Dragonbane general thread

[darjr]

Dragonbane back in free rpg day.

 

[Von Ether]

Nice! I like this apparent tradition they have set up where make a demo focused adventure for Free RPG play and conventions and then about a year later they release it as a free adventure.

 

[Von Ether]

So beyond Path of Glory, has anyone adapted an OSR sandbox to DB?

 

[Bill Zebub]

So beyond Path of Glory, has anyone adapted an OSR sandbox to DB?

I'm pretty new to Dragonbane, so no, but I'm really jonesing to do a Middle Earth mod and use all my One Ring supplements with Dragonbane rules.

 

[Aldarc]

So beyond Path of Glory, has anyone adapted an OSR sandbox to DB?

I am still running Dragon Emperor for the time being, and I am waiting for Expert and Magic. However, I would like to do a more ancient Greece/Atlantis inspired sandbox for Dragonbane that also includes sailing and island hopping.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I have run two sessions. The first one completed "The sinking tower" module, the second one nearly finished the "Riddermound" module. Both are freely available.

My takeaway is that the combat is more interactive than D&D combat. I like that you can parry, evade or attack with your action, not just attack. I liked how armor worked (damage reduction). I liked how you roll against your own skill. I liked how monsters always hits. I liked how you generally succeed with your main skills. The heroic abilities have a big impact on combat and makes the characters feel distinct. I liked how you could push rolls and take a negative condition.

I must say the initiative system was superb.

• Everyone knows who's turn it is due to the cards
• Changing initiative cards added a very fast way of handling held/ready actions
• Less bookkeeping (everyone draws a card, places it face up and then the character/monster with the lowest number just starts)
• Easy to adjust difficulty on the fly by adjusting ferocity rating (number of initiative cards for a monster per round) of monsters depending on player count.

Fights were generally over very quickly and in few rounds, but I felt they had more depth than the usual D&D fight. The reason for the quick combats was partially the initiative system, partially the roll-under-your-own-skill-mechanic and partially the high damage/low hp.

I have mostly been a D&D DM and player since the Basic D&D Red Book and have since played AD&D 2nd edition, 3e, 3.5, 4e and 5e. I was getting a bit tired of slower combat and decision paralysis together with high hp at higher levels. Dragonbane combat is more interactive I would say.

I have been a Call of Cthulu player and was looking at other BRP derived games when I came across Dragonbane.

I ended up buying the Core Set (which comes with a short/medium campaign), the Bestiary and the Path of Glory campaign. I really liked how the two free modules was to DM and how they engaged the players. They are less about a room filled with 3 goblins followed by a room with 2 goblins and a hobgoblin and more about social interaction, exploration and puzzle solving. Often combat was avoidable just like in the excellent 5e module "The wild beyond the witchlight" which I have DM-ed.

It will be interesting to see how it will be to DM a longer campaign. I am planning to run the core set Dragon Emperor campaign followed by the Path of Glory campaign with the same characters.

 

[The Soloist]

I have run two sessions. The first one completed "The sinking tower" module, the second one nearly finished the "Riddermound" module. Both are freely available.

My takeaway is that the combat is more interactive than D&D combat. I like that you can parry, evade or attack with your action, not just attack. I liked how armor worked (damage reduction). I liked how you roll against your own skill. I liked how monsters always hits. I liked how you generally succeed with your main skills. The heroic abilities have a big impact on combat and makes the characters feel distinct. I liked how you could push rolls and take a negative condition.

I must say the initiative system was superb.

• Everyone knows who's turn it is due to the cards
• Changing initiative cards added a very fast way of handling held/ready actions
• Less bookkeeping (everyone draws a card, places it face up and then the character/monster with the lowest number just starts)
• Easy to adjust difficulty on the fly by adjusting ferocity rating (number of initiative cards for a monster per round) of monsters depending on player count.

Fights were generally over very quickly and in few rounds, but I felt they had more depth than the usual D&D fight. The reason for the quick combats was partially the initiative system, partially the roll-under-your-own-skill-mechanic and partially the high damage/low hp.

I have mostly been a D&D DM and player since the Basic D&D Red Book and have since played AD&D 2nd edition, 3e, 3.5, 4e and 5e. I was getting a bit tired of slower combat and decision paralysis together with high hp at higher levels. Dragonbane combat is more interactive I would say.

I have been a Call of Cthulu player and was looking at other BRP derived games when I came across Dragonbane.

I ended up buying the Core Set (which comes with a short/medium campaign), the Bestiary and the Path of Glory campaign. I really liked how the two free modules was to DM and how they engaged the players. They are less about a room filled with 3 goblins followed by a room with 2 goblins and a hobgoblin and more about social interaction, exploration and puzzle solving. Often combat was avoidable just like in the excellent 5e module "The wild beyond the witchlight" which I have DM-ed.

It will be interesting to see how it will be to DM a longer campaign. I am planning to run the core set Dragon Emperor campaign followed by the Path of Glory campaign with the same characters.

Great!

I like that Special Abilities cost willpower points to activate. Players have to think when best to use them.

I bought the new BRP book, but I can't read it because the font size is microscopic. It should have been two books (Player / GM) with a larger font size.

 

[Von Ether]

I am about to wrap up the Dragon Emperor campaign for the second time. I've enjoyed both times.

That is a fib.

Instead of the Dragon Emperor, it has actually been a mash up of that game and the default campaign for Free Leagues YZE fantasy game, Forbidden Lands. So both campaigns have been a lot more going on than your average Dragonbane campaigns. And I have also been running Dragonbane every week since August 2023 or so. I have had lot of fun doing it.

My current Dragonbane group, though, will switch GMs soon and no one else feels comfortable running DB. So I will take a break sometime later this year.

I am already debating if I will start my next campaign as just the core Dragon Emperor campaign or if I will let people make advanced PCs and dive into Path of Glory instead.