I’ve had Dragon Age RPG Set 1 for over a year, but only just ran my second game. The first was maybe six months ago with some friends while I was visiting home. Both nights I ran the same adventure, Death in Freeport from Green Ronin. I converted the adventure from 3.5 with little difficulty. The four most important NPCs I wrote out on a Quick Reference Sheet and the rest of the unnamed foes fit on a Combat Card Sheet. I’ll provide my conversion notes at the end for anyone who is curious.

The first thing we noticed is that 1st level characters kind of suck. Most notably, you almost certainly do not have a focus in your primary attack. Our poor Mage (a Steppes Shaman from Kobold Quarterly 19 or the forthcoming Midgard Campaign Setting) didn’t get a bonus to his magic attribute from his background. He also rolled mediocre stats. He had five +2s, but no +3. Everyone else had a single +3 which was swapped into a primary stat and increased to +4 by their background. The rest of the party included a Free Tribes Centaur Warrior (same article), a Mountain Dwarf Warrior (Dragonhack) and a Sea Elf Rogue (Kobold Quarterly 13 — Pro-tip: Kobold Quarterly is a great resource for AGE players.)

There are definitely quite a few rules we got wrong. We played that if you stunted during initiative you went first. If several people stunted they were sorted by their dragon die. I probably shouldn’t do that next time. I do want something to happen when you stunt during initiative however. Perhaps getting to skirmish with the stunt points would be better. I know officially stunts are only for combat, but the idea of stunting skills is just so much more fun. I really need to make a list of skill stunts.

I definitely liked the flexibility of the rules. On the other hand I could use a bit more guidance on a few specifics. There was a fight that involved crossbowmen on rooftops. How difficult should climbing be? (I used TN 13.) Should movement be reduced when climbing? (We cut it in half.) How difficult is it to jump a 6 foot gap? (I used TN 13.) How about a 12 foot gap? (I used TN 19.)When the rogue skirmished her foe off the side of the building, how much should damage should a 24 foot drop be? (We used 1d6 penetrating and dropped the target prone.) Certainly we managed to keep the game going, but a couple pages of typical tests would have been nice.

Combat flowed very well. Since there are no attacks of opportunity or other penalties for disengaging a foe during combat, the rogue and the centaur would quite often trade opponents. Knocking people off docks or rooftops was a very fun use of the skirmish stunt. I also allowed my players to draw a card from my Pathfinder Critical Hit Deck for 6 stunt points. They are a bit overpowered, but at 6 stunt points, why not? My second group seemed to fare a little better than I remember the first group doing. Luck certainly is a big factor at first level. Only the mage dropped to dying during the final fight. Luckily our dwarf had a healing potion. Even at first level the characters have a hefty amount of hit points and can take a beating.

The entire adventure took us about six hours to complete, including character creation. It probably could have been around an hour shorter had I been more prepared; I wasted quite a lot of time looking for miniatures or battle maps. They only got around 1000 xp for the night, so they didn’t even reach the coveted level 2. They really wanted to be able to choose a focus. This game was just a one-shot since our normal game was missing players, but I’ll keep the sheets on hand for the next time we want a quick game. I guess I’d better get to work on converting more adventures.

The game left me wanting just a little bit more. I believe much of this will be assisted by Dragon Age RPG Set 2. For an extended campaign I want expanded stunt options. I want skill stunts. I want more monsters and foes. I want more guides for how many magic items to reward the characters with. I want a quick guide to standard attribute uses. Luckily, the game is very easy to expand yourself. It certainly has quite a lot of potential.

Apathy Rating: 4/5.

Death in Freeport Conversion Notes

Press Gang
Health 18
Speed 12
Defense 12
Armor 3
Communication 2
Constitution 2 – Drinking
Cunning 1
Dexterity 3 – Brawl, Stealth
Magic 1
Perception 2
Strength 2 – Belaying Pins, Climb
Willpower 1
Brawl +5 Damage: 1d3+2
Belaying Pins +4 1d6+2

Orc Pirates
Health 22
Speed 12
Defense 11
Armor 3
Communication 0
Constitution 2
Cunning 1
Dexterity 1 – Brawl, Bow
Magic 1
Perception 2 – Smell
Strength 3 – Axe, Intimidate
Willpower 2
Axe +5 Damage: 2d6+3
Short Bow +3 1d6+3

Captain Scarbelly
Health 30
Speed 12
Defense 11
Armor 3
Communication 0
Constitution 2
Cunning 1
Dexterity 1
Magic 0
Perception -1
Strength 4 – Axe, Jump
Willpower -1
Axe +6 Damage: 2d6+4

Aggro
Health 26
Speed 12
Defense 12
Armor 3
Communication -1
Constitution 2
Cunning -1
Dexterity 2
Magic 0
Perception 2
Strength 3 – Scimitar
Willpower -1
Scimitar +5 Damage: 1d6+5

Belko
Class Mage
Health 22
Speed 12
Defense 13
Armor 0
Communication 2
Constitution 0
Cunning 0 – Arcane Lore
Dexterity 3 – Staves
Magic 3 – Primal
Perception 0
Strength 1 – Spear
Willpower 2 – Morale
Spells Flame Blast, Rock Armor, Shock, Stonefist

Rittoro
Class Warrior
Health 32
Speed 12
Defense 10/12
Armor 3
Communication 2 – Gambling
Constitution 1 – Stamina
Cunning 0
Dexterity 0
Magic 0
Perception 0
Strength 3 – Axe, Intimidate
Willpower 0 – Morale
Axe +5 Damage: 3d6+3

Yellow Shields
Health 17
Speed 12
Defense 11/13
Armor 3
Communication 0
Constitution 1
Cunning -1
Dexterity 1 – Crossbow
Magic 1
Perception 1
Strength 2 – Sword
Willpower -1
Short Sword +4 Damage: 1d6+4
Crossbow +3 Damage: 2d6+2

Serpent People
Health 18
Speed 12
Defense 11/13
Armor 2
Communication -1
Constitution 2
Cunning -2
Dexterity 1
Magic 0
Perception -1
Strength 2 – Spear
Willpower -2
Spear +4 Damage: 1d6+5

Attendants
Health 18
Speed 6
Defense 10
Armor 7
Communication 1
Constitution 1
Cunning 1
Dexterity 0
Magic 2
Perception 2
Strength 1 – Mace
Willpower 2
Mace +3 Damage: 1d6+3
Crossbow +2 Damage: 2d6+3

Milos
Class Cleric
Health 35
Magic Points 20
Speed 12
Defense 12
Armor 3
Communication 2 – Deception, Disguise
Constitution 1
Cunning 1 – Religious Lore
Dexterity 1 – Initiative
Magic 3 – Entropy
Perception 2 – Smelling
Strength 1 – Spear
Willpower 3 – Self-Discipline
Spear +3 Damage: 1d6+4
Spells Daze, Drain Life, Heal, Spell Shield, Weakness

Imperium Chronicles by William Mitchell

I was given a complimentary PDF of the Imperium Chronicles RPG for review. It took me quite a while to figure out exactly what to say about it. You would think that with my love of Traveller it would be a perfect fit for me. Somehow it isn’t though.

If you ever wanted to play in a sci-fi universe like Traveller’s Third Imperium but with d20 style rules, this game is for you.

Of course, there already exists a whole set of Traveller d20 books. However, by now they are long out of print. I never got any of them, so I can’t tell you how this compares. I didn’t get them for the same reason Imperium Chronicles doesn’t quite suit me — I don’t think d20 is the best system for all games. Don’t get me wrong, I like d20 for Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder. And if you want to use d20 for games like Traveller or Mutants and Masterminds or World of Darkness, that’s fine. But I like exploring different game systems. For me quirky rules are part of Traveller’s charm.

One thing that surprised me is that Imperium Chronicles doesn’t actually use the OGL. It’s simply a lot like the d20 system, but has a bunch of minor differences. As a fan of the open gaming movement, I would have thought it would be easier to just tweak the existing rules. You can still keep all of your world information as product identity. I figure if you are going to be d20ish, you might as well go all the way.

While the Imperium Chronicles feels inspired by Traveller’s Third Imperium, it is definitely a different setting. Not that Traveller’s setting is all that unique, it was inspired by Asimov’s Empire which in turn was inspired by the Roman Empire. Imperium Chronicles contains a rich tapestry of noble houses, alien races, and unique worlds. Even if you don’t use the setting in its entirety, it is filled with great ideas worth stealing and incorporating into your science fiction galaxy of choice.

I can tell this work is a labor of love. William clearly wrote this because he wanted his own perfect blend of games he liked. In the end it isn’t quite the game I would have put together, but that’s okay. It might be exactly what one of my readers is looking for. I repeat: If you wanted the world of Traveller with d20 rules, this game is exactly what you need.

Myself I will likely just mine it for ideas to convert into Mongoose Traveller. I wouldn’t regret a purchase with only that in mind. I have more game systems than I know what to do with. But I can always use more great ideas.

Apathy Rating: 4/5.