Three stunt points generated

Green Ronin has developed an RPG based on the Dragon Age video games and set in the same world. Currently, there are two boxed sets out, roughly following the basic/expert example set by Moldvay and Cook/Marsh. Set 1 covers the base system and takes characters from level 1 to 5. Set 2 takes characters from level 5 to 10, introduces character specializations, and includes subsystems for crafting poisons and traps. The system manages to navigate between simplicity and complexity in a very pleasing way, and it is worth looking at for the game even if you are not interested in the franchise that it is based on.

There are eight abilities: communication, constitution, cunning, dexterity, magic, perception, strength, and willpower. Starting abilities range from -2 to 4, with 1 being called out as average. They are determined randomly using a table that maps 3d6 to ability numbers. Characters also have things called ability focuses, which function somewhat like skills but are only very lightly specified. Really, no info other than focus name is needed in most cases, as they are all pretty obvious in function, and are presented in the book without unnecessary padding. More products should take this approach. A simple overview of the system, followed by a list of focuses (organized by governing ability), followed by an example of use in play.

The basic resolution system is 3d6 + ability against a target number, with the potential to bring in an ability focus for a further +2 bonus if it makes sense contextually or is explicitly called for. Thus, one might make a willpower (self-discipline) test, which would be 3d6 + willpower for most characters, but 3d6 + willpower + 2 for those with the self-discipline focus. Attack rolls are handled identically, as each weapon group has a focus; for example, to attack with a sword, a character makes a strength (heavy blades) test. As characters increase their abilities as they level, no separate attack bonus or attack table is necessary to model the increase in competency; the ability test system carries the entire load.

Of the three dice used, one is special (called the “dragon die”) and must be distinguished in some way from the others (three dice come in the Set 1 box with one being a different color). When doubles are rolled on any two of the three dice, stunt points equal to the value of the dragon die are generated. These stunt points can be used for extra effects such as more damage or a chance to immediately cast another spell (for mages).

The character creation process is elegant. I am usually quite averse to character creation with too many options or steps, but the approach Dragon Age takes makes the choices accessible. The procedure alternates between randomness and choice to help players create characters that are not entirely random but nonetheless have some interesting, unpredictable features, guaranteeing that characters of the same class and even background are distinguished mechanically.

You roll for ability scores (having the option to switch one pair), then pick a background, which determines your race and class options. Next, you roll for a random background benefit (which can be something like an ability increase or an extra focus). Importantly, the background ideas are mostly clear without needing to do extended research. So, for example, if you want to play a magic-using character, you take either the apostate or circle mage background, and then follow the procedure outlined in the background (in the case of circle mage, you pick either human or elf, roll for a benefit, and take the mage class). The last few steps involve noting down several basic class features, making one or two more choices from short lists for things like class talents (which further guide the player into choices about things like spells), and then finally equipment (I would prefer a table to roll on for equipment, but even as is it is streamlined compared to “here’s some gold, go buy stuff”). Players end up playing the class they want, in a unique way, without needing to hunt through option lists or feeling like they need to do homework to understand the choices. There is almost zero sense of missing out on synergies due to lack of system mastery despite the large array of possibilities.

If focuses are the AGE equivalent of skills, then talents are the equivalent of feats, in that they further customize and focus a character’s class (thus the difference between a dual-weapon warrior and a two-handed weapon warrior is handled in the system by providing a talent for each). Some direct examples of talents include archery style, poison-making, and entropy magic. The talents available to a particular character are determined by class, so only mages have access to the magic talents, for example, whereas other talents might be available to multiple classes (archery style is available to both rogues and warriors, for example). Each talent has three tiers (novice, journeyman, and master), which become available as the character levels, and each tier offers some benefit. The journeyman level of archery style, for example, allows faster reloading. Mages gain new spells through their talents, which helps balance them against the other classes in a way that does not feel forced.

Many talents do have prerequisites, which I tend to dislike in these sorts of systems, as they often require knowledge of later options before informed decisions can be made about features even during character creation. However, the options are presented in such a logical way, and introduced gradually through the levelling process, that I think this common stumbling block has mostly been avoided (though I would like to see it in play). For some examples, the contacts talent requires a communication of 1 and archery style requires training in the bows group.

It is worth noting that the default assumption of the Dragon Age RPG, in line with the experience of the video game, is a greater focus on combat and tactical play than is usually true for classic dungeon crawling games. Thus, most of the spells are designed for combat (which actually makes sense in the world of Thedas, as mages are only kept around to combat darkspawn, but I digress) and the game does seem to have a slight case of numerical inflation, at least coming from a predominantly OD&D perspective. For example, warriors begin with 30 + constitution + 1d6 HP, and all classes gain 1d6 + constitution HP per level achieved. That’s a lot! To put this in perspective, the bastard sword does 2d6+1 damage and the two-handed sword does 3d6 (with strength also adding to melee damage). Aside: ranged weapons add perception to damage rather than strength, which is a nice touch. That said, my initial impression, looking at monster stats, is not that combat will turn into a slog of HP attrition, but it’s hard to say for sure without playing it. The resolution system using ability tests, is, however, heavily bounded, with opportunities for bonuses few and far between, making me think that the overall power curve of the system is gradual.

Strangely, for an RPG inspired by a video game, scant attention is paid to gear. While this is probably a good thing overall, given how common magical items seems to devalue enchanted items in games that make use of the upgrade treadmill (sword +1, sword +2, etc), it still seems somewhat odd. The example magic items are mostly consumables, and don’t include things like magic staffs that increase spell power. Though Set 2 includes some crafting rules (for poisons and traps), enhancing weapons with runes and enchantment are not covered, despite their prominence in the Dragon Age video game. Perhaps such rules will be included in the upcoming Set 3. While I would rather an emphasis on gear be omitted rather than implemented poorly, even better would be to see the challenge of creating an elegant system surmounted (especially since I am attempting to create such a system for Gravity Sinister). I really appreciate the gradual introduction of complexity behind the overall design, and I can see how introducing enchantment as content for levels 11+ might make sense, though it does feel somewhat off that lower level PCs can’t pay for having enchantments laid on their weapons (for example).

While I am tremendously impressed by the core engine and the character advancement system, there are still some shortcomings. The GM book, other than the monster entries, is mostly a discussion of things like how to deal with player types and plot arcs rather than useful procedures that can be followed. Thus, I don’t think the Dragon Age sets would make a good introduction to the kind of games that I like to run, and though I can see myself running the game pretty much as written in terms of player options and resolution systems, I suspect I would need to import many tools (dungeon stocking, random encounters, reaction rolls, etc) on the referee side. There are some offhand remarks about being open to player choices that seem to caution against preplanned plotting, but little is done to emphasize the “play to find out what happens” ethos (Apocalypse World, page 108) that I think is the true strength of tabletop RPGs.

For another deficiency, the art is extremely bland to the point of being entirely forgettable. There is plenty of world flavor in the mechanics (summoning healing spirits from The Fade and so forth), but you won’t find anything interesting in the visual presentation (I feel mostly the same way about the video game, actually, despite really enjoying many structural aspects of the setting). The mechanical excellence of the system mostly makes up for the aesthetics, in my opinion.

There’s still a lot more to say, such as a more detailed consideration of the mana-based magic system and a discussion of the integration with the default world of Thedas, but I think this post has droned on for long enough. Perhaps I will continue to write about other aspects of the game if I don’t get distracted by something else. Free quickstart rules are available that contain the base system and several pregen characters (though without the full character creation procedure). PDFs of Set 1 and Set 2 can be bought (sans RPGNow-style watermark, thankfully!) from Green Ronin’s web site. Though the physical production of the boxed sets is nothing special (booklets, a few maps, and some quick reference cards), it’s nice to be able to read the books in printed form and I’m not unhappy with the purchase. The Set 1 box includes 3 standard pip-style dice, with one die of a contrasting color for use as the dragon die (I mention this only to make clear that you won’t be getting fancy dice with a dragon icon instead of a 6 or something).

Last word: not perfect for me as a complete game, but probably the best mechanical implementation of distinctive player character development that I’ve read so far.

Five Ancient Kingdoms, print edition

Five Ancient Kingdoms is an Arabian Nights flavored game with the scope and presentation style of OD&D. Mechanically, it uses a Chainmail-inspired 2d6 resolution system. It manages to pack a tremendous amount of content into a very small word count. Five Ancient Kingdoms is probably on my short list of good intro RPGs (along with the Pathfinder Beginner Box and Lamentations of the Flame Princess).

My reaction has been almost entirely positive, but there are a few aspects that I am critical of, so let’s get them out of the way first. Yes, I suspect that “Dragon Master” was used because JB wanted to write DM, but do we really need another term for game master? “Opposite sex” language is used in the romance rules, and that is unnecessarily limiting. There are no indexes, and no “appendix N” or recommended reading section (something that a pseudo-historical setting like Barica could greatly benefit from). There are a few places where rules were hard for me to find (for example, how damage against PCs works is in the Hit Dice section rather than the Damage section). The numerous passages with “as explained in book X” would benefit from page numbers.

On to the good stuff. The entire game is approximately 150 digest sized pages in three saddle-stapled booklets. This is bigger than the OD&D three little brown books, but not by much. I find the rules as written to be very similar to how I have come to house-rule my own OD&D game. Some examples. Death is handled with save or die at zero HP (though 5AK also leaves survivors of the death save with a major wound). HP are rolled anew each session. Encumbrance is not quite as simple as my one item per point of strength, but it’s not too bad (it uses a simple list of penalties based on commonly carried or equipped items).

The core is built around four classes that you will probably recognize: hero, magician, saint, and thief, though the abilities are balanced between them slightly differently than in the traditional game (mostly for the better, I think), and all without resorting to weapon and armor restrictions. The best martial weapons (sword and bow) require training to attack without a penalty, and this is handled mostly at the class level, which is a decent way of distinguishing the hero class.

As mentioned above, the resolution systems are based on Chainmail, and use 2d6. In fact, the entire game only uses six sided dice (though results of 1 are always treated as zero, to simulate something like the d20’s natural 1). There is no AC as such; instead, attack target numbers are 6 + HD + armor (which is +1 for light armor and +2 for heavy armor). The attack roll is 2d6 + melee bonus, which is class based (+ HD for heroes and + half HD for all other classes). There is no initiative, and attacks are handled in order of attack roll (highest first). This seems extremely elegant. I have been leaning towards something similar in my own systems recently, with HD as attack bonus (and, potentially, as AC too).

Monsters don’t have HP, and instead take “hits” (which are the equivalent of what would be a hit die worth of HP in trad D&D, just without the randomization). PCs do have HP (and monsters use the familiar 1d6 damage per hit against them). This sounds somewhat complicated, but it is clear in the booklets, and I imagine the streamlining works well in practice (though it also means that monster danger is a bit less variable). Armor also has a limited per-session ability to negate several hits. In terms of system, the only significant lack I see is an absence of something like an ability check to resolve arbitrary actions (something like roll under an ability score with 3d6 would work).

In addition to expected mechanical features, PCs also have a motivation, which is rather freeform (but many examples are provided), and motivation interacts with a number of subsystems, including XP (for example, achieving a milestone appropriate to motivation can vault PCs instantly to the next level). Characters have the option to push actions based on their class and motivation, which allows relevant actions to be attempted with three dice, take two best, but with a greater chance of catastrophe. It reminds me of this stunt system I proposed a while back, though JB’s version is only usable for class- or motivation-relevant tasks. The XP system is rather overcomplicated for my tastes, but then I am sort of a radical minimalist in this area (I really don’t want to bother tracking things like +1000 XP for the first time an artifact is used properly). The romance rules look promising, though they require players to disclaim some amount of PC control (there are chances to become smitten with an NPC, for example). This would add an interesting twist to standard D&D adventures, and romance is certainly integral to the original Arabian Nights tales.

In only six digest-sized pages, JB has managed to craft elegant subclass and feat systems (though his feats are called advantages, which is actually a much better name; I’ve always disliked the use of the word feat for granular abilities in third edition and after). There are 8 subclasses provided, and they work by swapping out base class abilities. For example, the mountebank is a thief subclass with minor magical abilities. The trade-off is fewer thief skill points in exchange for having the basic spell casting abilities of a first level magician, though the mountebank’s skill with magic does not improve. Advantages include things like smart pet, ogre-kin, and tracker. There are 36 advantages (a D66 table, actually), and they are each described using no more than a few sentences. The text suggests gaining an advantage at levels 1, 4, and 8. Both of these systems could probably be easily hacked into your clone of choice.

Magic is also handled somewhat untraditionally. Magicians use a spell casting roll, which is 2d6 + level (+1 for exceptional intelligence), versus a target number of 2 * spell magnitude (which is what would be called spell level in many other games). Saints call “miracles” using a per-adventure slot system, which is more or less Vancian, though miracles do not need to be chosen beforehand. The spells themselves are mostly recognizable variations on traditional spells (charm, illumination, beast speech, and so forth), though there are a few notable additions (such as the second magnitude gale), and some of the spells have had their power adjusted (for example, sleep only works against “passive/non-hostile targets”). This is somewhat important, because the roll-to-cast system target numbers make casting spells very easy (if you do the math, the only way to fail casting a first magnitude spell, even as a first level magician, is to “zero out,” which has a 1 in 36 chance). It seems like even casting high level spells would rarely fail; consider an 8th level magician casting the 5th magnitude cloud of death: 2d6 + 8 >= 14, which is approximately 72% chance of success (and spells are not exhausted when cast). I would seriously consider increasing the spell target numbers, perhaps to 7 + magnitude rather than 2 * magnitude, though I would like to see the original system in play first.

The setting itself is pretty generic, and mostly consists of Hyboria-style renaming of historical cultures and features (Salama rather than Islam, Rhyma rather than Rome, Bagdabha rather than Baghdad, and so forth). There are no maps, but the monster cosmology has been carefully crafted to reflect the source myths. Equipment is almost identical to the three LBBs, though, which is perhaps a wasted opportunity for introducing more Arabian aesthetic (why not janbiya rather than dagger, for example?). All illustrations are by Henry J. Ford, from Andrew Lang’s version of the Arabian Nights.

The discipline required to fit the entire game into this structure has resulted in a very streamlined, concise game. The organization could perhaps be slightly improved (I found myself hunting around for various rules clarifications while writing this overview), but the system itself is well written and simple enough that I don’t think this would be a problem in practice after running a few actual situations. You can buy Five Ancient Kingdoms in print at B/X Blackrazor (Paypal link in the upper right). All booklets are also available in PDF from RPGNow (Men & Mettle, Magic & Monsters, Dragon Master Secrets, intro adventure: Sorcerer Island).

Edit: added links to the other PDFs after they went live.

On the Non-Player Character

Courtney Cambell, of the Hack & Slash blog, recently released a supplement for handling NPCs and social interactions, DM3 On the Non-Player Character. It contains many useful tools. Here is a discussion of some of them and a consideration of the product as a whole.

The form factor is a 62 page saddle-stapled paperback booklet. This is a good size, due to its convenience and portability. Using this format also means that the PDF renders nicely on a tablet without zooming. The book is divided into sections on the core social encounter system, persistent relationships (“agents”), creating NPCs (with numerous tables), and a social combat system built around subdual damage. The focus is on game systems that interact with player choices, such as what NPCs want, what they can offer PCs, and what specific interactions trigger various results. Less emphasis is placed on general motivation, though there are some tools for integrating personality traits into the design of NPCs.

A quick note on the price. Courtney has decided to set his price high relative to current market rates, around $30 for the print version and $20 for the PDF. I suspect this will cause perturbation in some individuals. Niche RPG supplements are not necessities, however, so I don’t think Courtney has any obligation to price competitively. Personally, I think supporting thoughtful hobby publishing is worth paying the premium. I’ve also gotten lots of use out of his other supplements, which are available for free, on treasure and trap design, not to mention his blog, and this feels like a nice way to give back and also get something useful in return.

The core of the social interaction system should be familiar to players of traditional D&D. The referee makes a 2d6 roll, modified by PC charisma and circumstances, to determine NPC reactions. The DM3 version of this system has PCs continue to make 2d6 rolls for every social action attempted. The initial roll determines the basic disposition (which imposes a modifier to the following social action rolls) and the number of social actions the PCs may take before the NPC ends the encounter. This differs from the system in the original Basic line: “Don’t roll more than three times. If by the third roll the monster hasn’t achieved a roll of 10 or better, it will decide to attack or leave” (Rules Cyclopedia, page 93).

Each further social action is resolved as one of several options. There are 18 different “moves” provided, including options such as converse, question, and threaten. All of these have game weight. Some of the options provided are surprisingly specific, such as drink, which indicates an offer of alcohol. Players can either state their move directly in game terms (“I intimidate the NPC”) or describe actions and rely on the referee to interpret which move is attempted. Each move includes a target number for the 2d6 roll, potential modifiers, potential results, and so forth. The number of options is a bit overwhelming, and the differences between the various moves also adds to the complexity. Luckily, there is a nice one-page summary table near the back of the book. Any referee that wanted to use this system as written would need a copy of this chart at hand, at least for a while. There are also four possible “stances” that PCs can take which may interact with NPC personalities. The stances are neutral, hostile, friendly, and obsequious.

I haven’t tried to run an encounter using all the options, but I suspect that I would want to simplify them schematically somewhat (perhaps into friendly, neutral, and hostile acts, sort of like the stance categories) and generalize the target numbers so that I wouldn’t need to constantly reference a table. The specifics do create some interesting possibilities though, such as the ability to convert NPCs using the (somewhat awkwardly named) pray action (which plugs into the bond system, discussed below). So I think there would be some value in using the whole, baroque mechanism. Obviously, some parts of the system could be combined with improvisation, so this is not an either/or.

I do think that using the codified system to its full potential would require some practice. It is important to note that it is not necessary for players to master this list of moves in order to engage with NPCs, but if they don’t the referee will need to be able to translate diegetic PC actions into social moves. Might this introduce an element of system mastery into this part of the game? That is, would a player that studied the moves carefully and understood the underlying system more comprehensively have an advantage over a casual player? Perhaps, though a reasonable and attentive referee should be able to mediate between the player and the rules well enough to avoid that issue (in the same way that a referee might need to know when to apply the rules for a contested ability check or bull rush during combat even if the player does not invoke the rules directly). This issue probably deserves more attention, especially given Courtney’s position against “fiction first” (that is, diegetic or game world focused) player interfaces, but that is a subject for another post.

DM3 distinguishes between NPCs that are are strangers and NPCs that are known, which are called “agents.” This terminology is not my favorite (“agent” has so many other meanings), but I suppose you have to call them something. Persistent NPC state relative to PCs is measured by a bond number, which is the core of the persistent relationship, mechanically. This is a brilliant system, and is probably my favorite part of the overall framework. Every interaction has a chance of converting a normal NPC into an agent, or increasing the bond of an NPC that is already an agent. Bonds can represent anything from employee to rival, and there are several custom social action moves that work specifically with bonds, including gift and seduce (which is used for any conscious attempt to improve a bond, not just sexual seduction). I could easily imagine collecting bonds on a PC’s character sheet, which would be an interesting way of letting a character develop mechanically outside of the standard level/power and gear tracks that D&D characters usually follow. I woud probably add a house rule to periodically decrease bonds with neglected friends (you never call, you never write!).

Creating an NPC requires noting down a few stats, but not the stats you might expect (strength, dexterity, HP, etc). Instead, they are a few numbers that interact with the social actions and stances (and by default, of course they are all zero, so you only need to specify the interesting differences). This format looks very friendly to simple stat blocks, especially compared to the walls of text that are the usual presentation of NPC motivations. This method for recording the important (gameable) parts of NPCs is quite elegant. It also includes locks for keeping track of how a given NPC reacts to specific types of interaction. I could see using this record format almost unmodified, and it might be adaptable to other, abstract entities such as towns, organizations, or other aggregate bodies. NPC locks probably deserve clues as well, just like traps or hidden features in a dungeon, to help make sure that players can gain access to the interesting potentialities available, but the most efficient format for such clues probably requires more experimentation. A huge volume of tabular data is also provided to serve as imagination fuel for quickly creating a memorable NPC.

A social combat system is included that makes use of hit points and subdual damage. This doesn’t really fit into the way I usually run games, but I can see how it might be useful to others. It requires many calculations that look like 10 + Wisdom OR Morale + 1/2 hit die (+4 if Animal Intelligence). You also need to track at least five different kinds of damage separately (damage types include fear and confusion) which each have different effects and effect thresholds. It looks like it would work if you don’t mind shuffling the numbers (at base, it’s still pretty much just subdual damage), but I think it’s more complexity than I want to handle in play. This subsystem is not necessary to the other systems presented in DM3, however.

There are a few ad hoc rules that could probably be better handled with a core mechanic. For example, monsters (that is, unintelligible NPCs) that get the “freeze” result have a 20% chance to attack and an 80% chance to flee. Am I ever going to remember that during play? Nope. Am I going to spend the time to look it up during play? Highly unlikely. The few fiddly bits like this can be easily ignored though, without affecting the basic integrity of the system. There are also some references to other unexplained house rules that don’t really detract from the work as a whole, but do stick out. For example, what are alchemists, jesters, and swashbucklers? None of those are standard classes, but they are mentioned alongside fighters, magic-users and other, more traditional classes. The fivefold encounter area categorization scheme from DM2 is also referenced (empty, treasure, special, trick, and trap) without much explanation. Some extra text to explain these references would be helpful, or even just a footnote mentioning the external work. Otherwise, it feels a bit like an excerpt from a larger work.

The NPC modifiers to stances make me think that something like a general “temperament” score would be useful for monsters or NPCs. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like such a stat in a game before. It is not exactly the same thing as morale, which is more about confidence. My first attempt at such a stat would probably just be a modifier to the initial reaction roll. For example, something like a wolverine (or other nasty critter), might have something like a default temperament of -4, making it much more difficult for the initial reaction to be positive. Why isn’t there something like this already? It seems so obvious. Maybe this is something that is expected to be a situational modifier, but to me it seems like such a thing should depend on the nature of the creature or NPC (some creatures or people are just naturally prickly).

DM3 contains lots of food for thought and a tightly focused, comprehensive system for resolving social interactions impartially. I am definitely going to use some form of the bond system, though I likely will modify it to be a scale that stretches from enmity to friendship rather than multiple possible tracks each with a single magnitude. The NPC locks are an excellent way to include NPC depth in a way that is instantly relevant to what PCs do in the game. Even if you don’t agree with Courtney’s dictum that NPCs must be designed, slightly simplified versions of some of these rules could greatly assist in running impartial NPC encounters based on player skill. Just considering the issues covered systematically is quite valuable, as there are very few other discussions of the higher level design issues involved in social encounters.

You can buy DM3 in paperback or PDF. Courtney’s original publication announcement is here. There are also some related free downloads, such as the personality traits and NPC record sheets.