The last time I ran an actual tabletop game myself I was in university I think. I held the reigns for about three session while the regular GM took a break. Recently, two stellar GMs (one being the fellow with lots to say on Respecting the Character) in my circle of gaming friends, finished up their games creating a void of tabletop adventuring. I play in but one game at the moment run by a groovy fellow named Scott (founding member of iVardensphere) in which I created a fine character. I am used to being a player in two or three tabletop games at a time so things seemed a little lacking.

Last year, I made the switch from Community Manager to joining the design team on Mass Effect 2 as a writer. I have a whole lot to learn about writing for BioWare games, and even more to learn about writing, but I thought one way to get my creative brain going was to try and run a game myself for some of my friends. I began to think about what sort of game I would want to run. Some big questions need to be addressed before I sit down with some sweet graph paper:

1. What is the tone of the game? Serious, silly, something in between?
2. Main theme and setting? Superhero, Sci-fi, fantasy, steam punk, horror, western or a mix of something?
3. Rule set? A tough one. I am not much of a rules guy, and I know that the GM should have a good grasp of how it all works. From D&D to Fudge rules and everything in-between.
4. Players? Both number and who exactly. I have a large gaming group to call upon and certain people play in certain ways. What mix would I want considering I am a new GM.
5. Length of game? I suspect I will elect for a 3-6 episode game to get some experience before committing to a full campaign.

Some of the questions are easier to answer for me. I know that in a game I run it will range from deadly serious to super-goofy. I know the players will insist on it, and so I should count on just that. My friend, Jackie ran a Ravenloft game that was, of course, very serious but people are people and the characters found humor here and there along the way as real people often do even in very bleak circumstances.

Main theme? Tough one. I keep coming back to a Cthulhu-type investigation theme but something isn’t quite right about it. More thought required. I love horror games ) but I know running a game based in horror has its own problems as you cannot sustain that tense, on the edge feeling over the long haul. Fear is a thing to be handled very carefully and I have seen GMs get frustrated because the players were not into a scary, atmosphere walk in the Horrorville when they wanted a Buffyesque episode of hi-jinks and witty banter.

Ruleset? I like the FATE. rules but they are also somewhat without foundation that can lead to players feeling ineffective. I don’t think I want to run something as tightly controlled as D&D or Shadowrun but something in-between. I am unsure about trying out a new rule set but I just might. I had heard Unknown Armies was a good one…but trying out an unfamiliar rule set seems like a bad idea if I’m new to this GM thing…

Players? A tough one. I have a lot of gaming friends but each will bring a certain energy and personality to the game. I would need to think of who would compliment a new GM. I want to keep the player number small in order to help me address each player personally. In my new job, I am getting used to thinking of a plot or character concept and watching it evolve through feedback into something else; similar but different. I can see how that applies directly to running a game. The game must have focus, but it also must allow for evolving on the fly according to the players.

Length of game? Yup, 3-6 with maybe the idea of hitting about 4. Enough time to establish some characters but also short enough in case of catastrophic failure I need only weather the shame for a short time.

How did you get going on a new tabletop? How did you decide on setting and rule set? What basic questions am I missing that need answering?

Video taken from spigyboy’s YouTube channel .

With up to 10 squad members, equipping your team in Mass Effect 2 could have been a daunting task. To make this task manageable we’ve made two inventory advancements: squad inventory, and auto-upgrades.

Squad Inventory
Whenever Shepard finds an upgraded weapon he scans it with his omni-tool, uploading detailed data to his ship. Using that data, this ship’s armory can replicate the weapon, making it available to any squad member trained to use that weapon type. For example, if you find a superior shotgun, your armory will fabricate copies, making that shotgun model available to any squad member with shotgun training. This gets rid of tedious inventory management tasks, like unequipping and transferring items between squad members.

Auto-Upgrades
Squad members will automatically start using upgraded weapons when they become available. Combined with squad based inventory, this makes managing your squad’s loadout very easy.

Let’s say you find an upgraded sniper rifle. You scan it and upload the data to your ship’s armory. The armory immediately starts fabricating copies. Thane, back on your ship, grabs one from the armory and starts using it. All this is accomplished without any manual inventory management.

Customizing Your Team’s Loadout
You can customize your team’s loadout. At the start of every mission you’ll be given a chance to set weapons for your squad. At this point you can override any choices the auto-upgrade system has made. This is also your chance to customize Shepard’s weapons, including his heavy weapon.

Unique Weapons
While most weapons are shared, some are so advanced or so personalized to an individual that they can’t be easily replicated or transferred. These unique weapons will automatically be received by a specific squad member. This approach helps differentiate your squad members, and creates opportunities for individual progression. Since these weapons are tied to a specific squad member, they work with our auto- upgrade system. Your squad member will start using their new weapon immediately once you obtain it.

This is the second in a series of blog posts by Lead Gameplay Designer Christina Norman on the RPG systems of Mass Effect 2.

The Holiday times are on us once again, and this year to help everyone feel good about the holiday season, you can help BioWare donate to Child’s Play. For those of you who do not know, Child’s Play is the “geeks charity of choice” and does great work trying to raise money to help fund hospitals for sick kids around the world. This year, BioWare is going to try to raise a donation of up to $10,000 with the help of our new Facebook game Gift of the Yeti and our fans.

Gift of the Yeti is a fun and fast-paced social game for people of all ages., Available now as a free Facebook app, the game has been developed at BioWare by the studio’s new R&D group, BioWare Labs. In the Gift of the Yeti game, players have a chance to help a sick Santa by delivering gifts on his behalf. Facebook friends can compete to beat each others’ high scores. The backstory of the Yeti will unfold through a clever Advent day calendar, with each day revealing a new piece of the storyline. Gift of the Yeti also allows players to choose from a variety of different gifts that they can send to their friends to invite them to save the day for Santa, and support the Child’s Play organization.

For every play of Gift of the Yeti, BioWare will donate a minimum of a penny, up to a total of $10,000 to the Child’s Play charity. Child’s Play is a community-based charity grown and nurtured from the video game culture and industry, distributing toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals worldwide. Originally supported by Penny Arcade, more information about Child’s Play can be found HERE

“Gift of the Yeti is BioWare’s digital holiday card to its fans. We use social networking as a powerful tool to connect meaningfully with our tremendous fan community,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder of BioWare and the Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group at EA. “Gift of the Yeti is a fun, engaging holiday present from BioWare to our fans, the first in a series of compelling social experiences from BioWare Labs.”

“Child’s Play draws the bulk of our support from video gamers and the games industry, and we are honored to be part of BioWare’s Gift of the Yeti campaign,” said Kristin Lindsay, Program Coordinator, Child’s Play. “Now gamers can help support pediatric hospitals in the US, Canada and worldwide simply by playing the game and having fun! When gamers give back, it makes a big difference.”

You can check out Gift of the Yeti, and help BioWare donate to Child’s Play by visiting our Facebook Gift of the Yeti app HERE

First, thank you to all of our fans around the world for making Dragon Age: Origins a crushing success. BioWare and EA are thrilled to have now launched Dragon Age: Origins worldwide. Customers, fans and critics alike love Dragon Age: Origins and are having a great time playing it as well as using the newly released Dragon Age Toolset. Fans are using the BioWare Social Network to discuss the game on our forums, uploading screenshots to their profiles and blogging about their experiences in game.

Here are what a few of our critics are saying:

Gamespot.com – Score: 95 -
“…The fantasy RPG you’ve been waiting for…”
Game Pro – Score: 100 -
“BioWare has once again struck RPG gold”
GameZone – Score: 99 -
“This game is of a level that has never been seen before. It is the new benchmark.”
Game Informer – Score: 90 -
“…one of the most addictive and expansive RPGs of its kind.”
1up.com – Score: 100 -
“It’s the best RPG of the year — and maybe the best of the HD era.”
USAToday.com – Score: 4/4 -
“…Dragon Age: Origins, a masterfully crafted adventure that offers a lot of bang for your buck.”

While most customers have been playing Dragon Age: Origins without any problems, a few customers have experienced issues that have prevented them from fully enjoying the game. As you already know BioWare has always been committed to providing high quality games to its fans and we are just as committed to providing an ongoing gaming experience free of quirks and hiccups. With that said we would like to announce our Patch 1.01 which you can find here. We really appreciate the feedback we have been getting from fans and encourage you to let us know of any anomalies you find with any part of the game or our website. Your help allows us to build stronger patches to release on a regular cadence. You can keep us informed and get help using the following links:

Patch:
http://social.bioware.com/game_patches.php
Dragon Age Customer Support:
http://help.dragonage.com/
Dragon Age: Origins Technical Support:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/category/58/index
BioWare Social Bug Report:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/category/6/index
BioWare Points Bug Report:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/category/59/index

Thanks again to all our fans for making this such a successful launch!

Derek Larke
BioWare’s Online Marketing Manager

Growing up in the days before the ubiquity of broadband internet, I can remember how excited I was each month to receive my copies of Next Gen, PC Gamer, EGM and other gaming magazines. I poured over each tome feverishly. I was so devoted to videogames that I’d read strategy guides for games I didn’t own and never planned on purchasing. I’ve often cited PC Gamer’s famous Gaming Gods issue as the moment I realized that I could actually fill my dreams of making videogames for a living. I still have this issue today and even got Richard Garriott to sign the front cover.

Before we first got a 26k modem in the house, I could never imagine speaking with one of the makers before a game came out. Nor could I imagine that such a conversation would have the ability to affect what got put in the final game. Now, thanks to Twitter, Facebook, Forums, etc. it is routine to have those sorts of conversations with media creators of all types. Thanks to the freshly launched Bioware Social Network I’ve been doing some Q&A with the Bioware faithful over the past week. I’ve been getting questions about features I didn’t anticipate, and with what little time we’ve had left we’ve tried to alter the game to accommodate your wishes. I thought I’d repost some of my favorite questions here and also treat you to some screens of the monster’s you’ll meet in the future chapters of Dragon Age Journeys.

From Servant of Nature:

Q: “Is it true you can get in-game items for playing Dragon Age Journeys?”

A: This is one of the things I am most excited about, and I’m pretty sure that you will be too. By completing certain accomplishments in Journeys, you can unlock 3 items for use when you purchase a copy of Dragon Age: Origins for the PC, Xbox 360 or PS3. By playing DAJ while signed in with your EA account, these items will automatically be added to your inventory in DA:O when you sign in with that same account. These entitlements work across all three platforms.

Q: “Are you aware how awesome you and your team are?”

A: *blushes* Thank you so much for the complement. We’ve been very lucky to work with a ridiculously talented crew on DAJ. Dan Stradwick, Adam Phillips and Andrew Sega are great indie game talents and working with them has been an incredible experience for the EA 2D team. We’re very happy with the job Marcelo Poppi has done of taking Dan’s story and fleshing out the characters and dialog. These are the people who deserve all the credit for DAJ. For those of us on the EA 2D side, it is not our job to be awesome, but to work with talented developers like these to help them reach their full awesomeness potential.

Darkspawn Await

From willtraverse:

Q: “Do we create our own characters, or recruit them through the story? If it’s the latter, how many different characters are there to recruit?”

A: You do both. Just like in Origins, you begin your adventure by creating a character, choosing between 3 races and 3 character classes. As the story progresses you will also recruit up to 6 companion characters. You can bring 2 companion characters with you as you fight the darkspawn in the Deep Roads. 3 of these companion characters can be recruited in Chapter 1.

Q: “Do the characters from chapter 1 carry over, or will future chapters feature a new cast?”

A: By saving your game while signed into your EA account, you’ll be able to play with your character across all 3 chapters.

From Triggerwolves:

Q: “Since there is a lot of lore to be had, is there a codex in the game?”

A: There is a codex in the game, but right now it serves mostly as a repository for help information. We may be able to fit more lore into the game before launch, depending on how vigorously I whip my minions as they slave away to bring you this game. But remember, if Journeys is the appetizer, then we don’t want to ruin the feast of Origins by giving too much away.

Q: “What is your opinion on the difficulty of the battles to be encountered?”

A: Having experienced the level design and balancing process on a number of games, I can tell you that developers always run into the same problem on the when finishing a game. When you look at a game and play it day in and day out for weeks on end, the concept of difficulty flies out the window. The closer you get to your game, the further you get from a first time user’s experience. The more you play the same encounters over and over to make sure they are perfect, the less objective you become. Given that, we strive to make the game challenging but not punishing, and it is our opinion that we have met that goal. The nice thing about being a flash game is that we are able to track players’ progress and if anything is too easy, too confusing or too maddeningly hard, we’ll actually be able to make dynamic fixes to the game and improve your experience with it. It’s one of the great luxuries of working in flash and being dedicated to listening to our audience.

From JonKenden:

Q: “Are there specializations and how are they implemented in the game?”

A: The first chapter of Journeys has 3 companion characters that can join your party, each with a specialization. 3 more companion characters, each with their own specialization, will be available in future chapters.

POSTCRIPT: Just so you know, this isn’t where the DAJ team’s discussion with you ends. In our mind, this is only the beginning. Here at EA 2D it is our mission to listen to our fans with both ears. As creators, we are here to serve you. We will listen to your feedback and incorporate it not only into The Deep Roads, but all future Journeys content including the next two chapters. So keep the postings, tweets, emails and emoticon laden squeals of delight coming, because hearing from our fans is what we live for.

Dragon Age Journeys

At its heart, Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads is a tactical RPG. We employ a hex based combat system reminiscent of the classic Heroes of Might and Magic series, but instead of giant armies of units, you control up to three heroes with stat systems and talent trees taken directly from Dragon Age: Origins. Over time, these heroes gain experience, level up, learn new talents, get new loot … all the familiar RPG elements. This allows you to take on bigger and badder enemies from the Dragon Age world, such as darkspawn monsters Genlock Alphas and Ogres.

The hex based combat system took great inspiration from the classic Heroes of Might and Magic games

In each battle, units take turns moving across the field, using ranged and melee attacks, casting spells, drinking potions and using talents. The basics of the combat system have been set since early in the project, but we were feeling that our combat wasn’t deep enough and didn’t force you to work strategically. So, we took the time to iterate on this system and eventually hit the sweet spot where there’s a combat system that is both tactical and engaging.
It wasn’t any one major feature, but a number of small touches stacked on top of each other that resulted in the recipe for success:
• Monster Secondary Attacks: We added two special attacks to each type of enemy, so that they were no longer only using a basic ranged or melee attack.

Ogre Charge and Slam

• Movement Rules: We changed the rules of movement. Previously, on your character’s turn, they could move once and then attack, use a talent, drink a potion or end their turn. Players would frequently make a misstep and wish they were able to undo their move. Now, on a character’s turn, they can move freely anywhere within their walk radius before using talents or attacking.

• Talent Animations: We pushed the talent effects and the animations further, so there are more options and the results pay off in spectacular fashion.

Bard’s Song of Valor

• Obstacles and Line of Sight: Throwing randomly generated obstacles onto the battlefield, combined with line of sight rules for ranged attacks, forced players to move around the field strategically, instead of getting into a base line duel.

Game Changing Obstacles

• Back Stab and Flank: We added damage bonuses for performing backstabs and flanking maneuvers, further emphasizing the importance of strategic placement of characters.

All the little things added up to create a deep, tactical combat system

By combining all of theses features together, we ended up with a deep, strategic combat system that really delivers on the potential that Dragon Age Journeys has shown all along. We are confident that with this game, we are taking a huge step forward compared to previous flash-based RPGs.

Join us in “The Deep Roads”

Dragon Age Journeys

One of the two leaders of our group here at EA 2D is veteran super producer turned VP of Development Pete Hawley. Pete’s career highlights include being executive producer of Burnout Paradise, serving as development director at Sony, heading production at Lionhead and producing Driver. Simply put, Pete is one of the most accomplished producers in the game industry.

We recently had to decide on a name for the game, as the placeholder Dragon Age 2d wouldn’t hold. As we were clearly banging our heads against the wall, Pete told us a story about the naming session for Lionhead’s flagship franchise. At the beginning of the night that with a gang including Hawley and Peter Molyneux, Pete and a few others made the suggestion that they go with the short, simple descriptor that fit their storybook heroics, Fable. As with any meeting that involves a handful of creative friends working on a problem with no clear solution, the night went long, and soon the clock read 3am and then someone says, “Enough. I’ve got it. Jesus 2000. He’s back, and this time, He’s pissed!” But the answer had been staring them in the face all along.
Our naming session began with Dragon Age: Journeys as one of the top contenders. But the naming session stretched on, we got increasingly exasperated and our suggestions became a string of gaming nerd in jokes, such as:
• Ages of Dragon Age
• Dragon Age: Origins’ Origins
• Dragon Age: Origins: Origins
• Dragon Age: TitNS (This is the New Sh*t)
• Heroes of Dragons and Magic
• Paper Dragon Age
• Dragon Age: Tactics Advance Online
• Dragon Age: Sexy Browser Adventures
• Dragon Age: Age of the Dragon
And of course:
• Imagine: Dragonz Age Fun Time Babyz Party

But, the more we went back to it, the more true Pete’s advice rang and the better Dragon Age: Journeys started to sound. The problem was that we already planned on releasing three separate chapters of single player gameplay to start, and more in the future. How would we differentiate each forthcoming chapter?

The solution was simple. We had to move the colon. Dragon Age Journeys was our brand name. It’s the umbrella under which we’ll release all of our browser based offerings. This freed us up to give each chapter a name indicative of its story, and gives us the freedom we’ll need for our future plans.

Terminus Assault Armor and the Blackstorm Heavy Weapon

In North America, pre-order bonuses* include special-ops armor and weaponry that are designed to boost Commander Shepard’s skills and abilities. At GameStop, Terminus Gear is available with pre-orders, which includes the powerful Terminus Assault Armor and the Blackstorm Heavy Weapon:

• The Terminus Armor is designed for use in extreme planetary conditions, increasing run speed and personal shields, and augmenting weapons with an additional magazine of reserve ammo.
• The M-90 Blackstorm Heavy Weapon generates a high-powered localized gravity well, accelerating particles to near-infinite mass, and ultimately expanding the selection of heavy weapons available to players when they gear up for combat missions in Mass Effect 2.

Terminus Armor and Blackstorm Heavy Weapon

Inferno Armor

Players that pre-order Mass Effect 2 at other retail outlets in North America will receive the potent Inferno Armor, which is used by officers to monitor battlefield conditions by recognizing elevated heart rates, and regulates sub-systems with extreme efficiency to allow for greater response times – together these abilities translate in-game into a negotiation bonus for Commander Shepard and an increase in run speed and augmented damage from combat powers.

Inferno Armor

Now to figure out which armor set to get for which platform…

~dlarke

I am a huge comic book nerd. I have been collecting comics for the past 27 years and have a basement full of long boxes and shelves full of issues I still need to put in bags with boards.Taking up a lot of space in my collection are comics from Dark Horse. Even if you haven’t heard of Dark Horse, I bet you know some of their titles. Those cool Hellboy movies? Based on a Dark Horse comic. Did you watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer? That is now a Dark Horse comic. If you like Aliens, Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian or a TON of other great comics from some of the most talented artists and writers in the industry today they are a part of Dark Horse.

So, as a comic nerd, I was super excited to learn that BioWare would be making a Mass Effect comic book with the excellent people at Dark Horse. Mac Walters, the Lead Writer for Mass Effect2, has taken on the task of also writing the comic. Along with Mac are Artist Omar Francia, Colorist Michael Atiyeh, Scripter John Jackson Miller and Cover Artist: Daryl Mandryk. Together, they are doing some amazing work that I know people who are fans of Mass Effect, or just fans of a great comic will absolutely love.The story (exclusive to these comics) will have the commander’s companion Dr. Liara T’Soni undertake a deadly mission of extraordinary importance in the Milky Way’s lawless Terminus Systems.

As a special treat, the fine folks at Dark Horse have given us a sneak peak at the first 7 pages of issue 1 of the Mass Effect comic. Check out the amazing art and get your first taste of the story that will be the Dark Horse Mass Effect comic.

The Mass Effect comic from Dark Horse will be available January 6 at comic shops near you. Check with your favorite local store and make sure you pick up your copies of Mass Effect.