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

Game day!

My thoughts on yesterday's gaming.

It was nice to get back into it, I have not done as much as I would like in the last few years. 

Game 1. Mouse Guard. I have actually wanted to play this for some time, and even owned it before the awfulness of my storage unit happened and I lost over 800 books. 

The game appeals to me, cuz I like to play the characters that are fighting for a cause or against evil. Making the character was actually fun, and that is how it starts. Making a character SHOULD be fun. 

Saying, that, we got our asses kicked. I played a scout that took too many skills in pathfinding, and not enough in scout. Duh! After 30 minues, one mouse almost dead, one lost, and one robbed and chasing (badly) bandits through the forest.

Game 2. Dungeon World. This is a hack of Apocalypse world (which I want to play). I do NOT like D&D, so when it had some of the same spells and components, initially I was not thrilled. But it is a story game for the most part, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I played a cleric named Wesley "the hammer", and it was fun smiting the undead. Also, I got to kill the evil cleric Sheldar the Cooper (in one strike also), Raj the unholy, and the dreaded wizard Wolowitz.

I also bought a couple of games, since they were so cheap from the vendor at the gaming place. Mouse guard, and Dragon Age. Reviews of both of these game will be forthcoming.

I also, have finally gotten Bulldogs! Which I will review, once I have read it.

I had a lot of fun, and may have even found a few players for our local group. :)

Tie-in novel to game?

So, now that I am back on the creative path (yay life improvement), I can start concentrating on the game again. Just a reminder, the game draws alot of influence from Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series, and I for one am damn excited about finishing it at some point. Volitle world, magic galore, good vs evil...blah blah blah. :)

Still, one idea I had, was to write a few novels (or novella's) that take place in the world. I want to do this for a few reasons. 1. I can finally write the novel I have been talking about writing for most of my life. 2. It is a good way to get people interested in the game as well. Well, unless the novels suck, and then it could be very counter productive to say the least.

Still, I like the idea. Two diferent stories from the two main factions of the world. One from the faction that has a stranglehold on the world and looks to make sure that doesn't change...and one from the faction trying to fight for it's freedom.

I have already started writing the later, but am at the beginning stages. It is called Kushara's Fate.

Is this a good/bad idea?

Seven months later...

Wow, I have not posted on this since last September. I find that crazy, but my life did hit a bit of a rough patch and have now only just gotten a computer again...so I can definately get back to talking about all things fate and get going on my own game design again.

I hope to find new people to check out this site, and please go check out old posts about the Fate rpg system.

More to come soon.

Speak Out With Your Geek Out! A geek timeline.

So, Monica Valentinelli started bu the Speak Out With Your Geek Out, which you can find here and the internet has blown up! In a good way, which with all of the drama of the last several week, is a nice change. So, just about everyone is posting some form of post about what how much they love been geeks. 

So, I just thought I would post examples of things I would have missed out if I were not a geek myself: It is a bit long, but this is why I am, who I am.

• Dec 1970 a geek was born.
• May 1977. A six year boy had his mind blown away by Star Wars: A New Hope! X-wings are awesome!
• 1978. I beg and pleaded and got an Atari 2600.
• 1978. Watched the Fellowship of the Ring animated movie. Scared the hell out of me.
• 1978. Battlestar Galatctica!
• Spring 1980. At age nine, had I not sprained my ankle and walked into the library, I would have not discovered a little known series known as the Lord or the Rings..
• May 1980. My mind was blow even further by The Empire Strikes back. Best movie EVER.
• 1981 started writing. Mostly godzilla, choose your own adventure, and hardy boy stories.
• June 1982. Saw Bladerunner and convinced Harrison Ford was a GOD.
• 1984. At age 13, I found another other named of Terry Brooks. I was introduced to the world of Shannara.
• June 1984 watched Ghostbusters with my father, my best memory of us together.
• July 1985 watched Back to the Future and wished I had a DeLorean
• 1989 Was introduced to another long time favorite, David Eddings and the Belgariad
• Got on the internet for the first time and joined my first bbs known only as Operation Mindcrime
• 1990. Got a Sega Genesis and was introduced to video game rpg's with Golden Axe, Phantasy Star 2, and Dragon Warrior IV. My life was changed.
• 1990 was also the year I was introduced to table-top rpg's by playing Dungeons and Dragons, Champions, and Cyberpunk
• September 1993 was mesmerized by the X-files
• 1994 I Played Call of Cthulhu for the first time. Joy.
• 1994 Discovered the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
• 1997 brought the release of  Final Fantasy Vii, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Resident Evil came out on the Playstation.
• May 1999 proved to be an omen of things to come with The Phantom Menace. I started to hate Geroge Lucas a little this day.
• November 2001 I saw Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and was hooked. I had avoided the books because they were kid novels, but soon read them with a passion.
• Dec 2001 The premier of the Fellowship of the Ring. Which I saw eight times in just over two weeks. Including once, back to back.
• December 2003 Battlestar Galactica again!
• September 2004 was introduced to Lost.
• December 2004 I started a sci-fi/fantasy book club that has lasted 7 years.
• May 2005 was the day I walked out of a Star Wars movie. Revenge of the Sith. Part of me died that day.
• 2006. My friends Amy and Chris got me hooked on the Dresden Files. I am somewhat of a fan.
• September 2006 The first season of Heroes was the best season of tv I have ever seen.
• 2007 (I think) was introduced to Firefly. 
• February 2008 Played Spirit of the Century and everything I thought about tabletop rpg's changed.
• July 2008 joined playtest group for Dresden Files Rpg. Burning Alphas!
• 2009 brought a few great Rpg's Elder Scroll IV, Oblivion, Dragon Age, Fallout 3. No, not all of the games came out this year, but this is when I played them. 
• June 2010 Dresden Files Rpg came out.
• July 2011 I discovered Google+ and have met a lot of new people.

I know that was a lot to read, but I had fun with it. :)

Fate Part 2. The games of Fate

So, I thought the next thing I would talk about is the actual games that use the Fate system. I myself have only read three of them, but that will be changed as soon as I can.

So, I will start from the order I have came across them. This is only listing the Fate games, not the ones that are motivated by the system.

Be warned, this is a long one.

Spirit of the Century by Evil Hat

The deadly Doctor Methuselah seeks to unravel time itself with his solution to the Eternity Equation… Gorilla Khan stalks darkest Africa from conquered Atlantis… Mad scientists, strange sorcerers, and power-hungry dictators all seek to undo the fate of humanity. It’s the final century of the second millennium – and you are our last hope!

Ah, where it all began. This is such a fun game, and if you like pulp, even a little, you will have so much fun playing this game. The nice thing about SotC is that it is actually set up for you to win, it is up to you to determine how well. I say that not as a slight to the game, because you can still get your ass handed to you in it, but let’s face it...you are in the Century Club. You are the best of the best. You SHOULD win. Besides, getting to fly across the room using a chandelier, or save they day with a jet pack? Awesome.

The Dresden Files Rpg by Evil Hat

The world is getting weirder. Darker every single day. Things are spinning around faster and faster, and threatening to go completely awry. Falcons and falconers. The center cannot hold. But in my corner of the country, I’m trying to nail things down. … I don’t want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak cower. I’d rather make a place where things are a little quieter. 

My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. 

I’m in the book.” 

Where to even start here? I am such a huge Jim Butcher fan; it is a bit sick at times. So when I found out Evil Hat was making this game, I immediately tried to get on the playtest.  Which I did. :) That was one of the more rewarding experiences I have ever had gaming.

But the thing about DFRPG is that it is just the opposite of SotC, in the fact that the world in this game is brutal. I still believe you are supposed to succeed in Sotc; there are not such guarantees in DFRPG. You can make a badass character in that game that does some impressive things. Yet, there is still always something hiding in the darkness that can take you out. If you have read the books, you will love the game. If you have not, there is enough that you would recognize to be able to catch on quick.

Diaspora by Vsca

Humans have been in space tens of thousands of years, and societies have risen and fallen so many times that no one remembers where we came from.

Colonies huddle together in clusters of a few star systems connected by slipstreams — artifacts of the cosmos, or perhaps a forgotten technology. Only the slipstreams allow travel faster than light. Apart from that, spacecraft make do with reaction drives, dumping heat as best they can.

Lost technologies of a fallen civilization thrum beneath your feet. Just the other side of the slipstream live the last dozen members of a post-Singularity culture bent on raiding your system for the raw construction material of its moons. It’s dangerous out there — and where there’s danger, there’s the possibility of profit, if you’re brave or crazy enough to seek it out.

I am currently reading this on PDF. It is slow going, but that is only due to the fact that I don't read anything on the computer too quickly. Typically, I am not a sci-fi guy, especially the hard kind. But after reading some of this, I am blown away with how well written it is, and how much it makes me want to create my own systems and play it. That says a lot. I will eventually have a review of this once I read it all.

Other Fate games

Bulldogs by Galileo Games

Who could be desperate enough to sign his life away for five long years? Desperate enough to take a job hauling volatile and hazardous cargo to the most dangerous places in the galaxy? Planets where the very air is a corrosive acid. Planets where the locals might cut your throat just so they can turn you into a nice steak. Planets where petty thugs and warlords are engaged in constant running gun battles and you’re just as likely to catch a blaster shot in the skull as get a signed delivery manifest.

You are, that’s who. Welcome to Bulldogs!

I am probably more excited about this game than I have ever been for any sci-fi game (except for the disaster that was the Serenity Rpg). First of all, the comparisons I am hearing are that of Firefly. I get giddy just hearing that since Firefly is one of my favorite things ever. So, I hope to get this one sooner rather than later. 

Legends of Anglerre by Cubicle 7

Legends of Anglerre shoves a massive battle-axe in the hands of the characters. Play action-packed fantasy using gritty adventurers on paths to greatness; epic heroes leading mighty armies and noble kingdoms; mythic questers traversing the many planes and battling the gods themselves.

The fate of the world hangs in the balance. Danger is everywhere - and great adventure. Will the flickering lights of civilization grow stronger, or be extinguished forever by darkness? In these perilous days, the world cries out for heroes.

This is the next Fate game I am really excited about. Mostly to see how well an epic fantasy game works with fate. Especially since I want to make one at some point.

Starblazer Adventures by Cubicle 7

Starblazer Adventures is based on the classic British comic series, Starblazer, from the 1970’s and 80’s. Each of Starblazer's 281 issues explored a whole adventure set within the vast galactic empires of the far future. 

Choose from 8 alien races or play whole star empires! There’s over 100 worlds, 70 heroes, alien races, monsters & starships. There’s an introductory adventure & tons of support for Story Tellers including adventure seeds, several plot & planet generators and over 400 pieces of inspirational art! Watch out for online adventures, supplements and adventure tools.

I know nothing at all about the comic book series, and I am not really into sci-fi all that much.  It is also over 600 pages long and that intimidates me. :) I will get to it however.

The Kerberos Club by Arc Dream Publishing

The Kerberos Club is a complete roleplaying game for thrilling superheroic and steampunk action in Victorian London. It includes a treatment of Victorian society in its every particular, especially the incredible and sometimes awful changes that "the Strangeness" comes to wreak upon Queen and Country alike. 

Play the heroes and villains of a Strange century!  

"Stony" Joe Smithson, the honest London boxer transformed into living rock.

Doctor Archibald Monroe, the erudite chemist and physician-chimpanzee. 

Maeve O'Connel, Queen of the Mudlarks, the eternal child touched by Faerie.

The Lady Mirabel, who by darkness defends Whitechapel as the terrifying Night Hag.

When the victims and enthusiasts of magic and bizarre science meet in an infamous club for "the Strange," thrilling action is sure to follow!

I honestly don't know what to think about this setting. It is the one I have concerns with only because I am not that much into the Victorian Setting. Or steampunk. Saying that, I am still intrigued to see how well the setting plays out, and to see if it can hook me into wanting to play it. It is one of those things were the more I hear about it, the more I want to read it.

Strands of Fate by Void Star Games

Strands of Fate contains everything you need to tell stories of adventure, action, horror, and intrigue set in any genre. Whether it’s classic fantasy, urban mystery, dashing super heroes, or far future action, this book is your guide. Strands

utilizes the FATE roleplaying game system and provides the Game Master with all the tools he needs to get any campaign, of any genre or power level, off the ground and running in minutes. 

This is the Fate game I have the least interest in.  I find it interesting that they are creating a game for any genre. I normally don't like that much and would rather have people concentrate on one specific genre, but I have heard some good things about this title. Only time will tell and there is still some interest.

I think that is all of them, if it isn't let me know what I have missed.

Fate Part 1. Why Fate?

I will be blogging about different parts of Fate over the next months. I will try to do about one a week (if possible).  Over the next months, I also plan to try to get as many of the fate games as possible. There are a few of them out there now, and I look forward reviewing all of them.

So, I guess the way to start this off is to ask the question, why Fate? Actually, someone else had sent me an email on Google+ asking that question, so it seemed like a great place to start.

My friends and I had been gaming for a while. But the only game we ever seemed to play was Dungeons and Dragons, which was ok for a while. We played 2nd edition, and it has always had a soft spot in my heart, because it was the first game that I ever played and you never truly forget your first, right? But one of the problems with 2nd edition is when we brought new gamers into our group via our book club; it was a very difficult game to explain how to play. Just start with Thac0 and watch their eyes glaze over.

So, over time, I started getting burned out of the game. Tired of just running around killing everything. I had not ever played an “Indie” game before, and we even tried to mix it up a little by playing Vampire: Dark Ages and then later Shadowrun. Which I am not a huge fan of either of those games, especially the later.

Then I joined a group in NYC called www.nerdnyc.com an online community where people meet others that like the same things and you get together and actually do them. Shocking, I know. Now a lot the people on there are D&D fans (which is fine), but it is a very diverse group of people.

So, through them, I found out about a small gaming convention taking place in NYC, and I went. At the con, I stumbled into a game called Spirit of the Century. I had never heard of the game before, and sat down to play it. It was so much different from what I was used too, and it took a bit fore me to get used to the fact that I wasn’t really combat oriented. The use of aspects, instead of your typical attributes was confusing at first. But after playing it for a few minutes, I loved it. It didn’t hurt that SotC is a pulp game, and I love pulp.

So after that, I immediately went online, found their webpage, and learned about other games they had made. Then something crazy happened. I found out they were making a Dresden Files Rpg.  What? At this time, my friends Chris and Amy had already gotten me addicted to Jim Butchers Dresden Files, and I was really excited about this.

The first thing I did was sign up to be one of their play testers and was approved. I cannot even explain how excited I was to hear back from Fred Hicks on this. I created a group on Livejournal so people could talk about the playtest experience and even got my own group to help with it.

At this point, I was hooked on the Fate system. I loved how simple it is for new gamers to actually pick up and play, and there is something awesome about when a player actually gets how the aspects work. You can see the light bulb go off when they truly get it. But the system allows you so much control as a player, which is nice to be able to push the game in the direction you actually want it to go. Not to mention, it is more about role-playing than combat.

The funny part of all this is as much of a fan as I am of the system, I have played SotC four times, and I have yet to play Dfrpg. I am hoping that will change cuz when I start our Dfrpg game up again, someone is going to rotate in, so I can actually play.  I have also recently started reading Diaspora and it is very interesting and very well written.