I had some friends the other day, who were very excited for having played Dragon Age, tell me about how freaking awesome this game was for them; they were both describing it to me as "very old-school" (note: neither of them would be gamers who self-identify as old-school).

So my question is: just how old-school is it? If it is old-school, what makes it so? If its not, why would you say it doesn't qualify?

Obviously we're talking about system and play here, not setting.

RPGPundit

It's pretty down to earth and traditional really.

It certainly doesn't try and be too clever just for the sake of being clever.

Characters are pretty simple. Just a few moving parts.

The only sorta novel thing is the "dragon dice" or some such. Basically if you roll really well you get some points to spend on stunt type stuff. Its cool but doesn't take over the whole game. Just a nice "I rolled a crit!" type feeling.

So yeah... if not being buried up it's own ass and just being a normal fun game counts as "old school" then I guess it is.

Old school, no.

Traditional, yes.

It doesn't have the hallmarks of an old school RPG and uses many of the RPG innovations of the late 80s and 90s i.e. core mechanic, feats, discretionary XP awards etc.

Quote from: Piestrio;657636It's pretty down to earth and traditional really.

It certainly doesn't try and be too clever just for the sake of being clever.

Characters are pretty simple. Just a few moving parts.

The only sorta novel thing is the "dragon dice" or some such. Basically if you roll really well you get some points to spend on stunt type stuff. Its cool but doesn't take over the whole game. Just a nice "I rolled a crit!" type feeling.

So yeah... if not being buried up it's own ass and just being a normal fun game counts as "old school" then I guess it is.

I'd say this is right.

The Stunts are essentially just a menu of things you can do on a "critical hit" instead of a flat "double damage" kinda thing.

There's not a bunch of hand wringing over character options and point buy, you roll up characters and go...and mechanically enforced balance is far from guaranteed, due to the random character generation.

So would it be fair to say that its the type of game that people who aren't really old-school gamers themselves might think of as "old school"?

Quote from: RPGPundit;658007So would it be fair to say that its the type of game that people who aren't really old-school gamers themselves might think of as "old school"?

Yeah.  But it's a lot closer then the recent "Forge in Old School Clothing" games.

Quote from: RPGPundit;658007So would it be fair to say that its the type of game that people who aren't really old-school gamers themselves might think of as "old school"?

Yeah. It's appeal is definitely to people who want a modern translation of what they remember or are told of old school gaming, through a hazy lens of 30 years.

Mechanically, it's pretty old-school. Character generation takes about 15 minutes. There are three classes (Warriors, Mages, and Rogues). Combat is fast and abstract. There's nothing story-gamey or immersion-breaking about it. I taught it to three non-gamers and they had no problem picking it up.

Does it have the same feel as old-school D&D? Not really. It's not trying self-consciously to be retro in tone the way a lot of OSR games are. And that's a good thing - why the hell would new gamers (which is who Dragon Age is aimed at) care about how D&D was played 30 years ago?

Personally, I think it's a fun, accessible RPG that plays a heck of a lot like TSR D&D, even if it uses of few modern mechanics (stunt dice) and terminology (traits).

For reference, it's much simpler and lower-powered than D&D Next.

I have only had a chance to run three one shots of dragon age so far.

It feels old school to me, perhaps because it has a chart to roll on for the combination race/background you select.

The 'stunt' mechanic seems to be well recieved and fun.

Three classes, ftr, rogue, mage, and each has specialized paths at higehr level.

Does have class abilities/talents, some based on class, some selected.

I like the system but its the setting that is the real draw for me personally.

There is a free 35 page quick start booklet at rpgnow: Dragon Age RPG Quick Start Guide

It is pretty easy to get an idea of it from the quick start.  I like it quite a bit.  There is a fan made Mystara setting book about for it Pundit, since I know you like Mystara.  It was by Byron D. Molix, now that I look it over.  If Mystara ports well to Dragon Age, I imagine it fits your criteria.  Ferelden is pretty great for open gamess, though.

Played it once. It feels like a traditional RPG to me with a vaguely old school feel (not a retro clone or anything like that). It is its own thing though. A bit of a blend of more current RPG mechanics with old. I personally didn't find the stunt mechanics that immersion breaking or a problem (they are basically crits that give you options). It does have some mechanics you see in other newer games, but not a forge-like system or setting in my opinion (I imagine the game has very little appeal to that crowd). That said the system is nothing genuinely new or different. It seemed to work fine and was very simple.

I had not been that interested in DA until reading this thread, mainly because I never played the computer game version (none was released for mac, to my knowledge).

DA's 'stunts' sound a bit like RQ6's 'special effects', and thus potentially awesome.

Are there any adventures (modules) for DA?  If so, are they any good?

Quote from: Akrasia;658229I had not been that interested in DA until reading this thread, mainly because I never played the computer game version (none was released for mac, to my knowledge).

DA's 'stunts' sound a bit like RQ6's 'special effects', and thus potentially awesome.

Are there any adventures (modules) for DA?  If so, are they any good?

Amazingly, Dragon Age has several modules that are actually good.

Not sure how that happened, but it did.

I should also clarify that though my answer was "no" to old school, I do like Dragon Age quite a bit. Its one of the best introductions to RPGs in the market today.

Quote from: Skywalker;658244I should also clarify that though my answer was "no" to old school, I do like Dragon Age quite a bit. Its one of the best introductions to RPGs in the market today.

In fact, I used it to break in one of my best friends, who had never played RPGs before.

He then played D&D 3.5 with his girlfriend's group of friends and decided he would rather played more Dragon Age.