Dragonbane general thread [+]

[Relax]

Seeking Feedback About Dragonbane Skill Rolls From Experienced GMs--

Hello, I'm trying to teach my group of players Dragonbane's game system, and I've drawn up a cheat sheet/teaching aid to explain Dragonbane's Skill Rolls. I'd be very grateful if GMs experienced with the system would look it over and offer any suggestions or corrections.

Thanks,

Sqwheelz64

You've made a pretty comprehensive teaching aid with only a few errors.

In the opening paragraph you mention a 1 is an automatic failure and a 20 is an automatic success, the opposite is true. This is corrected later in the document.
Skill levels range from 3-18.
When creating your character you get all skills at a base level, from 3-7, for "free" derived from your attribute score the skill is based on. You also get to start the game with a certain number of "trained" skills based on your age, 8, 10, or 12, and those particular skills start at double your base level. All trained or untrained determines is the characters starting skill level. All skills can be improved as you describe. There are no "skill points" to assign so that whole section needs to be reworded.
You cannot push a natural 20. The condition gained always imposes a bane against the affected attribute and the associated skills.
In your example, all characters would roll against their Bartering skill. Being trained or untrained only effects their initial skill level during character creation.

I think that's it, hope that helps! Have fun! It's my favourite new game...

 

[Aldarc]

My partner requested another session of Dragonbane this weekend. Who am I to say no?

I ended up running Temple of the Purple Flame. I decided to put the third and final piece of the statuette in the altar ahead of time. The party of four went through the front door and then into the garden. They never actually wandered close to the plants. Baston was still leery of plants after his sneezing fits in Troll Spire. Aodhan and Makandar were investigating the door that leads to the main chamber. Krisanna stayed in the center. Since it was a stretch of time, I rolled to see what would happen. A fearsome roar could be heard. They all made their Will checks. Aodhan actually rolled a Dragon, so I decided that he would get a boon on a roll to identify the creature with a Beast Lore check. He succeeded, so they all knew that there was a manticore around.

They decided to go into the altar room, expecting the manticore. Nothing. They investigated the altar, but couldn't figure it out. Aodhan this time tried looking for hidden details about the altar, so I had my partner roll Spot Hidden. This time a Demon! So not only did he fail, but I decided that the consequence was time and another roll. Cultists burst out the nearby door. The party made fairly short work of the cultists with little problem. The last cultist fled, telling them that death wasn't worth it, they could have the mask in the altar. But I don't think that my partner caught that detail. Anyway, the cultist was in such a hurry that, they fell down the trap door and died. Instead of investigating the altar further, the party decided to go through the door the cultists came from and descended down the stairs to the lower level.

They had three options here: (A) Left, and investigate the wall with the chains and the hidden door, (B) Straight Ahead, and go into the chamber with the manticore, and (C) Right, and discover the treasure room. I telegraphed the danger, and Krisanna listened to the door straight ahead, realizing that the manticore was in that room. The party decided to go straight ahead.

That manticore was BRUTAL. Basically every attack can absolutely demolish the HP of an adventurer. The manticore tried attacking Aodhan with its tail, but Makander successfully used their Guardian ability to protect Aodhan, parrying the one manticore ability that can be parried.

When Makander tried to attack in return, he rolled a Demon, and I had them roll for the mishap. His demonbane axe, which he acquired from Riddermound, went flying six meters away. Aodhan managed to fire blast the manticore. Though Krisanna got a good sneak attack on the manticore, the manticore downed Krisanna with a pretty big hit. Baston missed. By the next round, the manticore then downed Baston with its claws. It also hit Aodhan. And then the manticore attacked and knocked down Makander. Aodhan was on his last legs. But he got a good initiative card and successfully Rallied Krisanna back up. She managed to backstab the manticore to kill it. But the manticore had two turns left, so it would have likely been a TPK otherwise. My partner asked what treasure they got for killing the manticore. Nothing but the satisfaction of killing it.

They doubled-back, this time finding the treasure room. While Aodhan poured through his new grimoire, the other characters took the chance to heal up. I rolled nothing happens on their Stretch Rest. They then discovered the hidden door to the Portal Room and went in. As soon as the two demonic cultists invited them to go through the portal to become a part of Sathmog's realm, Aodhan cast Dispel on the Portal closing it. (Once again, I am glad that I decided beforehand that the statuette was in the altar.) Needless to say, the cultists weren't too happy about this. Initiative. This time Aodhan summoned a Salamander, which was actually pretty smart because its fire bypasses armor. The party did fairly short work of the two demonic cultists, though Krisanna was downed again. The revive ability of the cultists didn't really factor much into the fight.

My partner couldn't find the statuette piece anywhere in this room, but I did remind my partner that the party has not explored every room or found everything. I don't know why, but my partner decided to go back upstairs and hit the gong in the altar room. "What happens?," my partner asks. You hear a gong. "Aodhan touches the top of the altar. What happens?" You brush off more dust. "Baston cuts himself and puts blood on the altar. What happens?" The altar has blood on it. After a bit of back and forth, Aodhan investigated the altar a second time, this time noticing the imprints suggesting that the suns on each side of the altar could be pressed. All four suns were pressed at the same time, revealing the Bone Mask and the last statuette piece. They decided to put the Bone Mask back, believing it probably cursed. But they took the statuette.

Again, I am glad that I did not put the statuette piece in the demon realm. I thought that there was a snowball's chance in hell, almost quite literally, for my partner to decide to go into the demon realm. I just did not expect them to dispel the portal first things first.

My partner: "You mean I could have gotten the statuette from the altar without fighting anything, including that manticore?"

Me: "Yes."

My partner:

So the party has all three statuette pieces. Now it's time for the showdown with Spoiler (Curse Your Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal) NPC and unlocking the McGuffin in Outskirt. But that will be for next time.

 

[overgeeked]

My partner couldn't find the statuette piece anywhere in this room, but I did remind my partner that the party has not explored every room or found everything. I don't know why, but my partner decided to go back upstairs and hit the gong in the altar room. "What happens?," my partner asks. You hear a gong. "Aodhan touches the top of the altar. What happens?" You brush off more dust. "Baston cuts himself and puts blood on the altar. What happens?" The altar has blood on it. After a bit of back and forth, Aodhan investigated the altar a second time, this time noticing the imprints suggesting that the suns on each side of the altar could be pressed. All four suns were pressed at the same time, revealing the Bone Mask and the last statuette piece. They decided to put the Bone Mask back, believing it probably cursed. But they took the statuette.

Examples like this make me rethink letting players roll to solve puzzles. Maybe something like three strikes then roll. Or steal the Idea roll from Call of Cthulhu. If you're properly stuck make a roll. The story moves forward regardless, but on a failure you get a nasty surprise while on a success you're handed a big glowing neon sign of a clue.

 

[Aldarc]

Examples like this make me rethink letting players roll to solve puzzles. Maybe something like three strikes then roll. Or steal the Idea roll from Call of Cthulhu. If you're properly stuck make a roll. The story moves forward regardless, but on a failure you get a nasty surprise while on a success you're handed a big glowing neon sign of a clue.

That's fair. But the issue wasn't the roll per se IMHO. Earlier, the first Spot Hidden roll was a Demon. The cultists who ran indirectly revealed that the altar could be opened. However, instead of investigating the altar again, my partner decided to go further into the temple. I did not call for that second Spot Hidden roll until my partner doubled-back and actually described Aodhan examining the fine details of the altar.

 

[overgeeked]

That's fair. But the issue wasn't the roll per se IMHO. Earlier, the first Spot Hidden roll was a Demon. The cultists who ran indirectly revealed that the altar could be opened. However, instead of investigating the altar again, my partner decided to go further into the temple.

That's not the bit I'm talking about.

I did not call for that second Spot Hidden roll until my partner doubled-back and actually described Aodhan examining the fine details of the altar.

That's the bit I'm talking about. The repeated failed attempts to solve the puzzle itself. You list three attempts to solve the puzzle plus "a bit of back and forth" before getting to a roll. I can imagine how frustrating that is for the player, I've been there. That's the kind of thing I don't want inflicted on me and certainly don't want to inflict on my players.

The player's clearly trying to figure it out but progress is gated behind saying exactly the right phrase. This is why I mention three strikes then a roll. Three failed attempts is enough of a time sink, for me. I'd want to just skip to the roll after that.

Maybe something like the roll is impossible without at least one attempt. After one attempt you have disadvantage on the roll. After two attempts it's a straight roll. After three attempts it's with advantage. On the fourth try you just get it automatically.