Quote from: Harshael;775396Doesn't Dragon Age just use True20?

No, not at all. It uses the AGE system. You can check out Quickstart guide here for free: http://grfiles.game-host.org/dragon_age_rpg/DragonAgeRPGQuickstartGuide.pdf

Quote from: YourSwordisMine;775413No, not at all. It uses the AGE system. You can check out Quickstart guide here for free: http://grfiles.game-host.org/dragon_age_rpg/DragonAgeRPGQuickstartGuide.pdf

Huh, guess I assume too much.

Quote from: Harshael;775416Huh, guess I assume too much.

It is a really good system. The Stunting mechanic is really fun. Check it out, it's worth it.

I wanted to like Dragon Age, but ended up selling all but the first set which is a nice introductory RPG. The ruleset looks to be in sweet spot in terms of the mechanics but I found that it was a bit of a mess and really could have done with a few more months of playtesting and a stronger direction. I may look into the combined rulebook when its released though.

I am a bigger fan of Song of Fire and Ice but have no actual play experience with it. I loved the general presentation and rules, though I heard it has some speed wobble in play. I know a group that disliked the backward approach to social conflict, where you roll first and then determine what happens rather than play out the conflict, roll and find the result.

Quote from: 3rik;775387Could you elaborate on this?

Well, Dragon Age is a bit of a personal disappointment for me, because I played it for quite some time and put a lot of effort and time in a system overhaul just to realise that we basically had reformed the entire rule set, which makes you doubt if it was that good in the first place.

The whole system is filled with ideas that could be good if they were developed a little better and by trying to pander to new players the system is in some parts too simple, lacking a bit of differentiation.
The stunt system is nice and creates rather unpredictable and interesting skirmishes, but the list of stunts is limited and in a longer campaign can become quite repetetive.
There is a relative long list of different weapons, but they mostly differ in the amount of damage they do - creating no reason not to just use the weapon with the highest damage output all the time, because there is no reason not to.
"Magic" Weapons simply allow you to use  low level "feats" with that specific weapon, which completely devalues the characters who actually learned those abilities.
There are other things I personally find anoying (like the lack of an active parry or the dull hitpoint system) but those are probably more my personal preferences for a game where hits are rarer, but meaningful. In Dragon Age, attack bonus quickly outpaces defense for most characters, so you will reach a point where characters just wail at each other, almost every roll is a hit, but due to the relative high amount of HP, they don't really matter. Due to the random nature of the stunts which you cannot predict, the amount of actual tactics once a fight has begun is actually relatively low.

So, we played Dragon Age for about two years. During that time, we continuously reworked the system because we continued to run into walls, had to find an alternative solution and move on. During that time, we basically reworked the whole system, because there were so many small annoyances, and because at that time, the overhaul of the rules was kinda fun. However, once you realised that you have basically reworked almost every aspect of the game. I think 'our' Dragon Age is an okay system by now, but if you put that much time and effort in a game, you will ask yourself it was worth it, and I can't truly say it was.

Quote from: Harshael;775396Doesn't Dragon Age just use True20?

Weird, I've seen people make this assumption before. I wonder why that is.

Quote from: Beagle;775471The whole system is filled with ideas that could be good if they were developed a little better and by trying to pander to new players the system is in some parts too simple, lacking a bit of differentiation.
The stunt system is nice and creates rather unpredictable and interesting skirmishes, but the list of stunts is limited and in a longer campaign can become quite repetetive.
There is a relative long list of different weapons, but they mostly differ in the amount of damage they do - creating no reason not to just use the weapon with the highest damage output all the time, because there is no reason not to.
"Magic" Weapons simply allow you to use  low level "feats" with that specific weapon, which completely devalues the characters who actually learned those abilities.
There are other things I personally find anoying (like the lack of an active parry or the dull hitpoint system) but those are probably more my personal preferences for a game where hits are rarer, but meaningful. In Dragon Age, attack bonus quickly outpaces defense for most characters, so you will reach a point where characters just wail at each other, almost every roll is a hit, but due to the relative high amount of HP, they don't really matter. Due to the random nature of the stunts which you cannot predict, the amount of actual tactics once a fight has begun is actually relatively low.

Quote from: YourSwordisMine;775417It is a really good system. The Stunting  mechanic is really fun. Check it out, it's worth it.

So, what are your thoughts on Beagle's criticisms of the system?

Quote from: Larsdangly;775196I am generally disinterested in setting-specific games unless both the game and the setting are truly outstanding. Positive examples include Pendragon, Stormbringer, original Runequest, Gamma World, Bushido and 'core' Call of Cthulhu. Negative examples include everything else. So, what I am curious about is whether the setting material in DA is so intrusive that it is hard to avoid, or is it easily set aside?

I tend to think a person either gets 'grabbed' by a setting or they don't
The dragon age setting appeals to me, and I could list off why.
But the things I like could easily be thrown back at me as negatives.

For example, I like how the elves of the setting are in absolutely dire straits.

I like how the setting handles demons.

Tons of things in the setting push all my buttons in a positive manner.

But someone else might say 'Gee that setting sucks' and I can't force them to like it.  

Fyi I am a huge GW, Cthulu, and Stormbringer fan.


The mechanical system does need a few tweaks, but nothing I can't handle.

Quote from: Harshael;775396Doesn't Dragon Age just use True20?

The core DA system is not that far off from a simplified d20.
it has classes, levels, and feats that would be somewhat similar in feel to d20.

The basic die roll uses 3d6 instead of a d20.

DA has one game mechanic selling point; the 'Stunt' system is excellent.

Stunt essentially being a random chance to get an effect somewhat like a critical hit, and you have a lot of choices when the crit fires off.

Most people seem to really like the stunt system.

I would not say the system is otherwise outstanding, but it is functional.

Quote from: 3rik;775523Weird, I've seen people make this assumption before. I wonder why that is.


So, what are your thoughts on Beagle's criticisms of the system?

HP are too high; I would lower hp or jack damage. Fairly simple to do.

Stunts appeal to people that like combat to have cool random things happen in the chaos of battle.

People that don't like critical hits may not like stunts.

Quote from: Bill;775538The core DA system is not that far off from a simplified d20.
it has classes, levels, and feats that would be somewhat similar in feel to d20.

The basic die roll uses 3d6 instead of a d20.

DA has one game mechanic selling point; the 'Stunt' system is excellent.

Stunt essentially being a random chance to get an effect somewhat like a critical hit, and you have a lot of choices when the crit fires off.

Most people seem to really like the stunt system.

I would not say the system is otherwise outstanding, but it is functional.

Because of the 3d6, I looked at the system as having more in common with GURPS Lite than d20.

Quote from: flyerfan1991;775543Because of the 3d6, I looked at the system as having more in common with GURPS Lite than d20.

I only know regular Gurps, is lite 'good' ?

Quote from: Bill;775546I only know regular Gurps, is lite 'good' ?

It's similar, but only a few pages of skills/background/equipment/etc. vs. an entire book's worth. Much easier to pick up and run with, if all you're concerned about is getting up and playing. For a full setting, regular GURPS is probably going to be needed, but I once toyed with the idea of doing strictly a GURPS Lite version of Traveller.

Quote from: Piestrio;775030My thought exactly.

I lost interest in DA a looooooooooong time ago.

Glad it's out but damn did they miss the boat.

Green Ronin is really really good at having very good ideas and terrible execution.