Dragon Age OOC Chat

[JadedDM]

It was the scream of a young woman, by the way.

And that takes care of chapter 6, "Waypoint Massacre." There were three places to search. You could search for tracks (like Simone did), search the camp itself (which Davne and Wallace tried to do, but failed) and search the wagon (which nobody did). This was probably by far the shortest chapter so far.

Anyway, next up is the big climax, followed by the finale. I'll begin the next chapter tomorrow. I hope everyone is having fun!

[spyguy1503]

What was in the wagon? Oh, and are the darkspawn in range of Arcane bolt?

[JadedDM]

The wagon contained a locked strongbox containing a single gold sovereign and 80 silver pieces. It was what was left of the children's funds.

The darkspawn are currently 100 yards away, far and beyond the range of any spell or crossbow. Arcane Bolt, specifically, has a range of 30 yards.

[JadedDM]

Okay, both Davne and Simone stunted during their attacks. Davne got 6 points and Simone got 5 points. Let me know which stunts you are using before I move forward the battle.

[HorizonsDream]

Rapid reload and lightning attack.

[mgbevan]

Knock prone, Rapid reload, Lightning attack

Then stow crossbow as minor action as usual.

[JadedDM]

Okay, Wallace stunted for 5 points on that arcane lance. I'll move forward when I know which stunts he wants to use.

[spyguy1503]

Pierce armor and lightning attack with another arcane lance.

[JadedDM]

And that ends chapter 7, "Besieged." Now to finish the game with the final chapter.

[JadedDM]

And that ends chapter 8, "The Final Choice" as well as the module itself.

I hope you all enjoyed yourselves. At this point, I am very interested in any feedback you might have about the game--the setting, the lore, anything. All of you are also in at least one of my 2E games, so I'm also interested in how you feel about the different mechanics, and if they worked better or worse than 2E.

[mgbevan]

The stunt system is quite a nice idea. I think it gives players more freedom to dictate how combat goes, it also makes combat more unpredictable since doubles can really sway the run of battle.

[JadedDM]

I agree. It certainly breaks up the potential monotony of the standard 'hit, hit, miss, miss, hit, miss' that is often found in D&D and creates a much more dynamic battlefield.

On the other hand...in D&D if a player rolls a critical, I don't need to bring the game to a screeching halt so I can ask them how they want to proceed--I can just add the extra damage and move on. The extra player input does slow things down. This would be less of a problem in a real time game. Although if Invisible Castle hadn't been down for most of the game (it's back up now, so...great timing there, I guess), it might not have been as big a problem--a player could see when they stunted and spend their points right away.

Another issue is that the Stunt system kind of limits player choice, in a way. In D&D, you can try and disarm or knock prone an opponent whenever you want. In Dragon Age, you can't even try unless you're lucky enough to stunt.

[HorizonsDream]

I like the idea of the stunt system, but I wasn't quite clear if you could make up your own stunts or you had to stick with the list that was provided.

[JadedDM]

No, you couldn't make up your own stunts. That would take far too much time, not to mention trying to figure out what the new stunts would cost in points.

I do think, however, that they expanded the stunt lists in later rulebooks. I'm not entirely certain, though.

[spyguy1503]

I liked the mechanics a lot, very casual, easy to learn, etc.