This was posted over at Dragon Age Oracle a couple of days ago, but I thought it would be silly not to crosspost considering this is the roadmap for the future posts here on the site. This way folks who have enjoyed what has been posted so far can dive right in with playing Pathfinder-type characters in Dragon Age.
Ready for some over the top, high-fantasy adventure? Readers of joshjarman.net know that I’ve been building a sort of Pathfinder conversion for the Dragon Age game. I say Pathfinder because that seems to be the most popular fantasy game available right now that’s built on the old d20 System Reference Document engine. But the point of my little side project is really only to port the race and class paradigm most gamers are familiar with from that and similar games over to the Dragon Age system, resulting in a project I called Dragon Hack. Whether I call it a Pathfinder, 3.5 conversion, or something else entirely, isn’t important. What is important is it gives players who are hesitant to play a game without a variety of customizable race and class choices an option to do so while playing the AGE system by Green Ronin.
Download:
Dragon Hack High Fantasy Adventures (PDF; 4.0 MB)
The AGE system presents some of the most fun gaming I’ve had in decades, and I’m having a great time not only running, but also playing games using the Dragon Age rules. Because my players were unfamiliar with the Dragon Age game from BioWare, and were transitioning from Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, I wanted to develop a conversion kit, so to speak, that would let them play the characters they were familiar with while still using the AGE system I had fallen in love with. Make no mistake, my players love, love, love the Dragon Age rules set. We had a blast playing one-off adventures in the world of Thedas whenever we were on breaks from our long-running 4E game. But when it came time to jump to the AGE system wholesale for an entire campaign, I wanted to allow my players the chance to play the half-elves, halfling and dwarf characters they were familiar with from our Dungeons & Dragons days, and I already had decided that the next campaign would not take place in the world of Thedas.
So I started developing new backgrounds for stock fantasy adventurers when I realized I had an opportunity to develop a new system that would allow players to mix and match race and class options the way they do in Dungeons & Dragons games, so they could play whatever race they wanted while matching that with the class archetypes they were familiar with (Bards, Clerics, Paladins, Rangers and so forth). My original intent was to develop the new class backgrounds and race traits slowly over time and feature each as a new entry on my blog. I still intend to do that, but as it got closer to that launch date for our new campaign, I knew I needed a starting reference document that would help my players make their characters for the new campaign. So over the course of the last few weeks I threw together a reference document which presents a whole slew of classic races and class backgrounds, all taken from the Pathfinder game. Included are the rules for playing halfling bards, half-orc barbarians, dwarf alchemists and drow witches through the 3rd level.
The system is definitely intended to allow players to adventure in a more high-fantasy type setting than the dark fantasy setting of the Dragon Age game. I can say that character creation is a snap using the system, and only presents a few more decision points than the regular Dragon Age game before characters are ready to play. Once I had the document drafted for my players I realized two things: One it was a roadmap for the future posts I plan to make on my blog, and two, there was no reason not to release it and let other game masters and players toy around with using a Pathfinder-style race and class system with the Dragon Age game.
Give it a spin and tell me what you think of it. Feedback, questions, concerns, etc, can be left in the comments here, or directed to me over at joshjarman.net. I hope some of you have fun with it, and please let me know what you think.
One thing to note, however, is that this system very much represents power creep over the Dragon Age game rules-as-written. Each of the race and class backgrounds present unique abilities and powers that are added on top of everything the players get from their standard Dragon Age class choices. I haven’t had any trouble presenting my players a challenge so far, but they are only first level. The material presented in the Dragon Hack document is being playtested every week at my home game, so Game Masters keep this in mind when using this new system.
Have fun with it.
This is very interesting! I’m currently doing a Conan conversion for AGE, but this has started me thinking about a conversion for D&D’s Eberron background. What struck me as I was reading the class backgrounds is that they look a lot like specializations. So, for example, “paladin” could be a specialization for warriors that gives them access to the “paladin” talent (“sense evil” at novice, “lay on hands” at journeyman etc). You just make them available at level 1. (And give unspecialized characters an extra novice talent at level 1 to compensate). Obviously this would no longer allow characters to gain abilities “outside” the regular progression, so it’s a solution to the potential problem of “power creep” you mention above (if indeed it is a problem!).
This could also allow a form of multi-classing: at level 6 you choose a new specialization (“ranger”, say, assuming you meet the requirements). Cross-specializing in other classes (e.g. the paladin taking “wizard”) could be tricky though. Or you could have something similar to 4th ed D&D’s paragon path: having Paladin(Master) could allow you to take the “paladin 2″ or “uber-paladin” specialization. And, of course, at each opportunity a player could elect to take a degree in a “generic” talent.
Vaelorn,
Sorry I did not reply sooner, but I was on the road and it was all I could do to approve your comment with my phone. You bring up a lot of good points, and if you go back to the very first post in the blog you’ll notice I refer to this system as very much like specializations, just for a larger level-range. You took the words out of my mouth, re: multi-classing. I have not had time to get my thoughts down on digital paper, yet, but yes I think multi classing could be as easy as taking the level 1 trait for the new class background instead of the level-appropriate trait for your current background. For example, Say your a 4th level Paladin, you already have Sense Evil and Lay on Hands. At reaching 5th level, instead of taking the Call Warhorse ability, you take the ranger’s 1st level Combat Style trait.
I think I would leave it up to individual game masters to set any firmer guidelines, such as how many classes and how often a character can multi-class, and if they can choose to take traits from class backgrounds from a different Core Class, such as a Mage-Warrior for example. (or Barbarian-Witch, as a backgrounds example).
Another thing that I need to eventually address is new Specializations for all of the class backgrounds built using the framework from Prestige classes. Mostly because some of the class backgrounds make the Dragon Age specializations irrelevant (imagine a Barbarian taking the Berserker specialization, for instance.)
Anyway, that’s my thoughts so far, but I would love to hear more feedback as the project moves along, and I would love to read your Conan conversion!
No problem! I must have missed that mention about larger range specializations. I was doing some more thinking about it (from a 4th edition point of view, as that is the edition I’m most familiar with) and started to wonder if the idea was getting too complex. Characters would be getting “powers” of some kind from their class background (e.g. paladin), their class (e.g. warrior), the regular talent increase as they level, and from specializations (assuming they are available in addition to the class background).
So you could replace the class based advancement solely with a class background one. For example, a warrior could pick a “generic fighter” specialization at level 1 that would give him the weapon & armour talents at level 1, the ability focus at level 3 (rather than level 2) and weapon group/stunt bonus at level 5 (rather than 4). Or the “paladin” specialization might now give a character the weapon & shield talent only (at level 1), plus sense evil etc.
Hmmm…. I’m probably over-thinking all this! One disadvantage we’re at of course is that we don’t know what levels 11 – 20 will be like in the DA Set 3. I tend to assume that there will be more specializations and that you can take additional ones after level 10, but that could easily be wrong…
I’d definitely like some feedback on the Conan conversion! I have backgrounds more or less done, and some minor rules changes that seem to fit the setting. But the big problem is magic. Some of the DA spells have the right flavour (e.g. Afflication hex) as does the Blood Magic specialization, but the setting really demands different schools, which I think I’m going to borrow from the Conan RPG. I’ll try and knock a draft together in the next couple of weeks!
Vaelorn,
You bring up a good point, re: Set 3. I don’t want to venture too many cases, or indeed bother with much game design, for characters above 10th level until I see what’s in the Set 3 rulebooks. Hopefully, Green Ronin will release a playtest document such as they did with the Set 2 material.
As for Specializations for characters using the race traits and class backgrounds system, I think a new set has to be developed to better fit the theme of the characters built in this fashion. My plan is to develop new specializations based on Pathfinder Prestige Classes (or whatever they’re called now) so there’s some harmony for players coming from that system or older versions of D&D to Dragon Age.
Yes, I think you’re right about the specializations. I’ll have a think about a 4th ed based conversion in between all the other stuff I have to do! Gratz on the M.A.!
Thanks!
It’s been a lot of hard work and fun, and has certainly taught me a lot about writing.
I’m looking forward to reading more of your stuff. Send me links when you have it all sorted out, and I think we can get it some limelight on the Dragon Age Oracle site, as they are always looking for contributers with new takes on what can be done with the AGE system.
I think it is interesting that 10 years ago there was a glut of d20 game design on a crazy wide variety of subjects, and now it seems like fans are working overtime to show how the AGE system can be used for supporting just about any genre of role-playing game. (See the Mystra and Firefly conversions available at Dragon Age Oracle website, for example.) I’m looking forward to seeing the AGE system expand into a wide variety of new worlds and game settings.
Yes, the AGE system does seem to have taken off! What I find appealing is that while it is “rules lite” there is also a lot of possibility in it for your characters. I wonder if it’s kind of a nostalgia thing – harking back to a simpler time. I hadn’t looked at table top RPGs for years until about 2 years ago when some friends started a 4th ed game. That got me hooked again but, while I do like the concept behind 4th ed D&D, it does seem to have got bogged down in detail of late (essentials, the online character builder fiasco etc). Currently we’re playing a game that started off as Pathfinder, but has now developing into using a variant of the Song of Fire and Ice rules. The group I play with certainly seems to appreciate rules that are more focussed on role-play that battlefield tactics. And although I haven’t had a chance to play AGE yet, from the forum posts it certainly seems more “role” than “roll”!
Any updates on your gaming utilizing Dragon Hack? I am going to start a new game Sunday using the rules.
That’s awesome! Unfortunately, due to RL interference, my group has only played one session using Dragon Hack, but are hoping to get back into the swing of it later this month. So far we have a Half-Orc Barbarian, a Dwarf Alchemist, a Halfling Bard, and a Drow Witch in the group. It’s an interesting dynamic, because based on the core classes, it’s one warrior, two rogues and a mage, but they managed pretty well in the intro adventure with the witch and bard acting more in support roles to the barbarian and alchemist.
Let me know how it works with your group. The rules are pretty much in a perpetual beta phase until I get some more play testing with my group and more feedback from others. Don’t be afraid to tweak the rules as necessary while running the game if you run into anything that is not working for you or your group. I’ll work on getting the rest of the classes built through 10th level and I look forward to your group’s feedback. Thanks for trying it out!
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