Dragonbane general thread

[overgeeked]

Right, so at 12 HP, you die instantly if you are driven to -12 HP in one blow.

Almost. It's based on your MAX HP, not current.

"Instant Death: You don’t record negative HP, but if a single attack reduces your HP to a negative score equal to your full HP, your player character dies instantly. Time to honor the fallen adventurer and create a new one!"

To clarify Death, once driven to 0 HP or below, each round you make a Death roll against your CON. After 3 successful (cumulative) rolls, you regain d6 HP and stop making Death rolls. After 3 unsuccessful (cumulative) rolls, you die. Rolling a dragon (1), counts as 2 successes. Rolling a demon (20) counts as 2 failures.

Another character can Persuade you to rally and allow you to keep moving but you still must make Death rolls. They can also Heal you, adding HP, which also allows you to stop making Death rolls.

Yeah. I really love the rally mechanic. Especially the idea of dying on your feet. That's very evocative.

 

[Wolfpack48]

Almost. It's based on your MAX HP, not current.

"Instant Death: You don’t record negative HP, but if a single attack reduces your HP to a negative score equal to your full HP, your player character dies instantly. Time to honor the fallen adventurer and create a new one!"

Yeah. I really love the rally mechanic. Especially the idea of dying on your feet. That's very evocative.

Right, I meant if your character had 12 HP max. Good point on not recording negative HP in all other cases.

 

[Aldarc]

Right, the first edition was a fairly straight translation of Basic Roleplaying + the fantasy part of Worlds of Wonder. Starting with the 2nd edition it got rewritten to be its own thing but still fairly similar. Then... things got out of hand with Drakar och Demoner Expert.

I am so looking forward to the upcoming Expert and Magic books for Dragonbane, though my wallet isn't.

 

[overgeeked]

That seems to be a major issue- it can be tough convincing players to try a game where their characters will be less powerful. Power fantasy is a strong drug.

I'd push back on that. You're not wrong that power fantasy is a hell of a drug. That's absolutely true. And a lot of people really like that style of play. I'd push back on the idea that you can't have that power fantasy in a lethal game.

Dragonbane seems to split the difference between OSR and 5E almost perfectly.

You get all kinds of power fantasy from fighting NPC baddies like goblins and orcs. In several mock combats I ran a starting knight one shot goblin after goblin after goblin. Same with orcs. So there is power fantasy there.

The lethality comes in with the actual monsters. They can be absolutely brutal. And this pushes the old-school style of play where you're meant to avoid combat, negotiate where you can, stack the odds in your favor, etc.

 

[Aldarc]

I'd push back on that. You're not wrong that power fantasy is a hell of a drug. That's absolutely true. And a lot of people really like that style of play. I'd push back on the idea that you can't have that power fantasy in a lethal game.

Dragonbane seems to split the difference between OSR and 5E almost perfectly.

You get all kinds of power fantasy from fighting NPCs baddies like goblins and orcs. In several mock combats I ran a starting knight one shot goblin after goblin after goblin. Same with orcs. So there is power fantasy there.

The lethality comes in with the actual monsters. They can be absolutely brutal. And this pushes the old-school style of play where you're meant to avoid combat, negotiate where you can, stack the odds in your favor, etc.

I would describe Dragonbane as Neo-Trad but with OSR trappings. How you get XP is primarily through a narrative checklist and there are PbtA like conditions associated with attributes. But there is certain element of 5e D&D in so far as it has a d20 and adv/dis.

 

[Wolfpack48]

That seems to be a major issue- it can be tough convincing players to try a game where their characters will be less powerful. Power fantasy is a strong drug.

One of the Heroic Abilities allows you to increase HP, but you do have to wait until you "level up" a skill to 18. I'd argue that Dragonbane characters are more powerful at the beginning and it evens out as they progress. Power min/maxers can still do some things, but it won't be as ridiculously OP. The Heroic Abilities and skill increases DO give you a sense of progression tho.

 

[Wolfpack48]

I'd push back on that. You're not wrong that power fantasy is a hell of a drug. That's absolutely true. And a lot of people really like that style of play. I'd push back on the idea that you can't have that power fantasy in a lethal game.

Dragonbane seems to split the difference between OSR and 5E almost perfectly.

You get all kinds of power fantasy from fighting NPCs baddies like goblins and orcs. In several mock combats I ran a starting knight one shot goblin after goblin after goblin. Same with orcs. So there is power fantasy there.

The lethality comes in with the actual monsters. They can be absolutely brutal. And this pushes the old-school style of play where you're meant to avoid combat, negotiate where you can, stack the odds in your favor, etc.

One thing I want to avoid, though, is having the players afraid to engage ANY monster. There are reasons they will need to fight the big bads, so they need to feel confident enough that they can win even these battles at times.

 

[Distracted DM]

Appreciate the insight! I'm unfamiliar with the system, though I have the starter physical and PDFs from BundleOfHolding. Hard for me to learn a game without playing it first, not to mention all my tables are 5e and only 2 of 12 players had interest in not-5e (my beloved DCC could not sway them).

 

[Sir Brennen]

One of the Heroic Abilities allows you to increase HP, but you do have to wait until you "level up" a skill to 18. I'd argue that Dragonbane characters are more powerful at the beginning and it evens out as they progress. Power min/maxers can still do some things, but it won't be as ridiculously OP. The Heroic Abilities and skill increases DO give you a sense of progression tho.

Heroic abilities can be awarded at the GM's discretion, too, when characters do something, well, "heroic". In the published campaign I'm running, the PCs will encounter an important Macguffin four times. I plan on giving them an HA for each time after the first they deal with the Macguffin, and probably at the end of the campaign.

Another thing about the Skill Increases as well: they're not automatic. You get a chance to roll and see if you increase it every season if you assign it one of the points from the narrative checklist, or if you rolled a Crit (good or bad) for the skill during the session. You have to then roll over the existing Skill's value to see if you increase it (meaning odds are against you the higher the skill gets.)

A couple of my players noted the skill they considered their primary (Magic School skill or Healing, for example) haven't gone up since we started due to bad dice rolls.

 

[overgeeked]

I would describe Dragonbane as Neo-Trad but with OSR trappings. How you get XP is primarily through a narrative checklist and there are PbtA like conditions associated with attributes. But there is certain element of 5e D&D in so far as it has a d20 and adv/dis.

Absolutely. I love those bits. I meant OSR in the lethal combat with monsters and some player skill required.