Dragon Age Origins: The RPGDesign Review

So I've been covering Dragon Age pretty extensively around these parts. It's arguable that it's the biggest RPG release since Fallout3, so for a gaming and RPG focused blog that seems only natural.

After about 60 hours, I've now completed my playthrough and feel comfortable giving my thoughts on the game.

I'll start by saying I think Bioware has delivered the best RPG I've played since the original Diablo.

One thing I like about the game is its potential for replayability.

Though I spent 60 hours in the game, I've done less than half of the content.

There are party members I didn't get to know, quests I didn't do, and of course, 5 different origins, besides the Human Noble I picked for my first playthrough.

This is a big plus. It makes the world feel positively huge.

Another strength of this game is the way they've integrated downloadable content. I know this is a sensitive topic among many gamers, so let me say I am pro-DLC.

I like coming back to a game later.

I felt like Fallout 3 and Oblivion have set the bar for this continuing commitment to their games. Bioware has announced 1-2 years of support for Dragon Age. If we get a year, or even more, I will be quite happy.

Certainly they seem to have a solid apparatus in place for such support.

Bioware is a challenging game, which is really the only negative I can place at its feet.

Not the hardness per se, but rather the lack of tutorials and the way the difficulty spikes at times. In short, this game has a steep learning curve and even for someone like me, there were frustrating moments in the early hours of my playthrough, as I figured out more or less by trial and error how to manage my party and how the AI responded to various commands.

Dragon Age is also a remarkably stable piece of software, at least on my machine. I had one Crash to Desktop in my 60+ hours with the game.

Compared to Fallout 3 and Oblivion, that's pretty amazing.

Now of course, what I always look for in Bioware games in the story, and here Dragon Age really outdoes itself. While there aren't many "gasp worthy" twists in the story, it's a fairly traditional RPG tale, the story is engaging, well put together, and extremely well-voiced.

In fact, with almost everyone being voiced, it was a bit disconcerting at the end of the game, where they gave the results of my character's choices in text. With all the voice work, they couldn't get Ron Perlman to do his gravelly Fallout 2 ending spiel?

But I digress. Along with the story, something else Bioware games have traditionally excelled at is player choice. Here again, I think they do this very well. The "dark side" and "light side" versions of Knights of the Old Republic felt almost like different games.

Here, Bioware deals with shades of gray. Sometimes, the evil choice (or the "non-good" choice) looks like it will lead to a greater good down the line.

You're a man on a mission: to stop an archdemon. Sure, preserving a dwarven artifact that makes golems (with human souls) might seem horrible, but having golems at your back when you go to take on an archdemon and his raging hordes might bring about more peace and stability in the long run.

Right?

This to me, was a marked improvement on traditional moral choice in games, where your choices are Lawful Good or Chaotic Evil, with little room in between.

So there you have it: apart from an overly steep and at times unforgiving learning curve, Dragon Age is a note-perfect fantasy RPG.

It's vast, complicated and engaging, both from a mechanical and story standpoint.

I'm going to give this game a perfect 5 out of 5 rating.

Generic OGL

One of the things I'm trying with Mecha Omega is "generic OGL".

The Mech design rules will be self-contained.

In a nutshell, this means I tell you how to build a mech without really talking about how you build a mech pilot.

This gives me a lot of flexibility. Basically, if you use Mecha Omega with a set of OGL rules that grant characters a Defense bonus, such as d20 Modern, Modern20, Spycraft or Star Wars, you should be able to use these rules with zero modifications.

Mecha Omega: Excalibur and the Knights of the Round

So it's been awhile since I talked about Mecha Omega, but it's stayed on my "next book" thumb space for a freaking reason.

Here's a taste.

Excalibur (Stonehenge, Britain)

Excalibur lies beneath Stonehenge, one of the largest concentrations of Omega Energy on Earth. Energy from throughout Britain is channeled to this one location through lay lines and standing stones. Because of the abundance of energy, Excalibur is not one mech but many. These are capable of joining together into a truly amazing machine, giving rise not only to tales of the Round Table (which is Stonehenge), Arthur and Merlin but also to stories of groups of warriors joining together for common cause.

Individually the smaller mechs, dubbed “Knights of the Round” in more recent times, look like mechanical lions. When they join together, they resemble a gigantic humanoid that wields a sword of energy.

There are 5 knights of the round mech, which join together to form the Colossal humanoid mech, Excalibur.

Knights of the Round

Superstructure: Quadruped (Huge)

Slots: Chest: 3 (0) Head: 2 (0) Arms: 0 Legs: 6 (0)

Heat: 0

Total Attack Modifier: -1 (-1 Size)

Total Defense Modifier: -1 (-1 Size)

Damage Reduction: 9 (14 vs. physical)

Hit Points: 350

Movement Speed: 140 ft.

Damage: 2d6+20 (melee), 4d12+0 (ranged)

Control Stations: Cockpit 3 (Head)

Defensive Systems: Light Armor 3 x3 (Chest, Head and Legs)

Esoteric Systems: Docking Port 3 (Legs)

Heat Sinks: None

Mobility Gear: Hydraulic Piston 3 x2

Power Sources: None

Sensors: None

Weapons: Claws 3 x2 (Legs), Railgun 3 x2 (Chest)

Total Cost: 113

Excalibur

Superstructure: Humanoid (Colossal)

Slots: Chest: 6 (0) Head: 4 (0) Arms: 6 (0) Legs: 6 (0)

Heat: -3

Total Attack Modifier: (-6 Size, +3 Computerized Targeting)

Total Defense Modifier: (-6 Size, -4 Armor, +3 Pilot Station, +4 ECM)

Damage Reduction: 16 (30 vs. physical)

Hit Points: 600 (+180 Energy Shield)

Movement Speed: 40 ft., Fly 540 ft., Swim 540 ft.

Damage: 4d8+52 (melee), 12d6 (rocket launcher), 4d12 (railguns)

Control Stations: Cockpit 3 (Head), Pilot Station 3 (Head), Weapon Station 3 x2 (Chest)

Defensive Systems: ECM 3 (Arms), Medium Armor 3 x4 (Chest, Head, Arms and Legs), Energy Shield 3 (Chest)

Esoteric Systems:

Heat Sinks: Heat Sink 3 x2 (Legs)

Mobility Gear: Jet Propulsion 3 (Legs), Water Turbine 3 (Legs)

Power Sources (Power Level 18): Reactionless Power 3 x2 (Chest)

Sensors: Radar Sight 3 (Head), Computerized Targeting 3 (Legs)

Weapons: Energy Sword 3 (Arms), Rocket Launcher 3 (Arms), Railgun 3 x3 (Arms)

Total Cost: 326

More Dragon Age DLC coming this holiday season

Recently it was announced that Dragon Age might see DLC for two years. There were three pieces of DLC released day 1, with two of those being free for most people, and one running you an additional 7 bones.

It seems we're not going to have to wait long for DLC, as more will be on the way "this holiday season", which I think would be... a week from now? Isn't thanksgiving when the madness begins officially?

Either way, great stuff.

EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA – November 19, 2009 – Leading video game developer BioWare™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), announced today that the Return to Ostagar downloadable content (DLC) for Dragon Age™: Origins will be available for the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC versions this Holiday season in North America and Europe. The DLC pack, Return to Ostagar, allows players to exact their revenge and embark on a quest for the mighty arms and armor of the once great King Cailan when they revisit Ostagar, the site of the Grey Wardens’ darkest hour, to reclaim the honor and learn the secrets of Ferelden’s fallen king.

“We are very proud of the phenomenal launch of Dragon Age: Origins and we’re pleased to announce the next installment of downloadable content that will be available to fans of the game,” said Ray Muzyka, Group General Manager, RPG/MMO Group of EA, and Co-Founder, BioWare. “The Return to Ostagar DLC pack is a prime example of BioWare’s commitment to give fans a game that continuously offers new experiences and further enriches a storyline that has already received critical acclaim and positive feedback from the players.”

Return to Ostagar, BioWare’s next thread in the Dragon Age: Origins tapestry, summons players to a new quest in which they will return to the fateful battleground in Ostagar where the Grey Wardens were nearly wiped out. Players will discover King Cailan’s top-secret political agenda and go behind enemy lines to revisit a place that many feared had been lost to history.

Return to Ostagar will be available for $4.99 on the PlayStation® Store, for 400 BioWare Points on the PC and 400 Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360 in North America. Return to Ostagar will be released this Holiday season worldwide on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation®3 console and PC. Dragon Age: Origins is rated M by the ESRB and 18+ by PEGI.

Something else I love (Zero Punctuation edition)

I mean, not only is it an incredibly snarky game review, something the world DESPERATELY needs more of, but he says "it's like the difference between being Lawful Evil [flash picture of Pope] and Chaotic Evil [flashes picture of Charles Manson]".

Too freaking funny.

Your daily dose of crazy

Yu Yu Hakusho is a show I really should hate. Its crazy.

In fact, its more than a little dumb.

But it's the right kind of crazy. It's about a kid who comes back from the dead and becomes a "spirit detective", working to combat demon menaces to the mortal world and... well... just watch this, it conveys what this show is about so much better than words ever could.

Modern Mayhem 5 star review

Modern Mayhem, my GTA-esque Modern20 adventure, gets a 5-star review from RPGNow featured reviewer Megan Robertson!

Dragon Age goes all sam crow

I almost titled this post (Sons of) Anarchy Online, but that would have brought in folks looking for a a completely different game.

For those wondering what the hell I'm talking about, it's Sons of Anarchy of course! One of those shows Modern20 GMs (all modern GMs really) should be watching.

When making my Dragon Age character, I was cycling through the truly impressive array of facial hair available, and at some point it clicked that I should make my character Opie, one of my favorite Sons of Anarchy characters (they refer to the club affectionately as "sam crow" if you're wondering where the title comes from).

Dragon Age Origins: Early quests and the party

So, I am continuing my exploration of Dragon Age: Origins.

Thus far the game is excellent. I've gathered a party around myself consisting of Leilani the Bard, Shale the Golem and Morrigan the shapeshifting mage.

The early adventures have been a great mix of combat and story and thus far, I haven't felt like I got too much of one or the other.

This is good, because Mass Effect leaned a little too far in the story direction, giving you numerous characters to meet at the beginning, who all wanted to tell you their life story.

They were really well WRITTEN stories, I just occasionally wanted to tell incidental character voiced by Seth Green that when I asked him how he was doing, "fine" would have been a perfectly acceptable answer.

Along with parties comes more than stories though. New character abilities to learn and new mechanics to master (such as coordinating four fighters in combat, often against 8 or more opponents).

One of the ones I like best so far is the "party approval", which is definitely one place in which DAO hearkens back to its noble ancestor: Baldur's Gate.

For those not in the know, Baldur's Gate is a D&D rpg in which you could recruit followers of varying alignments, but whether they stayed with you was a matter of how those alignments meshed with yours.

For example, playing a Paladin, one of the first followers you can recruit is a Chaotic Evil thief. How do you guess that turns out? I say well! I'm an optimist!

Here though, things are more complex. There's no boiler plate alignment, just your choices as you play the game.

And frequently, two party members will like a decision, while one will hate it.

Something I like even better is that your party often chimes in, letting you know ahead of time that they will NOT be happy if you make a certain choice. This not only lets you get to know them a little better, it also gives you a chance to make a choice just to please a valued ally.

Of course, behavior is good, but bribery is better. You also find items listed as gifts, which have two purposes: you can sell them for cold hard cash, or you can give them to a party member to raise their approval rating.

How much of a boost you get depends on how much the party member will like the item in question, which gives you a tangible reward for getting to know your party members, so you can dole out the right gift.

Though sometimes its pretty clear, like when you find Alistair's Locket. Hmm, hey *I* know a guy named Alistair! Coincidence?

Other times, its just common sense. Giving ale to the bard? Ouch! Suddenly its the 90's and I'm playing Bard's Tale on the C64. Oh uh, I mean the Leilani the Bard loves ale.

Now, this sounds like a lot of work, so what's it worth? Well, if a party member's approval drops too low, they might just leave. And if you raise it really high, then you can get bonuses in combat.

And with some of the characters, you can get those (in)famous Bioware um... romantic... options as well.

The party is always an interesting facet of Bioware games. They're always stocked with interesting, well written and well voiced characters. But often, they follow whatever path the main PC lays out for them, going along whether he is good or evil.

While this is convenient, and even makes some sense, if you see the main character as a dynamic leader the system they have here is rich, deep and extremely interesting.

And of course, it gives you a reason to tinker, looking for a group that gels, or even a reason to play it again to see how different parties mesh.

More to come as I wind my way through this RPG epic!

A look at Dragon Age's character creation

My review copy of Dragon Age has arrived, and I have begun winding my way through the game.

However, as this game is long, my plan is to do several reviews of different aspects of the game, before summing up my thoughts in a final overview.

I have to say, from a system standpoint, Dragon Age is extremely strong.

There are three character classes: warrior, mage and rogue. However, each character class has a lot of room for specialization.

My warrior is a sword&board guy who knocks opponents down or stuns them with his shield, but I could also be specializing in dual-wielding, two-handed weapons, or archery.

There are also skills I imagine every character class will have a chance to learn. For example, I have begun dabbling in herbalism, since I liked making potions in Oblivion, and have learned how to make simple healing poultices from wild mushrooms.

Looking ahead, even though the three classes are broad right from the start, each class also have four potential specializations later.

For warrior, the specializations are: Berserker, Champion, Templar and Reaver.

For mage: Arcane Warrior, Bloodmage, Shapeshifter and Spirit Healer.

For Rogue: Assassin, Bard, Duelist and Ranger.

As a tabletop guy, Ranger as a Rogue specialization jumps out at me. I can see that, personally.

In short, there's a lot of depth here. I think more depth on the character creation/development front than was seen in Mass Effect (whose mechanics I also liked).

Next I'll be taking a look at combat.

Dragon Age review forthcoming

Just got the word today that I will be receiving a review copy of Dragon Age: Origins!

So definitely look forward to a review for the game after I've had a chance to work through it.

Death from Below: A World of Arkara adventure

Death from Below is an OSRIC-compatible adventure for 1st to 3rd level characters.

Though set in the World of Arkara setting, it is generic enough to run in any fantasy city with a large sewer system.

Death stalks the city of Bondaea, with 17 citizens missing or dead. Clues lead to the sewers beneath the city, where evil creatures have moved in, using the sewers to move unseen, hunting the unwary townsfolk above.

In addition to its adventure content, this module also contains two new monsters and two new magic items.

You can purchase Death from Below here.

The David Caruso School of Acting

I love David Caruso.

Not in the sense of, you know, watching any of his acting work that is NOT the first season of NYPD Blue but the fact of his existence allows me to sleep at night knowing all is right with the world.

I'm just going to say this once...

I don't think anyone owes me anything beyond basic courtesy.

I have seen a few fits thrown in my day and usually think these are drama queenerie.

This is all I ask and again I think it boils down to basic courtesy:

1. If you accept things for review, give it a look immediately and decide if you are, or are not, interested in reviewing it.

2. If you decide you are, put it in a stack (or folder) and review things in the order you receive them.

3. If not, just let me know.

That's it, and I really think it's an easy and fair thing I'm asking.

I've had many, many reviewers tell me, sight unseen "I don't like system X, so I don't review for it".

This, to me, is a perfectly acceptable stance and I have never been annoyed by that response a single time.

Chuck

X-Men Evolution

Hulu currently has all 4 seasons of this cartoon available for streaming on their site.

If you have the slightest interest in comics, the x-men specifically, animation or just good storytelling, I encourage you to watch this, especially for free.

You can also get the first three seasons from Netflix, but the wrap-up 9 episodes of the 4th season are (I think) only available from Hulu for now.

Anyway, it recasts most of the X-men as high school students, with Prof X, Beast, Storm and Wolverine as older professors.

The students on the show attend a nearby high school undercover, where the brotherhood of evil mutants (Blob, Avalanche, Rogue, Toad and Quicksilver) are their fellow students/rivals.

It does a great job of melding superheroics and teen/high school angst, along the lines of Smallville.

It's probably my favorite form of the x-men outside the comics. Yes, I like it better than the movies (though I do happen to like the movies too).

Dragon Age Origins TV Spot

More DAO goodness out today.

This game is going to be awesome.

(Golden) Ageism

Over at Grognardia, James gives what I would call short shrift to the Temple of Elemental Evil.

Given that I've said, on numerous occasions, that it's the best adventure module of all time, I guess that wouldn't be hard.

Still, James' post reads like a manifesto of the "one true way" philosophy of the old school.

I touched on this in my recent post A Portrait of the Game Designer as a Young Man.

One big part of the one true way is that, at some time in the past, there was a golden age where TSR made products for the love, and they were all big happy sandboxes.

Then, at some point, around the mid-80's, it all broke bad and the game became about the money. This is when Gygax began releasing his "repudiated" works: Unearthed Arcana, Temple of Elemental Evil, Isle of the Ape and Oriental Adventures.

Now, since another part of the "one true way" school is an exegesis of the "pure" Gygax, later works like Temple of Elemental Evil, which was partially co-written by someone else, are especially suspect.

Though as I pointed out in my earlier post, this doesn't seem to prevent repudiation of Unearthed Arcana.

But in the case of ToEE, we see all the things these folks don't like: Gygax not solely involved; suspected reason for the module's release being that evil "money" thing; and *shudder* perhaps worst of all: the module has a story.

I know this sounds like I'm beating up on James a little. Please don't read it that way. I love his blog and check it every day and find it consistently entertaining.

In fact, I thanked him in World of Arkara's first book because reading his blog makes me want to read, play and ultimately write more old-school type stuff.

However, I do think old-schoolers try to separate the old school into WAY too many "small toy boxes".

I prefer only two toy boxes: good stuff, and bad stuff.

I don't care if it's 3e, d20 Modern, Spycraft or AD&D 1e. My only goals are to keep the good toy box as full as possible, and the bad toy box empty (hopefully to good homes of people who will play those games I don't personally like).

I don't care if Gygax wrote it by himself, or if 30 people wrote it.

And I don't care if it has a story or not, as long as the PCs have sufficient freedom.

Mind. Boggled.

So in perusing some Fallout3 modsites (readers of my Facebook page will know I recently re-inserted the needle of FO3) I came across this site:

http://www.d2rune.com/diablo2/item.aspx?serverid=362&subid=16

This is a site that sells Diablo 2 Magic Items for cash.

Diablo II came out in 2000. In terms of PC games, that might as well be the 70's.

Although, in checking wikipedia to verify D2's release date, I was similarly boggled to see that the last official patch for the game was released by Blizzard in 2008 (!) so apparently there are a lot of people who have no intention of moving on from this game until Diablo 3 is released?

As the title says: Mind. Boggled.

A portrait of the game designer as a young man

Although I occasionally identify myself as a grognard, it's always a bit tongue in cheek.

Although I am without a doubt a Gygaxian, the weird, invisible boxes many grognards want to stuff old games into is at times frustrating, amusing and downright puzzling to me.

You can especially see this in the progression of Gygax from hip, indie designer, slowly morphing into corporate powerhouse and then magically, back to hip indie designer.

ODD is definitely the hip, indie golden age for Gygax. Somehow, he maintains this luster for most of his AD&D period, despite overseeing some definite cold, calculating business decisions.

But when Unearthed Arcana is released, coincidentally the last AD&D book on which Gygax was a major designer, many nerds draw a line in the sand and refuse to accept it.

I think, maybe, because you can SMELL the "business" on that book. Unearthed Arcana was unabashedly released for one reason: TSR needed money.

Oriental Adventures was rushed out for the same reason.

And it worked. TSR survived, at least long enough to show Gygax the door and usher in 2nd edition as another source of capital.

So for gamers who regard themselves as Gygaxian to reject Unearthed Arcana is one of those places where the old school movement gets weird for me. They try to get as far back to the beginning as possible, find an exegesis of the "pure Gygax", then use that as a justification for their rejection of a book he most certainly was the prime architect of, while simultaneously holding him up as the standard by which all other game designers should be judged.

I think, trying to separate Gygax the hip indie designer from the cold businessman is a big mistake. Unearthed Arcana was most definitely NOT the first book he greenlit for monetary reasons.

That would be AD&D itself, as well as the Red Box games (aka Basic D&D). AD&D was largely in place within the framework of ODD, through the various supplements that had been released.

The re-release, in hardback form, of various supplements and Dragon articles, putting the official stamp on them, is exactly what Unearthed Arcana was.

In short, the "late Gygax" and the "early Gygax" are most decidedly the same guy.

He was the greatest game designer who ever lived.

But he wasn't Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King or the Easter Bunny. He was just a guy who happened to have a great gift for writing awesome games.

Trying to turn him into anything else requires serious mental gymnastics.

Some super pretty Dragon Age concept art

That's right, more Dragon Age!

I got a big selection of pics today from my man Romeo, and I am in a sharing mood.

And now, a word from Dragon Age

Man, I hope someone did a hard save recently.

Echelon X at the Grand OGL Wiki

Today the Grand OGL Wiki continues its awesome support of Supers20 with a new villain for your campaigns: Echelon X, along with a new occupation: super-terrorist.

http://grandwiki.wikidot.com/dm-sketchpad

Thanks guys!

12 to Midnight releases: Horror20

This book is awesome. You should pick it up.

Seeing other people do stuff for Modern20 is something that makes me damn proud, especially when its something this good.

Hey look at that!

I just did an entire post about game design on my game design blog!

I remember when this place had a focused vision and mission.

I think that lasted about 5 minutes.

Loot and exploration

I am writing the first official adventure for my World of Arkara OSRIC campaign setting.

Stop me if you heard this: it's a sewer adventure underneath the city.

Not content to MERELY rip off 25% of all TTRPG adventures, I've added a little old school loot collecting. 17 people have gone missing.

The PCs have been asked to take care of whatever is going on in the sewers, but they've also been asked to return the corpses for burial. The more corpses returned, the greater the reward.

In fact, at least 75% of the monetary return comes from corpse retrieval.

I am wondering if I should TELL my players any of this though.

I have a lot of theories about RPGs which are often disbelieved/disagreed with by folks, and one of them is that the most important elements of RPG design are: character development (and by this I mean mechanical development- stats changing over time), exploration, and loot, ESPECIALLY loot collection.

So as I design this adventure, I am wondering whether I should tell my players "there are 17 corpses, get them all and you get a bigger reward" or if I should just let a thorough search of the dungeon be its own reward.

Dragon Age: Sacred Ashes

This is easily the best trailer yet. I like the idea of a fantasy party filled with absolute bad asses.

Things you should be reading: Grand OGL Wiki

So I mentioned Horror20, but there's another cool thing going on for Modern20 fans I don't think I've talked about enough: the Grand OGL wiki.

While a lot of what goes into the wiki is just OGC, and there's a TON of open content there to peruse, they also do a free e-zine every month or so that is packed with gaming goodness and usually includes some modern20 support.

They also release little digital previews, and the last two have been for Modern20.

http://grandwiki.wikidot.com/dm-sketchpad

So go check it out and you can see a modern20 vampire couple, some supers done up for Supers20 and 4C, and if you pick up the last issue of the dm sketchpad, you can read a forward by me, in which I talk about the uncharted future ahead for us in a multi-OGL game world.

Horror20 coming soon from 12 to Midnight

Hey guys, there's a new Modern20 sourcebook coming down the pipe. Horror20, by 12 to Midnight.

Announcement here.

Dragon Age Origins: Brood Mother

This thing is something you will fight in Dragon Age. Ewwwww.

Results of the BioWare excursion thus far.

So having heard I was playing KOTOR and KOTOR II, my brother got me Mass Effect and Jade Empire for my birthday, which officially makes him the best brother EVER.

Results so far:

Mass Effect is freaking rad. Astonishingly so in fact. I expected to really be meh on this game, because every preview focused on how great the branching dialog trees were.

Why did no one mention the hiding behind cover, then ducking out to shoot evil aliens in the face?!

Jade Empire is the game I expected to develop a deep, monogamous, hetero man-crush on and its left me a bit meh. It has some weird glitches to the combat and it is a game that is primarily ABOUT that combat.

This makes for some seriously frustrating moments.

I am sure I will finish it though, just because I like the world and the story they're telling. But not till after Mass Effect.