Dragon Age Pen & Paper RPG unveiled

By Robert Purchese Published 5 May, 2009

Tabletop of the pops this summer.

BioWare has just announced a pen and paper version of Dragon Age: Origins for release this summer on, er, tabletop.

Green Ronin will do the legwork and invite players to "create their own heroes and join the fight against the dark spawn in a world of violence, lust and betrayal", reckons the statement.

What that probably boils down to is putting on a robe and wizard hat, inviting friends into the attic, pushing little figures around a board and having mother make lemonade.

Nevertheless, this may capture a useful audience as Dragon Age: Age begins its autumn take-off approach on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • Xerx3s #1 3 years ago

    "create their own heroes and join the fight against the dark spawn in a world of violence, lust and betrayal"

    Sigh.

  • Rizzle #2 3 years ago

    "...having mother make lemonade..."

    Is that part of the core rules? Because that's the kind of System I can agree with.

  • metalangel #3 3 years ago

    I call gimmick. The odds of this being anything else are astronomically small.

    Just hurry up with the damned game already, I want to play as the emo chick with the open robe, no bra, and fire coming out of her (fingers -Ed.)

  • EmiliasHorse #4 3 years ago

    I want this game so much. I didn't know it was coming out on 360 & PS3 as well.

  • lucasmax #5 3 years ago

    "What that probably boils down to is putting on a robe and wizard hat, inviting friends into the attic, pushing little figures around a board and having mother make lemonade."

    And I suppose all the people playing the computer game version are bath-shy girl-friendless social outcasts that never see sunlight?

    Way to patronise people.

    /slowclap

  • Azazel #6 3 years ago

    /puts on his robe and wizard hat

    /casts infinite fuck of the beyondness

  • Irien #7 3 years ago

    If this had been free with the collectors edition, it might have been tempting, but as a standalone product, it's a tough sell.

    Two worlds collectors edition had something similar, but I couldn't justify the extra cost. Anyone know if it was any good?

  • MrChuckles #8 3 years ago

    @lucasmax

    Here here old bean. Because it's clearly much more socially acceptable to sit in your lounge on your own playing an RPG on a console than it is to sit with some mates in your dining room playing an RPG.

    God forbid face to face social interaction.

  • lucasmax #9 3 years ago

    I wouldn't mind so much, but these computer game nerds STOLE our bloody name. A role playing game to most people now is final fantasy and WoW, not Call of Cthulhu,GURPS, etc.

    newsflash people, your playing an avatar, usually with very little choice or direction of the story. Thats not an RPG.

    /nerdrage

  • Sycopat #10 3 years ago

    Green Ronin eh? Didn't they do WFRP v2?

    Not a bad system iirc, not perfect, but for running an action/horror themed RPG it worked well.

  • Grayvern #11 3 years ago

    Whats the point of releasing this when the existing roleplaying systems out there are far better, it's either arrogance, bioware thinking they can take on white wolf and the others. Or a cynical attempt to make money.

    @ lucasmax, no person who plays crpg's would think wow or final fantasy were rpg's. Yes the best crpg's dont offer the same level of choice, but then neither does this weeks dungeon master come up with the best story. Besides most of my tabletop roleplaying friends have their own type of character that they revert too, the less said about one of em's cat person obsession the better.
    Edited by 2 at 06/05/09 @ 02:34

  • peak_performance #12 3 years ago

    To be fair, any dungeon master could come up with the plot of, say, KotOR. And most other RPG:s.

  • lucasmax #13 3 years ago

    well my comment was tongue in cheek, but WoW is a MMORPG is it not? :) someone thinks its a rpg

  • lucasmax #14 3 years ago

    I do agree with your other point Grayvern, they should just use an existing system. The only way this rpg will take of is if the game does well and those players fancy roleplaying in that setting.

    I just cant see GMs and players wanting to run it when there are so many good rpgs out already or coming out around the same time. Just a setting book for OGL would have sufficed.

    I don't know about everyone else, but my brain can only store so many systems, and i'm not gonna try learn another one unless all my players want to play it (not likely) or it offers something mega original and that sounds like fun.
    Edited by 1 at 06/05/09 @ 08:47

  • metalangel #15 3 years ago

    Perhaps this is for the delusionally hardcore so they can familiarize themselves with the levels and abilities ahead of time, thus gaining an "advantage" when the game comes out/letting them be the first to upload a "perfect character" guide to GameFAQS?

  • MikeN #16 3 years ago

    @Lucasmax: +1 on the patronising comment.

    Didn't they already try this with the WoW tabletop rpg? How successful was that?
    Edited by 1 at 06/05/09 @ 19:10

  • lucasmax #17 3 years ago

    I bet if it was a rpg for darkfall they were making, we wouldn't have been able to move for all the nerdrage. :)

    Anyway, I hope you've been put in your place Rob. And as a final insult I will be turning my back on you, gooday sir.

  • lucasmax #18 3 years ago

    @ MikeN

    I dont think the WoW RPG did all that great. Surprisingly, the people who wanted to play WoW just played WoW and the RPGers just played their normal systems. I also heard that it wasn't very well balanced, so that may have been why it wasn't accepted.

  • thefinn #19 3 years ago

    @metalangel:

    I don't think the PnP Dragon Age RPG uses the same rules as the computer game, so I don't think that would work. It would be fun to see someone try, though :-)