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Introduction
This is a review of the printed version of the Dragon Age Game Master's Kit, not the PDF. I did not order the PDF version and can't really comment on it. I am wondering how a GM screen works in PDF format, but I digress... Please note this review contains spoilers for the adventure "A Bann Too Many" contained in The Kit.

I am a big fan of the Dragon Age RPG written by Chris Pramas and published by Green Ronin. I was looking for a game to play with some new RPGers; three people in their twenties who had never played a table top RPG before. After much searching I settled on Dragon Age, and we have not looked back. They have taken to the game with incredible enthusiasm and really look forward to every session.

Dragon Age uses three six-sided dice to resolve actions is a few different ways: opposed checks, checks against a target number, and advanced skill checks that require a series of rolls. It also includes a great system called the "Stunt" system that allows players to perform and describe heroic actions. I will not go into detail here, as this is a review the Dragon Age Game Master's Kit (referred to as The Kit henceforth), and not the Dragon Age RPG itself.

Why I chose The Kit
This is one of two games I am currently GMing and in the midst of a busy life, I do not have as much time to create adventures as I would like. Since my other game is a long running Star Wars (Revised Core Rulebook) game, most of my energy goes into creating adventures for that group. After my Dragon Age players finished the excellent "The Dalish Curse" included in the Dragon Age RPG Boxed Set 1, I needed a new adventure, and fast! The Kit was available and contained an adventure. I purchased The Kit online at greenronin.com, and shortly it arrived at my house.

What is in the box shrink wrap
There are two parts to The Kit. First, a handsome three paneled Game Master's Screen containing all the useful tables and charts for the game. Second is a 32-page adventure entitled "A Bann Too Many".

The Screen
This is an excellent product for a number of reasons. It is full color, and well illustrated by Francisco Torres. The player facing side of the screen depicts a huge force of Dark Spawn over running the land. It is a great tool for setting the mood for your players. As one of my players declared upon seeing it "Does that Dragon have light coming out of its EYES!?". The horde seems to be emerging from the screen and charging the players. This is excellent at setting the mood for a game that bills itself as "Dark Fantasy". Inside are all the charts and tables you need to run the game. They are well laid out and easy to read. The font is a little small for my 40-year-old eyes, but I understand the designers are trying to fit an incredible amount of information into a very limited space. My favorite part of the screen is game master's advice featured front and center of the middle panel:

- Focus on the Characters
- Provoke Tough Moral Choices
- Paint the World with Five Senses
- Be Flexible
- Be Exciting

A Bann Too Many
The adventure, designed by Jeff Tidball, starts out very promising. The essential plot is a good one, and there are some great ideas for scaling the size of the task up or down. Dragon Age adventures are broken down into a series of encounters. One thing I liked about this adventure upon first read was the number of role-playing and exploration encounters offered. I also liked the optional sub-plots. These sub-plots could be added if the players needed extra motivation, or if the game was lagging. I like this idea, and I think the execution here is good

Once we started the players began to struggle under the weight of the politics of the story. Though I like the optional sub-plots, the number of factions in play became too much to handle. I was disappointed with the difficulty with which the players had getting to their goal. The PCs in my game got some lucky rolls, and came up with some interesting solutions around the difficulties and managed to keep the game from getting mired. In the other set of Dragon Age adventures, Blood in Ferelden (a book I hope to review once we have played the other two adventures), the first adventure "Amber Rage" contains similar competing factions, but executes them more simply. The PCs playing in "Amber Rage" immediately grasped the politics and tensions and acted swiftly and decisively. In "A Bann Too Many" I found we were constantly reviewing the factions motivations and it interrupted our momentum.

The end-game has the potential to be great. It was not in our play-through however. At the 11th hour, and new faction is revealed. The characters had to make a tough choice (which is good), but they were completely underwhelmed by it's consequences of that choice. Again, for comparison, "Amber Rage" offers very difficult choices, and the consequences are heart rending. the open-ended finale of "A Bann Too Many" is a good idea, but ultimately frustrating. The stakes are not clear, and the characters are not invested enough in the outcomes to make it compelling.

Art, and a Conclusion
The illustrations by Andrew Bosley are uniformly good, as are the maps by Jared Blando. "A Bann Too Many" is not a bad adventure, just not a great one. Style:4, Substance:3
With a price of only $17.95, it is worth it for the GM screen alone. Thank you for reading this review.

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