Spell Trees Order – Player Resource

Thanks Craig Brown for whipping this one up for you guys. This will help you choose your spells more efficiently and quickly based on pre-requirements. Please note, this is designed with the older tiered books, which is why they are referred to additionally.

AGE RPG System Community For Google Plus

I would like to recommend the AGE system community on Google plus for anyone looking to meet other AGE GMs and share resources/homebrews. The very existence of this community now somewhat lessens the need for Oracle to even be, but that’s okay! I have been using Oracle to put up lots of my own ideas used in personal campaigns, and this page achieves the same thing. Get over there and become a part of it!

AGE on Google Plus

Bloodbeast Conversion – ‘Deathtrap Dungeon’ Fighting Fantasy Monster

I’ve been running one of my players through Ian Livingstone’s infamous ‘Deathtrap Dungeon’, live converting it to AGE as we go. My player is level 11.

One of the standout creatures (for me) is the Bloodbeast. I wanted to tackle a conversion of that, as it is something that can be killed easily if you are careful enough, but is terribly dangerous if you get too close for too long. I saw this as an opportunity to create a monster with a difference – one that causes no direct damage at all! Its spines have a small chance of harming you if you miss an attack, and its tongue simply grips you and pulls you towards the acidic slime.

The “eyes” have it.

You can see the link for it here – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xIxdIHOCioXflPWyPky87mc2dK7OsVyqhg_VLJ_VAlg/edit?usp=sharing

Storm Rider Specialisation

The Neverrans in Dragon Age are known for being dragon hunters. The following Specialization is my take on that fact.

This was going to initially be called a “Dragoon”, but as the potential for its further use opened up, Rob and I started seeing it as a “monster hunter” type generally. (The relationship between hunter and horse riding struck a chord of memory back to the delightful Team Ico game ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ – ed). It was then named Storm Rider, inspired by “storm chasers”, as in those who follow twisters – or the people driving in the opposite direction to the panicking people!

Staying on a monstrous creature: For each round to hold on, the character must pass a TN 15 Strength (Might) test. The monster can spend its minor action to increase the next TN required to TN 16, or a major action to make it TN 17. Otherwise, the monster can instead attempt an opposed Dexterity (Acrobatics) versus the player’s Strength (Might) as a major action, to shake them off.

Storm Rider

Class: Warrior

Requirements: Dexterity 4, Polearms Group and Mounted Combat (Journeyman)

Special: All Specialisation Talent degrees only come into effect while wielding a weapon from the Spear or Polearms group

Novice: As part of a charge action you can perform a Strength (Jumping) vs your target’s Dexterity (Acrobatics). If you succeed then your attack roll gains a +2 benefit and you gain +1d6 to damage to that attack. When on horseback, you must be adjacent to your target, it must be a monstrous creature and the Strength (Jumping) test is against it’s Defence, in effect, this latches the spear or polearm into the creature, making it unusable until removed with a minor action.

Journeyman: While wearing heavy mail or lighter, the Storm Rider reduces his armour penalty by 1, to a minimum of -1. In addition, they gain a +2 to Strength (Might) tests to remain on the back of a monstrous creature. If the spear or polearm remains stuck into the creature without being pulled out, the the Storm Rider gains a +4 to Strength (Might) tests to hold on.

Master: When performing the pierce armour stunt, the Storm Rider does penetrating damage instead. When on the back of a monstrous creature, this effect applies to all weapons, not just Spears or Polearms.

“Classes” and “Races” Guide For New Players

If you are a veteran of the system, this post will only be going over familiar ground. With that warning given, let us proceed.

One viewer recently wrote to me asking for a comprehensive list of Dragon Age races and classes. I made these videos to explain how things work in the tabletop version of the game.
Here I will explain that there are three classes, but the real choice of flavour comes from your specialisation or sub-class, as it were.
I then go on to list them by name.

The Future Of Dragon Age RPG

It is my pleasure to talk to you about the future of the RPG we have in common, Dragon Age.

Green Ronin’s Captain at the helm and all round game design virtuoso Chris Pramas has just spoken of his plans for the company in 2015, with a heading of course including the Dragon Age, and indeed that of AGE as a system.
You can of course read his article here – http://greenronin.com/blog/2015/01/19/green-ronin-in-2015/
but to summarise things for you:

Sets 1-3 are out of print and never to return. They will be replaced by a full 400 page core rulebook, currently in layout stages. The book will also contain a new intro adventure, replacing ‘The Dalish Curse’.

A new Game Master’s kit, containing a brand new adventure. Let’s be honest, our old one is based on the game’s first five levels, so this was a decent idea.

No longer a sole focus on the 5th blight, with various options now open – including a new sourcebook specifically for the Inquisition time frame.

More support for the previously started PDF releases ‘Faces of Thedas’, a series where known characters from the Thedas mythos were put into stats for your usage, should you so wish. But here’s the big news, it too is planned as a collected book.

Then there’s the new mode of enemy type grouping for the bestiary and threat level ordering. Threats of Thedas will no doubt come as a welcome purchase so that GMs can have better indication on what is a suitable fight for a given level of party. This is of course a luxury that the likes of “That well known D20 game” have enjoyed for so long.

Chris Pramas further elaborated on the generic fantasy AGE setting in the pipeline, hopefully to appear around May 2015. It’s going to be sweet for them not being slowed by approval requirements to a licence holder, and a benefit to the content starved GMs of you out there, who will undoubtedly consider buying much of those releases to use for existing Dragon Age campaigns (I know I will!)

That’s the news from your Oracle, stay tuned for more from them, and more from us. Also, please feel free to submit any of your own ideas for articles, as I would love to get some of those wonderful GMs out there into the spotlight too.

See you at the table!

Warlock of Firetop Mountain – Fighting Fantasy For AGE

I have recently run ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’ as an AGE conversion.

The key method of success in converting a solo choose your own adventure book into a group type RPG is twofold:
First, I was lucky enough to find a map containing the dungeon along with its page numbers in place. This meant that I could make the book more malleable than it would normally be, backtracking and such. I always know how to move the players on if it comes to it.
The next thing I needed to do was find a list online, where all the creature encounters of the mountain are revealed. I simply had to go through that list and make some quick notes on how I would convert them if they were to happen. Most were simple references to GM books and other AGE files, but a couple did need whole new stat sheets made up – namely the vampire and Zagor himself.

These are simply my notes for my use. You may not agree with some of my decisions on conversion type, and by all means you should change it where you see fit. I just like the idea of sharing in case it helps.

Here’s the links you should need.

Map https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_2t6Ou1K-48a0FkazVGZnFlWDA/view?usp=sharing
Map 2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_2t6Ou1K-48LTVlaTFicVJLbWc/view?usp=sharing
FILE https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TCDceSG9hbesG4o6rqzxRrVB9une9Qm6VlyJ6BIs5Nc/edit?usp=sharing

See you at the table!

Inquisition Followers Visual Guide

Excited isn’t even a word to cover it for some of us…

Dragon Age: The Harsh Winter (Survival Adventure)

Martin Garner and Robert James Freemantle bring you the survival themed follow up to ‘The Shadow Bloom’ as previously released here. This time the survival elements focus on a snowy scene, where the land itself is the true danger and combats are rare – everything is too cold to come fight you, therefore hiding away, but your group won’t get the chance – they must travel to safety before the Winter takes its full toll on food and supplies.

As always, use whatever elements you want to. If there’s something you don’t like, don’t use it. This is the module the way I ran it for my group, but bear in mind it is recommended as a tier 3 level of difficulty. If some of the target numbers look high, such as TN 19, again, my group were capable of rolling this, and indeed completed it with no fatalities, but they’re a clever lot anyway…

Enjoy!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zFUpSyFmXPbhvEUzf93vFZaqBusEnPeqKfWxdhIq0rQ/edit?usp=sharing

Zagor: Warlock of Firetop Mountain Conversion To AGE

The end boss of the Warlock of Firetop Mountain Fighting Fantasy book, converted ready for AGE. This file was made as part of my overall Firetop Mountain AGE conversion project.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wZbiiugdqimoWrNQzt1Hbu0U-oJdyjQVoJ5MUmFoiWs/edit?usp=sharing