Edge of Thedas (Dragon Age Conversion)

By Zev Linare, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

<waves hand> This is not the complete conversion you're looking for.

A friend was trying to port Dragon Age into Qin - The Warring States, and to keep with the feel of magic, he said, "If you cast a fireball, there will be fire, no questions about it. Spells don't fizzle. You may just have issues controlling the spell." He proceeded to more or less give up, but I thought of that one idea, and Edge came to mind. Despair was exactly a fit to his idea.

So it's just a rough concept in my head, but the cinematic nature of Edge would lend itself nicely to DA, I think. Albeit with spellcasting handled through regular rolls, not through the use of the Force die so accidentally lighting the inn on fire with your poorly aimed fireball is a thing.

It would sure outshine Green Ronin's DA RPG, which felt excessively gamey, and all of those special effects from their "Dragon Die" can be handled through Advantage and Threat.

Any thoughts on the matter? I feel like it could work, if you stayed true to the lore, not necessarily to the game mechanics (I.E. throw out the typical Warrior / Mage / Rogue crap). Anybody got any obvious reasons as to why it wouldn't work, that I'm just missing?

I'd suggest using WHFRP3, it'll save you a lot of time and effort.

Oh but 3rd Ed of WHFRP sucked, at least in my gaming group's experience. We like every other Warhammer system we've tried (all of which are percentile) and love them, but that one just had too many things going on in the die pool.

It felt like a bad Alpha release of Edge; hence why we thought Edge would be better.

Thats fair. If you have it you can use the parts that work as reference to fill in the more fantasy stuff EotE lacks.

I like the idea of general magic skills instead of using the Force die for all "magic."

I like the idea of general magic skills instead of using the Force die for all "magic."

Actually, one of the thoughts I had was that if different varieties of magic are small specializations (like Force powers in Edge), you could have a Magic stat, and then let Skill (with regards to that specialization) come from talents within the tree. I.E. The base talent / ability / whathaveyou in the Primal Magic Spec gives you 1 upgrade to your pool when using Primal Magic, plus another base effect. Later on, you can upgrade this, without having the need for magic-related skills.

Thats fair. If you have it you can use the parts that work as reference to fill in the more fantasy stuff EotE lacks.

Definitely.

I was talking with a friend, and we were discussing potential classes. Then I got to wondering why Edge has classes. It's really just to make sticking to your theme cheaper than branching out, I think. So we discussed nixing classes altogether. Instead, you pick a Species, Station/Social Status (mechanics first, terminology later), Profession (prior to becoming an adventurer), and maybe Call to Adventure (why you are an adventurer).

-Species operates just like Edge. Why mess with a good system?

-Station/Social Status is your rank in society, and gives you a free rank in x out of y skills.

-Profession gives you a free rank in x out of y skills, plus access to a few appropriate specializations.

-Call to Adventure is largely like Lure of the Void in Rogue Trader.

For example, you select a Human, and decide his station in life is that of a Noble. He's only got a few drops of royal blood, but the family ties are enough. This lets him pick up a free rank in say, Cool, Discipline, and Deception (nobles need to handle themselves well in court). As a Profession, he takes Bard, which lets him pick from a few skills like Charm, Deception, Trade (Musician), and Melee (Light) (I.E. daggers). Being a Bard gives him access to three specializations: Musician, Infiltrator, and Intrigue. His Call to Adventure is Disgrace. He horribly dishonored his lord and was cast out into the world alone. Maybe this gives him a skill, or a special talent exclusive to the disgraced of the world.

The point is, you tell the story of your character's origin, rather than picking a fitting stereotype. There are no class skills - they all cost the same amount. Same goes for specializations, though some may have requirements, such as Magic Rating X to take Spirit Magic. Specializations could also be smaller, with less redundant talents in the mix, so that you can be pulling from multiple trees and not crippling yourself in the process.