Dragon Age: Origins Tabletop RPG Interview

Ars Technica recently chatted up Dragon Age: Origins executive producer Mark Darrah about the company's announced plans for a Dragon Age tabletop RPG.
Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Bioware has been looking to break into the tabletop market for a while. "I think it was really what we've been looking into doing, with making our products becoming broader. and turning into a full franchise." That comment about turning multiple products into franchises caught our attention, which prompted a follow-up question about whether or not Bioware was looking to adapt any of its other games for the tabletop market. "I don't know what the plans are for Mass Effect; I do know they're looking into broadening their audience, but I don't know their plans."

As a result, Darrah said that the company had a talented team working on the adaptation. Naturally, Bioware picked Green Ronin because, "[they're] one of the strongest Pen-and-paper RPG companies around and have had experience with dark fantasy settings in the past." Darrah himself is a fan of the publisher's work, and he admitted that he's involved with a Mutants & Masterminds campaign.

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Not only will the adaptation allow gamers to experience a more freeform play experience, but it will also help flesh out the game world in more detail. "There will be a bit more detail on some of the parts of Ferelden that are presented but that you can't go to into the main video game," said Darrah. "You'll get a little more history in the pen-and-paper game."

Of course, Bioware is working with Green Ronin on the tabletop version of Dragon Age. According to Darrah, "We've been involved with the story and the broad mechanics, like 'these are the sort of powers and spells that exist,' but we're leaving the pen-and-paper mechanics to Green Ronin... there's been a lot of collaboration between us with the setup of the world and the high level vision and story that's being presented."