Post by gaptooth on Jan 15, 2011 12:27:58 GMT -5
So, my brother in law is a big fan of the Bioware game Dragon Age, and it is a big part of what got him interested in tabletop role-playing about a year ago. He had some experience with D&D some twenty years ago, but he never got into the hobby until recently. When he found out that I run T&T games for my daughter, wife, and nephew, he wanted in, and we've been playing ever since whenever we're in the same town-- once or twice a month.
Anyway, I decided to get him the Set One box of Green Ronin's Dragon Age game for Christmas. Having already reviewed the game system via PDF (also available at RPGNow), I knew it was a game I could enjoy, and if we ran into unforeseen problems, we could always cannibalize it for Tunnels & Trolls. I'm not so much interested in the Dragon Age setting per se, but my brother in law loves it.
After he opened it, we had an unexpected conversation: As much as it interested him, he was afraid to play it because he didn't want to lose the regular T&T game he was enjoying. Since I enjoy the T&T game a lot too, I was happy to hear this, and I assured him that I wouldn't jettison our Tunnels & Trolls campaign any time soon.
Well, last night we got our first chance to play some Dragon Age, and it was a blast. I wasn't sure if he would want to GM the game or if he would want me to run something, so I deliberately chose not to read the enclosed start-up adventure "The Dalish Curse", in case he chose to run it. Instead I looked over Cairn of the Winter King, a D&D adventure that came with The Monster Vault someone gave me for Christmas, wondering if I could adapt some of it's content and encounters to an impromptu game of Dragon Age. I didn't find anything I would use, but I did figure out a quick and easy way to convert the monsters of 4th Edition D&D to AGE mechanics.
As it turned out, he did want to learn how to run a game as the GM, but he had not looked over the enclosed adventure or prepared anything, and he was feeling too self-conscious to jump right into the published adventure or a homespun scenario. I suggested that running a combat would be a good way to familiarize himself with the game system where it's thickest, and it would be a good primer for some basic GM skills: directing NPCs, narrating events, and most importantly making calls to keep the game moving.
I had already rolled up a character, a Rogue, but I rolled up another quickly while he picked a monster and set up the battle scenario. The second character turned out to be a mage, and I decided not to use it right off, in order to focus on practicing simpler parts of the game before trying out the magic system.
Even though the fledgling GM struggled a little to grasp and apply the game concepts-- this was the first time we played a game that required rolling initiative, or rolling "to hit" --it was quite a bit of fun.
The basic resolution system is 3d6 + Ability Score + Ability Focus (skill) versus a target number or another character's roll + ability + focus. In combat, the target number is your opponent's Defense score, which is similar to Armor Class. In practice, it's a lot less swingy that D&D, because 3d6 forms a bell curve, making it easier to nail down rational target numbers.
Like in T&T the gusto happens when you roll doubles, on any of the three dice. When that happens, you get a certain number of stunt points determined by an off-color die, which you can spend immediately to perform an appropriate stunt. This feature is very similar to the "special damage" triggers more monsters in 7e T&T. Unlike rolls of "natural 20", this comes up often enough to shake things up quite often, giving players interesting tactical choices to make without bogging down the entire battle.
I found the entire affair so much easier to play than my Wednesday night D&D game, even with a GM who needed to take long pauses at every step to make sure he understood his options. It's similar to D&D in a lot of superficial ways, but for my interests it is an entirely superior product.
The AGE system can stand up as an excellent game engine that shows a lot of promise even without the Bioware IP. It's a simple enough game with something of an old-school sensibility.
As we play some more, I might update this thread with more coherent reviews stemming from actual play.
Anyway, I decided to get him the Set One box of Green Ronin's Dragon Age game for Christmas. Having already reviewed the game system via PDF (also available at RPGNow), I knew it was a game I could enjoy, and if we ran into unforeseen problems, we could always cannibalize it for Tunnels & Trolls. I'm not so much interested in the Dragon Age setting per se, but my brother in law loves it.
After he opened it, we had an unexpected conversation: As much as it interested him, he was afraid to play it because he didn't want to lose the regular T&T game he was enjoying. Since I enjoy the T&T game a lot too, I was happy to hear this, and I assured him that I wouldn't jettison our Tunnels & Trolls campaign any time soon.
Well, last night we got our first chance to play some Dragon Age, and it was a blast. I wasn't sure if he would want to GM the game or if he would want me to run something, so I deliberately chose not to read the enclosed start-up adventure "The Dalish Curse", in case he chose to run it. Instead I looked over Cairn of the Winter King, a D&D adventure that came with The Monster Vault someone gave me for Christmas, wondering if I could adapt some of it's content and encounters to an impromptu game of Dragon Age. I didn't find anything I would use, but I did figure out a quick and easy way to convert the monsters of 4th Edition D&D to AGE mechanics.
As it turned out, he did want to learn how to run a game as the GM, but he had not looked over the enclosed adventure or prepared anything, and he was feeling too self-conscious to jump right into the published adventure or a homespun scenario. I suggested that running a combat would be a good way to familiarize himself with the game system where it's thickest, and it would be a good primer for some basic GM skills: directing NPCs, narrating events, and most importantly making calls to keep the game moving.
I had already rolled up a character, a Rogue, but I rolled up another quickly while he picked a monster and set up the battle scenario. The second character turned out to be a mage, and I decided not to use it right off, in order to focus on practicing simpler parts of the game before trying out the magic system.
Even though the fledgling GM struggled a little to grasp and apply the game concepts-- this was the first time we played a game that required rolling initiative, or rolling "to hit" --it was quite a bit of fun.
The basic resolution system is 3d6 + Ability Score + Ability Focus (skill) versus a target number or another character's roll + ability + focus. In combat, the target number is your opponent's Defense score, which is similar to Armor Class. In practice, it's a lot less swingy that D&D, because 3d6 forms a bell curve, making it easier to nail down rational target numbers.
Like in T&T the gusto happens when you roll doubles, on any of the three dice. When that happens, you get a certain number of stunt points determined by an off-color die, which you can spend immediately to perform an appropriate stunt. This feature is very similar to the "special damage" triggers more monsters in 7e T&T. Unlike rolls of "natural 20", this comes up often enough to shake things up quite often, giving players interesting tactical choices to make without bogging down the entire battle.
I found the entire affair so much easier to play than my Wednesday night D&D game, even with a GM who needed to take long pauses at every step to make sure he understood his options. It's similar to D&D in a lot of superficial ways, but for my interests it is an entirely superior product.
The AGE system can stand up as an excellent game engine that shows a lot of promise even without the Bioware IP. It's a simple enough game with something of an old-school sensibility.
As we play some more, I might update this thread with more coherent reviews stemming from actual play.
