Green Ronin in 2013

[Pramas]

I've just posted about our plans for the coming year on our front page. If you've got questions, fire away!

http://greenronin.com/2013/01/green_ronin_in_2013.php

[NickMiddleton]

Good news on the whole, albeit as a Dragon Age fan I'm impatient for the new material! Some questions, albeit I understand that things are a bit in flux:

1) With the transition from Wil to Jack, what's the status of the "DLC" PDF lines for both DA and AGE? Jack Norris has a great rep as a writer / designer - but he's coming on as developer, and I think it's pretty clear from the DA forums here that, whilst DA fans may be a bit divided as to exactly WHAT content they want, more content more frequently would generally be popular!

2) Do you have any sort of road map you can share with us for the DA line beyond the Deep Roads? I fully understand an RPG publisher, especially with a licensed IP, wanting to manage expectations, but with DA III under development at BioWare and the comics etc, the setting still seems pretty vibrant to me and I'm hoping that GR have plans for the future.

3) Sort of related to the previous two, the new setting has been identified as "fantasy" (but neither vanilla nor esoteric), any plans for more Freeport related AGE material?

4) Also, given the fan apetite for converting AGE to differnt genres and settings, have you any plans for a "generic" AGE book? Or non-Fantasy AGE settings?

As for SoIaFRPG - I've been holding off watching / reading the books becuase the series isn't finished damn it!# BUT I have several friends who are fans of both the system and the game, so I am intrigued - and an intro boxed set sounds VERY appealing, which leads to:

5) Any idea what might be in the boxed set? There have been a few in the last few years for other games: the original 4e intro set was pretty good (especially for the price point); I thought the 4e Essentials Red Box was awful (less content than than the previous set for significantly more cost); I'm fond of the DA sets (but would have liked more "bits" - in particular, despite the combat system not requiring them some counters / stand ups would have been a great addition I feel) and really like the Pathfinder Beginner's Box...

Cheers,

Nick


# I got hooked on Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen before I was aware of Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, and one mutli-book epic that volumes kept slipping on was quite enough - plus Erikson seemed to slip less. Now the Malazan sequence is done, I'd LIKE to start SoIaF, but Martin's STILL not finished...

[Haaldaar]

First and foremost, I am so happy that you put Dragon Age together. It is the perfect mix of complex RPG world, with ancillary support (books, comics, movies, and of course the video game), and a simple (yet powerful) game engine. I look forward to the other things that come out with the AGE stamp on it.

That said, as we are deep into Dragon Age, I have some concern. If you look back at the "Green Ronin in 2012" post
http://greenronin.com/2012/01/green_ronin_in_2012.php
It is announcing exactly the same stuff as this year. AKA, in 2012 we got a couple DA related PDFs, but not a single adventure.

And that is my biggest concern. In addition to us experienced users who love it, Dragon Age, with its easy to use rules systems, will appeal to the new and inexperienced gamers. And, this is a really great thing. However, after those fledgling GMs get through the Blood of Fereldan series (and the adventures in the back of the GM books), they are at a crossroads where they have to create there own adventures (a much different and harder skill then GMing) or move on. I don't want them to move on.

My second concern, as a regular Gen Con attendee, I don't see any Dragon Age games being offered to people. You see WOTC and Pathfinder renting out huge rooms and running games constantly. But this game is leaps and bounds better then those games (personal experience, please no flame wars). The point is, I think if more people could try this game out at venues such as that, you would have trouble stocking the books on shelves.

So to form my ranting as questions, as that is the point of this forum:
- Is there anything we, as the Dragon Age community, can do to get more adventure support?
- Any chance that the community come together to support a "Living" game?
- Would Green Ronin be willing to run the framework to have community run Dragon Age outreach programs, especially at big conventions like Gen Con?

Thanks!

I've just posted about our plans for the coming year on our front page. If you've got questions, fire away!

http://greenronin.com/2013/01/green_ronin_in_2013.php

[AdvocateJack]

Good news on the whole, albeit as a Dragon Age fan I'm impatient for the new material! Some questions, albeit I understand that things are a bit in flux:

1) With the transition from Wil to Jack, what's the status of the "DLC" PDF lines for both DA and AGE? Jack Norris has a great rep as a writer / designer - but he's coming on as developer, and I think it's pretty clear from the DA forums here that, whilst DA fans may be a bit divided as to exactly WHAT content they want, more content mroe frequently would generally be popular!

2) Do you have any sort of road map you can share with us for the DA line beyond the Deep Roads? I fully understand an RPG publisher, especially with a licensed IP, wanting to manage expectations, but with DA III under development at BioWare and the comics etc, the setting still seems pretty vibrant to me and I'm hoping that GR have plans for the future.

3) Sort of related to the previous two, the new setting has been identified as "fantasy" (but neither vailla no esoteric), any plans for more Freeport related AGE material?

Heya Jack Norris here (just using my normal forum account at the mo). Chris will likely have more to say but I wanted to chime in, say hello, and chip in a bit.

First, thanks for the kind words. Always nice to know you have a good rep.

I understand there's going to be a lot of questions involving the DA line. We're beginning the transition between Wil and myself and I know GR is trying really hard to get Set 3 out ASAP, but as Chris noted, it's hard to say exactly when. It's a great set though, and I think folks are going to be really happy with it.

I am aware of the desire for more content for DA/AGE and while I can't make any hard announcements or promises as of yet as this is all in the transition stage, I wanted to say that providing more content is very high on my list of things to do. It's a great system with a lot of potential for new and old gamers alike and I think showcasing that with new content is a great idea. I've got a few ideas on how best to do this both short term and long, but it's a wee bit soon to talk about that until I have something more of substance to say. I also think as the new setting starts to develop, more content is going to come naturally as well, but I realize there's still more room to work as well.

I'm glad folks are addressing their concerns though, as it gives me valuable feedback on what to look at, consider, etc... I also appreciate the continued patience in the coming weeks as I'm still getting into position to get rolling on this as I'm likely not going to have a lot more to say during that period beyond talking to people about expectations, wishes, etc...

[Dr. Halflight]

Is it likely the new AGE setting will be released this year?

[Haaldaar]

I also think as the new setting starts to develop, more content is going to come naturally as well, but I realize there's still more room to work as well.

Hi Jack, congratulations!

Quick question, about one of your points. If GR were to put out an adventure for the "new setting", could they be dual purpose, like "for XX setting, use these orcs, for Dragon Age use these Hurlocks"? Or, would that just make it so the adventures for the new system would get held up getting Bioware approval? At the very least, maybe some sort of conversion document after the fact?

Thanks!

[AdvocateJack]

Hi Jack, congratulations!

Quick question, about one of your points. If GR were to put out an adventure for the "new setting", could they be dual purpose, like "for XX setting, use these orcs, for Dragon Age use these Hurlocks"? Or, would that just make it so the adventures for the new system would get held up getting Bioware approval? At the very least, maybe some sort of conversion document after the fact?

Thanks!

Thanks!

I can't speak to that officially yet but in my other job I'm an attorney and have a bit of experience with this sort of thing and I think it might end up as an approval issue depending on exactly how Bioware handles that (it is a valuable IP for them and EA though, so I would be honestly surprised if mentioning parts of their IP would result in some issues). A conversion document is another idea though and one I can't really say yay or nay on, but my Lawyer Sense (it's like Spidey Sense but way less interesting) says its a different beast and would personally be my preference.

[shonuff]

I would imagine that you could just stat some mobs the exact same, and call it a day. A goblin has the same stats as a genlock (with different art), an orc is a hurlock (with different art), an ogre an ogre (because I doubt EA has copywritten "ogre").

[koraldon]

Only one new product for SIFRP in 2013 ? (discounting the box set, assume it to be a repackage with maybe a new short adventure)
I assume the line to be successful, due to the TV series and it being a great RPG - So I hoped to have more books for it... although happy for an adventure path.

*sad panda*

[shonuff]

Only one new product for SIFRP in 2013 ? (discounting the box set, assume it to be a repackage with maybe a new short adventure)
I assume the line to be successful, due to the TV series and it being a great RPG - So I hoped to have more books for it... although happy for an adventure path.

*sad panda*

I've noticed a lot of repackagings with SIFRP... How many GOT versions and Pocket guides are there? Before the Night's Watch, the last release was in Dec. 2011 and before that was Jun. 2010 (if amazon dates are accurate).

[Nate Christen]

I, for one, was pleased to read the line, "We're also working on another Freeport project behind the scenes, but that's news for another day...."

Hooray!

-Nate

[Pramas]

Thanks for the questions. I'll be back in the morning to answer them. Right now, I need to get ready for game night at my house!

[Arimmus]

Are we going to have a bit more updates on the progress of how things are going with Bioware? I rather dislike being left in the dark about things. Just a Facebook status or tweet would be nice. Like " Hey still in talks everything going smooth" or " sorry folks but Bioware being a pain and making us wait till Dragon age 4 comes out."

[Scott McFarland]

Are we going to have a bit more updates on the progress of how things are going with Bioware? I rather dislike being left in the dark about things. Just a Facebook status or tweet would be nice. Like " Hey still in talks everything going smooth" or " sorry folks but Bioware being a pain and making us wait till Dragon age 4 comes out."

I suspect there are 'bite the hand that feeds you' issues with this.

Bioware probably have charming lawyers who insist that none of their licence-holders publish anything that could be even remotely construed as critical.

If Bioware told Chris he had to wear a tutu or they wouldn't sign a chapter off, then, you know... Chris would probably be their pretty ballerina...

[Pramas]

1) With the transition from Wil to Jack, what's the status of the "DLC" PDF lines for both DA and AGE? Jack Norris has a great rep as a writer / designer - but he's coming on as developer, and I think it's pretty clear from the DA forums here that, whilst DA fans may be a bit divided as to exactly WHAT content they want, more content more frequently would generally be popular!

We plan to continue them, but at a certain point we decided to focus our attention on Set 3. Finishing that has to be the first priority.

2) Do you have any sort of road map you can share with us for the DA line beyond the Deep Roads? I fully understand an RPG publisher, especially with a licensed IP, wanting to manage expectations, but with DA III under development at BioWare and the comics etc, the setting still seems pretty vibrant to me and I'm hoping that GR have plans for the future.

We do. Basically, we'd like to catch our game up to where BioWare is at with Thedas. Our core game is built around the Blight, but there's been a lot of development in Dragon Age 2 and the novels.

3) Sort of related to the previous two, the new setting has been identified as "fantasy" (but neither vanilla nor esoteric), any plans for more Freeport related AGE material?

Maybe. We've got other plans for Freeport this year, but doing something with AGE does make sense at some point.

4) Also, given the fan appetite for converting AGE to different genres and settings, have you any plans for a "generic" AGE book? Or non-Fantasy AGE settings?

The new AGE game should be broadly useful as a more generic version of the rules. We do plan to do more AGE games in the future. I'd love to do a scifi game. We've also talked about finally releasing Dragon Fist and using AGE for that.

5) Any idea what might be in the SIFRP boxed set?

Oh, we have ideas, but we still to need to cost everything out and figure out exactly what we can afford to put in there while keeping the price low enough to act as a good acquisition game. I'm thus going to Magic 8 ball this and say, "Answer hazy, try again later."

[Pramas]

So to form my ranting as questions, as that is the point of this forum:
- Is there anything we, as the Dragon Age community, can do to get more adventure support?
- Any chance that the community come together to support a "Living" game?
- Would Green Ronin be willing to run the framework to have community run Dragon Age outreach programs, especially at big conventions like Gen Con?

There is adventure support coming. There's a new adventure in Set 3 and Deep Roads is another adventure anthology like Blood in Ferelden.

One thing that all Green Ronin games could use is more GMs at conventions running them. A living campaign, at least as it's been done in the past, is beyond our means at the moment though. You need to have new adventures coming out all the time for those and it's just not feasible for our staff right now.

However, we do want to find a way to organize people and have more of our games played at cons outside of our booth (where we do run demos at GenCon, for example). I'm looking at bringing on someone to do just that.

[Pramas]

Is it likely the new AGE setting will be released this year?

That is our hope, yes.

[Pramas]

Quick question, about one of your points. If GR were to put out an adventure for the "new setting", could they be dual purpose, like "for XX setting, use these orcs, for Dragon Age use these Hurlocks"? Or, would that just make it so the adventures for the new system would get held up getting Bioware approval? At the very least, maybe some sort of conversion document after the fact?

We're not going to include Dragon Age info in the books of the new game. That would create any number of headaches. Short articles with conversion notes on the web might be possible though.

[Pramas]

Are we going to have a bit more updates on the progress of how things are going with Bioware? I rather dislike being left in the dark about things. Just a Facebook status or tweet would be nice. Like " Hey still in talks everything going smooth" or " sorry folks but Bioware being a pain and making us wait till Dragon age 4 comes out."

We will try to keep you all better informed, but I'm never going to talk trash about our licensors. They are our valued partners in these projects.

[Arimmus]

We will try to keep you all better informed, but I'm never going to talk trash about our licensors. They are our valued partners in these projects.

Would Never ask you too boss man, just an example is all. Thanks for the update and the swift response.

[Jason_Sunday]

I really hope the new setting is DRAGON FIST!!!!

[fanchergw]

Hi,

I noticed this in the message:

Then at long last the mighty Emerald City will be released. This was originally planned as a simple book but over time it's morphed into a much more ambitious project. Emerald City will now be a slip case with three books and a poster map. One of the books is a full length adventure (Emerald City Knights), so you can get a game going right out the gate.

So what happens with those of us that pre-ordered (months ago)? I'm assuming that this new expanded product will have a higher price tag than the original. Will we get a partial or full product, or will pre-orders be cancelled forcing us to re-order?

Gordon

[Pramas]

We never took pre-orders for Emerald City. We don't start that process until a book is laid out and finished and we haven't hit that stage yet.

[fanchergw]

It was available for preorder on Amazon, which I did order there on Sept 8, 2012. It is still on my list of orders on my Amazon account and I still have the email confirmation of the order. From what you are saying, it sounds like I need to cancel the preorder through Amazon.

Gordon