First Impressions: Dragon Age Rulebook

My Dragon Age Rulebook came in the mail yesterday, and wow, I am floored by this one. Full-color throughout, stunning drop dead gorgeous art, and over 400 thick paper stock pages make this one a true gem on my shelf. Green Ronin took out all the stops when putting this together, and I am seriously impressed and happy with the book.

The art deserves special mention, I feel it is on par with D&D 5's art clearly, and it keeps going on an on page after page. It truly is an amazing piece of work.

I feel I just stepped into a truly vast and amazing world. Yes, this is based on a videogame, but it is every bit as detailed and full of lore and history as any book I have seen. I feel this one does a much better job at setting a sense of place than Paizo's Golarion guide books just in the layers of background and history. It does not have as many pictures of cities and lands as that product, but it does a much better job at creating a nified world that works and feels like it belongs together than your typical theme park setting.

If only Wizards could present Faerun this way, and I don't mean a stand-alone worldbook. This is rules plus worldbook, and surprisingly, the rules only take up the first 150 pages of the game. Following that is 50 pages of world information, 150 pages of GM information, and about 100 pages of adventures in the back of the book. But throughout the book, the rules are mixed in with world information nicely, and you get a feeling for being in the world with every page. The core rules and mechanics of the game are really simple, taking only 12 pages of understanding to grasp.

But yes, I wish D&D could be presented like this, with a focused setting-specific worldbook and a complete game in one volume.  The world information is just gravy here, a treat to those who played the computer games, and it does a great job at setting that sense of place and tone. It is a different presentation than D&D to be honest, and it focuses on the world first and the rules as direct support for the world. I like this style for a 'world first' game.

That said, I wish other "world plus game" RPGs could be done like this, such as World of Warcraft, Everquest, Final Fantasy (pick your favorite), or others.

This game does have the potential to be every bit as 'player nuh-uh' problematic about lore as traditional settings, such as the fiction heavy Faerun, which may be a minus for some. The game does a great job walking that tightrope though, presenting a game-neutral setting that you could pull in lore from any of the three Dragon Age games, the books, or none of it at all and get playing. The rules do say 'it is your game and world' once you get the ball rolling, and they also say 'as much of the lore from what you want to pull in' is okay' so there is cover for having played little or none of the games and still have a game that is useful with a colorful setting.

I like that concept though, "use as little or as much as you like." They don't lay out the events of the computer games blow by blow, yet they still support that lore should you want to do that. It feels like a skillful way of handling lore and referees and players with differing experience levels in the game's huge volume of lore.

I could see playing this as a straight D&D replacement where you are adventuring and not paraphrasing the games with your every step. The game is strong enough and has plenty of non-game support that you could make this your own world without too much trouble or player complaints. I would just call it My Dragon Age: The RPG and begin some epic tale using all the Lego-like pieces in this box

You could play this by picking up your favorite hint book for your most-favorite entry to the series and play along with that for guidance, and I am sure this would please fans of the computer games. It is an odd feeling, but if you want to pull in places and characters from the game, you could use the computer game book as your guide and run from there, and I am sure you would please fans that love these elements quite easily, such as replaying Dragon Age: Inquisition as a pen-and-paper game with more freedom and options.

This actually feels very compelling for me and it would be something I would love to try GM-ing.

I am impressed, and it is going to take me a while to read through this massive tome, but I am looking forward to getting lost in this world. Does it bug me this is based off a videogame first? Not at all, really, Bioware built a real and compelling world first, and this is just as much of a fascinating place to explore as any of the old-standards we have in Pathfinder or D&D. Oh, and they do have a PDF available, bonus points for that inclusion.

First impressions? Mightily impressed, happy I purchased, and this one is going to steal some play time from our normal games. The world of pen-and-paper fantasy gaming is getting a little broader this summer, and rules-light but setting-heavy games are setting up their castles in the landscape of roleplaying. This is a good thing, and I welcome the options and excitement this game brings to the table for our little hobby.

Well done, and a full report very soon on this impressive game.