`I’m going to take this opportunity to say: Wow! Nice game.
[DISCLOSURE: I received a free digital copy of the Dragonbane Core Set from Free League Publishing. I am not an affiliate, nor have I received any compensation for the review itself. ]
Link to Dragonbane on Free League’s Website.
Here’s the link to the Quickstart Guide on DriveThruRPG.com via my affiliate link.
Yes, I will freely admit I am becoming a bit of a simp for Free League Publishing. I feel that I slept on all the cool stuff they make for way too long. I foolishly did not back Dragonbane on Kickstarter when I had the chance. Since then it has become my fantasy game of choice, at for the summer.
I’m so happy and grateful to have acquired the hardcover of the Dragonbane core hardcover rulebook from one of our Friendly Local Game Stores. The whole team at Fria Ligan did an amazing job putting this book together. I especially want to commend Johan Egerkrans for his absolutely fabulous artwork throughout this book.
I’ve said countless times: ART SELLS TTRPG BOOKS! Dragonbane is my proof of concept for this notion. The covers of the Dragonbane Boxed Set as well as the Hardcover are reminiscent of the old Basic Dungeons & Dragons red box cover (sans controversy.) The interior art, especially the Mallard Knight character in full plate, sold me on this book.
If we’re ever in danger of taking ourselves too seriously…
We have the Mallards. The rest of the TTRPG industry could be falling apart in the USA, and we can still play a Kin of anthropomorphic ducks in Dragonbane. I get too channel my inner Daffy. I like Donald and Darkwing, too, but I grew up on Daffy. Hence the subtitle of the game, “Mirth and Mayhem.” Not every world needs to be grimdark fantasy.
I know I have some friends in the Old School RolePlaying end of things who dislike anything beyond Human, Elf, Dwarf, Halfling, and maybe Gnome. Good for them. That’s their table. We’re playing Mallards and Wolfkin at my table. When I get my hands on the Dragonbane Bestiary, we’ll talk about cool Kin even further. (I think I heard someone mention Fairies the other day.)
Bear in mind Dragonbane is Old School. It’s been around since 1982. You can read more about Drakar och Demoner (DoD) here. Basic RolePlaying was the foundational game for DoD. BRP is still around today and going very strong. Our brilliant friends in Sweden just managed to streamline and simplify Dragonbane into the system we enjoy today. It just so happens that Donald Duck was popular in Sweden at the time.
The Game Master section of Dragonbane is simple and beautiful.
One has to bear in mind the core of Dragonbane is a basic game. It was built with the notion that box could very well be someone’s first ever TTRPG. The GM section does a very nice job of explaining the joys of running a game very well. It gives the basics as well as handy tables for generating one’s own adventures and building a campaign. If this had been my first ever TTRPG, my confidence and enthusiasm would have swelled as a GM.
There’s even a good section on travel that I wish a certain other TTRPG would have included in their epic 50 year legacy game. Journeys in Dragonbane can be fraught with peril and adventure before the party even reaches the adventure site itself. Better yet, the GM section even gives the Dragonbane GM some guidance on what might happen when the party leaves the site (aka the dungeon) to take a shift rest (6 hours.) It can be downright ruthless depending on the site.
Solo playability.
The Core box literally includes a solo adventure. I’m going to do a writeup on some of my solo adventures because I do things a bit differently with the Mythic GM Emulator. That, and who can play just one character? I can’t be the only one who makes a half dozen or more characters when I really get into a game, right? It sounds strange, but my solo gameplay experience is comparable to solo game mastering as opposed to solo playing.
The Dragonbane system is built almost perfectly for solo play. The roll under skill mechanics and monsters hitting automatically make combat pretty simple. Not to mention the Journey tables and random adventure/quest generator does a lot of the work for you. It’s really fun just to roll 7 dice, interpret the results and play out the scenario. The GM section is so smooth that way.
I love solo Dragonbane because it inspires me to write fiction, play more fantasy, and come up with adventures that I can maybe publish eventually. The adventure that comes in the core box for solo play is just marvelous. Alone in Deepfall Breach is a cool adventure. (No spoilers.) I personally didn’t embrace the Heroic abilities addons, but if I was playing solo with only one character, I’d definitely pick Army of One because I like the idea of having two actions per round instead of one.
Overall love for Dragonbane and Free League Publishing.
I’ve gone on about the fabulous game Dragonbane. It has the potential to be a 5E D&D competitor. As a basic game it is nearly perfect. It has fabulous art, years of playtesting/playing, solid support for the GM, sensitivity to player concerns, and a lineage of really cool adventures. (Path of Glory is coming…) We just have to be a bit patient here in the US because it takes time to translate and repackage all of this brilliance.
My friend the hardcore German boardgame fan actually goes so far as to find new games and expansions for old games, print them out, and get translations of the rules for us. I am seriously considering doing the same thing for Dragonbane. I have found a wealth of material for Drakar och Demoner in Swedish. NGL, I’m debating about taking a language course instead of just using Google translate. (Lol!)
See what TTRPGs do? They get us interested in new cultures, new points of view, and even different languages. I honestly hadn’t been paying much attention to Free League Publishing’s other games before Dragonbane came around my FLGS. Now I’m looking at Coriolis, Tales from the Loop, and Mutant Year Zero in a whole new light. (I secretly keep hoping Fria Ligan will be the company to bring back my beloved Mutant Chronicles.) Now I’m considering learning a whole new language just to get more out of the Drakar och Demoner content online.
Wrapping this up.
I don’t know how much more I can say about the core of Dragonbane that hasn’t been said yet. The box gets you maps, pawns, dice, and adventures much like the original D&D used to. Nostalgia aside, it’s a complete set and a very whole game. It’s great for beginners, veteran TTRPG enthusiasts, and even old Grognard gamers who were convinced they’ve seen it all. (*Confession: That was me.)
I give Dragonbane a solid 5 out of 5 stars for quality! Please go try the Quickstart. Please go check out the Boxed Set for the Core Rules. I probably won’t shut up about it any time soon. You’ll definitely be seeing more Dragonbane related content here on my blog.
Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.
Jeff's Game Box 