Dragon Age Rpg...the review.

So, Saturday, I picked up the Dragon Age Rpg...cuz it was dirt cheap. I have wanted to read through it before, since I am such a huge fan of the game on my ps3. I must have beaten that game 5 different times. L O V E D it.

So, I was excited when I opened the box when I got home. Inside? A players guide, GM's guide, a map of Ferelden, and a bag with three of cheapest looking d6’s I have ever seen. I think they took them out of yatzee or something. 

I knew beforehand that this was a fairly, rules light kind of game...but damn. It really is. I personally don't have too much of a problem with it, but I know others would. Especially those that like a bit of crunch to their game. 

So after rolling stats. Wait. Rolling stats? It actually makes you choose the ability and then roll to see what you get. I have never been a fan of this way, and would allow anyone to change that if I ran this.  So, anyways, you can choose to be a wizard, rogue, or a thief...just like in the game. You can also choose backgrounds that allow you to get other skills. Nothing to out of the ordinary here. Then you choose focuses, which allows you to add a +2, to any die roll it associates with. So a +2 to sneaking if you chose that as your focus. Character creating did not exactly break the chains of the industry, but it did seem pretty quick.

The books were small, and very quick reading. Again, nothing out of the ordinary, and the book on how to run the game was almost boring at times. The artwork was not too bad…nothing great, but definitely worth looking at.

The mechanics are very simple. 3d6+ability (like strength) +focus and you compare it to the total. The one thing that was sort of interesting is the dragon die. Just choose a different six sides die to be that one and when you are making a roll and succeed, check the dice. If any two of the three dice are the same number, you then check and see what number the dragon dice is. You get that amount of points to use in stunts. For example, if you are healing, and this happens, you can use stunt points to heal for an additional amount. It seems like a nifty little device, to break up the mundane system it seems to be using. I like the idea behind it.

It also comes with a starting adventure that seems more like a tutorial than anything. Reading, it felt like it was holding my hand at the beginning of Skyrim. Not bad, just kind of generic. But it is free and not a bad way to start. I would just tweak it a bit.

Overall, this game is mostly going to appeal to the fans of the video game. Which to be fair isn’t a bad thing. IT would also be a great game to start people out with. Other than that, I am not sure how many other people are going to be too excited about it. I would definitely play it, but I fit in their demographic pretty easily. But as a rules light kind of game, I think it could be a lot of fun.

Rating. 6.0 out of 10.0