# Dragon Age RPG Green Ronin's licensed TTRPG of BioWare's Thedas, designed by Chris Pramas: 3d6 plus ability tests, stunt points on doubles, mage, rogue and warrior classes shaped by 30 backgrounds, levels 1 to 20. The 2015 Core Rulebook won the 2016 ENnie Gold for Best Game, and there is a free quickstart. ## At a Glance Licensed BioWare dark fantasy • 3d6 + ability + focus tests • Dragon Die sets degree of success • stunt points on doubles for combat, spell, roleplaying and exploration stunts • mage, rogue and warrior classes with 30 backgrounds • levels 1 to 20 • 2016 ENnie Gold for Best Game • free quickstart with five pregens ## Why It Fits Pick Dragon Age when your group likes the video games or wants straightforward class-and-level fantasy with a bit more going on in each fight. Run the free quickstart adventure An Arl's Ransom first, then buy the Core Rulebook if the stunts and the setting land. ## Fit Facts - Prep: Medium - Price: Paid ## Facets - Genres: Dark Fantasy, Fantasy - Mechanics: Campaign, Character Customization, Class-Based - Decision tags: Award-Winning, Licensed, One-Shot Friendly, Rules Medium ## Scores - Complexity: 3/5 - New GM Fit: 3/5 - Roleplay Focus: 3/5 - Combat Focus: 4/5 - Tactical Depth: 3/5 - Campaign Depth: 4/5 ## Best For - Fans of the Dragon Age video games who want to play in Thedas - Groups who want class-and-level fantasy that is lighter than Dungeons & Dragons - Players who like combat with small choices on most attacks - Tables trying it out with a free quickstart and pregenerated characters ## Avoid If - You want a line that still gets new books and adventures - You want many classes or fully classless character building - Nobody at the table cares about the Dragon Age setting - You want very light rules with little to look up ## Explorer Notes The Dragon Age RPG is Green Ronin's licensed TTRPG of BioWare's Thedas: classic party fantasy with mages, rogues and warriors, darkspawn in the Deep Roads, and the setting's harsh politics around magic. It suits fans of the video games and groups who want a class-and-level game that is simpler than Dungeons & Dragons, with a stunt system that makes ordinary attacks more interesting. It is a weaker pick if you want an actively growing product line. Green Ronin finished the line in 2019 and now puts its new work into Fantasy AGE, so you get one big core book, a GM kit, a handful of adventures and a sourcebook. The rules also stay close to the three video-game classes, which some groups find limiting. ## What the game is Dragon Age was designed by Chris Pramas and published by [Green Ronin Publishing](https://greenronin.com/dragonagerpg/). Players make characters from the cultures of Thedas (Fereldan freemen, Dalish and city elves, surface dwarves, Circle mages, apostates and many more) and take one of three classes. The GM runs adventures that can involve darkspawn and the Blight, Orlesian court intrigue, Chantry politics, templars hunting apostates, and the Fade. The rules are the first version of what Green Ronin later called the Adventure Game Engine (AGE), which also runs Fantasy AGE, Modern AGE and [The Expanse Roleplaying Game](/item/the-expanse). ## Publication history and editions The game first came out as three boxed sets. Set 1 (January 2010) covered levels 1 to 5 and was based on Dragon Age: Origins, with a Player's Guide, a Game Master's Guide, a map of Ferelden and three dice. Set 2 (2011) covered levels 6 to 10 and added specializations, and Set 3 (2014) took characters to level 20. Green Ronin also released a Game Master's Kit and the Blood in Ferelden adventure collection in 2010. In May 2015 the [Dragon Age RPG Core Rulebook](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/147899/dragon-age-rpg-core-rulebook?affiliate_id=1659151) collected and updated all three sets in one 440-page hardcover, with material from Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II and Inquisition and a new adventure. A revised Game Master's Kit followed in 2016, and the Faces of Thedas sourcebook (companions and other characters from the video games) came out in 2019. That was the last new book. When PC Gamer covered the game in 2024 it noted that Green Ronin had stopped supporting it and pointed readers to Fantasy AGE material instead. The core rulebook is still on sale in PDF and print. ## What you need to play - The [Core Rulebook](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/147899/dragon-age-rpg-core-rulebook?affiliate_id=1659151): $29.95 PDF on DriveThruRPG; Green Ronin's own store listed the PDF at $22.50 and the hardcover at $44.96 when this page was checked. - Three six-sided dice, one of them a different color (the Dragon Die). - A GM. The core book has the full GM section, a bestiary and adventures. - Optional: the free [Quick Start Guide](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/92882/dragon-age-rpg-quick-start-guide?affiliate_id=1659151) (condensed rules, the adventure An Arl's Ransom and five pregenerated characters). ## Adventures and supplements The [Game Master's Kit, Revised](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/534195/dragon-age-game-master-s-kit-revised?affiliate_id=1659151) adds a screen, reference cards and a 36-page Deep Roads adventure. Blood in Ferelden is an adventure collection, and Duty Unto Death and The Dalish Curse are free adventure PDFs from Green Ronin. Faces of Thedas covers major characters from the video games. Because the engine is shared, Fantasy AGE bestiaries and adventures can be adapted with little work. ## Core rules and play structure Every test is 3d6 plus one of eight abilities (Communication, Constitution, Cunning, Dexterity, Magic, Perception, Strength and Willpower), plus 2 if you have a relevant focus, against a target number. There is no long skill list. Focuses such as Stealth, Persuasion or Heavy Blades do the job instead. When degree of success matters, the Dragon Die tells you how well you did: a 1 means you barely made it, a 6 means you did it brilliantly. Stunts are the game's signature rule. When a successful roll shows doubles on any two dice, you get stunt points equal to the Dragon Die and spend them right away from a menu: extra damage, knocking a foe prone, disarming, taking an extra attack, or, for mages, powering up a spell. Pramas has written that doubles come up on almost half of all 3d6 rolls, so stunts happen in most fights. Later books add roleplaying and exploration stunts, so a good roll in a negotiation or a search can buy extra effects too. GM characters use stunts as well, which keeps combat dangerous. ## Characters and advancement Character creation takes eight steps: concept, abilities (rolled on 3d6, with one swap allowed), background, class, equipment, Defense and Speed, a name, and goals and ties to the other characters. The core book offers 30 backgrounds, which set your race (human, elf or dwarf), give ability bonuses and focuses, and limit which classes you can take. A Circle mage and a Dalish elf play very differently even inside the same class. The three classes are mage, rogue and warrior. You gain levels from 1 to 20, pick up talents and spells, and from level 6 choose specializations such as the ones players know from the video games. It is a familiar class-and-level structure, closer to older Dungeons & Dragons than to most modern narrative games. ## What play feels like Sessions move between travel, talk and fights in a way that will feel familiar to anyone who has played a fantasy TTRPG. The difference shows in combat. Because doubles turn up so often, many attacks come with a small choice about what to do with the stunt points, and that keeps players watching the dice. Outside combat, the setting does a lot of the work: mages are feared and controlled by the Chantry, elves face prejudice, and the Blight is always a threat, so ordinary adventures tend to carry moral weight. ## Running the game The GM's load is moderate. The core resolution is easy to teach and the stunt tables do much of the descriptive work in fights. The main job is knowing Thedas well enough to set up the factions and conflicts players expect from the video games, and building or adapting adventures, since the official adventure list is short. Reviewers note that the single 400-plus-page book is harder for a new GM to digest than the original boxed sets, which let you learn levels 1 to 5 first. ## Campaign fit The game supports long campaigns from level 1 to 20, and goals and character ties give the GM hooks from the first session. It also works for one-shots: the free quickstart has an adventure and five ready characters, and character creation is quick enough for a single evening. For a long campaign, plan to write or adapt more adventures than the line provides. ## Reception and awards The Core Rulebook won Gold for Best Game and Gold for Best Interior Art at the [2016 ENnie Awards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_ENnie_Award_winners). ICv2 listed the line among the top five roleplaying games in sales in several quarters. On DriveThruRPG the core PDF averages 4.6 from 34 ratings (24 of them five stars) and the free quickstart averages 4.2 from 143. Reviewers mostly praise the stunt system. The Escapist was positive overall but found the 400-plus-page combined book daunting. Polygon liked the 30 backgrounds as a way to vary the three classes, and noted that the setting's mature handling of sex, addiction and dark ritual needs care at the table. PC Gamer described it as having old-school charm, like older Dungeons & Dragons with Dragon Age's dark fantasy. ## Where it is strongest - Stunts that make most fights feel active without adding much bookkeeping - A faithful, detailed Thedas with 30 backgrounds tied to its cultures - Simple 3d6 resolution that is easy to teach - A free quickstart with an adventure and pregenerated characters - Rules that carry over to Fantasy AGE and The Expanse if your group moves on ## Where it can frustrate groups - No new material since 2019, and only a short list of official adventures - Only three classes, which can feel narrow next to modern fantasy games - One large core book that new GMs may find hard to navigate - Much of the appeal depends on knowing and liking the video games' setting ## Content and safety notes Thedas includes blood magic, demons, slavery, racism against elves, religious persecution of mages, and violence, and the setting handles sex and addiction as part of its world. Agree on how much of that your table wants before play, especially with players who have not played the video games. ## Best starting path Download the free Quick Start Guide and run An Arl's Ransom with the pregenerated characters. If the stunts and the setting click, buy the Core Rulebook and add the revised Game Master's Kit for its screen and Deep Roads adventure. Grab the free Duty Unto Death and The Dalish Curse from Green Ronin's store for more ready-made material. ## Research notes Last checked November 14, 2026. Sources: - [Green Ronin: Dragon Age RPG](https://greenronin.com/dragonagerpg/) and [About Dragon Age](https://greenronin.com/dragonagerpg/about-dragon-age/) - [Green Ronin Design Diary 2: The Heart of the Game](https://greenronin.com/dragonagerpg/design-diary-2-the-heart-of-the-game/) - [Green Ronin Design Diary 3: Character Creation](https://greenronin.com/dragonagerpg/design-diary-3-character-creation/) - [Green Ronin: What is AGE?](https://greenronin.com/what-is-age-the-adventure-game-engine/) - [Green Ronin store: Dragon Age RPG collection](https://greenroninstore.com/collections/dragon-age-rpg) - [DriveThruRPG: Dragon Age RPG Core Rulebook](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/147899/dragon-age-rpg-core-rulebook?affiliate_id=1659151) - [DriveThruRPG: Dragon Age RPG Quick Start Guide](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/92882/dragon-age-rpg-quick-start-guide?affiliate_id=1659151) - [DriveThruRPG: Game Master's Kit, Revised](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/534195/dragon-age-game-master-s-kit-revised?affiliate_id=1659151) - [Wikipedia: Dragon Age (role-playing game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Age_(role-playing_game%29) - [Wikipedia: 2016 ENnie Award winners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_ENnie_Award_winners) ## Links - Explorer page: https://www.ttrpg-games.com/item/dragon-age - Agent JSON: https://www.ttrpg-games.com/api/games/dragon-age.json - Publisher or official site: https://greenronin.com/dragonagerpg/ - Reviews or retailer page: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/147899/dragon-age-rpg-core-rulebook?affiliate_id=1659151 - Store links are affiliate links.