A Few Random Thoughts
There's an exciting new open play test going on. I'm sure you've heard about it. You can find the play test document here.
That's right, Dragon Age RPG Set 3 is on it's way. I'm still not finished exploring the lower levels so am probably not going to be able to contribute much to the play test but it's exciting none the less.
Another new product that you can get free documents to help you try it out is Leviathans by Catalyst Game Labs. It's apparently going to be ready for release as a box set 'any month now'. It looks pretty cool and has evocative fiction that goes with it. Fans of Battletech will feel at home with the rules. You just have to hope that it doesn't become a competitor to Battletech rather than bringing in new players of tactical wargames. I don't think there's much of a market to share around and you would hate to see a dilution of a brand. read on...
Dragon Age Quick Start Adventure
Recently I had the opportunity to run the quick start rules and adventure that Green Ronin put out for Free RPG day. I wasn't able to actually pick this one up on the day but Green Ronin were kind enough to release it as a pdf that you can download for free on their site. When I downloaded it I just read the rules and didn't read the adventure as I had hoped that someone would be able to run it and I could play. So when the opportunity came up to run the game at work for some people that had never played a table top rpg before I had to quickly read the adventure and familiarise myself with the plot and characters.
This, as it turned out, was pretty easy as it is quite a well presented and concise while still providing enough background and flavour to provide the basis for a great adventure. The plot is straight forward enough to easily teach the game while still providing a couple of different ways the game can go down, depending on the choices of the players. The ending is also open ended enough to follow up with further related adventures if you wish while leaving the consequences of the players choices up to the gm and group. I like this because would introduce a brand new gm to the idea that they don't have to stick to the script and can use their creativity to do whatever they want with the game without dropping them in the deep end. Yay to Green Ronin for that most thoughtful addition. read on...