Capcom sent us a lovely package earlier today with one impractically large pawn and two relatively normal-sized ones. We realized right away that we weren't actually meant to play chess with them, but it wasn't until we read the accompanying literature that we realized what exactly we were looking at.
Dragon's Dogma is an action-oriented RPG with a Skyrim-like open world and Dark Souls sensibility—or so they say. Capcom wanted to highlight the game's unique party system, which—and here it all makes sense—allows players to bring one "main Pawn" and two "support Pawns" with them on quests. The main Pawn sticks with you for the whole game; he or she is fully customizable, just like the player character.
The support Pawns, on the other hand, can be hired before quests, and can even include main Pawns that other players have sent over from their games. When you rent out your main Pawn to another player, it'll return with loot and goodies.
Dragon's Dogma is slated to loot our shores on May 22 for Xbox 360 and PS3. What do you think about the Pawns system? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter.