My Dragon Age review

[Flurdt07]

Not to mention that it will be almost criminally easy for GM's to whip up homebrew content. I love this game!

Yeah, I seen that. The more I look at the set up, the more my brain starts run. You can take these aspects and put them in anything, if the game is missing something you want, add it. It shouldnt be very hard.

[Andferne]

Like many have mentioned I am not a fan of the levels 1-5 and having to wait 6! months for the next five. To me that is far too long of a wait and might cause people to lose interest in things. Now if it was 1-10 and waiting 6 months for the next and final 10 levels that would be fine. Or waiting two (possible three but stretching it) months between.

Talking with my group of players who are excited to finally get to play this, we came up with a different way around the 5 level crutch. Each player will generate their 'main' character. From there I will create Origin stories with each of them. Two of them are starting from the same origin. During this time is when they will rise from 1-5th and get to know the world around them as well as their character. Fleshing them out so to speak. While we focus on this players 'main' character the others generate generic cast members to play along with them.

Once we have played through the ones origin we stop there for them. Then switch to another players character where we play out his origin. The others creating more generic characters to play along with that one. This way I can build a focused story around one character each time, giving them the spotlight and making them feel special.

Once all 5 of my players have fleshed out and finished their origins we will all be 5th level. Hopefully by then the next installment will be out, since we delayed things longer by running 5 different campaigns for a while really. Once levels 6-10 are out I can finally get them all grouped together through story and start on the epic journey.

[Batgirl III]

That sounds awesome, Andferne. Really, I'd totally steal that from you... but, my groups play once a month, so the odds are pretty good we won't hit fifth level before the third box set is released.

[Andferne]

Thank you. ^^ Glad that you liked the idea.

We normally play once a week on Saturday nights. Depending on peoples schedules we play on Friday nights as well. Long as work and family permits that is. Some of the times we run one group type on Fridays as that's the only time one friend can make it. Then we play different people on Saturdays while he is not there.

[YourSwordisMine]

Like many have mentioned I am not a fan of the levels 1-5 and having to wait 6! months for the next five.

I'm not picking at this particular poster as I was just using his post as an example but I've been seeing this sentement here and elsewhere and I am rather confused by this need to have Levels 1-Level Cap right from the get go... I dont get this? What is wrong with only getting Levels 1-5 in the introductory set? It seems plenty to me and fits I think with the goals of the game. I'm glad to see it personally. After having read the D&D 4e Player's Handbook from cover to cover I honestly feel that it too could have benefited from ranging Levels 1-10 (Heroic Tier) in PHB1. It would have been easier to read thats for sure! Is this need for "Level Cap" an off-growth of the MMO influence on the general gamer mindset? I dont remember this ever being an issue until 5-6 years ago...

I'm just curious.

[dm4hire]

Well for one thing, a large portion of players don't consider the 4e PHB a complete book or even a complete game. A better comparison would be to look at other RPGs which included all levels of play, such as previous editions of D&D post Basic (including the Rules Cyclopedia, which was all the basic stuff compiled into one book), Warhammer Fantasy 1st and 2nd ed., Pathfinder, Gurps, Mutants & Masterminds, Champions, etc. The gist is that a large number of players and GMs want the whole thing at once, because not everyone wants to start at first level. If a group wants to only play levels 6-15 they won't have to buy the last box set, but the down side is that they still have to buy the first box set. If everything is in one book then you can use what you want and ignore the rest. As I mentioned anyone who wants to play upper level characters will always have to buy at least everything that covers from first to that level.

Another problem as mentioned is that you can't recreate everything from the Video Game yet. That's something you could do if it was all in one book. Also you'll need to buy just about every box set once they are available in order to recreate the game. I like what GR is trying to accomplish and I hope it pans out for them. The more I think about it the more I would rather they have tried something along the lines of what Kenzer Co. is doing with the next edition of Hackmaster. They released a basic edition this year that only has five levels and while playable by experienced players it really is geared for newbs; then next year they're releasing the full game which will cover everything.

One thing to remember is that Bioware wants this game to succeed. Their success so far was being tied to a good IP and getting it right. I would think they want the same in relation to their IP. I'm hoping there will be a direct tie in eventually (as in DL content via a code in the box sets) that might give in-game items. That would be a strong motivator for new people to give it a look as well as reward those who want to try it.

[Andferne]

I'm just curious.

Obviously I can't answer for any of the others who have made similar comments, but I can tell you my reasoning. First and foremost I'm afraid that it won't generate enough publicity for sells where it will be completed. So we end up with a product that never gets finished 6 month from now or somewhere down the line.

Another reason is that my group plays often. As stated we get together at least once a week if not twice, playing from roughly 4 hours per game session each time. Only having levels 1-5 to hold us over is not a good thing, those levels will go by way too fast even with me slowing the pace down with how often we meet and long we play. I hate getting my players pumped and interested in something only to have to tell them "Oh we have to switch things up, I don't have the next installment yet". Puts a hamper on the feel of the rpg, taking away from the feel of the story. IMO

Last reason that springs to mind is planning. I've often been told that I am a number cruncher. I like to plan things out and have plans to back those plans. So when I make characters I like to plan them out from level to level. Now only have levels 1-5 what happens if in level 13 there is a ability I want but needs stiff requirements. Though leveling the way it is set up I won't know about this until we are already 10th. Had I known ahead of time I could of picked my powers wisely, letting me be ready for that time.

The same goes for fluff with me as well. I love detailing my characters back story, where he is, why, and how he got to this point in his life. I love wrapping my campaigns in the history and lore of the land around them. Now this last part really does not have to do with the levels, but it does have to do with how rare source books will be coming out, apparently.