One of the best things about Mass Effect is the numerous plot hooks available, without needing you to delve too deeply into the lore of the game. Bioware did such a good job of presenting the world that the issues facing a mercenary or gun for hire are clear enough. Not just that, if you log into the Cerebus network, you are often fed interesting nuggets of short story that makes the game deeper and richer. A president who got her life extended – is she still eligible for office?  Corporations with their mercenaries fighting for control of worlds, plus a terrorism incident when space-crafts are crashed into habitats. There’s a lot of stuff to do be done in the Mass Effect world.

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When I first played Mass Effect, I wasn’t expecting much. I got it at a bargain from Steam, and heard that it is more of a shooter than a RPG. However, when I start the game up, and was wandering throughout the Normandy, I observe that the game was designed to be cinematic. Further on, I realized one thing: Shephard, be him/her a paragon or renegade, kicks ass, commands respect and in a whole, makes it feel great to be a galaxy-saving hero. Nope, it doesn’t feel great all the time to be saving the galaxy, which is why the effect of Mass Effect is so different.

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Recently I have been captivated with Mass Effect II. The world is rich and vibrant, the alien races familiar but different in their own way, and the whole storyline has fantastic set-up. So how can one run a game of Mass Effect using the Dragon Age RPG rules? Here’s what I get when I put my grey matter to some work.

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Apologies for the long break; I had to take some time off to recharge my brain and hopefully come up with new ideas for 101 Forms of a Dungeon. Right, now for number 71 to 80.

1. A forest of executioner’s crosses, where the local law authority leaves criminals to die and to serve a somber warning to others.
2. A prison high atop a mountain cliff, only accessible by a crude ‘elevator’.
3. Wreck of a ship used as a prison. Where have all the prisoners gone to?
4. The ruins of arena designed for trial by combat
5. A half-built pyramid
6. A quarry where half-built statues form of rocks protruding from the hillside are everywhere. Those statues are colossal, from 4 metres tall and 2 metres in width
7. A goblin’s (or insert evil demi-human race of choice here) version of a slaughterhouse…intended for humans.
8. Ruins of a bath-house with technology comparable to what the Romans has…for use by giants.
9. Sites used for judgments by rituals
10. A gigantic “well” (really a deep shaft) which goes deep downward, with wooden platforms and side excavations (think the Money Pit)

Preparing for my second Dragon Age game, I have decided to add in some tactics for NPCs, and allowing the players to discern those with a few Cunning rolls. The reason? To personalize and to add color to what otherwise would be just block-stats and to keep the players on their toes.

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I recall chatting with a fellow GM who was running D&D 3.5. “My magic-using PCs keep dying like flies,” he was musing. “It could be because I always target them first with all available ranged attacks”. What followed was a discussion where I suggested maybe he should have tipped off his players to cast Entropic Shield, Mage Armor and so on before wading into a combat. Yet during the course of the conversation, a thought nagged at me at the back of mind. Should NPCs in combats act as though they belong to some hive mind?

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Enchanted items can easily make characters too powerful; one way to give players cool toys to play with, but still challenge them is to have one-use magical items, such as potions, wands with charges, and for Dragon Age cases, bombs and special arrows. Those arrows cannot be found in stores (unlike the CRPG!) and the bombs must be specially made. Since there is scant rules on crafting, I will just list the effects of those items and leave the methods of making those special items till later.

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Last time we have the swords, this time round we have the bows! As my characters for my first game The Dalish Curse do not use crossbows, I will convert the shortbows and longbows first, and then move on to their mechanical counter-part.

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The official Green Ronin’s GM guide to Dragon Age came with a few items; In preparing for my first game, I’ve decided to give the PCs some more items to play with, and have the idea of using existing items from the CRPG instead of coming up with my own. So today I would start with enchanted swords, and slowing move my way down. The list comes from the official Prima’s Strategy Guide, to give credits where it is due.
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There is always one challenge when it come to combats with multiple opponents who are of the same type – goblins, wolves, zombies and what have you. It sometimes spoil immersion if you say, “Right, Goblin B is leaping at you with his spear!” So just for fun, while prepping for my first Dragon Age game I settle on some simple descriptions.

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