Thanks to the very successful relaunch of Dungeons and Dragons in 2000, and the even more successful re-relaunch of 5th Edition in 2014, we are in the middle of a roleplaying renaissance. There are more, and better, roleplaying games on the market now than there have ever been, and the discerning roleplayer is overwhelmingly spoiled for choice – our roleplaying group is only half joking when we say that we’re scheduled out to 2026 or later with all the games we want to try.
Dragonbane is a “re-imagining” of Drakar och Demoner, a Swedish roleplaying game that was in turn based on Worlds of Wonder, an early rival to Dungeons and Dragons originally published by Chaosium (of Call of Cthulhu fame) in 1982. Drakar och Demoner ran through several editions before eventually landing at Fria Ligan (AKA Free League Publishing) who successfully crowdfunded a new edition, dubbed Dragonbane for the English language market, that had been redesigned from the ground up, combining the basic rules system from the original game with several new innovations pulled from their stable of well-received games.
The Dragonbane boxed set is an incredible value, with a complete rulebook and an 11-chapter adventure book, both lavishly illustrated by noted Swedish artist Johan Egerkrans, along with a poster-sized map of the game’s setting, a smaller gridded map and cardboard standees for playing out battles, character sheets, dice, cards to randomize treasure and improvised weapons, and even a solo adventure to help teach the game system. It’s a great introductory set for anyone new to roleplaying, but there’s plenty to interest experienced roleplayers too.
The game system is smooth and easy to play, without a lot of the superfluous rules and options that can lead to analysis paralysis in other games. Each character gets one action and one move on their turn – the action can be used to attack, defend, or do something else that requires a skill roll like picking a lock or looting a corpse for its valuables. Skill rolls (including attack rolls) are made by rolling under a target skill number, with no pesky adding up of bonuses to slow down play.
One of my favorite innovations is the way monsters are handled in the game. Most modern roleplaying games have the gamemaster running monsters as if they were player characters, with a complete set of statistics and options, but I’ve never liked this approach. It adds unnecessary detail and complication where the only thing that should matter is how the monster’s presence affects the players and their story. Dragonbane borrows its monster concept from other Free League games such as Forbidden Lands and Alien – each monster has some very basic information like movement and defense, and a randomized table detailing different things the monster might do on its turn. It’s a great approach that makes running the game a lot easier and more fun.
Probably the best value in the Dragonbane core set is the Adventure book. Most roleplaying game rule books give you a single introductory adventure (if you’re lucky), so unless the publisher follows up with additional adventure modules (or you have the creative energy to write your own adventures), you’re out of material after a game or two. Dragonbane gives you an entire multipart campaign with eleven fully developed locations to explore in a linked story that builds to an epic conclusion.
That brings up one other element about Dragonbane that I find especially appealing: rather than inserting the players into complicated plots and drama, the adventures are primarily based on exploring locations, mainly underground tunnel systems that might feel familiar to old school Dungeons and Dragons players. But there are still plenty of interesting characters and plot twists to satisfy players who like a more story-driven approach to their roleplaying.
- Dragonbane official website