"So now that the journey's over mind telling us how you managed to acquire such a well-tamed hawk?" "What hawk? Oh, this is my buddy, he's a shapeshifter who just really likes being a hawk. It's not like he's trying to hide that fact and you guys never asked so I assumed you all knew that."
"His name is actually Hawke, it's kind of a funny story; he really wanted to be able to turn into a dragon, but... well, that one isn't so easy to learn. So he decided his namesake was the next best thing. I mean, it was pretty funny the first time someone went "Hawke!" like he was in trouble, and he just turned into a bird and flew off. Everyone's reactions were pretty hilarious, mine included I'm sure, but the real kicker was the look on the barkeep's face. We'd all seen him sipping from that flask he kept behind the bar, so when he asked what happened we played dumb. I was so glad I was in town, later I heard the barkeep swore off drinking on the job—"
"You're telling me this bird's actually a person?"
"I knew I kept catchin' him spying on me, but you said " how could he, he's just a bird" like he wasn't constantly training his beady eyes on me—."
"Anyways, I gotta ask... why is he just constantly a bird?"
"It was intended as a joke at first, but he really likes the feeling! I don't know, something about "the freedom of the wind under my wings and the open sky ahead of me" or something like that. And also, well... he's kinda on the run right now. Not for anything bad he did! More one of his friends blew something up, and he helped clean up the mess afterwards and then skipped town but he doesn't know if the people looking for him are after him to like, arrest him or kill him, or to ask him to help more, which he thinks would be even worse. So when he heard I had some stuff to do way out here he asked to tag along. Anyways, you called him Hawke and I was a little worried, but then everyone was cool about it so I figured there wasn't a problem."
"I called him a hawk because that's what he is! Not because I somehow knew this was a criminal on the run who could turn into one! "
"Ah, my mistake then. My wife always says things fly right over my head, which is quite literally true with Hawke but she does worry I'll get into trouble over it. Speaking of which, I notice my friend has flown off somewhere during our conversation, and you all are looking increasingly irritated, so considering the fact that our journey is over I'll just... be leaving now!"
So we 100% agree this is a reference to Hawke, right? The character from the game where if you got a companion to full friendship OR full rivalry they'd stick around through thick and thin.
... Man I love Dragon Age 2. I know not everyone feels the same, with how unfinished it was (which I will not debate, they definitely rushed it out) but it's still so good. It's just so much more personal than the other games; like the HoF, and the Inquisitor, and Rook are all out here trying to stop an apocalypse and save the world... Meanwhile Hawke was just trying to live their life with their family and friends in the wake of an apocalypse, and just kept getting dragged into sh*t well above their pay grade. And losing family members one by one, and watching their friends make bad decisions ... Type f in the chat for this poor soul 😔
So, I may have started a new playthrough of Veilguard... And I know I took a photo of this before, but this is on my new computer so it's higher quality 😎
It's so terrible because you are at D'Meta's Crossing, it's all spooky and quiet... You find some blighted, mind controlled villagers and you know things are bad.... There's blight everywhere, and people in the blight growths... You peer into one house and see three corpses ƃuᴉƃuɐɥ from the ceiling ... Then you peer into the same building from another door and see this 🤦🏻
I guess, if you know it's the end... Same my man, same 🫡
So I've started diving into the Dragon Age TTRPG, and I'm finding some things that I'd like to organize differently 😂 Honestly, I don't think there's anything wrong with the original, but as my mother pointed out (she's one of my players) I'm just modding the game for my preferences 😁
I've made some altered documents, and I'll share links here in case anyone might find them helpful themselves!
Links first, then notes about each under the cut!
Character Sheet
Ability Focuses
Spells List
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First up is a modified Character Sheet. Mostly it's just organization, but I've made a few changes to the process as well.
- The little empty dots next to the Ability Scores are to mark spent Advancement Points. At 6 and every even number after, Abilities cost two advancement points. All odd numbers cost 1. I did this so that Ability Scores have the opportunity to go higher; the character creation guide lists that abilities can go up to 12, but I did the math and really you'd never get any above 9. With this method I believe you can get a couple of them up to 11.
-The belt pouches represent the gear item: the small bubbles are for you to check how many you've purchased, up to 3. Items you keep in a gear pouch can be readied as a Free Action, though you can't put anything away. Otherwise you have to spend your whole turn drinking a potion or applying a poison- a Minor Action to ready it, and another Minor Action to activate. You are limited still, with only 3 readied items at a time, but it encourages thinking ahead to what you might need so that you can use an item and still get a Major or Minor action that turn.
-The rest is organization or additional information: more spell details, initiation and healing, bubbles for base and current stats. And taking the text out of the boxes, because I hated writing over it.
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Then Ability Focuses! This one is pretty simple, I added check boxes so players could have their own lists to both keep track of their skills, and see possible ability tests.
-I did add a few focuses, things I felt were missing: Cunning (Cooking), Dexterity (Hunting), Dexterity (Knotwork), and Perception (Foraging).
-I also have some homebrew focus rules. There are 80 original focuses (so many!), and with my addition there's 84. A character can only really get around 25 by the time they are level 20? That's if they only ever get new ones, and don't upgrade old ones. I wanted to give my players the opportunity to get more than that so:
--During level ups, characters with +3 Cunning gain one additional focus point (total of 2) to spend on an appropriate primary/secondary ability focus. --Characters with +8 Cunning gain an additional 2 focus points (total of 3) to spend on an appropriate primary/secondary ability focus.
----During character creation, a player may choose one of their Trained Weapons to gain the focus for.
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Then we have my spells list. First I'll apologize... It looks kinda dorky 😅 but it separates the spells by Magic School (so if you want to specialize in one or two schools it's much easier to browse), and additionally groups them by spell requirement trees. Before they were listed alphabetically, which works when you are going to look up a spell, but it felt difficult to find spells that don't have a requirement when you first are creating a character.
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Finally I'm just going to share a few other homebrew character creation rules!
- Rolling ability scores: Use the default rules (Roll scores in alphabetical order, you may swap any two), plus you may reroll the lowest die of each roll, however you must take the second roll.
-Rolling health: Class stat + CON + 1d6. You may reroll the die, however you must take the second roll.
-Rolling mana: 10 + MAGIC + 1d6. You may reroll the die, however you must take the second roll.
-Race Boons: Speed vs Health - Elves start with base 12 speed, Humans & Qunari with base 10 speed and an extra 1d3 health, and Dwarves start with a base 8 speed and an extra 1d6 health. You may reroll the die, however you must take the second roll.
-If rolling up a character higher than level 1, increase money each level by LVLx10 + 6d6 silver pieces. You may reroll the lowest die, however you must take the second roll.
-If a player wishes to sell starting gear during the character creation process, they may do so for half the listed cost of the item.
Alrighty, I think that's it, for now at least! I hope people can find these resources useful! 🥰
Another one. More varric and hawk hawke this time a little more rendered.
I know I am veeerrry late the party when it comes to timelapses but I haven’t done one yet and as it turns out it’s built into clip studio so no having to download something else.
Okay so it's been a hot minute since I posted anything on this blog, but I just have to say:
I recently purchased the Dragon Age RPG Core Rulesbook (bc it was on sale and I've been thinking of trying to maybe gm something + get my family into ttrpgs). I have no idea when anything might come to fruition because unfortunately, Life™ usually keeps me pretty busy without the addition of copious amounts of research and planning, BUT!
I've previously created a Dragon Age Zodiac that I will definitely be sharing with my prospective players so they can pick their character's birthdays. I have multiple word documents dedicated to plotting distances and travel times in Fereldan (courtesy of trying to write a diary of an Origins character and wanting to be able to date the entries). I have extensive timeline notes through the first three games. I own the World of Thedas box set. I got my mom into dragon age (DA:O is the first RPG she ever played) so between her, my sister, and my brother-in-law they can have a team with one character in each class.
I've been preparing for this and I didn't even know it. If ever there was an established world I could be confident leading in, it would probably be Thedas (or maaaaaybe Middle-Earth). Now ... Just wish me luck gathering the courage to actually run a game. And then maybe try to get my friends I play other ttrpgs with to try the Dragon Age one, and GM for them (because I'm the only person in the group who has only ever been a player). Yeah, just wish me luck 😆
AND FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS! DO SCARY THINGS! BE CONFIDENT! BE CHAOTIC! Anyways it's like 3am and I should go to bed. But yeah, please everyone, do fun, mildly nerve wracking things just for the heck of it. Dive into your hyperfixations if they make you happy. Be unashamedly nerdy. Love y'all
Y'all, someday I swear I'll actually finish this project! Was going through files and found my notes from like, 2 or 3 years ago when I did a playthrough of DAO and wanted to create a journal written by my character. I was creating a calendar, and a map, and working on figuring out distances so I could track how long it took to get places so the journal entry dates would be accurate. When I hyperfixate, I do so HARD.
The only thing is ... I don't remember doing the math n stuff, and it doesn't make much sense anymore (plus like I'm not a math person so it may not even be right!) so I'll have to figure it out or redo it, which was a lot of work in the first place 😅 oh well!
And I do think they should’ve brought Sandal back in Veilguard, because if he made the trick lyrium dagger, handed it over, and said “Enchantment!” I wouldn’t even bat an eye or consider it a deus ex machina moment. Like yeah of course he could make a perfect copy, and it would be so similar that it could trick Solas. It’s Sandal.
The plot hole would be that his copy would absolutely be capable of rending the Veil.
Sandal should have randomly appeared out of nowhere during the fight with Elger'nan, everyone freezes as they stare at him before he shouts "BOOM!" and Elger'nan is no more.
I know I’ve said that Cullen shouldn’t have been the Commander of the Inquisition’s Forces because he really wasn’t ready, but at the same time…
Who else would Cassandra have picked?
Cullen was probably one of the last high-ranking templars who saw the faults of the Chantry but wasn’t neglecting his duty. He protected any mages that chose to remain at the Gallows, but his focus and orders to the templars under him were to help the city rebuild.
He maintained order. Stability.
He had stood up to his corrupt commanding officer (later than he should have, but still he did no matter which side Hawke supported) and sought to undo her mistakes to the best of his ability.
And when Cassandra offered the position to him, a position within an organization that sought to bring about change and stop the fighting (remember, they had no notion of the coming events with the Herald and Corypheus) he took it.
And decided to leave the Order, in its entirety, behind. He wanted to serve not as a templar— loyal and slave to the Chantry, his own spiritual beliefs aside—but as his own man.
It’s why Cassandra supported it. She saw it for what it was: his desire to serve out of genuine willingness, not blind obedience or ulterior motives. She also mentions that she knew Cullen could break free of lyrium when she met with him. There’s something to that statement that is multilayered.
Any other templar? Might’ve been serving in order to secure his lyrium fix. A templar completely alienated against the Chantry and/or mages? Would’ve been dangerous.
But it makes sense that it was a templar and not just a regular military soldier. A templar would understand the workings of the Chantry and the Circle while being able to train and lead soldiers with more effectiveness because templars are meant to be the most adept warriors in Thedas.
This isn’t even speaking to his own military-related training and career as well as the action he’d seen between the revolt at Kinloch and becoming knight-captain in Kirkwall and leading men and women in that volatile city both before and after Meredith.
There’s probably more to this, but while I do understand that having to face that role while undergoing that process might’ve been a risky move, if anyone could do it, he could.
The man withstood mental torture and demonic temptation with nothing but sheer will. Cassandra wouldn’t have know that part, but she saw that will in how he took a stand against Meredith, putting himself between her and Hawke and then worked himself to the bone to help the city he had a hand in casting into utter chaos find stability. In pulling the templars together in order to do so.
Should he have been able to focus solely on his rehab and recovery? Perhaps. But he’s a man who needs a purpose beyond himself. To strip him of that, of the ability to serve something greater than himself, to serve the Maker, to serve the people, to serve in order to focus solely on himself probably would’ve been more detrimental than helpful.
Cullen might not have been “perfect”, but he was the best pick because of that imperfection.
Okay, oof I haven't posted in AGES because, ya know-
life
But anyways! Got myself a new computer and I have never experienced games like this 😆 but honestly I think the biggest shocker to me was going to the crossroads in VG and realizing I'd never noticed the sky before?? Like, I don't actually know how different it looks now, but I legit just stared into the sky for some solid minutes.
I guess taking pictures of the clouds is not something I only do in real life haha
So I started playing the Witcher 3 and I remember my parents had two guidebooks for the game: a collector's edition that they kept sealed and one they actually used. It made me want to get the guidebook because man, I love guidebooks. Guidebooks were so fucking awesome to have. I had a guidebook for Oblivion and Skyrim and even found one for Fable 3.
Today, I went searching for the Witcher 3 guidebook at local game stores to no avail. I had to get on ebay. Then I realized: guidebooks aren't really made anymore.
They used to be so fucking cool. It was so awesome to be able to scour a book to look for information that I needed in a game. I felt like a scholar uncovering hidden secrets or an alchemist looking inside a tome for where to find all these mysterious herbs. There was just something so nice and fulfilling about flipping through a physical medium to find something for a digital medium.
Now, we just have the internet, but it's not as fun nor fulfilling. Sometimes it takes me a while to find what I'm looking for and about three reddit threads until I find what I want and it just doesn't feel as nice.
I am honestly truly sad the era of guidebooks is gone because I used to love them. Having a book companion to a game was honestly just so frickin awesome. We lost something when guidebooks stopped being made. And I know there are online guides and such, but I'm talking about literal hard copies. To have a tome of knowledge about a game.
May I contribute to "actually hilarious Lucanis quotes":
Rook, her bf Davrin, and her bff Emmerich were fighting for their lives, and the sheer annoyance and incredulity in Lucanis' voice when he said this made me legitimately bust out laughing.
Mom I'm scared. Why oh why did I have to be curious about the bad ending 😭
NO IM NOT SURE.
NO IM NOT CONFIDENT. BUT WE'RE DOING THIS ANYWAYS.
I'm going to be so sad for the next few hours.
Update below the cut so y'all can see it (Beware)
Ooookay
I haven't finished bc I have to go to work, but I made it to the end of The Last Gambit... I'm in tears 😭 some things if you want to know but don't want to actually play it (why have I done this):
Whoever you send with the Veil Jumpers to take down the wards lives, but Strife dies.
Whoever you send to help the Crows & Lords dies. (Taash for me)
Whoever you send to help the Wardens and Mourn Watch dies. (Emmerich for me)
If the Shadow Dragons aren't strong enough, The Viper dies.
Haven't seen any sign of Anaris, and no Dragon King (though there was a letter right before Tearstone Island warning about him). No Red Lyrium Harding either, and Davrin is dead already in mine, but no blighted griffons or Gloom Howler. I finished Lucanis' quest bc I didn't romance him on a Crow the first time, and my next Crow will probably be romancing someone else, so wanted to see the Crow/Lucanis things during his quest line. But I wonder if Zara was still alive, if she might also make an appearance.
So far none of the other allies died: Irelin, Teia, Viago, Myrna, Vorgoth, Tarquin, Antoine, Evka, and Isabela are all still alive. So small mercies.
Irelin talks about Strife in the safe house, as does Isabela about Taash, and Tarquin about The Viper.
Some really terrible things thought of:
If Emmerich and Strife were in a relationship, and only one died? Even worse possibly, what if Emmerich was the one sent to help? But would Emmerich mention Strife, or Strife mention Emmerich if only one survived? Strife asks you to keep Emmerich safe in the good version.. Probably?
Also, if Manfred is still around and Emmerich dies... Worse if you didn't even do Emmerich's quest (like me) so he doesn't have magic or can talk or anything... What's going to happen to Manfred??? Did he even survive the battle, because he was in a cutscene but I haven't seen him at the safe house????
Didn't do enough content to have Harding and Taash in a relationship, so can't find out. But if they're in a relationship and Harding survives Tearstone Island, what happens if one of them dies here?
What if Lucanis & Neve are in a relationship and one of them dies here? Like, if Bellara got captured and Lucanis dies fighting Aelia? I'm making myself sad just thinking about how Neve would feel.
anyways I'm sad and have to go to work, and then finish my no good, terrible, awful playthrough when I get home. Wish me luck and sanity 😭
(and then I must immediately start my fourth playthrough bc no, they must have as much of a happy ending as possible)
Okay, more updates + a couple photos! Honestly I got a few screen caps of the tragedies I just experienced, but idk if y'all really want to see those. I can post them if you want, just let me know, but also be warned!! I also can't post any more videos on this thread :P
Okay, notes!
Where you can go in and see the fallen, there's something placed over the sheet for big characters; ie Emmerich's staff, Taash's axes, Viper's hat, Strife's sword.
Talking with your remaining companions is terrible bc they'll mention (at least some of them) their grief at losing their friends :(
I tried leaving Lucanis to help the other forces at the begining of The Dread Wolf Rises, since he's a HotV, but he still dies. Possibly because it's the Dragon King that the companion faces, so either if that companion quest was completed, OR if any ally strength was higher, even if both things weren't true, he might have survived. Oh well, looks like everyone dies.
(I went back and left Harding bc if he's not going to survive anyways I wanted my boyfriend with me 🥺)
Said scene is HORRIBLE 😭 as in, super traumatic. There's the ogre, or the Dragon King if he's still alive, and your companion goes to protect Morrigan but gets knock down, and then it shows your companions face as their enemy delivers the final blow. Like, my hands flew up to my mouth in shock.
I could post some screenshots of these moments if people want, instead of suffering the actual video, but like.... Maybe you don't want to see.
I think the scene of (Bellara in my game) controlling the blight is the same? I couldn't remember the details from the last time, and then the blight covers her over. Difference is, at the end we don't see her breaking out of the blight again, so it just consumes her.
There was no decision to make once I got to Solas. It just auto played into attacking.... Your two remaining companions get turned to stone and Solas stabs Rook in the gut, though not before you manage to get him too. Then both of you get pulled into the tear while you are struggling over the knife. It shows the statues of your companions, left on the platform.
Morrigan says something ominous about the victory costing too much (I don't remember the exact words, which to be fair I'm already trying to block this whole thing out) over a black screen.
Then NO EPILOGUE ART CUTSCENE. It just shows this-
And then THIS
They're like.... Yeah, you f*d that pretty good, try again.
IM SO SAD 😭😭😭 it's kind of late but like.... I must start my next playthrough because I have to convince myself this was all a terrible dream 🥺 I had the thought that it'd be interesting to see what other companions say in between the last two missions, in the safe house; whichever three are still alive at that point.... Or if it's possible to have whatever last hero you leave survive, but you don't, and if that might give you any ending cutscene (I kinda doubt it, I think it depends on whether Rook makes it). But I CANNOT do that again, so those will remain unanswered 🙂↔️
Anyways I hope this benefits anyone else, and maybe keeps you from feeling the need to put yourself through this! ❤️
Mom I'm scared. Why oh why did I have to be curious about the bad ending 😭
NO IM NOT SURE.
NO IM NOT CONFIDENT. BUT WE'RE DOING THIS ANYWAYS.
I'm going to be so sad for the next few hours.
Update below the cut so y'all can see it (Beware)
Ooookay
I haven't finished bc I have to go to work, but I made it to the end of The Last Gambit... I'm in tears 😭 some things if you want to know but don't want to actually play it (why have I done this):
Whoever you send with the Veil Jumpers to take down the wards lives, but Strife dies.
Whoever you send to help the Crows & Lords dies. (Taash for me)
Whoever you send to help the Wardens and Mourn Watch dies. (Emmerich for me)
If the Shadow Dragons aren't strong enough, The Viper dies.
Haven't seen any sign of Anaris, and no Dragon King (though there was a letter right before Tearstone Island warning about him). No Red Lyrium Harding either, and Davrin is dead already in mine, but no blighted griffons or Gloom Howler. I finished Lucanis' quest bc I didn't romance him on a Crow the first time, and my next Crow will probably be romancing someone else, so wanted to see the Crow/Lucanis things during his quest line. But I wonder if Zara was still alive, if she might also make an appearance.
So far none of the other allies died: Irelin, Teia, Viago, Myrna, Vorgoth, Tarquin, Antoine, Evka, and Isabela are all still alive. So small mercies.
Irelin talks about Strife in the safe house, as does Isabela about Taash, and Tarquin about The Viper.
Some really terrible things thought of:
If Emmerich and Strife were in a relationship, and only one died? Even worse possibly, what if Emmerich was the one sent to help? But would Emmerich mention Strife, or Strife mention Emmerich if only one survived? Strife asks you to keep Emmerich safe in the good version.. Probably?
Also, if Manfred is still around and Emmerich dies... Worse if you didn't even do Emmerich's quest (like me) so he doesn't have magic or can talk or anything... What's going to happen to Manfred??? Did he even survive the battle, because he was in a cutscene but I haven't seen him at the safe house????
Didn't do enough content to have Harding and Taash in a relationship, so can't find out. But if they're in a relationship and Harding survives Tearstone Island, what happens if one of them dies here?
What if Lucanis & Neve are in a relationship and one of them dies here? Like, if Bellara got captured and Lucanis dies fighting Aelia? I'm making myself sad just thinking about how Neve would feel.
anyways I'm sad and have to go to work, and then finish my no good, terrible, awful playthrough when I get home. Wish me luck and sanity 😭
(and then I must immediately start my fourth playthrough bc no, they must have as much of a happy ending as possible)
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