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I could kinda go either way. Roll high does mean low skill players have two obstacles to overcome. First to succeed, and then to succeed again by rolling higher. It works in reverse against the high skill player as well, so it's more like the way you want the world to work.

I was just on a Discord debate about this, and it can be argued a couple of ways, let's use skill 7 vs 17 as an example. And to be clear, opposed rolls are rare in the first place in Dragonbane, typically for resistance to poison (CON vs POT) or something. Low roll wins: 17 is going to succeed...

The system I have seen for Dragonbane in Dragonzine 2 is better than most I've seen and still isn't going to satisfy someone looking for a "bulletproof" system.

Opposed rolls are on p. 33 of the rules. The only thing I would possibly change is the player with the higher skill or higher roll wins when both succeed in an opposed roll contest. This would better reflect characters with higher skills having an advantage over those with lower skills. I don't...

To me, the attraction is that it's really simple. The rulebook is only 112 pages, and I don't feel like I need tons more.

Here's a quote from a recent article in Dragonzine #2 accompanying the (excellent) monster generation system in Dragonbane, which I think rings very true. If you are looking for a magic bulletproof system for generating perfectly "balanced" monsters without any additional work, you're doing it...

The example monster (and the stats level and effects) closely match something you'd find in the bestiary or core rules. Feels designed to create monsters that fit the power curve of the game.

Never used the rules but their background and settings and adventure books were full of great ideas.

Deadliness - each section has one or two tables: (1) random generation of the attribute, or (2) choice of Frightening, Terrifying or Nightmarish deadliness with a roll for the attribute at the chosen deadliness level. At any point you can just choose rather than roll Size - Choose, random or...

I do. I’ll detail it a bit later today.

It’s always been the tension between feeling heroic as a character but also the (good) sense of danger when facing foes or challenges. It’s especially a challenge in fantasy over horror. Horror characters are supposed to feel outmatched but fantasy characters rise to the challenge. We don’t want...

Urban Shadows might be another: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/magpiegames/urban-shadows-second-edition

Liminal? https://modiphius.net/en-us/collections/liminal

Good old d8 with only 1 to 4 values (example 10). They did the same with d6's for d3.

Power curve is definitely more horizontal than vertical. Skills increase over time and more Heroic Abilities are earned, but stats and HP/WP (Willpower Points) stay relatively flat. The HAs can be pretty powerful if used wisely so veteran characters will generally be more competent. Any NPC can...

I've played in a number of scenarios where the entire premise of the adventure was a deception, and the questgiver was an unreliable narrator. In these cases, there usually aren't any rolls for deception - the entire setup is entirely plausible and no reason is given for not believing it unless...

It's actually quite good, with tables to help generate stats and abilities and attacks. The example at the end is great. Both issues of that zine are excellent.

I remember running a Dragonlance game in 1e with a red dragon attack, and it definitely was an "oh crap" moment for the players. They really loved the sense of real danger, and that wasn't even a full battle, just a driveby.

The weird thing about Dragonbane is that it feels like old school D&D without actually being D&D. I feel confident running any D&D adventure using these rules with the major difference being a bit more thought before entering combat, which is kinda what it was in 1e.

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.