Alternative Systems - Dragon AGE

In the wake of the OGL controversy that has ripped through the TTRPG community, I felt like it was worth taking the time to discuss some other systems, specifically ones that have no connection to the OGL.

Now, this kind of article isn't exactly new, but I think it's helpful for people on the fence to hear as many different perspectives about alternative systems and settings as they can. I believe receiving a diversity of opinions can help you, the reader, make the best decision for you and your game. I know it's been helpful for me to hear about other's experiences with other systems. Each post in this series will take a look at a single system, breaking it down in detail. 

Before we get started, please note, many of the links below are affiliate links to DrivethruRPG. If you prefer not to use affiliate links nearly all of the content discussed below can also be found directly at the Green Ronin Store.

Dragon AGE

The progenitor to the Fantasy AGE system, Dragon AGE (DAGE) was a novel system when it was introduced in the early 20-teens. DAGE uses 3d6 as the main resolution mechanic. This leads to more predictable results, however these results are accentuated by the Stunt mechanic. One of those three six-sided dice is required to be a different color. This die is known as the Dragon Die and any time doubles are rolled, Stunt Points equal to the number shown on the Dragon Die are generated and must be used immediately to choose some effects off of a preset list, they cannot be saved. This kind of variability can make DAGE feel dynamic and cinematic as stunt points can also be generated outside of combat, during exploration encounters and social interactions.

DAGE starts to breaks down mechanically around Level 10, the middle of the games total level range. Larger HP values are matched with higher armor values, but damage output never keeps pace so combat can become slow and grindy as both you and the enemy you are fighting become unable to deal any meaningful amount of damage. The Pierce Armor stunt became a mainstay near the end of my campaign for this reason.

It seems like development of Dragon AGE has all but stopped completely with Green Ronin focusing more attention on the other games in the AGE system. This makes sense as waiting for approvals from Bioware seemed to slow everything down. As a long time lurker of the GR forums, release schedules were often impacted by this approval process.

The good news is, that if you like Thedas and the Dragon Age setting, all of Green Ronin’s content is still available for sale in PDF form at the Green Ronin Store as well as DrivethruRPG.com. The total amount of content that be used is actually quite impressive.

Core Rules

The Core Rulebook compiles and makes small revisions to each of the three base sets that were released during the games initial development. Set 1 covers Levels 1-5 and included the adventure the Dalish Curse, an adventure now available for free in PDF. Set 2 covers Levels 6-10, inludes rules on becoming a Grey Warden and contains an exciting adventure, The Autumn Falls, full of heroics and a compelling mystery to unravel. Set 3 finishes out the level run covering Levels 11-20. It included rules for running organizations and mass combat and included an adventure named Battle's Edge, that featured the use of those new mechanics.

All three of these sets and their rules systems now exist in the Core rules, with the only exception being the Dalish Curse has been replaced with a new adventure for lower level characters, The Invisible Chains. Due to the existence of the Core rulebook, there's not much need for the three base sets, split up like they are. If you're new to DA, just get the Core Rulebook.

Blood in Ferelden

Blood in Ferelden is an adventure compilation, that can be strung together to form a loose campaign. The compilation is really geared towards that first tier of play, Levels 1-5, but can easily be adjusted up a little higher if you want.

The first adventure is called the Amber Rage and is all about finding a cure for the madness inducing affliction called what else, the Amber Rage. It's a really good ticking clock style adventure that will take adventurers deep into the mysterious Korcari Wilds.

The second adventure, Where Eagles Lair, is set high in the Frostback Mountains and has the adventurers interact with the local Avvarian Hillsman as they hunt down an Arl’s daughter who has gone missing. The adventure culminates in an epic siege by an army of darkspawn. The siege sequence is great and will make any adventuring party feel like they are standing on the wall at Helm's Deep.

The third adventure, A Fragile Web, is in many ways two separate adventures, with strong narrative ties. The first part of the adventure involves hunting down and rooting out a nefarious cult in the capital city of Denerim that is being led by demon that cuts out it's followers tongue. The second part involves uncovering the mystery behind a wealthy benefactor who ultimately works with the cultists and possibly their leader, in a roundabout way, to gain influence over the powerful players of Ferelden politics.

The book even has a novel suggestion on how to split up the third adventure, squeezing the first and second adventures in between it's two halves and making a really interesting campaign where the players are in the see service of this wealthy benefactor who acts as their primary patron and quest giver.

GM’s Kit/Screen

The original Game Masters Kit included a GM screen full of useful stats and information for running the game. It also included a short adventure titled A Bann Too Many, that tells the story of two Banns (basically local lords of Ferelden) as they vie for possession of the local region and farms. There is more at work than immediately meets the eye and it makes for a good mix of combat, roleplay, and exploration as the party gets to the bottom of the dispute. It was intended as a follow-up adventure to the one included in the original box set, The Dalish Curse.

The original GM Kit has been out of print for many years and as far as I know, can only be purchased in PDF form through Drivethru RPG.

Revised GMs kit/Screen

Green Ronin released a revision to the GM screen after the release of the consolidated Core Rulebook. This was mainly done to update the contents of the screen to include information from all three base sets as the original screen was only based on content in Set 1. Included in the kit was a brand new adventure for characters of Level 7 called Buried Pasts. It's a really compelling adventure with lots of twists and turns that leads a party from the surface down into the Deep Roads to a lost dwarven thaig. They discover an isolated clan of dwarves there claiming to be cut off from Orzammar, the Dwarven capital, but not everything is as it seems. Sadly, this adventure was released after my Dragon Age campaign ended, making this one of of the few official adventures I never ran.

Faces of Thedas

The book Faces of Thedas contains stat blocks for many of the Dragon Age characters that players and GM’s might recognize from the video game series. Examples include Alistair and Loghain from Dragon Age: Origins and Knight Commander Meredith from Dragon Age II. Even characters from Dragon Age: Inquisition are present in the book. It also provides details on famous organizations known throughout Thedas, such as the Antivan Crows.

This book came out long after my campaign ended which is a shame. The video games, their settings and their characters, are what enticed many of my players to the table and I would have loved some help fleshing them out more. As it was, I used the content I could scrape from the wikis and the games themselves, but such an official option would have been really helpful

Tallis

A good preview of the type of content you can expect to see in Faces of Thedas can be found in the standalone PDF Dragon AGE Faces of Thedas: Tallis. This short PDF provides stat blocks across different level ranges for the Dragon Age II character Tallis. The differing stat blocks means she can be used nearly anywhere within the run of your campaign and still be relevant to the power level of your party.

Free Adventures

There are also two free adventures that can be downloaded from the Green Ronin Store and/or Drivethru: An Arl’s Ransom, found in the Dragon Age Quickstart guide and Duty Unto Death, an adventure written for Wil Wheaton's Table Top show on Geek & Sundry

An Arl’s Ransom

The adventure in the quickstart guide starts off as a simple mission to rendezvous and escort home the children of the local Arl returning from the capital, Denerim. In true Dragon Age fashion, a darker twist comes in the middle forcing the characters to make some interesting ethical choices.

Duty Unto Death

In this adventure, the characters as Grey Warden recruits, are tasked by Duncan, leader of the Wardens in Ferelden to travel to a small boarder village and meet with a party of Wardens from a neighboring nation. What they find when they arrive is safely outside any reasonable expectation they could have possibly had. It is a short, but epic adventure with some very memorable moments. Sadly the length of time between when the adventure aired on Geek and Sundry and when the PDF was released was much longer than hoped for, and I was not able to incorporate it into my campaign.

Miscellaneous

Finally, there are a few miscellaneous DAGE, or DAGE adjacent products to discuss. The first is a proper DAGE supplement titled Dragon Age Creatures of Thedas: The Wyvern. This short supplement stats out the wyvern monster as seen in the Dragon Age II DLC Mark of the Assassin.

Age Explorations

Second, is a a line of short PDF’s released under the “AGE Explorations” series that tries to provide setting neutral game options for DAGE, a very rudimentary attempt at what would ultimately become Fantasy AGE. Specifically that means the AGE system divorced from any specific setting.

Some of its release included bestiaries for giants, draugr, and alien horrors. They also included backgrounds for a Freeport campaign and even a small adventure concept. I personally made great use of the Beastmen bestiary when converting N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God to DAGE (but more on that in another post).

Midgard Bestiary

The last DAGE product I want to mention is the officially licensed Midgard Bestiary that Kobold Press developed for the original AGE system. This book converted approximately 50 monsters from Kobold Press’s Midgard setting to DAGE. It was a huge help as the monster stats were always fairly limited, even across all three base sets, but with the Midgard Bestiary there was an explosion of new threats, even ones avid players of the video games would have never encountered.

Summary

And that's it. All told the Dragon Age TTRPG is a tight system at low levels that can get strained at higher levels. The limited amount of content released overall for the series though can help reign that in. Looking at all of the material as a single body of work provides a roadmap for experiencing the game if one ever wanted to. The official adventures provide a roadmap for a campaign that can be pretty flexible with novel twists and turns, but will require a good lift on the GM’s part to connect the characters to the stories of those published adventures.

That happens to be the case for many adventures and campaign paths though. While Dragon AGE has largely been replaced by the more refined Fantasy AGE, even on the eve of that games second edition, Dragon AGE is still fun and engaging system, set in unique setting, steeped in lore, and absolutely worth your time to check out.

-The RPG Study