Dragonbane Post-Mortem

[Wolfpack48]

So I am guessing WoTC isn't going to appreciate converting of D&D spells to another system. I'll PM the link to anyone who's interested, just let me know (in Excel, tab for each school). A few notes, below, be happy to hear feedback:

• Schools of magic converted to Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy and Transmutation. Some D&D spells switched schools.
• Added starting skills for each school.
• Necromancy and 8/9th level spells TBD for now.
• Distances converted to metric and standard Dragonbane movement system
• D&D times generally converted to Dragonbane times (round, stretch, shift)
• D&D stats and skills converted to DB
• D&D save mechanic converted to DB check or opposed roll mechanic
• Added DB power level mechanic
• Retained D&D ingredients
• Eliminated bonus actions; actions or reactions only
• If a roughly equivalent DB spell exists, replaced the D&D version with the Dragonbane version. D&D spells in red are replaced completely by the Dragonbane version. Spells in orange are not in the D&D spell list, and have been added from Dragonbane or are completely new. (When the DB spell book arrives, I'll probably add more DB replacement spells.)
• Cantrips that do damage moved to Rank 1 spells. Otherwise, they are converted to Magic Tricks.
• Level 1-3 = DB Rank 1 spell (d6 die type as a rule of thumb for single target damage)
• Level 4-5 = DB Rank 2 spell (d8 die type as a rule of thumb for single target damage)
• Level 6-7 = DB Rank 3 spell (d10 die type as a rule of thumb for single target damage)
• Level 8 = DB Rank 4 spell
• Level 9 = DB Rank 5 spell

 

[overgeeked]

She primarily likes getting together with friends and feeling powerful. She doesn't care about story, world building, immersion, roleplaying, or anything more than moving a mini, rolling dice, and killing stuff.

Yeah. It sounds like she’d rather play a board game. Check out the 4E boardgames and something like Talisman or HeroQuest.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Yeah. It sounds like she’d rather play a board game. Check out the 4E boardgames and something like Talisman or HeroQuest.

That's dismissive/insulting. Board games are still entirely different from playing RPGs. Some people feel they are inhabiting their character, that they are their character, even if they don't 'roleplay' in the ways that others think are superior.

EDIT: and one of the key distinctions between RPGs and board games is that board games have a defined set of actions you can take, and in RPGs you can improvise any idea.

 

[overgeeked]

I've touched on it in a few posts here, but let's see if I can organize it more clearly here.

The main theme I appreciate the most after spending years of wrecking my brain with over-thinking is the shear randomization of choices. It really takes so much of the weight off a DM. More than any game in recent memory, it felt like a long-long friend sitting next to me and helping me run a game. It doesn't have the pushy, heavily codified rules of something like Pathfinder 2. It doesn't have the "you're the DM - figure it out" mentality of 5e.

The first aspect of this is in character creation. While your players can completely customize every aspect of their character, there are charts to make creation quick and easy. You can roll on charts to decide your class, species, stats, equipment, name, appearance, roleplaying quirks, etc. You don't have to labor over "what the party needs" or "what's the best weapon" or "which feat do I take?"

In the monsters, you're presented with a chart you can roll on for your actions. Every one of them is flavorful, from a troll vomiting on a character to a giant picking up a hero and tossing him across the battlefield. Combats are fast, but you don't have to worry about enemies never getting to use cool abilities (because they're all cool abilities) or getting locked into repetitive actions (if you roll the same action twice in a row, you have to select another one).

Want to give interesting tactical options and encourage interaction with the environment? There are cards of terrain features that you can roll randomly to be used by characters and enemies. For example, during a battle in the woods the party was attacked by harpies and few of the heroes could reach them. But the cards showed that a boulder was there, and the rogue got to leap off it and stab a harpy through the chest. The knight was able to launch a hornet's nest at one of them and get it stuck on her head.

Add these to random encounter charts, mishaps for getting lost in the wilderness, critical fumble and success charts.

We praise the elegance and simplicity of Advantage/Disadvantage in D&D 5e. It's also used here. But it's stackable. You can have multiple Advantages that can give more flexibility and require teamwork. In desperation, the knight was trying to climb a slippery cliff in plate armor, so he had double disadvantage. The rest of the party is scrambling to toss him a rope to negate a disadvantage. He is considering leaving his armor in the pit. The monsters are closing in.

Dragonbane is not only a great game, it's the best game I've played in a decade. That boxed set has months of play in it and the full rules. It's a tremendous value that anyone who likes fantasy RPGs should consider.

Wow. That's great to hear. I'm starting to seriously look at Dragonbane after hearing a few glowing reviews.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I'm thinking of adding the "push" mechanic to Shadowdark to see how it goes.

The idea of accumulating banes fits the theme pretty well.

 

[Starfox]

Why are complex games the only ones where you can feel powerful? All the streamlined games, you're one hit away from death.

This sums the entire Basic Role-Playing line of games up quite well, and many other lighter and/or more realistic systems as well. They work well in one-shots, but are just too random to build a campaign on.

 

[Aldarc]

This sums the entire Basic Role-Playing line of games up quite well, and many other lighter and/or more realistic systems as well. They work well in one-shots, but are just too random to build a campaign on.

Pulp Cthulhu is a thing. It helps you create more action heroic characters for Cthulhu. There is even a campaign book for Pulp Cthulhu that I picked up and have heard good things about: The Two-Headed Serpent.

You could probably look at some of the adjustments that Pulp Cthulhu makes to the system and apply that to other BRP systems.

 

[Starfox]

I did play a pulpy Cthulhu/Crimson Skies (the boardgame) crossover, we used a Feng-Shui RPG-based homebrew for rules.

Lots of buzzwords in this post.

 

[Aldarc]

I did play a pulpy Cthulhu/Crimson Skies (the boardgame) crossover, we used a Feng-Shui RPG-based homebrew for rules.

Lots of buzzwords in this post.

Maybe I am missing something, but I'm not sure how I am using a lot of buzzwords in my post.

 

[Starfox]

Maybe I am missing something, but I'm not sure how I am using a lot of buzzwords in my post.

pulpy, Cthulhu, Crimson Skies, Feng-Shui...
Actually I am happy if all these terms did not annoy.
Perhaps Buzzword is the wrong term here, more like group-speak.