Dragonbane general thread

To kick Dragonbane's tires, I ran the intro adventure (in the free starter PDF) with one player running 4 characters. Just to see how it felt. We really liked it! My favorite features:
  • If you haven't taken your turn, you can dodge or parry, but give up your turn to do so. (I love that it creates a trade-off between early and late initiative.)
  • Monster attacks on a random table (plus always hitting)
  • Dangerous combats, quick recoveries
Awesome.
In the adventure itself, I didn't love how information is gated behind skill rolls instead of being telegraphed, for reasons I've discussed in other threads. But given the advancement system I can see why it's important to give players lots of opportunities to "use skills".
That might be one of the things that got changed between the Quickstart and the Core Set / rulebook. According to the text of the Core Set / rulebook, description trumps rolling for things like Spot Hidden. It's specifically called out in the text that a good description will give you either an auto-success or a boon to the roll.

You could also just telegraph those things if you think that's a better approach. Maybe have the player roll after the fact just to see if they hit the 1 or 20 to mark it for advancement.
Right now I'm trying to talk a group of players into trying out Dragonbane for our next campaign.
Good luck.
 

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We had another good session yesterday -- getting a bit used to the Inventory/Encumbrance system but okay with it. Love that it's very simple with the inventory slots. We've played quite a bit without encumbrance constraints in our last couple campaigns, but players don't seem to mind a bit of extra thought into what they'll be carrying with them and even paid for storage at the inn to store things they'll collect later (the easy system helps). With the lower treasure count, they are definitely counting their spending (at least for now).
Absolutely. It's a great quick and easy approach.
Love the little special effects that come with some of the purchasable items.
Most things are narrative permission or boons. I quite like that.
I've had a few "Idea" rolls here and there and am simply using the INT stat for these. Is anyone else using something different for these things? Idea was very popular in our RQ/CoC games.
I love CoC7E's version of Idea rolls. I've used that whenever needed since I first read it. It hasn't come up for us yet, but I'd do an INT roll with the same success = you get the reminder and failure = the reminder busts down the door.
 

You could also just telegraph those things if you think that's a better approach. Maybe have the player roll after the fact just to see if they hit the 1 or 20 to mark it for advancement.

Yes, I'm going to have to read carefully and figure out what to change.

For example:
in the Riddermound adventure, it bothers me that there's nothing telegraphing the pit trap in front of the one gate that can be opened. So here's what I'm thinking:
  • When looking through the bars from Area 7, the magical torches are only on the left (encouraging exploration in that direction first)
  • If they go that direction, they will find an open pit with a skeleton at the bottom of it
  • If asked, the goblin will tell them that they found the keys in that pit (the party may assume the key broke off when the pit opened...)
  • If they state they look for a similar pit in front of the other entrance they will automatically find it.
 

That might be one of the things that got changed between the Quickstart and the Core Set / rulebook. According to the text of the Core Set / rulebook, description trumps rolling for things like Spot Hidden. It's specifically called out in the text that a good description will give you either an auto-success or a boon to the roll.

You could also just telegraph those things if you think that's a better approach. Maybe have the player roll after the fact just to see if they hit the 1 or 20 to mark it for advancement.
Yep. Spot Hidden (p. 35):
If your description of where you are searching is very precise, the GM can give you a boon or even let you succeed without a roll.
 

Yes, I'm going to have to read carefully and figure out what to change.

For example:
in the Riddermound adventure, it bothers me that there's nothing telegraphing the pit trap in front of the one gate that can be opened. So here's what I'm thinking:
  • When looking through the bars from Area 7, the magical torches are only on the left (encouraging exploration in that direction first)
  • If they go that direction, they will find an open pit with a skeleton at the bottom of it
  • If asked, the goblin will tell them that they found the keys in that pit (the party may assume the key broke off when the pit opened...)
  • If they state they look for a similar pit in front of the other entrance they will automatically find it.
It's always a challenge for me deciding to simply give clues or info or use the skills. I like the idea that PC skill opens these up, but I also don't want to hold up on critical clues needed to proceed. I also think players like using their search and deduction skills - it just feels good when a skill helps you figure something out. I guess I just play it by ear, and make it very easy to find critical info.
 
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It's always a challenge for me deciding to simply give clues or info or use the skills. I like the idea that PC skill opens these up, but I also don't want to hold up on critical clues needed to proceed. I also think player like using their search and deduction skills - it just feels good when a skill helps you figure something out. I guess I just play it by ear, and make it very easy to find critical info.

My issue in this one case is that there was absolutely NOTHING to signal to the PCs they should search here. And I don't like setting up expectations that everything has to be searched.
 

My issue in this one case is that there was absolutely NOTHING to signal to the PCs they should search here. And I don't like setting up expectations that everything has to be searched.
Agreed there! A trap that has no chance to be detected/avoided/disarmed is just a free damage generator, and it really ticks off and discourages players. Some clue should be evident and it shouldn’t be gated behind a roll.
 

My issue in this one case is that there was absolutely NOTHING to signal to the PCs they should search here. And I don't like setting up expectations that everything has to be searched.
Agreed there! A trap that has no chance to be detected/avoided/disarmed is just a free damage generator, and it really ticks off and discourages players. Some clue should be evident and it shouldn’t be gated behind a roll.
I’ll be the odd one out on that. If you’re in a dungeon you should always be on the lookout for traps. Any trap you can easily see while casually strolling down a corridor is a badly-made trap. Description trumps rolls. You describe tapping a 10’ pole on the floor in front of you, you’ll automatically detect the difference in sound.
 

I’ll be the odd one out on that. If you’re in a dungeon you should always be on the lookout for traps. Any trap you can easily see while casually strolling down a corridor is a badly-made trap. Description trumps rolls. You describe tapping a 10’ pole on the floor in front of you, you’ll automatically detect the difference in sound.
I agree that players should be on the lookout for traps and be descriptive, but I also think that the GM/adventure should telegraph traps through description. I believe that Ben Milton, for example, even advocates for automatically revealing a trap if the players are spending time looking for one in a scene. But for him, the game of finding a trap is not as interesting as the game of dealing with a trap.

I don't particularly see value in the 10-foot-pole playstyle.
 

I’ll be the odd one out on that. If you’re in a dungeon you should always be on the lookout for traps. Any trap you can easily see while casually strolling down a corridor is a badly-made trap. Description trumps rolls. You describe tapping a 10’ pole on the floor in front of you, you’ll automatically detect the difference in sound.

Do you require the players to narrate that for every hallway and room?
 

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