they beat me to the punch

Unfortunately you'll have to change the most uncanny ones. Generic stuff like templar you can probably keep. But whether you know you didn't copy or not, publishers, agents, and readers will have no way of knowing.

This has happened to me about 40 times, and has taught me the hard lesson: if you have a good idea, execute it QUICKLY.

Change the bare minimum necessary to keep it from utterly screaming "ripoff" and then send it out. Don't change anything you don't immediately and obviously believe you have to. DA is inspired by George R.R. Martin and has elements of dozens if not hundreds of classic fantasy novels. You can argue Jordan for an easy recent example of a dreamworld and mages under state control, for example.

There are no novel elements in Dragon Age, the elements were just combined in a novel way and implemented well. The fact that BioWare and you developed similar material indicates that the elements in your stories are probably natural continuations of the fantasy genre. In fact I myself had a roleplaying campaign setting I was running that had many of the elements in Dragon Age when it came out. Such as a monotheistic world where magic played a role in the religious history of the world and was treated differentially by the church. We both used the seven deadly sins and the seven cardinal virtues and we both names metaphysical beings after them.

Only the arrangement of specific implementations of the elements in your story could constitute copying. For instance if you had a spirit world you called the fade that was populated by demons named for the seven deadly sins. You could call it anything else and and not be copying, because the fade, spirits and their possession in Dragon Age is all just taken from Christian Hell. They just put a new coat of paint on it. Really, you could steal Dragon Ages world whole sale and put a new coat paint on it and no one would really notice. Almost no one recognized Dragon Ages very deep and broad roots in medieval Christianity. I think thats all you have to do, but you do have to do it. So yes, you have to change your names, buts that probably about it, no one will think you stole from a game they haven't played in four years.

Yeah, seriously, Dragon Age was great fun, but a hugely original story it was not. I'd let someone read your writing who is familiar with the game to make sure, but I doubt it's as bad as you think.

I absolutely loved playing DA:O because of the storyline, but as others have stated, unique it was not. The way that the game was put together, and how well it flowed as an RPG is what set it apart from other games in the genre.

I would say the same principle applies to fantasy novels. Even if aspects of your novels are similar to DA, your story and the way you tell it is your own - and that is what will set it apart from the game. Actually, chances are that fans of the game would enjoy reading your work if it has faguely similar concepts.

Now, unless you have Templars (brutally) keeping Mages in check, a blight spreading across your world threatening to destroy it all, and a spunky young witch as a companion... I wouldn't worry

If it makes you feel any better, that game sucks.

The story is fantastic, but the gameplay stopped me from ever finishing... I'd definitely read a book that is similar to Dragon Age. The entire time I played all I kept saying was "This would be a great movie" - (A book would be just as good).

I'd go with what someone else already said- change a few conspicuous similarities and go ahead with it.

I've played Dragons Age (I CANT WAIT TILL 2!) and a lot of what's in the game contains tropes.

Things like "templar" or "magistrate" I've heard of before, and I wouldn't directly attribute them to DA:O if I read something that included those words.

On top of that, a lot of RPG games like the Neverwinter Nights, Baulder's Gate, NWN2 series contains these tropes. DA:O wasn't the first time I've heard of kings and queens locked in betrayal, war, lust.

From your original post, I was assuming you had a mentor character named Duncan who is killed by creatures called darkspawn who are mages who were corrupted by an invasion into heaven. If it's not that bad, really, don't sweat it.

this happens to me so often that iv stopped reading fantasy books- at least if I dont know of the similarities, it wont haunt me so much.

At first I went back and made small changes, or googled my towns to make sure the names were unique. Then I realised that no matter what I name things, or what I do, I will always be able to find another book that uses those words/terms/images etc. So now I just ignore it, and rest secure in the knowledge that there are enough, new and creative elements in my story to set it apart.

I absolutely HATED when this happened to me. (Note past-tense)

I had this story idea about modern-day Dragon-shifters. I know, not exactly original.

I'd like to think I was executing it in an original way. it was certainly not a romance like many similar novels, but it wasn't for kids like the one on they used to have on Disney channel. It was essentially a superhero-esque story; I had intended it to be one of several series' I hoped would become literary equivalents of the DC and marvel universes. Looking back, there was nothing particularly interesting or unique about the idea, but I still thought I could take it quite far.

So I had a relatively solid idea, with what I thought would be a unique twist. Right? Wrong! Turns out some comic writer had a dragon-esque superhero to his name.

I am, of course, referring to Firebreather, and it's Made-for-TV adaptation.

It's core plot elements were VERY similar to my own: The MC's Draconic powers, the MC's father being the main antagonist, the struggle between the MC's human and monster sides etc... Naturally, non of these elements were executed the way I'd intended to execute them: I hadn't intended a high-school setting, I hadn't intended half the plot to be constructed around high-school clichés, I hadn't intended it to be a semi-homage to Japanese monster-movies, hadn't intended it to be set in some south-western American desert, etc...

When I first watched the movie version, it felt like I was watching a bad adaptation of my idea. I had been aiming for something much more mature and sophisticated; I planned to explore issues like sexuality and religion. I feel almost cheated, while Firebreather did not execute the idea of a dragon-shifting-superhero-guy at all like I'd planned to, the basic concepts are similar enough that someone would probably cry-foul over it. I know, lawsuits over such things don't happen too often, but better safe than sorry.

I decided I had to go back to the drawing board, so-to speak. I knew I had to revise at least one of the basic elements. I decided to do away with the draconic aspects of the story, seeing as that was the most visible similarity. I reluctantly replaced dragons with... something else, and found, so far, that it's working out pretty well. I now have something much more flexible, which actually works better with the dark and gothic feel I was initially aiming for. It has also opened up new possibilities. As I said before, I wanted to create what was for all intents and purposes, a literary superhero. At first it seemed as though dragons were the way to go, as they had more potential for action scenes. What I have now actually works just as well, I still wonder why I never considered it before. What I am using now can be turned reinterpreted in many different ways, even in ways some consider ridiculous, and still be met with incredible success (Guess what I'm talking about).

I know how frustrating it is when it seems someone has used one or two concepts you were working on seem to have been taken by someone else. I really despaired when I first heard of Firebreather. Don't throw in the towel though, view it as an opportunity to hunt down something better. I only needed to change one basic element and now the dilemma has pretty much solved itself. My original story is still pretty-much intact, in fact, that one alteration has allowed me to get-around a few hiccups I had before. Don't think that to solve dilemmas like this you need to turn your story inside-out. I think many writers are afraid of changing anything in their story because they think they'll lose their passion for the story if they change anything merely for the sake of avoiding allegations of plagiarism, but in my case it worked out even better than before.

Looking back, my original Dragon-Shifter idea was rather silly, even before I learned of Firebreather, now there's nothing that makes me want to go back to it.

I've played that game a thousand times through and though I enjoyed it, because of the unique (non that I had personally played) game-play, it wasn't exactly a new premise for me. Story-wise, something off the top of my head is the Wheel of Time series. I remember thinking the backdrop was particularly similar, but needless to say there are probably more. No ideas are original; it's the way you share them.