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My campaign page https://simonyrpgs.blogspot.com/2023/02/dragonbane-starter-rules.html Tony's wife Kimberly is a talented author who used to write for WoTC back when they published non-D&D stuff. She has a great account of our Dragonborn campaign at...

I had a VERY similar experience! Tony was playing Makander, the plate armoured Duck Knight. When a horde of cultists attacked, the other PCs retreated to a defensible position, but he threw himself into the throng, trying to reach their leader, also a Mallard. Several rounds later, and a lot of...

https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/dragonbane/ Free Quickstart https://freeleaguepublishing.com/shop/dragonbane/free-quickstart-pdf/ My Game page https://simonyrpgs.blogspot.com/2023/02/dragonbane-starter-rules.html

I ran an ambush on Saturday, 12 goblins ambushing 9 experienced PCs and 2 allied NPCs. It was brutal! One NPC was immediately killed, and a PC was dropped to 0 hp in the first round. The adventure said '2 goblins per PC' but I think that would have been a TPK.

"Dragonbane actually defines how your individual pieces of mundane clothing & equipment assist your attempts to not die in the wilderness" TRADE GOODS ITEM COST SUPPLY WEIGHT EFFECT Abacus 2 gold Common 1 Boon on INT rolls for solving mathematical problems. Blanket 5 silver Common 1 Required to...

I never really got into WSG/DSG so I can't speak to that. But I can say that running Dragonbane was eye opening as to how little wilderness survival matters to any edition of D&D I've ever run, including BX BECMI and 1e. Dragonbane actually defines how your individual pieces of mundane clothing...

A general tendency in Dragonbane is that large groups of NPC opponents tends to be nastier than one Monster. Eg two goblins per PC is worse than a troll Vs 4 PCs. Most fatalities have been when an NPC fells a PC in one round, then acts first next round and kills them before they can be healed or...

It definitely seems to be "play it by ear". Runequest/BRP standards don't quite work as damage is higher, hp need to be higher too. I've made a fair number of new monsters by combining and adapting stat blocks, eg a giant minotaur combining giant and minotaur. I'm finding that monsters without...

I think meaningful* wilderness exploration needs detailed maps, similar to dungeon maps, with similar level of choices around routes, a similar danger level, and a similar reward level. The scale needs to be set right, 1 mile per hex may be reasonable, but so is a more detailed scale as in Keep...

This is exactly right IMO. Talking about attrition/survival mechanics, foraging etc, really misses the point of how D&D works, is designed to work. It's amazing to me how few good wilderness exploration adventures there are for D&D, how few examples there are to call on. When I want examples of...

I run old school D&D and 5e, I can't say I've noticed a huge difference in this area. The 1e DMG has a few things like getting lost more detailed. 1e doesn't have foraging rules etc in the PHB or DMG. The main difference with 5e is the class abilities and spells that obviate survival challenges...

4e is the only edition IME where that was true. Other editions are designed as dungeon exploration games, albeit with combat a big part of gameplay. BTW if you want wilderness exploration to be a big deal, detail it at a similar level to dungeon exploration. The B2 Keep on the Borderlands and...

The rules do not say that anywhere, AFAICT. You can rule it that way if you like OFC. I think Eldritch Knights would be sad though if they could not attack - misty step - attack.

I'd certainly allow it.

I don't think either exploration or social interaction necessarily involve challenge, though they may do. Exploration for me is moving through an environment discovering stuff. The paradigmatic D&D example is the dungeon crawl. Wilderness hexcrawls and point crawls are also good examples of...

That isn't a game I'd be interested in GMing, but it's a style that can work for some campaigns I think.

I preordered the Bestiary from a UK retailer to save on shipping as I didn't think I needed the PDF. The wait is agony though! :LOL: They say delivery by 1st March. I'm running Dragonbane fortnightly, next on 18th Feb, so will miss it for one more session I expect.

Yes. I think given the psychology of it the numbers are best as-is, 10-15-20 just works well as being very easy to remember. It's more the terminology that needs to be treated with caution. A 15 is 'moderate' specifically for Tier 2 PCs, and the terminology seems balanced around that Tier. Which...

I do think there was a recent golden era for D&D (not so much for RPGs overall) from around 2015, and that that era probably ended in 2023. At the start of that year WoTC burned off two decades of goodwill within a couple weeks; now 3PPs no longer trust WoTC. This did huge damage to the D&D...

Yeah, I just started a new 5e game on Roll20, new players. Half of those new players had played BG3, and then went looking to play D&D for real. My experience is BG3 has created a lot of potential new players - they want to play, they know Thunderwave is a good spell :LOL: , but may not have...