Dragon Brigade: Opening Salvo
Recently, Margaret Weis Productions gave us a new free teaser of their upcoming RPG based on Margaret’s own, along with Robert Krammes, novel series. Being the Cortex+ buff that I am, I went ahead and downloaded it. I mean, why not, it’s free.
One of my friends, Adam (@atminn on twitter, Adam Minnine on G+), found out that I got my hands on it, and asked me what my thoughts were. I have no idea why, it’s not like his name is in the credits or anything†.
So instead of just telling him, I’m going to tell the whole world.
Initial Reaction
Based on my first scan-through, it was well laid out. The basic rules were up front, along with the standard definitions—what’s a d4, complications vs. assets, etc. Each scene (called engagements) was given its own section.
The last 12 pages are six pregen characters, who are given a two-page spread. The characters not only list the traits, but a brief run-down of the rules.
Engagements
Each engagement is laid out the same. It has a brief description of what was happening, what the players are supposed to do, and an evocative picture of what’s going on in the engagement.
All the “important” rules were called out in text boxes, so you knew how to do what you wanted to do. The heading told you if it was a test or a contest. For those who don’t know, a test is whoever rolls higher wins, and a contest is if they got higher, roll again to try to beat their new total. After that, it tells you who rolls what and why. It ends with what happens on a success, including extraordinary success (exceeding the difficulty by 5 or more), and a failure. In addition, it gives a small list of possible complications.
For the later engagements, there are sidebars saying if X happened before, don’t forget about Y. So if, for example, a bandit was captured in the first engagement, he (or she) will remind the party of something important is the second engagement. Another sidebars call out what type of engagement it is (combat, social, etc.) and what characters have complimentary specialties, talents, or distinctions.
Rules
Since I’ve mentioned the rules set-up for the text boxes, I guess I should tell you how the game works. If you’re familiar with either Smallville or Leverage, you know the basics. Compose a dice pool of 2+ dice, roll ‘em, and add the two highest together.
Each character has 5 Action Traits. These are like Values in Smallville or Attributes in Leverage. Whenever you want to take an action, pick one or two action traits to roll. they are:
- Courage - bravery, will, and mental fortitude
- Faith - conviction and strength of spirit
- Guile - craftiness, deception, and wits
- Reason - intelligence and the ability to understand
- Vigor - physical endurance, strength, and effort
If you choose two, those are your base pair. If you only choose one, grab two of that die.
Also, each action trait has a statement, akin to Smallville’s values and relationships. If what you’re doing lines up with one or both of the statements, you get a free reroll if needed!
As seen in Leverage, each character also has 3 distinctions. Each one gives you a d8 if it helps, or a d4 and a Plot Point if it hurts. To round things off, you have several specialties, rated from 1d6-3d6.
Roll all your dice, and add the two highest. Plot Points can be spent to include more dice in the total.
Confusions
Ok, now that I’ve made it sound all perfect, it’s time to rip into it! I’m joking, it’s not that bad.
I own and am familiar with both Smallville and Leverage, so have a bit of Cortex+ knowledge. Unfortunately, I think that might have been a detriment. I had some preconceptions that just didn’t pan out. But that’s ok!
The first confusing thing that I ran into was stress. It’s similar to Smallville, but not. Each “main trait” can suffer stress. If you’re using the trait, whoever you’re rolling against adds your stress level in that trait against you. Well, unless it’s a d4 stress—in that case, you roll it.
When the stress of a trait equals or exceeds the trait in question, you are considered shaken. This means that you only add the highest die when that trait is being used, instead of adding the two highest. If two or more of your action traits are exceeded by their stress, you’re out of action. Of course, you can spend Plot Points to reduce/remove stress.
Overall Impressions
Now that I have babbled on for a lot longer than I should have, I’ll get to what Adam asked for in the first place.
Overall, it’s a solid quickstart. I had to read up on the stress rules a few times, but that might be because I’m used to the way it’s done in Smallville. The magic system isn’t talked about much, just a short “here’s how this character can do magic.” Less than i’d like, but that’s because I like to play the magic user.
The difference between tests and contests aren’t spelled out in the quickstart. Some things that I would consider a contest is a regular test. For example, in the first engagement, you can engage the “leader” in a test, but not a contest. Most big bads would be contest, In my opinion. I’m sure the actual book will spell it out much better.
Again, these are just my initial reactions after reading it through a few times today. I haven’t actually ran it, so all my musings are theoretical, not practical.
It’s a pretty cool read, so if you’re even the slightest bit curious, pick it up. It’s free, so what have you got to lose?
If anyone is looking to run it online—Skype, Google+, whatever—I’d love to play! Hit me up on twitter or G+.
†That’s a joke, by the way. His name is in the credits.
