the materials needed to run "Duty Unto Death" with a group of custom PCs with me this year for a possible pick-up game.
Speaking of GenCon (just over a month away!), I lucked out and was able to snag a seat at a couple of FFG Force & Destiny events, so I've got at least two confirmed game sessions for the convention, as well as whatever pick-up games I manage to get into. Even if the adventure didn't last too long on account of the GM being rather punchy, the pick-up run by Jay Little last year was quite amusing, and I still crack a smile at "drink vouchers." Though a fair chunk of that has to do with the time spent in the lobby of one of the Marriott hotels with Jay and the other players, each of us taking turns changing lines from Star Wars to use the words "drink vouchers." Some were really cheesy, some were really good, but they were all funny... at least to us. I'm hoping that this year's GenCon will have a similarly memorable moment.
Well, I think I've rambled on enough for one day. Again, to my fellow Americans, enjoy the holiday and stay safe. And may the drink vouchers be with you...
Edit: Seems I might have accidentally overstepped a boundary with a portion of that post. In the interest of "better safe than sorry," I've removed it, and would thank folks that might have read it before I removed it to not make mention of it here or elsewhere.
January 21, 2013
And lo, there was a flurry of writing...
Not too much to say, other than it can be pretty amazing how much writing one can get done if one simply sets aside the time to do so and sticks to doing said writing. Also amazing how much pizza one person can eat while doing that writing; it's been many a year since I polished off a 12-cut pie in the course of a single day all by my lonesome.
I'd decided a few days ago, after realizing that I had nothing prep'd for a weekly Heroes on Demand entry for the Gaming Security Agency. Quite a shock, as I'd gotten used to having a few buffer articles just in case I hit a dry spell. After a coin toss, taking a break to go watch a move, and then a brief scramble to get an article together, I decided it was well past time to correct that.
But I also figured that if I was going to spend a day doing nothing but writing articles, why limit myself to just character builds? Per a Twitter conversation with Brian Casey, aka Agent 00 on the GSA or more commonly known as Fiddleback on Twitter and d20 Radio forums and former host of the Game On! podcast, it came up that something he'd like to see is vehicle and equipment articles. They didn't have to be for Star Wars, but seeing as how I'm such a Star Wars junkie, that's what I ended up going with. I've got a handful of vehicles written up for FFG's Star Wars: Edge of the Empire game (primarily the Beta, but I don't think there's going to be any huge changes between the Beta version and the final product when it comes out in a few months). I'm sure there are plenty of other players and GMs that have compiled homebrewed stats for various creatures, rides, and gear that have never seen print in an official supplement, and there's probably a lot of other gamers that might benefit from your creativity.
For the Heroes on Demand series, while I've been the primary contributor to it (seems fitting, since it was my brainchild to being with), there's been a few other folks that have made some fine contributions. I don't know how many of my fellow Agents at the GSA will read this, but you guys are more than welcome to make your own contributions, and they emphatically don't have to be for Star Wars. Ben Erickson aka Agent 66 aka Cyril did an entry for Pathfinder, and I've done entries for Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing 2nd edition, Cubicle 7's One Ring, Evil Hat's Dresden Files RPG, and AEG's Legend of the Five Rings. Frankly, there's been a real dearth of D&D builds, and though I'm pretty much out of D&D at the moment, I know there's folks that are still actively playing many versions of D&D, from 1st Edition to 4th Edition, so there's room for GSA Agents to contribute their own Heroes on Demand articles for D&D characters, regardless of where you fall in the D&D Edition War.
And I know there are plenty of older RPGs that are still being played even though the companies that produced them have either dropped the line or simply gone out of business, and what better way to encourage folks to check out the games you've loved for so long than to do a review on it? I myself did just that, taking a look at what is on my gaming shelf as opposed to being boxed up in my storage closet, and why it's sitting on my gaming shelf. While only Dresden Files has so far really hit the "you really gotta play this game!" button for me, games like Green Ronin's Dragon Age and Wildfire Studios' CthulhuTech are on my shelf alongside such notables as Star Wars (various editions) and Deadlands for a reason.
Also, as I mentioned to a couple of friends via Twitter, contributions don't have to just be reviews of active/hot RPGs or character builds. The GSA has some great articles on campaign advice and fleshing out character backstory, as well as a very informative look into how Edge of the Empire's dice pool system came into being by none other than Jay Little, the man responsible for said system; talking about getting your dirt straight from the horse's moutth, you can't do much better than that. Dave Villegas aka Agent 42 aka GM Dave has started up a designer blog about Hauler, a new card game that Gamer Nation Studios as a follow-up to their very enjoyable Edition Wars card game.
Ben and his ever-so-charming wife Nateal had a Build-Off Competition series of articles going, noting their respective efforts in designing their own campaign. It was really neat to see their respective thought processes, and while I myself am not currently working on any sort of campaign, I'm sure there are other people who are. One thing that can always be useful to new GMs is advice and examples by old-hat GMs on how to go about building a campaign or setting of their own. We even have at least one professionally published author amongst the GSA Agents who could probably offer some insight into creating your own setting and telling stories within that setting.
So I guess maybe this is my attempt at a call to arms, both to my fellow GSA Agents that are already signed-up and to those that have yet to jump on board. If you're interested in providing resources to your fellow gamers, be they board gamers, table-top gamers, or card gamers, the GSA is on the lookout and in need of submissions. The submission guidelines are pretty straight-forward; keep it fun, keep it informative, keep it honest and fair (while my review of the EotE Beginner Box was overall very positive, there were a couple of minor quibbles I had), and pictures are nice as are links to the companies involved in the game you're talking about, though in a number of cases Brian has proven willing and able to do the picture hunting.
The GSA has been in existence for six months, and while we've covered a pretty impressive amount of ground in that time, there's the feeling that we could cover so much more.
Okay, really didn't mean for this to turn into a long-winded soap box speech. Sorry 'bout that.
Oh, and some semi-obligatory links if you are interested in signing up to be a GSA Agent:
GSA Article Submission Guidelines
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/article-submission-guidelines/
GSA Writers Wanted!
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/writers-wanted/
Honestly, when the GSA first started, I wasn't sure how much of a commitment I'd be able to make, or for how long. So I was quite surprised to learn that in the course of six months, I've written almost a full fifth of the site's articles... not bad for a part-time gig.
I'd decided a few days ago, after realizing that I had nothing prep'd for a weekly Heroes on Demand entry for the Gaming Security Agency. Quite a shock, as I'd gotten used to having a few buffer articles just in case I hit a dry spell. After a coin toss, taking a break to go watch a move, and then a brief scramble to get an article together, I decided it was well past time to correct that.
But I also figured that if I was going to spend a day doing nothing but writing articles, why limit myself to just character builds? Per a Twitter conversation with Brian Casey, aka Agent 00 on the GSA or more commonly known as Fiddleback on Twitter and d20 Radio forums and former host of the Game On! podcast, it came up that something he'd like to see is vehicle and equipment articles. They didn't have to be for Star Wars, but seeing as how I'm such a Star Wars junkie, that's what I ended up going with. I've got a handful of vehicles written up for FFG's Star Wars: Edge of the Empire game (primarily the Beta, but I don't think there's going to be any huge changes between the Beta version and the final product when it comes out in a few months). I'm sure there are plenty of other players and GMs that have compiled homebrewed stats for various creatures, rides, and gear that have never seen print in an official supplement, and there's probably a lot of other gamers that might benefit from your creativity.
For the Heroes on Demand series, while I've been the primary contributor to it (seems fitting, since it was my brainchild to being with), there's been a few other folks that have made some fine contributions. I don't know how many of my fellow Agents at the GSA will read this, but you guys are more than welcome to make your own contributions, and they emphatically don't have to be for Star Wars. Ben Erickson aka Agent 66 aka Cyril did an entry for Pathfinder, and I've done entries for Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing 2nd edition, Cubicle 7's One Ring, Evil Hat's Dresden Files RPG, and AEG's Legend of the Five Rings. Frankly, there's been a real dearth of D&D builds, and though I'm pretty much out of D&D at the moment, I know there's folks that are still actively playing many versions of D&D, from 1st Edition to 4th Edition, so there's room for GSA Agents to contribute their own Heroes on Demand articles for D&D characters, regardless of where you fall in the D&D Edition War.
And I know there are plenty of older RPGs that are still being played even though the companies that produced them have either dropped the line or simply gone out of business, and what better way to encourage folks to check out the games you've loved for so long than to do a review on it? I myself did just that, taking a look at what is on my gaming shelf as opposed to being boxed up in my storage closet, and why it's sitting on my gaming shelf. While only Dresden Files has so far really hit the "you really gotta play this game!" button for me, games like Green Ronin's Dragon Age and Wildfire Studios' CthulhuTech are on my shelf alongside such notables as Star Wars (various editions) and Deadlands for a reason.
Also, as I mentioned to a couple of friends via Twitter, contributions don't have to just be reviews of active/hot RPGs or character builds. The GSA has some great articles on campaign advice and fleshing out character backstory, as well as a very informative look into how Edge of the Empire's dice pool system came into being by none other than Jay Little, the man responsible for said system; talking about getting your dirt straight from the horse's moutth, you can't do much better than that. Dave Villegas aka Agent 42 aka GM Dave has started up a designer blog about Hauler, a new card game that Gamer Nation Studios as a follow-up to their very enjoyable Edition Wars card game.
Ben and his ever-so-charming wife Nateal had a Build-Off Competition series of articles going, noting their respective efforts in designing their own campaign. It was really neat to see their respective thought processes, and while I myself am not currently working on any sort of campaign, I'm sure there are other people who are. One thing that can always be useful to new GMs is advice and examples by old-hat GMs on how to go about building a campaign or setting of their own. We even have at least one professionally published author amongst the GSA Agents who could probably offer some insight into creating your own setting and telling stories within that setting.
So I guess maybe this is my attempt at a call to arms, both to my fellow GSA Agents that are already signed-up and to those that have yet to jump on board. If you're interested in providing resources to your fellow gamers, be they board gamers, table-top gamers, or card gamers, the GSA is on the lookout and in need of submissions. The submission guidelines are pretty straight-forward; keep it fun, keep it informative, keep it honest and fair (while my review of the EotE Beginner Box was overall very positive, there were a couple of minor quibbles I had), and pictures are nice as are links to the companies involved in the game you're talking about, though in a number of cases Brian has proven willing and able to do the picture hunting.
The GSA has been in existence for six months, and while we've covered a pretty impressive amount of ground in that time, there's the feeling that we could cover so much more.
Okay, really didn't mean for this to turn into a long-winded soap box speech. Sorry 'bout that.
Oh, and some semi-obligatory links if you are interested in signing up to be a GSA Agent:
GSA Article Submission Guidelines
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/article-submission-guidelines/
GSA Writers Wanted!
http://gsa.thegamernation.org/writers-wanted/
Honestly, when the GSA first started, I wasn't sure how much of a commitment I'd be able to make, or for how long. So I was quite surprised to learn that in the course of six months, I've written almost a full fifth of the site's articles... not bad for a part-time gig.
February 21, 2012
Dragon Age Set 3 Open Playtest - it's available!
For those of you familiar with the Dragon Age RPG, or simply curious after seeing some of my blogposts about it, Green Ronin have decided to follow the same strategy as they did for Set 2 of the RPG, and have put the Set 3 material out for open playtest.
I'm just skimming through it now, but there's a good chunk of neat stuff, including new backgrounds, some new talents, and quite a few new specializations, as well as rules for advancing from level 11 to level 20 (Set 1 only covered levels 1 thru 5, Set 2 covered 6 thru 10).
So if you like the Dragon Age RPG, this is well worth checking out. And if you have an active Dragon Age RPG group, make your voice heard and let Green Ronin know what you and your group thinks of the material so they can make any needed improvements.
Dragon Age RPG Set 3 Playtest
I'm just skimming through it now, but there's a good chunk of neat stuff, including new backgrounds, some new talents, and quite a few new specializations, as well as rules for advancing from level 11 to level 20 (Set 1 only covered levels 1 thru 5, Set 2 covered 6 thru 10).
So if you like the Dragon Age RPG, this is well worth checking out. And if you have an active Dragon Age RPG group, make your voice heard and let Green Ronin know what you and your group thinks of the material so they can make any needed improvements.
Dragon Age RPG Set 3 Playtest
January 26, 2012
More thoughts on Dragon Age RPG & AGE system
Been a while since I did any kind of post regarding the Dragon Age RPG, which is a tad lax of me seeing as how a few weekends ago our merry little band of miscreants got together for another adventure. This time, we played through "A Bann Too Many," the adventure that comes with the GM screen. Good thing we'd gotten an early start on that Saturday, as we played it straight through in a single day.
Have to say it was a pretty well-done adventure, and reflects the generally bleak nature of Thedas, and how even when you win, you can still lose. Even though our characters came out with a pretty good haul in terms of loot, there was a price to be paid by the folks of Logerswold given what we learned about the bandit raids, of which I'll not say more to avoid spoilers as it caught us by surprise. I also think our group may have acquired a long-running nemesis, but it remains to be seen if anything will come of it.
Also, the more I play this game, the more I find myself enjoying the simplicity of it. We've got a pretty broad range of character types, and everyone has a way to contribute both inside and outside of combat. Most of us are 3rd level at this point, so we've either picked up new talents (both rogues and the mage) or gotten the next step up in a starting talent (what I did for my sword&board warrior). On that note, it does seem that in a lot of instances, the sheer wealth of talents available are bound to be overlooked, at least if your group has any interest in improving their combat effectiveness. While Rogues tend to start with non-combat talents, I imagine that for a lot of them, their talent choices for the next few levels, starting with 3rd level, are going to be combat talents focusing on their preferred style of combat, while Mages are bound to do the same and pick talents centering on their preferred school of magic. Warriors are already encouraged to focus on beating up bad guys, though I'd expect some branching out to occur once their major combat styles are seen to. Maybe it's just my being jaded by 3rd edition D&D and the sheer overkill of feats, but I see a bit of that trend in Dragon Age, with all these neat flavor/fluff talents being overlooked for ones that give you a direct bonus in combat. Then again, maybe it's just that our group is still pretty low-level, and that we've not even reached the point where Specializations are an option. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to see if time will tell.
Have to say it was a pretty well-done adventure, and reflects the generally bleak nature of Thedas, and how even when you win, you can still lose. Even though our characters came out with a pretty good haul in terms of loot, there was a price to be paid by the folks of Logerswold given what we learned about the bandit raids, of which I'll not say more to avoid spoilers as it caught us by surprise. I also think our group may have acquired a long-running nemesis, but it remains to be seen if anything will come of it.
Also, the more I play this game, the more I find myself enjoying the simplicity of it. We've got a pretty broad range of character types, and everyone has a way to contribute both inside and outside of combat. Most of us are 3rd level at this point, so we've either picked up new talents (both rogues and the mage) or gotten the next step up in a starting talent (what I did for my sword&board warrior). On that note, it does seem that in a lot of instances, the sheer wealth of talents available are bound to be overlooked, at least if your group has any interest in improving their combat effectiveness. While Rogues tend to start with non-combat talents, I imagine that for a lot of them, their talent choices for the next few levels, starting with 3rd level, are going to be combat talents focusing on their preferred style of combat, while Mages are bound to do the same and pick talents centering on their preferred school of magic. Warriors are already encouraged to focus on beating up bad guys, though I'd expect some branching out to occur once their major combat styles are seen to. Maybe it's just my being jaded by 3rd edition D&D and the sheer overkill of feats, but I see a bit of that trend in Dragon Age, with all these neat flavor/fluff talents being overlooked for ones that give you a direct bonus in combat. Then again, maybe it's just that our group is still pretty low-level, and that we've not even reached the point where Specializations are an option. Hopefully, I'll have a chance to see if time will tell.
December 18, 2011
Tech issues and last-minute gaming sessions
Well, seems the modem/router I bought that should have worked with my internet service provider does not. So still don't have fully reliable internet access at the moment, which is aggravating.
On the plus side, Saturday was an unexpected gaming double-header, put together at almost the last possible minute, consisting of Star Wars Saga Edition and some more Dragon Age RPG.
SWSE was a "mini-adventure" for our NJO group, giving us a chance to do some amount of good during the Battle/Fall of Coruscant, such as rescuing civilians and innocent children, as well as getting involved in a few skirmishes here and there so if nothing else, we can say we were there.
Dragon Age saw us pick up our characters from the playthru of the Dalish Curse, with the addition of a Dwarf merc to give us a bit more fighting power. The adventure we played through was called "Secret of Eastvale," and I'll be honest in that I really didn't see the psuedo-twist as to who the real villain of the adventure was. Granted, the look on the GM's face when one of the other PCs reminded me of a plot trinket I had held onto from Dalish Curse was priceless, but it wasn't a game-breaker by far. Got a better feel for the AGE system as stuff wasn't entirely new, and I still like it for the simplicity of how things run, and got out of the MMO/4e mindset of "aggro control" that was a holdover from my recent play-thru (Human Noble Warrior) of Dragon Age: Origins, where my main focus was tanking like there was no tomorrow. The Threaten stunt certainly helps against the really nasty stuff, but then again so does simply dishing out lots of damage in one go.
Gaming wise, this was a good note to end the year on, and it helped improve my mood from the sourness of dead/unfunctioning modem issues.
On the plus side, Saturday was an unexpected gaming double-header, put together at almost the last possible minute, consisting of Star Wars Saga Edition and some more Dragon Age RPG.
SWSE was a "mini-adventure" for our NJO group, giving us a chance to do some amount of good during the Battle/Fall of Coruscant, such as rescuing civilians and innocent children, as well as getting involved in a few skirmishes here and there so if nothing else, we can say we were there.
Dragon Age saw us pick up our characters from the playthru of the Dalish Curse, with the addition of a Dwarf merc to give us a bit more fighting power. The adventure we played through was called "Secret of Eastvale," and I'll be honest in that I really didn't see the psuedo-twist as to who the real villain of the adventure was. Granted, the look on the GM's face when one of the other PCs reminded me of a plot trinket I had held onto from Dalish Curse was priceless, but it wasn't a game-breaker by far. Got a better feel for the AGE system as stuff wasn't entirely new, and I still like it for the simplicity of how things run, and got out of the MMO/4e mindset of "aggro control" that was a holdover from my recent play-thru (Human Noble Warrior) of Dragon Age: Origins, where my main focus was tanking like there was no tomorrow. The Threaten stunt certainly helps against the really nasty stuff, but then again so does simply dishing out lots of damage in one go.
Gaming wise, this was a good note to end the year on, and it helped improve my mood from the sourness of dead/unfunctioning modem issues.
December 12, 2011
Just needed a nudge is all.
Okay, a short while ago I tossed up a post regarding my first experience with playing Green Ronin's Dragon Age RPG.
Well, that seems to have been the motivating factor to getting Darth Prefect of the d20 Radio forums to try and assemble a one-shot Skype game of the same. Pretty cool, and I certainly hope it goes well for him.
Well, that seems to have been the motivating factor to getting Darth Prefect of the d20 Radio forums to try and assemble a one-shot Skype game of the same. Pretty cool, and I certainly hope it goes well for him.
December 2, 2011
Early Thoughts on Dragon Age RPG
I got the chance this past Friday to sit down and actually play the Dragon Age RPG produced by Green Ronin, based upon the quite popular Dragon Age series of video games.
I bought the first box set quite some time ago, and thought the system behind it was interesting, in that it was incredibly simple at its core, far more so than d20, while offering up some variety in the form of the stunt system. But I couldn't get any of my regular gaming friends to break out of the d20 mold and give it a whirl, and so the box sat amidst my gaming materials, woefully collecting dust. I even picked up the 2nd box set when it was released at GenCon, more to see how GR would build on the system with no real aspirations of ever getting it on the table.
But as said earlier, that has now changed, thanks to members of a newer circle of gamers whom I've had the good fortune to meet and roll dice with as part of a bi-weekly Star Wars Saga Edition game. We rolled up characters, using a couple of the Set 2 options, and then proceeded to run through the intro module in the Set 1 GM book, "The Dalish Curse," with my taking the role of Donovan, a young Fereldan Freeman warrior.
My initial assessment: Fun! And Quick!
For me, the litmus test of any RPG system is how it handles combat, which is admittedly one of the most rules-heavy aspects of any RPG. And the Dragon Age RPG did not disappoint. It was able to handle combat quickly and without getting too bogged down, though we were only 1st level, so we didn't face any super-heavy foes barring the adventure's BBEG. We only had four players (1 Tank Warrior, 1 Melee Rogue, 1 Archer Rogue, 1 DPS Mage), but the four of us managed to work quite well together both in and out of combat, with a fair amount of role-play involved between the characters. Though I guess if I had a complaint with the system, it did kind of feel like my character wasn't really able to force foes to attack him, as the GM could (and a few times did) easily choose to ignore the armored sword'n'board guy for the squishier characters. But overall it's a minor complaint. Just about everything else in the game worked nicely, and it really is a shame I didn't get a chance to play it sooner. Hopefully we'll get the chance to gather 'round the table and venture once more into Fereldan. After all, there are darkspawn in need of killing, and I wouldn't want to disappoint the ugly blighters.
I bought the first box set quite some time ago, and thought the system behind it was interesting, in that it was incredibly simple at its core, far more so than d20, while offering up some variety in the form of the stunt system. But I couldn't get any of my regular gaming friends to break out of the d20 mold and give it a whirl, and so the box sat amidst my gaming materials, woefully collecting dust. I even picked up the 2nd box set when it was released at GenCon, more to see how GR would build on the system with no real aspirations of ever getting it on the table.
But as said earlier, that has now changed, thanks to members of a newer circle of gamers whom I've had the good fortune to meet and roll dice with as part of a bi-weekly Star Wars Saga Edition game. We rolled up characters, using a couple of the Set 2 options, and then proceeded to run through the intro module in the Set 1 GM book, "The Dalish Curse," with my taking the role of Donovan, a young Fereldan Freeman warrior.
My initial assessment: Fun! And Quick!
For me, the litmus test of any RPG system is how it handles combat, which is admittedly one of the most rules-heavy aspects of any RPG. And the Dragon Age RPG did not disappoint. It was able to handle combat quickly and without getting too bogged down, though we were only 1st level, so we didn't face any super-heavy foes barring the adventure's BBEG. We only had four players (1 Tank Warrior, 1 Melee Rogue, 1 Archer Rogue, 1 DPS Mage), but the four of us managed to work quite well together both in and out of combat, with a fair amount of role-play involved between the characters. Though I guess if I had a complaint with the system, it did kind of feel like my character wasn't really able to force foes to attack him, as the GM could (and a few times did) easily choose to ignore the armored sword'n'board guy for the squishier characters. But overall it's a minor complaint. Just about everything else in the game worked nicely, and it really is a shame I didn't get a chance to play it sooner. Hopefully we'll get the chance to gather 'round the table and venture once more into Fereldan. After all, there are darkspawn in need of killing, and I wouldn't want to disappoint the ugly blighters.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)