Dragonbane general thread

[overgeeked]

It’s interesting to see the paths of replicating the old school feel with a true duplication of the old rules vs simulating the feel using modern rules. As players of AD&D, we were even then looking for ways to smooth the play. That said, D&D played pretty well once you learned the rules.

Yeah, back-in-the-day we were constantly houseruling AD&D to get it to play more how we wanted. Talking on here with other players from back then and newer players reading the AD&D books, it’s surprising just how much we houseruled stuff. It’s a trip to have decades of “this is how AD&D was” revealed to be “no, that’s a houserule you’ve been playing with so long you didn’t even know was a houserule.” As jarring as those moments are, it’s really interesting when they happen.

I’m guessing modern gamers have either a historical interest in replicating what it was like back then or just want to experience the feel of “old school” without all the quirkiness.

Yeah. I’d say it’s just a damned fun time. A fun way to play. Dashing adventures, life-threatening dangers, wilderness exploration with teeth, finding loot, and not taking the thing too seriously. It’s a damned good time. It’s what my group was aiming for despite the clunky rules. Now designers can make games with cleaner rules and better focus while shooting for a similar feel.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Put me firmly in the camp of wanting to replicate the feel of 45 years ago, but with the smoother rules that have evolved over the years.* Not even remotely interested in retroclones.

*And with less wasted ink!

 

[overgeeked]

Updated the OP with some useful links.

 

[overgeeked]

All the love for Dragonbane has a similar tone to what people say about Shadowdark.

Do you mean the comments that it's simple, easy to learn, and just works in bringing that old-school vibe or something else?

 

[Aldarc]

Another reason why I prefer Dragonbane over more D&D-based OSR is that it has smaller units of hackability. For example, coming up with a new profession is tremendously easier for DB than it is for B/X. Pick/create a Talent. Pick some starting equipment. Pick a selection of skills. That's basically it. Even creating a new kin is essentially creating a Talent.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Do you mean the comments that it's simple, easy to learn, and just works in bringing that old-school vibe or something else?

No, not as specific as that. The conversation just has a happy, excited tone that reminds me of the Shadowdark. community.

 

[overgeeked]

Another reason why I prefer Dragonbane over more D&D-based OSR is that it has smaller units of hackability. For example, coming up with a new profession is tremendously easier for DB than it is for B/X. Pick/create a Talent. Pick some starting equipment. Pick a selection of skills. That's basically it. Even creating a new kin is essentially creating a Talent.

Yeah, it's really that simple. Make a heroic / innate ability and pick a few thematically appropriate skills to go with it.

No, not as specific as that. The conversation just has a happy, excited tone that reminds me of the Shadowdark. community.

That's true. It shouldn't be noteworthy that fans of a game are happy and excited about the game they're playing. But that's the world today, unfortunately.

 

[MacDhomnuill]

Yeah, I know it’s there. I’m not a fan of lowest-roll wins. It gives the character with the worst skill an advantage. Hence preferring the resistance table. The blackjack style I mentioned is whoever rolls highest without going over their own skill wins. So there we are saying the same thing in different ways.

during beta testing a bunch of us pushed for black jack style but ultimately lost, I still run my home game that way.

 

[Wolfpack48]

during beta testing a bunch of us pushed for black jack style but ultimately lost, I still run my home game that way.

dbm made a good point earlier. When rolling with a boon, you take the lowest roll, so it would get a bit complicated when doing an opposed roll. It may give the low skill guy a boost, but the opposed roll isn't really used often enough to worry about it.

 

[overgeeked]

during beta testing a bunch of us pushed for black jack style but ultimately lost, I still run my home game that way.

Yeah, same. I'll always use blackjack opposed rolls. It just feels better.

dbm made a good point earlier. When rolling with a boon, you take the lowest roll, so it would get a bit complicated when doing an opposed roll. It may give the low skill guy a boost, but the opposed roll isn't really used often enough to worry about it.

I chalk it up to the difference between roll over and roll under. You can make a mathematically identical roll under or roll over, but people still have a preference for one or the other. If the math people say it's identical, that's great, but it still feels better to have blackjack opposed rolls.