Dragonbane general thread

[Sir Brennen]

Not necessarily "a cleric" but I would appreciate something more akin to a white magic tradition. Again, note that I'm purposefully trying to avoid calling it "holy." Animism goes a bit too much into nature while Mentalism is a little too psychic.

With the upcoming Book of Magic, seems like one could cherry-pick a list of spells and create one's own "white magic" tradition. (possibly adding some of your own or from 3rd party sources). However, such a tradition probably should include a few offensive spells lest a practitioner feel useless in combat, or regulated to "just a support character."

 

[Bill Zebub]

Many gamers have a very odd security blanket syndrome where they don't want to learn new gaming terms.

It's pretty dismissive to call it "security blanket syndrome" and say they "don't want to learn new gaming terms."

Humans often have a hard time understanding something new when it appears, on the surface, to be quite similar to something they already know and understand. For example, a lot of new programmers struggle to understand that both the variable and the equals sign in "x = 5" have meanings very different, in important ways, from those in math. It's not that they don't want to learn new things, let alone that they have a syndrome; they're just human.

The other human instinct I find puzzling is how fans of non-D&D games feel the need to mock/denigrate newcomers who bring assumptions from D&D. Reminds me of how fans of indie bands compete to prove who is the most genuine and O.G. fan. It's all just gatekeeping.

EDIT: And I'll add that I'm not immune to the above. I find that it just bugs me when people want to start modding Shadowdark to be more like D&D, and I've succumbed to making snarky comments. But I wish I wouldn't. Like I said, it's just gatekeeping.

 

[Bill Zebub]

With the upcoming Book of Magic, seems like one could cherry-pick a list of spells and create one's own "white magic" tradition. (possibly adding some of your own or from 3rd party sources). However, such a tradition probably should include a few offensive spells lest a practitioner feel useless in combat, or regulated to "just a support character."

Or maybe there could be a new ability that turbocharges support spellcasting in exchange for foregoing offensive spells.

 

[Von Ether]

The other human instinct I find puzzling is how fans of non-D&D games feel the need to mock/denigrate newcomers who bring assumptions from D&D. Reminds me of how fans of indie bands compete to prove who is the most genuine and O.G. fan. It's all just gatekeeping.

With respect, as the gamer who is always trying new systems, I've seen the opposite reaction much more often where D&D gamers mock/denigrate non D&D games and players.

It seems to be a combination of sunk cost fallacy syndrome and a defense mechanism to preserve the ego boost some gamers get from system mastery -- as they dismiss "dumb downed" games compared to 5e/3e/PF 1e.

"Pathfinder 1e is the best because it's the most customizable!"
"Did you check out Dark Eye or Champions?"
"Uh. No. Okay, it's because I know PF 1e inside and out and I am not buying another darn rpg book."

Again, I've had people avoid learning a whole new game that has less pages than a PHB, but then learn and play a game with different concepts and no HP, like Mutants and Masterminds, because it shares common terms - only to spin them differently.

If it's not a security blanket, it is definitely a narrow comfort zone in a hobby about being creative.

 

[overgeeked]

Maybe spin this off as it’s not actually about Dragonbane.

 

[Wolfpack48]

Funny, how players leave D&D but always want to bring D&Disms into other RPGs. Dragonbane (and Fantasy AGE) are not D&D emulators, clones or simulacrums. Nothing is missing.

The only similarity is that Dragonbane uses d20s.

 

[Aldarc]

With the upcoming Book of Magic, seems like one could cherry-pick a list of spells and create one's own "white magic" tradition. (possibly adding some of your own or from 3rd party sources). However, such a tradition probably should include a few offensive spells lest a practitioner feel useless in combat, or regulated to "just a support character."

Possibly. I do share the earlier expressed frustration that some 3pp just want to recreate a D&D cleric. That's not what I want. Maybe call it Celestial, possibly also dealing with star magic.

I will certainly be curious how traditions like Harmonism and Symbolism may possibly bridge that gap. For example, Harmonism could potentially be retooled as one chanting hymns or prayers. But we will see. Some have mentioned Spiritism as a tradition from old, but I'm not versed in past Drakar och Demoner editions enough to know how that fits.

I would also probably like some additional General spells. I'm not sure if there were any mentions of those also getting boosted by the Book of Magic.

 

[The Soloist]

The only similarity is that Dragonbane uses d20s.

But it's d20 roll under! Even that is different.

 

[Von Ether]

The Arkand and Magic Book KS has passed half a million and had to come up a second round of stretch goals.

 

[Bill Zebub]

With respect, as the gamer who is always trying new systems, I've seen the opposite reaction much more often where D&D gamers mock/denigrate non D&D games and players.

That may be true, but I strive to not emulate those players.