What Do You Want to See from GR?

[Pramas]

Last year we supported Dragon Age, SIFRP, and M&M/DC Adventures. This year we're supporting Dragon Age, SIFRP, and M&M/DC Adventures, with the addition of AGE and Chronicle System branded material to further support Dragon Age and SIFRP respectively.

In game publishing there are not one size fits all solutions. Sometimes it makes sense to do a continuing line and sometimes it makes sense to do a limited line. Blue Rose was announced and released as three books. For DC Adventures we announced from the get go it was a four book line (two out now, the third in approvals, one later this year). The Black Company license was a one book deal and we said that up front. We never stated or even implied it was the beginning of a line. We said what we were going to do and then we did exactly that. How this qualifies as "egregious" I don't know.

True20, on the other hand, had an ongoing line for years. There were a dozen supplements for it and several PDFs as well. We also had a licensing program that saw many more print and PDF products. We kept publishing supplements for it beyond the point it was financial sensible to do so, in fact, but eventually the sales numbers told us we had to stop. Sometimes that's what has to be done.

We're moving ahead with all the plans I outlined last month. I hope folks enjoy what we've got coming.

[Zapp]

What would you like to see from Green Ronin moving ahead?

I would very much like to see a game-defining adventure campaign using all the great potential of your fantasy licenses.

I find that games like SIFRP and DA:RPG currently live very much "in the shadow" of their respective originating works (GRRMs books and Bioware's games), which I find to be a shame.

I would love to gift us pnp role-players with a sweeping adventure campaign set in the lands of Westeros or Thedas telling a story not available to book readers or CRPG players. In the same way Enemy Within introduced and defined the world of Warhammer (as an in many ways separate setting from the rather four-color tabletop background) to a generation of roleplayers (but not in the uncoordinated disjointed way the two second editions efforts Paths of the Damned and Thousand Thrones were doomed from the beginning).

It would be a shame if these two games were to go the way most (all?) Lord of the Rings rpg games have gone; that is, live fearfully in the shadow of the epic trilogy itself. (For all the rpgs and supplements that have been produced for Middle-Earth I can't recall even one attempt at creating an adventure campaign that would allow players to experience a story on the same scope as the books that drew them to the setting, but in the shape of a pnp rpg).

It should be comparatively easy to create a stand-alone saga in SIFRP or DA:RPG (compared to creating a stand-alone MERP epic, at least) and it would definitely be on the top 1 list of things I would like to see.

[Isolda]

I think a lot of people has asked for it already but I gotta join them...more stuff about Dragon Age RPG and Mass Effect RPG please

[Zapp]

I think a lot of people has asked for it already but I gotta join them...more stuff about Dragon Age RPG and Mass Effect RPG please

Except that these are properties that doesn't belong to Green Ronin. Getting stuff approved for Dragon Age has proved to be a major pain in the behind for GR (though since GR is pretty good at keeping up their relationship with BioWare anyone reading this should consider it my "personal hunch" only).

In fact, I believe the main impetus of GRs forthcoming new AGE-driven fantasy game is to provide more Dragon Ageish content, only with the serial numbers filed off. I believe GR has come to the decision that working with BioWare doesn't really work for them - getting stuff out simply is too slow. The license simply has turned out to be too restrictive (much like, well, every other "big license" really)... Stuff like how pen-and-paper releases must be synchronized with computer game releases and isn't allowed to offer up original lore (but must wait for a CRPG to officially establish it first)... and so on.

In that light, I believe Green Ronin is trying to extract themselves out of BioWare's grasp, and that the probability of Green Ronin entering a new enterprise with BioWare is slim to none.



TL;DR: I believe you should expect no AGE Mass Effect from GR!

[Allensh]

I don't know as that is the case. I believe I saw it stated that GR planned to continue to support Dragon Age via a new adventures book, The Deep Roads, and PDf releases that would include NPCs and the like. That would be hard to do if they don't maintain the license.

Allen

[Zapp]

I don't know as that is the case. I believe I saw it stated that GR planned to continue to support Dragon Age via a new adventures book, The Deep Roads, and PDf releases that would include NPCs and the like. That would be hard to do if they don't maintain the license.

Allen

No, I think you read me wrong.

I didn't say "they're dropping the DA license". I said "they're unlikely to acquire more BioWare licenses". (And that's my personal guess)

Of course they're going to honor their DA commitments and finish off the line. And, as I said, I hope the new fantasy AGE system will supply us with even more "DA:ish" fantasy material, in the hope GR plans to make it faster than BioWare would have approved it. (But that's my personal, ungrounded, wish, since I believe Green Ronin creates way too many game lines, and that a new fantasy AGE system that isn't similar in tone to DA - or SIFRP, for that matter - would splinter their attention and limited capacity for creating adventures even more.)

[Nikchick]

In that light, I believe Green Ronin is trying to extract themselves out of BioWare's grasp, and that the probability of Green Ronin entering a new enterprise with BioWare is slim to none.

TL;DR: I believe you should expect no AGE Mass Effect from GR!

I can appreciate the reasoning behind your assumptions, Zapp, but it's not as bad as all that. The folks at Bioware treat us right and we're pretty darn happy with our relationship with them as licensors. Yes, things haven't moved as quickly as we initially intended and sure, there are challenges with *any* license but not only are the folks at Bioware some of the few licensors who have a real, solid sense of what we do and what we can all expect from a tabletop RPG partnership but we also have several people inside Green Ronin who are enthusiastic fans of the Dragon Age IP and are delighted to be able to develop it for tabletop for as long as Bioware allows us in their sandbox.

We also like what's developed into the AGE system and want to play around with that outside the Dragon Age IP but doing additional stuff on our own initiative and timetable does not at all equal "trying to extract" ourselves from "Bioware's grasp". That just sounds so cartoonishly sinister! We just happen to like lots of flavors of game. I don't eat cheeseburgers for every meal but choosing chicken or tofu or sushi instead doesn't mean I have a bad relationship with cheeseburgers. I really, really LIKE cheeseburgers (and Dragon Age). It's all good, man. No brewing hostilities, no one is chained to a bad deal here. Honest.

Now, I will say that it remains very, very unlikely that there will be a Mass Effect tabletop RPG. Not because of any hard feelings, not because we wouldn't jump on it if such a thing was available (we would!) but the idea has been tossed around and discussed between the Mass Effect team, the Bioware licensing folks, and Green Ronin on more than one occasion. They're not interested in taking Mass Effect to tabletop, it's as simple as that. Different teams, different brand goals, different segments of the market, you name it. They have their internal goals and reasoning and we respect that. They know if there's ever a chance of heart inside Bioware itself, we'd happily take up Mass Effect with enthusiasm.

Nicole

[Zapp]

Thanks, Nicole!

[RedKnight]

Hello folks,

What the RPG market needs is an interesting, rules-light, Space Opera game. I have been looking for such a game for a long time. Most of the Sci-Fi/Space opera games out there have interesting backgrounds, but the crunch of the rules, or the limited scope of the game, turns me away from them.

The AGE system is a very interesting system. It is one of the most interesting systems I have seen in a long time. The use of stunts speed up play and makes every roll interesting (will I get doubles???).

So in a nutshell, a Space Opera setting using a variant of the AGE system would kick some serious asses. Plus, it would allow GR to publish stuff as they want, without having to validate it with a licence owner.

Hey Ronins, blow our minds. Do. It. Now.

[Wagner_Darksteel]

I met A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying last week.
I live in Brazil, and here there's been a long wait for all Dragon Age products. But none knew about the SIFRP!

What I, personally would love to:

- A bestiary of Dragon Age products. I have to make, draw, take notes about mostly the monsters I put the players to fight with.
- Dragon Age adventure books. With lots of awesome drawings and a bigger, evil plot behind.
- SIFRP is perfect, now I hope you guys find good translator, there's deffinetly market for you here. Although I buy the products with a friend that goes and back to u.s.a often, many of the players here have trouble with English (or are just lazy to learn another language...).

Keep the EXCELENT work you're doing. There are too much "modern" games thinking for the players, and too few games helping players to think. Thankfully you guys exist and help us remember that our imagination is by far the best console that will ever exist.

[Chugosh]

First off, thanks for Dragon Age. Thanks for moving right along with all your nifty games.

I know that this discussion is largely moot, being well past the date of your planning session, but I am very pleased with the notice you are taking of your forum fan base. Thanks for letting us shoot off our keyboards.

I am also waiting for an AGE omnibus edition of all the rules in one place. complete with charts and tables and perhaps a few adventure world skeletons. I really like Dragon Age, but, not being a computer game player, I always felt subtly that I was doing it all wrong. Neurotic, yes, but there we are. That is why I like a slightly less fleshed out world to play in.

Keep on with those nifty AGE expansion pdf supplements. Those are nifty.

[Bardwulf]

I'm A Dragon Age player.
Great that you're making new AGE system updates. I love that you're mentioning that they are compatible with DA. That's exactly what someone like me needs to read to want to purchase it, or else I won't take the chance.
Maybe some mention of roughly suitable tier the AGE adventure PDF's are geared for?

As a GM worried about playing too much DA so we don't outlevel it (as it is set 2 content), I'd love Deep Roads to come sooner than later. I worry anxiously about it every week we play and level that bit further. Yeah I know I could up all their stats to tier 3 or 4 myself once the book comes out, but that sounds like too much hard work for 3 modules worth.

Also, can I recommend you get the Blood In Ferelden writers involved again! Well, I've read the story for Amber Rage recently getting ready to run it soon and I have to say, it is one of the greatest modules I have ever encountered in any RPG, ever. I have never been so excited about running a session than now.

[Etarnon]

I've been a GM since 1977, and I've gone thorugh D&D, AD&D, 2nd ed. 3.0, 3.5, 4e, and the 5e playtest.

Similarly, I own crates of all of that, Runequest, MERP, Rolemaster, and Dragonquest by SPI.

Dragon age is wonderful, the most exciting thing I've seen since Star Wars d6, for rules lite storytelling.

Please don't let it die, release box set 3, and stuff to take us to L15.

Just more stuff for Dragon Age. I have everything for True20, neve managed to get a Blue Rose game going.

Dragon Age is the stuff, and I'd never heard of the PC game.

Thanks the staff of Green Ronin, it's just an easy read, and wonderful to play Dragon Age.

[cjovalle]

I promised a friend of mine I'd mention a Mass Effect RPG, and I'll leave this here just to show that there's interest. Thanks for the message, Nicole. ^_^

[Legate]

I thought I had posted this here, but I guess I was thinking of another forum. As I have a thread set up with notes for adapting ASOIF RPG to this particular franchise it won't be a surprise. I think the chornicle system would be perfect for a Dune RPG. Too bad it seems to be a cursed line...

[Starman]

I would like to see you guys grab the rights to make BESM from White Wolf, they have done nothing with this game since they got a hold of it and it's such a waste of a fine game system. I would really like to see a reprinting of the 3E book or a revised version.

[MagusRogue]

I would be another to chime in for more Dragon Age!!!!

Also, I'd kill for you guys doing Mass Effect. However, it seems the issue is Bioware clutching onto that IP and refusing to let anyone do a PnP for it. GR has said more than once they'd love to do ME but Bioware has no interest in doing a pnp for it. I suggest then perhaps a petition to bioware from us fans to let Green Ronin try their hands at it. I'd buy it!

[FanDragon]

AGE FREEPORT!

One game system that is one of the best. One setting that you own the IP for that is one of the best.


In fact let me be the first one to yell from the crows nest" It's the Age of Freeport!


Why do we not have a Freeport Companion for the Age system yet? You have to wait on no one! My guess is you are waiting to finish Dragon Age rules first but come on people! Lets get the lead out! Take my money!!

The Age of Freeport Pirates Guide!

The Age of Freeport Monsters of the Deep!

The Age of Freeport Dark Magics and Shattered Ships!

The Age of Freeport Deck Plans!

The Age of Freeport Black Sails Over Freeport(conversion of every Freeport adventure over to your own RPG.)

[Pramas]

One of the stretch goals for our just-finished Freeport Kickstarter was, in fact, an AGE Companion for it. So that is going to happen.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/178 ... pathfinder

[FanDragon]

Well I know it's going to be made but isn't that for like 2014 or so?

I wrote a huge post here but after rereading it I deleted it as it came across rude and that is NOT what I'm shooting for.

I love Freeport. I love the underlying Age system.

Give me enough stuff to buy so you can buy a new house and I can fill my shelves with Freeport Age products!

[memorax]

I would like to see a few products from 3.5 updated to Pathfinder. We have the Pirates Guide to Freeport. I would love to see a Advanced Bestiary updated to 3.5 with better production values. One of the few 3.5 books I used and from what I can see in the Paizo Aps even the Paizo staff likes to use it in their adventures.