Dragon Quest RPG

Post by **Edi** » 2003-07-14 08:42am

All right, I've mentioned this game in several posts earlier, as some people probably have noticed. I would like to know if there are any people here who are familiar with it, and to give an opportunity for those are not to become so.

Background: Dragon Quest was designed by SPI in the late 70s and very early 80s before they tanked and T$R bought them and promptly buried DQ. It's about the most flexible and in many ways the most realistic fantasy RPG system I've seen, and while it may at first glance look like a bit much, it's not overly complex. Some stuff could be explained a bit better than it is, but it works once you figure it out. At any rate I love it, and so do some other people who've been keeping the online DQ community alive. Incidentally, DQ got a 5/5 rating from RPGnet, if you want to look it up (search by company: SPI turns it up).

So, if you want to take a look, DQ 2nd Edition (3rd Edition was corrupted and mutilated by TSR and is considered heresy by most DQ players) is available in PDF form online. Incidentally, DQ is not free, but has more of an abandon-ware status, WotC has active rights and is keeping it under wraps because they don't want a competitor for D20, so I'd appreciate it if people were discreet...

You can get the necessary stuff as follows:

The actual 2E files:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Dragonquestfiles/

A group fallen into disuse as far as I know, has some DQ files
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dqnewsletter/

This is basically the newsletter these days, anything noteworthy comes up here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dqn-list/

The most active list by far, this group is dedicated to the discussion of the DQ rules, any questions about interpretation and suggestions for new and optional rules should go here, you'll be inundated with answers and help.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dq-rules/

You should also check out the home site of the Dragonquest Players' Association, http://www.dragonquest.org and http://www.iosphere.net/~eric/dq, Snafaru's home page. Snafaru is one of the movers and shakers in the DQ community.

The basic things you need are the files in the DQFiles group, they contain the 2nd Edition DQ in pdf format (several files), the Arcane Wisdom supplement (see Snafaru's page) and the Poor Brendan's Almanac supplement made by Rodger Thorm (available in the files section of at least one group). The DQOS document at Snafaru's page also has interesting staff and all of the most important tables and stuff amalgamated in one place.

Also, I happened to upload optional rules for aspects into the DQ-rules group a couple of days ago, so you can take a look at those too.

That should set you up with everything, and I really mean everything you need for years and years of fun. The DQ layout can take a little getting used to, everything is indexed by rule number instead of page numbers, and it'll take a couple of readings to internalize the system, but once you do, it KICKS ASS!

Edi

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-07-14 02:16pm

Dragon Quest is why Dragon Warrior is called Dragon Warrior in the United States.

generator_g1 · Post by **generator_g1** » 2003-07-14 10:06pm

Was Dragon Quest is the only RPG that beat Final Fantasy in terms of sales in Japan?

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-07-14 10:34pm

generator_g1 wrote:Was Dragon Quest is the only RPG that beat Final Fantasy in terms of sales in Japan?

Still beats it every release.

And it is a national law that a new DQ game can only be release on a weekend.

Post by **Edi** » 2003-07-15 04:37am

generator_g1 wrote:Was Dragon Quest is the only RPG that beat Final Fantasy in terms of sales in Japan?

There might indeed be a game of that name for game consoles, I believe they have 9+ games with that title, but it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the DQ I'm talking about. The one I've been mentioning is a pen & paper RPG some 25 years old.

Edi

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-07-15 05:08am

And as I mentioned, that pen and paper RPG is the reason Dragon Quest is called Dragon Warrior in the United States.

Post by **Edi** » 2003-07-15 05:11am

Sorry, somehow I managed to miss that.

Edi

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2003-07-15 12:40pm

Edi wrote:
generator_g1 wrote:Was Dragon Quest is the only RPG that beat Final Fantasy in terms of sales in Japan? :?
There might indeed be a game of that name for game consoles, I believe they have 9+ games with that title, but it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the DQ I'm talking about. The one I've been mentioning is a pen & paper RPG some 25 years old.

Edi

Actually, the latest game in the series (and the first new one to be brought to North America since the 8-bit days) was Dragon Quest/Warrior VII. There's been a few spin-off series, though, which would bring the number up a fair bit.

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2003-07-17 02:57am

...so waitaminute... is Dragon Quest a tabletop RPG or a computer game?

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2003-07-17 03:45am

My friend has a boardgame called Dragon Quest if that's what you mean, we played it last week, it wasnt too bad, plenty of scope for improvement in places. Only comes with 3 missions though, so we're debating writing our own.

Post by **Edi** » 2003-07-17 05:29am

Eleas wrote:...so waitaminute... is Dragon Quest a tabletop RPG or a computer game?

Tabletop RPG of the traditional kind. Follow the linkys...

There's probably all sorts of games that have been similarly named, hence the confusion, but the links I provided are to the main online sources of the tabletop pen and paper RPG.

Edi

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2003-07-17 07:10am

Edi wrote:
Eleas wrote:...so waitaminute... is Dragon Quest a tabletop RPG or a computer game?
Tabletop RPG of the traditional kind. Follow the linkys...

There's probably all sorts of games that have been similarly named, hence the confusion, but the links I provided are to the main online sources of the tabletop pen and paper RPG.

Thanks. I'll check it out, but given the current state of role playing outside Scandinavia, I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Post by **Edi** » 2003-07-17 07:46am

Eleas wrote:Thanks. I'll check it out, but given the current state of role playing outside Scandinavia, I'm not gonna hold my breath.

You're welcome. But, erm, what do you mean, that you're outside Scandinavia right now or that the state of role playing here is bad these days? In any case, trust me, DQ kicks ass. It's over 20 years old, and still holds up really well against any newer games (as in, kicks the shit out of them in most cases). It's got real quality, and in quite good quantity too.

Edi

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2003-07-17 08:46am

Edi wrote: You're welcome. But, erm, what do you mean, that you're outside Scandinavia right now or that the state of role playing here is bad these days?

I'm just on my usual anti-d20 schtick, don't mind me. My point is that, thanks to its nefarious influence, what the common American terms "role playing" equals walking around in a subterranean complex or derivative thereof with wildly stereotypical and absurdly powerful characters. Said characters' motivations appear hazy at first, but are really quite simple: after they kill enough creatures and overcome obstacles, they get better at sneaking... or elven lore... or whatever. And, of course, killing, because that's the purpose of gaming after all. Who'd want a character unable to eviscerate enemies by the dozen, or summoning destructive spells?

Edi wrote:In any case, trust me, DQ kicks ass. It's over 20 years old, and still holds up really well against any newer games (as in, kicks the shit out of them in most cases). It's got real quality, and in quite good quantity too.

Edi

Now I'm really intrigued. I'll download it. Do I need anything else to play?

Post by **Edi** » 2003-07-17 08:56am

Nothing that you won't find behind those links or by checking out the Links section the DQPA site. There is one supplement named the DQ World Book, which has tons of additional and highly useful stuff, but it isn't available online, you'll have to email the author to ask for it. Alternatively, you can give me your email over PM and I'll send it to you. I don't remember how big the pdf was, hopefully not too big, but it might be my version is out of date, it's at least three years old.

I just checked my DQ directory this morning, and there was something like three tons of extremely disorganised stuff that I've downloaded years ago and forgotten about, and I'll have to wade through those to see if there's anything relevant there.

Edi

dworkin · Post by **dworkin** » 2003-08-08 04:24pm

Apologies for a bit of thread Necromancy but here in Auckland, New Zealand there are about 100 people (changes each year) who have been running a DQ club/campaign for 21 years.

From dragonquest.org.nz and dq.sf.org.nz you should be able to find most of the clutter that has made it's way from reams of paper to electronic format.

While the DQ system indeed prods buttock it's the shared stories and tales of characters that make it compelling. The good, the bad and the ugly. The wise, insane and extremly insane. The hopelessly unluckly to the outrageously fortunate.