The Adventures of Caelius, Part I

Art of Kirkwall from Dragon Age II

I am pleased to announce that we have finally - after much preparation and too many interruptions - started our Dragon Age tabletop adventure.  It is based on the work that I have shared on this blog and was helped along immensely by the resources I have gathered here, as well as cheat sheets that were shared with me by members of the community.  I decided to go entirely digital with this campaign, except for a couple of pages I printed out for quick reference and Nate's character sheet.  I think that ended up being the right choice because everything is legible, easily able to be modified, and easily shared.

In-Game Events: The session started out on a slave ship originally set out from Neromenian, Caelius’ hometown and base.  It has 300 female slaves from prepubescent to late adult ages (mostly elves, but also humans), about 30 soldiers of the Second Cadre (the PCs are the Sixth Squadron), and the sailing crew.  Their orders are to dock at Tallo and march inland to deliver at least 200 female slaves to a station up the river from Nordbotten in the Hunterhorn Mountains by Parvulis the first (within six months).  Crew can pursue other leads and avenues so long as they are on schedule with at least 200 healthy female slaves capable of childbirth.

We began on Nubulis the 8th, not far from Asariel.  A row of five slaves who were cleaning fish while chained together tried to make a dash overboard, with land in sight of the ship.  Caelius, alert on deck, caught them before they got far and had quite a scuffle with them.  Two of the women, both elves, stabbed him with their knives and one of them got in a better wound than he expected.  He was able to subdue them all as backup arrived to take them below.  Since he caught them, it was up to him to decide what to do with them.

Caelius decided he wanted to speak with the two who stabbed him.  This made me glad that I'd gotten ideas for what they were like based on some quick draws from my tarokka deck, and that I had my name lists ready.  The tarokka deck seemed suited to a darker game like Dragon Age and worked like a charm.  Another great thing was the way Caelius gelled with Gallus and Sonia (his NPC rogue and mage), since he kept them with him.  They had continual banter that felt natural, gave that comic relief you find in Dragon Age games, and made them feel like people with history.

Caelius: If you hated yourself more, I might have a chance with you.
Sonia: You will *never* have a chance with me.
Caelius: See? Self-respect!

Nalle, the first elf, already had some scars and a haunted look.  She described some rather rough usage from prior owners when he asked about her scars; she had a story for each one.  Caelius shared some of his and expressed his desire to get all of the slaves to the end goal alive and well.  When she reported some extra rough usage of slaves in the cargo hold by a couple of soldiers, Caelius actually said he would look into it.  He decided to brand her on the hand so that she would not be given weapons again, and with the door open in the kitchen so the slaves could hear but not really see everything.  Otherwise, he offered to do what he could to keep the slaves from real harm if she would tell him what was going on.  They came to an understanding without any dice being rolled.

The other elf, Marelanna, was the one who had stabbed Caelius most deeply.  She was interviewed with care in Captain Fortir's quarters, since she had seemed to know how to use her knife a little too well, and she had urged the women to keep fighting.  It turned out that she was a hunter with a small, hidden dalish clan.  She had overheard their destination and was afraid to be sent so far for an unknown purpose.  Caelius believed that she would keep fighting, so he offered her a deal: He would find a way to make sure she wasn't delivered to the Hunterhorns, swapping her out for another slave, if she would stop causing trouble for the rest of the trip.

To Marelanna's surprise, Caelius had Sonia heal the considerable bruising to the side of her face he had smashed with his maul.  They also came up with a ruse to make it seem like she was going to get her due punishment.  Gallus and Sonia beat the captain's hammock (covered in a tarp) while Caelius whispered shocking things to get Marelanna to make sounds that would seem like she was being beaten.  When Nate rolled his Communication check he got some stunt points, and he decided to use the flirt roleplaying stunt - but he got the lowest possible result on that check: three 1s.  Not only did Sonia and Gallus overhear the extremely awkward attempt, but Marelanna was left not quite knowing what to make of it.  Hilarity was achieved as Nate made the most of that bad roll.

The group took Marelanna to "the pit," a solitary hold in the dark, and pretended to throw her in harshly.  After taking a late watch, in which Caelius kept an eye on the soldiers Nalle told him about, they rested.  The next day, Caelius pocketed some of his lunch and went into the pit, leaving Gallus as a lookout.  He learned more about Marelanna and made another awkward overture that was accepted.  The game ended with a fade to black while Gallus sang a pirate song outside to cover up any errant sounds.

Observations: It took some page-flipping and quick reading, but both of us liked how easy the system was to start out with.  Stunt points were plentiful, stunts were interesting but optional, and that Target Number system was fine for miscellaneous tasks.  There were options for combat outside of stunts, as well, so there was always something to do.  I found a small error in Sonia's build (giving her Chirurgy without the focus required) but I've since fixed it.

One thing I couldn't find on the fly was a system for teamwork tests, where everyone pitches in to achieve the same goal.  I quickly decided to let Gallus lead the deception check, with Sonia and Caelius supporting his efforts to sound like they were beating Marelanna mercilessly.  His total was 19.  Sonia's was 17, so I added +3 for her effort (based on the ability generation system).  Caelius got a 12, still decent, adding a +2 for a total of 24.  It would take someone with experience and luck to listen through the door and figure out they were lying.

I flagged the key sections in the book so for the most part page flipping was fast.  I am using the print version of the book, since I still prefer dead tree roleplaying guides, and we only have one print copy.  I'm glad to have gotten the PDF with my purchase so that if Nate needs his own copy, we can use it.  I was able to use the fold-out map to show him where Caelius is and where he's scheduled to go.  But we didn't feel beholden to the book.  I got a lot of use out of this blog as I had Nate choose a god for Caelius (Toth) and I made a copy of the journal to take notes in.  I know there were other posts I referred to as time went on.  So this blog is working as intended.

One thing that kept coming up during play was Caelius insisting, "They don't pay me to think."  He tries not to think about a number of the larger things going on around him, like slavery.  The day after the game, Nate realized that it's because Caelius actually doesn't like slavery much.  He doesn't see why the elves should never have the chance to win their freedom.  But he also knows he's a small cog in a big machine.  He is, however, in the right squad, as neither Sonia nor Gallus care for slavery much outside of repaying debts or crimes.  This gives Tevinter more depth and humanity than I've seen in the video games.

I was rusty after not having run in a while, but to paraphrase Nate at the end of the session: Well, that was definitely a Dragon Age game.  Racial oppression, messed up situations, sex and banter - and a guy stuck in the middle who isn't sure how much he can do to help.

Achievement unlocked: Ran our first session of Dragon Age the tabletop game