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.
Tags: Game Design, mass effect
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.
Tags: Dragon Age, fantasy, weapons
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.
Tags: Dragon Age, fantasy, weapons
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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Tags: artifacts, Dragon Age, game-mastering, rpgs
Green Ronin has released their Dragon Age pen and paper RPG, and one thing that has been pointed out is that there are some elements from the CRPG missing. As I was preparing for my first session of the game, I asked a rogue player what he wanted. “Darts with tranquilizer poison” and that when I realize…”This game needs some poison rules”. And here they are.
Tags: Dragon Age, game-mastering, rules mod
The grimore of Dragon Warriors is not as thick as in other fantasy role-playing games. Sorcerers, Warlocks and Mystics get access to five (or four for the Mystic) new spells per level. The good thing is that you get all those spells automatically though. However, there is one way to quickly get about two times amount of castable spells, and this is by reversing them. Moonglow becomes Darkness, and so on. Presented below are the level 1 Sorcerer’s Spells, reversed. They are still considered as level 1 spells, but cost 2 MP to cost.
For many years as a GM, I have focus on tightly-plotted campaigns. There is a main villain who initiate the chain of events, and the adventurers respond to them. My storyline include tragic lovers, a crazy mother, a twisted version of Santa Claus and even a temporal time-loop. However, for my Nobilis game (now in its second session), I decided to try a sand-box approach.
Tags: game-mastering
The Khitians are well known for their inventions and love for knowledge, and in particular, astronomy. Imperial astronomers watch the sky, recording down strange sights, new stars and the movement of the constellations, for omen and signs. The greatest of all astronomers were one known as Taidezi, who had observed a great white flash in the sky and prompting warning the Son of Heaven of an impending invasion by the horse nomads. Unfortunately, the Emperor ignored Taidezi, and those nomads devoured half of the northern country. Now Taidezi’s records are studied zealously by astrologers, even though he had been dead for more than three hundred years.
Tags: adventure idea, dragon warriors, fantasy, fluff/inspiration, seeds
Whenever I read through the rules for most role-playing games, I find it interesting when some mention “combat is just a kind of opposed roll, but it usually takes a number of rolls to determine the outcome”. The reason is simple – combat is usually the main conflict of most games, the point in time when your builds, equipment, strategy and cunning all come into play. (Strangely, though, it’s hard to find formal rules for skill checks which could doom a character if he fails just one roll, like falling down into a bottomless pit). Yet I have GMed games which combat take an hour to go through, and I have known D&D combats which went for 2 to 3 hours. Is there a faster way to resolve combat while keeping it fun, and allow players to employ tactics?
Tags: fate, Game Design, rules mod, Spirit of the Century
For ages, I have been trying to get a group for Nobilis (I finally got one by asking on a FLGS forum – the last place I thought off. It’s my fault, really – I thought they were all just into D&D and Warhammer 40k). The group more or less understood the game, so I don’t have a hard time pitching them to play Nobilis. Throughout the process of creating characters, chancel and all that, I finally realised what I have been doing wrong when introducing the game to my other role-playing friends.
Usually, I begin with, “Would you want to play a game where you are a god-being? You represent a concept, say guns, and you can like do anything with guns.” The usual reply is “Heck, if I am so powerful, then where’s the challenge?”
There’s a couple of mistakes here; one reason may be due to I have been reading the GWB rather carelessly. First, the players are not god-beings. In fact, when pitching the games to others, I will suggest not trying to explain what’s a noble is. Remember, back when I mention HCI, people always try to frame new things with their own experiences. So to sell Nobilis, go for what they may already be familiar with.
“You play as an avatar which represents a component of creation”. Now this sounds easier to swallow.
(Though I have to say that people who read Sandman and other related novels, especially the series suggested in the GWB, will have less problems)
However, thinking through things, I think it is better to sell the world.
“Oh, Nobilis is a game in which everything and anything has a spirit and are semi-intelligence. You play as an avatar of a concept, or anything, in creation and you have to make sure it survives. You are being empowered by one of the many gods in creaton so in a sense you are superhuman. There are also others like you too around.”
I’m not sure if this sells better, but I am going to try this if I need a second group to play Nobilis.
Tags: game-mastering, Other Systems
