Quote from: Sacrificial Lamb;366780I don't think the guy's an idiot. He's just stating his preferences. I like point-buy and random roll equally. They can both be great for D&D and other games as well. There's no "OneTrueWay" here.

Yeah.  And besides, if DA WAY GARY DID IT WIT DA PULP TRADISHUNZ was so awesome, how come there were chargen variations so early on to the point some became default for a while?

3d6 in order wasn't really all that fun.   Even when it was DA WAY DA BOOK SEZ every group I knew of always allowed for rerolls and such.

Quote from: Captain Rufus;366790Yeah.  And besides, if DA WAY GARY DID IT WIT DA PULP TRADISHUNZ was so awesome, how come there were chargen variations so early on to the point some became default for a while?

3d6 in order wasn't really all that fun.   Even when it was DA WAY DA BOOK SEZ every group I knew of always allowed for rerolls and such.

Yes...I remember that back in the day this was the thing that was most commonly house ruled among the groups I knew.

Quote from: Captain Rufus;366790Yeah.  And besides, if DA WAY GARY DID IT WIT DA PULP TRADISHUNZ was so awesome, how come there were chargen variations so early on to the point some became default for a while?

3d6 in order wasn't really all that fun.   Even when it was DA WAY DA BOOK SEZ every group I knew of always allowed for rerolls and such.

The only one in this thread screaming like a retard so far appears to be you.

Even the most hardcore DMs I knew always had some form of customization, but customization or guided randomization is a far different thing from 100% point-buy design.

Quote from: Captain Rufus;3667903d6 in order wasn't really all that fun.   Even when it was DA WAY DA BOOK SEZ every group I knew of always allowed for rerolls and such.

Part of the beauty of older editions is that you can allow several different methods of attribute generation without breaking the game. 4d6-drop-lowest or 3d6-best-6-out-of-8 to be good compromises, still random but more forgiving. 3d6-in-order is a challenge to player skill. I'm OK with point buy but I feel it's not as exciting.

The thing that turned me of about the game was its heavy reliance on ability tests.  Basically, skill checks.  To quote the dm book they are "at the heart of the game".  I didn't like them in 3.x, and still don't.  I'd rather have the dm just pick a chance for something, roll the dice, and be done with it.  I do like the fact that Dragon Age has a darker grittier approach, but something lke that is entirely setting based, and up to the dm to enforce. The game rules are intertwined with the setting by way of background kits, which give focuses in certain skill sets.  If you don't want to play in the dragon age world, it is easy to divorce the rules from the setting and make it epic heroic in style.  

As a starter set, I'd say it is not geared for 12 year olds. maybe 15-16 year olds with some time and patience to ingest the rules.  It may be simpler that 3.x or 4.0, but that's not hard to achieve.

I did like the merging of clerics and wizards, and the getting rid of wisdom in favor of cunning, which also covered intelligence.

I don't like that you have to spend all that money for just a few levels of gameplay.  Then again, a 300 page book would probably be daunting to newcomers.

Anyhow I've never played it. This is all just from a 15 minute review of the books, so take it with a grain of salt.

I've had the rules for a while now, as I was a pre-order munkey for reasons best left unexplained (ooohhhh.... mysterious!)

I generally found it to look eminantly playable, and if it weren't for the huge investment my players have in my RQ game currently we'da been playing it for the last month and a half since the box arrived.

I DO have a couple of quibbles with the rules: The addition of two unnecessary additional stats (for 8 as I recall...), which ironically is the opposite of my next complaint in that it was a deviation from the base game that was unnecessary.

Secondarily, however, I felt the over-reliance on the DA CRPG method of... er... skills/powers to define what you do was a little... much.  IN a CRPG, tile based power sets make the game easier to understand and play. NOt so much on the table top, I feel.

Also: Given the 'plot' of DA (the original), I found the pushing of 'Grey Wardens' into the second box to be a might curious. Debatably curious, as their logic is internally sound... but new players may well be put out when they discover they can't play their GW character idea until the 6th level box comes out...whenever that is.

As an old hand at GMing, however, i found the (slim) GM's book to be nigh unto worthless. Its pretty much ALL advice with about one good page of 'difficulty' tables and another meh page of sample 'cool items' that may or may not be magical.

Out of 64. That's less than 2% of the book. I printed the chart out and stuck a copy in the box for when I actually plan to run the blasted thing.... which may be after I've initiated an apocalyptic war against the elves in Runequest...

Quote from: Benoist;366729Anybody had a look at the Dragon Age RPG though? Seems pretty cool, actually.

I picked it up from my LGS a little while back.  As others have said, it's simple and looks very playable.  3 classes, 3 races, some restriction on combinations based on fluff (dwarves can't be mages due to being resistant to the arcane, if I remember correctly -- which reminds me of AD&D a bit).

3d6 for everything, d6 +/- modifiers for weapon damage, chargen is part random.  Simple equipment lists, straightforward presentation of class powers/abilities.

Honestly, I think it's a great intro set for new players.  Short, sweet, and to the point, with just enough fluff and a small adventure to get you going.  The only real issue I can see is if you dislike skill checks, but most gamers (especially the type this product is targeted at) don't mind them.

I picked up the game and read through it a few times and I like the game quite a bit. It's definitely a great game for newcomers to the hobby, yet has enough solid bits in it that veterans will appreciate as well.

I can understand the criticisms of the character generation system in the review mentioned earlier. The idea of rolling to determine which background ability you get can get annoying if what you roll doesn't fit well into your concept for your character.

I haven't had the chance to play the game yet but I had one concern about the stunt system in combat in that it seemed too easy to be able to disarm an opponent, but I'd have to play for a while to see how much the situation actually came up.

All in all, I like the game. Fairly easy to generate characters, straightforward task resolution and combat system that gives some options and has a critical hit/stunt mechanic that makes each roll exciting. I've never played the video game version and so I had no knowledge of the setting yet the boxed set had enough setting info to draw me in and want to play in the world as described.

Quote from: Benoist;366729Anybody had a look at the Dragon Age RPG though? Seems pretty cool, actually.

It's ARLFRPG (Another Rules Light Fantasy RPG). It didn't stand out at all from the mass of those already in existence for me, either for good or for ill. I, much like Spike, found it weird that there were no rules for playing Grey Wardens out of the box, considering that it's the best known feature of the setting. The computer game, for those who haven't played it, is all about your Grey Warden character fighting evil.

Quote from: Benoist;366729Anybody had a look at the Dragon Age RPG though?

No. I have yet to see it available in a brick and mortar store. I've been to Borders and two different FLGS. I don't know if I want it yet or not and I'm going to hold it to find out.

Seanchai

That review hardly tells you anything about the game.