Ronin Round Table: Faces of Thedas

Hey all, Jack here. Hope your holiday season is going well and you’re staying safe and warm. Been pretty crazy for a lot of people this season and here’s to your remainder of 2014 being a good one. With that said, let’s talk about something we’re going to see for Dragon Age in 2015—Faces of Thedas.

Last year we were going to start back up with the Faces of Thedas series, as started a while back in a different format with Varric and Tallis. That didn’t happen for a lot of reasons, and with the release of a brand new Dragon Age video game positively bursting with cool characters, we’re going to jump right to making it a whole book! This will actually likely be easier to accomplish for various reasons that aren’t nearly as exciting as the book itself, so I’m skipping that to talk about it.

So what the heck is Faces of Thedas? Simply put, it’s a Who’s Who style book for the world of Thedas for use with the Dragon Age RPG. It will include numerous entries providing game statistics, background, and advice for using various important characters and factions from the Dragon Age games, books, and comics in your Dragon Age campaigns. Admittedly it won’t include every single character from the setting. Instead we’re focusing on a several who are particularly influential, interesting, popular, or just plain cool. Characters that whole adventures, plots, or campaign arcs can be built around.

Some of the included characters will be companions from the video games, like Varric or the Iron Bull. Others will be important NPCs who help shape the world, like Empress Celine of Orlais or Commander Cullen. Some will be characters who basically filled both roles, such as Morrigan or Leliana. Smaller entries will feature characters with perhaps a bit less influence but tons of personality. Most of the characters included won’t be villains in the traditional sense, though of course most of them could run afoul with PCs in a game under certain circumstances. Important factions will also be discussed, such as the various assassin’s guilds or organized crime syndicates in Thedas.

But that’s not all! It’ll also be developing rules for romance, rivalries, and similar personal interactions within the AGE ruleset. These elements are such an important part of the Dragon Age setting, especially as portrayed in the video game series, that it’s time to explore how one might tie those concepts to the tabletop rules.

I’m putting the finishing touches on the book’s outline and contacting freelancers this week for the project, which will really begin to roll in January. As it gets closer to release I’ll be back to talk about it more, but I wanted to give everyone a heads up for now. Note that this book will include some of the freelancers from our recent tryouts. Probably not all of the ones we’ll ever contact to try their hand at writing for us, but a solid first round.

So that’s the skinny on Faces of Thedas as it currently stands. Happy holidays!