A Dragon Age Campaign in the City of Kirkwall

  Showing off my Dragon Age TTRPG laminated paper minis! I'm quite pleased with how they turned out! Anyone wanting easy access to images for making such beauties themselves can find the Dragon Age paper minis image stash here.

Time to get into some logistics of the campaign! I am using the Dragon AGE RPG ruleset as developed by Green Ronin. I am also using Ptolus: City by the Spire as a source book for expanding Kirkwall and going deeper into its various districts, factions, and secrets. See my previous post for more info about what that looks like. House Rules - Welcome to FrankenAGE I made several modifications to the rules in the Dragon AGE RPG. Here's a link to the doc with all the specifics , but you can get the breakdown below: Nat 1's and Nat 20's exist (triples 1's & triple 6's, respectively). Rolling triples gains players a bonus die of the same value. (Rolling triple 4's gets you another +4). The bonus die on triples can be used on extra stunt points or banked in a party stunt pool, if you passed your roll. Rewrote the Backstab rules for Rogues to work for range. Followed leveling in the Fantasy AGE rulebook (class abilities are near identical, just shifted around so ...

 Upon conception of the campaign, I knew I wanted to expand Kirkwall beyond what we see in the game. I wanted a greater understanding of the districts, noble houses, and various factions at play. For anyone wanting to run a campaign in Kirkwall, I would recommend looking up any pre-made city RPG in any system. I settled on Ptolus: City by the Spire because upon finding it, it seemed to have everything I was looking for. But that doesn't mean it was my only option. Waterdeep and Freeport RPG cities are two that immediately come to mind. (Also, the Waterdeep City Encounters book is excellent, and I am totally stealing ideas from there). Ptolus vs Kirkwall Using Ptolus (an adventure designed for D&D) as a source book for Kirkwall means having to reflavor a lot of things. For instance, one of the noble houses in Ptolus are literally dragons who live as humans. They even have dragons openly playing on their lawn. Everyone in the city KNOWS the family are dragons, but to suggest su...

  The goal for session 2 was to bring the PCs together to form a party (we didn't quite hit that yet). I had discussed with Fisher's player beforehand since he was the one already living in Kirkwall, and it was he who suggested needing a crew for his boat. The Road to Kirkwall We open with Deorum and his elven companion and bodyguard Lulia walking the road from Minrathous to Kirkwall after the assassination of Deorum’s parents. It is a long and somewhat miserable trek, especially when it comes to sleeping outdoors, as the two don't have a tent. They are also both ignoring the pain of the trauma they have just experienced. Fenlin is making the same trek, but sticking to the forest to stay out of sight. She does however make point of keeping the road in view as she does not know the area, and she needs the road to make sure she is going in the right direction. A farmer driving a cart of cabbages stops along the road and offers Deorum and Lulia a ride. They accept. Fenlin noti...

 Our first session involved final character creation, going over house rules, and general session 0 discussions. We had enough time to do some individual PC background roleplay. So I'll introduce our heroes: Deorum -- A blood mage and the son of a Tevinter Magister who is forced to flee his home when assassins set upon his family. With nowhere else to turn, Deorum heads for Kirkwall where he believes distant relatives of a Noble House will take him in. Fenlin -- A female rogue "Fenris" character. Slave to Danarius, Fenlin was hand-picked as a small child after a series of rigorous tests to act as Danarius's bodyguard. She has been a slave her whole life and does not remember her family. After enduring the painful ritual that imbued her skin with Lyrium and losing control of her new power that resulted in the death of innocents, Fenlin flees to Kirkwall where she hopes to blend in with the refuges. Dardin'an -- A Dalish Scout of the Sabrae clan who is in love with ...