Dragonbane by Free League

GothmogIV

Adventurer

• Dec 1, 2023

• #1

Anyone tried this one yet? Beautiful artwork, and a clean (albeit limited) rule set and bestiary. It's based on Chaosium's BRP system, which I have always loved, and has a lot of Magic World DNA, as well as a little Rune Quest thrown in. Free League makes nice games.

 

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Scottius

Adventurer

• Dec 1, 2023

• #2

I got my copy from supporting the Kickstarter and have looked through it. It's a nice looking set. Haven't gotten it to the table yet however because I have a huge backlog of games I want to run that it has now joined.

 

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Staffan

Legend

• Dec 1, 2023

• #3

I haven't looked into it in any great detail, mostly because I think the other Swedish game Hjältarnas Tid is much better at filling the niche of "simple fantasy RPG", but probably won't get much more support because of being outcompeted due to brand name recognition. But I recognize that that's mostly me being salty.

 

Grinton

Grinton

• Dec 1, 2023

• #4

I haven't tried the bestiary yet but the box set is very very fun.
The major downside is that I don't speak Swedish so the spring material is still limited but the translations are coming and they look impressive.

 

harunmushod

Explorer

• Dec 1, 2023

• #5

I ran the QuickStart scenario Riddermound at a convention at the beginning of the year. It was fun. Plays much more quickly than D&D, and deadlier. Riddermound is in the core Adventures book too. It was my first time running a pure fantasy RPG in perhaps 40 years (more of a Traveller and CoC referee/keeper), but the published scenario was usable by me with minimal notes other than rolling up random encounters and monster attacks in advance. The standees are very useful. I had to make my own.

 

aramis erak

Legend

• Dec 1, 2023

• #6

GothmogIV said:

Anyone tried this one yet? Beautiful artwork, and a clean (albeit limited) rule set and bestiary. It's based on Chaosium's BRP system, which I have always loved, and has a lot of Magic World DNA, as well as a little Rune Quest thrown in. Free League makes nice games.

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Am slated to run it in Jan.

Being a bit of a Pedragon fan, I don't mind a 1d20 BRP variant.

The DNA is Equally RQ 1e/2e as it is MW...

 

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Retreater

Legend

• Dec 1, 2023

• #7

I was a player in an online game with friends. This is a rare occurrence, because I'm am "always GM." I am assuming the adventure we played is the one that came in the box. We played three short sessions and decided to hang up the system - because it didn't suit what most of the players (and GM) wanted.

Here's my quick take...
1) Even though it's very different from a system perspective, the feel is very much like Forbidden Lands (even down to rolling randomly for the monster actions)
2) It is more tactical than Forbidden Lands - it is played on a grid.
3) I prefer it to RuneQuest & The Fantasy Trip - it's stripped down and hits the high spots
4) It's OSR - it feels like characters will die in every encounter (we did)
5) You are not as good as any of the monsters you face. You will feel weak and pathetic if you're used to D&D.
6) Ability score damage means you will have death spirals

 

Yora

Legend

• Dec 2, 2023

• #8

Scottius said:

I got my copy from supporting the Kickstarter and have looked through it. It's a nice looking set. Haven't gotten it to the table yet however because I have a huge backlog of games I want to run that it has now joined.

Click to expand...

It's on the top of my pile.

It reads like being the perfect game for oldschool D&D campaigns without having to deal with D&D mechanics.

 

aramis erak

Legend

• Dec 3, 2023

• #9

Retreater said:

6) Ability score damage means you will have death spirals

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Are you sure you're talking about Dragonbane? After all, Dragonbane is Hit Points, no loss of capability until 0.
Tho' many Monsters can inflict conditions, those just apply a bane to a particular attribute, they don't change the number.

(Noting that Forbidden Lands DOES do attribute damage)

 

GothmogIV

Adventurer

• Dec 3, 2023

• #10

I'm running my first game Tuesday, but I am going to nerf the monsters a bit. Characters have HP that don't change (there is no leveling) so if that goblin hits you twice, you are in trouble. That's not a complaint: I've been playing BPR games for 40+ years, but this system makes combat very deadly.