Free League announces Dragonbane, the translation of Swedish RPG classic Drakar och Demoner

Today Free League announced an English version of Drakar och Demoner, the seminal fantasy RPG in Sweden. The original dwarfed D&D in the Scandinavian market during the 80s and remains massively popular still in this day.

A new edition of Sweden's first RPG Drakar och Demoner, finally in English after 40 years – the Kickstarter begins August 30
We are thrilled to announce the Dragonbane RPG, a brand new edition of Sweden's first and biggest tabletop roleplaying game Drakar och Demoner, now to be published in English for the first time.

Dragonbane / Drakar och Demoner is coming to Kickstarter August 30.
Sign up here to be notified the moment the campaign starts:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/drakar-och-demoner-dragonbane

Drakar och Demoner was originally launched in Sweden in 1982. Now, we celebrate its 40th anniversary with a brand new and reimagined edition, with one foot firmly planted in the heritage of decades of Swedish gaming and the other in the modern and innovative game design for which Free League is known worldwide.

There has been talk about the "Swedish invasion" in the RPG world in the last few years, with award-winning titles like Mutant: Year Zero, Tales From the Loop, Symbaroum, Forbidden Lands, and MÖRK BORG. Drakar och Demoner is the game that started it all. And now, for the first time, the game will also be available to an international audience, under the English title Dragonbane.

Drakar och Demoner / Dragonbane has art by acclaimed illustrator Johan Egerkrans (Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying and art books Vaesen, Norse Gods, The Undead, Dragons) and lead game design by Tomas Härenstam (Mutant: Year Zero, Forbidden Lands, ALIEN RPG, Twilight: 2000 4th Edition, and the upcoming Blade Runner RPG). The team of contributing writers include the elite of the Swedish tabletop RPG industry as well as acclaimed historical fiction author Niklas Natt och Dag (1793 The Wolf and the Watchman).

For a glimpse at the fantasy odyssey to come, check out the artwork from the upcoming core boxed set in this newsletter. More details about Drakar och Demoner / Dragonbane will be shared via our social media accounts throughout the weeks leading up to launch.

Drakar och Demoner / Dragonbane is a classic fantasy RPG full of magic, mystery, and adventure. This new edition is designed from the ground up to facilitate fast and furious play, with very little prep time and adventures that are a breeze to run.

Although a toolbox allowing you to tell fantasy stories of all kinds, Drakar och Demoner / Dragonbane is a game with room for laughs at the table and even a pinch of sillyness at times – while at the same time offering brutal challenges for your adventurers.

We call this playstyle "mirth and mayhem roleplaying" – great for long campaigns but also perfect for a one-shot if you just want to have some quick fun at the table for a night. The core set will include at least one complete adventure and we hope to unlock many more as stretch goals, offering a complete campaign to play even in the core game set.

 

[aramis erak]

Helmgast is working on an English version of their cyberpunk game Neotech Edge, and has 2 games written in English. (Kult: Divinity Lost, and The Troubleshooters)

Not certain if their Kult is the one I've skimmed, but it appears to be.... have seen a few oblique refs to Troubleshooters.

That it was Swedish was not obvious.

 

[Maggan]

Recent fantasy rpgs published by Swedish publishers as far as I know

Dimmor och Borgar
Sagospelet Äventyr
Hjältarnas Tid
Kopparhavets hjältar
Symbaroum
Svärdets Sång (Forbidden Lands)
Trudvang Chronicles
Ruin Masters
Järn
Tjuvarnas Labyrint
The One Ring
Drakar och Demoner
Eon
Mörk Borg
Vindsjäl
Gudasaga
Fantasy!
Saga
Svärd&Svartkonst

I’ve probably missed some but it’s a lot …

EDIT: Added two more.
EDIT II: Added another one.

 

[Fenhorn]

A world where heroes can be heroes, monsters are monsters, princes or princesses are saved in numbers, gold is still gold and very shiny and at least some heroes will live happily ever after. The fantasy genre serves very good as escapism.

 

[nyvinter]

more...

1. Symbaroum
2. Forbidden Lands
3. The One Ring 2E
4. Mörk Borg,

Vaesen, Tales from the Loop, and Things from the Flood are essentially fantasy as well, but not classic fantasy.

One Ring and Mörk Borg are both games where they're the publisher/distributor, not the creators. So they're not "their" games. As for their fantasy games Symbaroum, Forbidden Lands, and Dragonbane will all have different rules and therefore speak to different people — five different rules if we include the ones above. Some people do not like YZE but will gladly pick up a BRP. (Personally, I kinda wish they'd done a 2e of Symbaroum rather than the 5e conversion but that would have made a lot less money.)

Compare with Green Ronin that has at least three fantasy games that use the same rules.

 

[darjr]

 

[GMMichael]

Did they have chairs set up at that booth? I would camp there for quite a while.

 

[aramis erak]

One Ring and Mörk Borg are both games where they're the publisher/distributor, not the creators. So they're not "their" games. As for their fantasy games Symbaroum, Forbidden Lands, and Dragonbane will all have different rules and therefore speak to different people — five different rules if we include the ones above. Some people do not like YZE but will gladly pick up a BRP. (Personally, I kinda wish they'd done a 2e of Symbaroum rather than the 5e conversion but that would have made a lot less money.)

Compare with Green Ronin that has at least three fantasy games that use the same rules.

Considering that both are fully on the FL website as one of their games each... for brand confusion and brand recognition, that the devs aren't internal is utterly irrelevant. And the credits for TOR2? Most of the dev team appear on the FL website under "About Us→Creators"... Including Francisco Napolitano.

In terms of budget of printing and shipping, since they're published by FL, they also provide almost as much interference overall as internal products would.

As for multiple fantasy settings under the same engine... GURPS (SJG) and Savage Worlds (Pinnacle Ent. Gp.) have more than GR at the moment. When they all work the same (unlike the ones from FL) they're easier to do and easier to switch between as GM or player.

 

[aramis erak]

It feels like everyone in Sweden is publishing their own fantasy RPG.

Search DriveThruRPG for fantasy corebooks....
thousands.

 

[Parmandur]

Search DriveThruRPG for fantasy corebooks....
thousands.

And that doesn't even inude Norway or Denmark!

 

[Anarchclown]

First of all. Drakar & Demoner does not compete with other Swedish fantasy games. Internationally it doesn't matter how many Swedish fantasy games there are, because the elephant in the room is still Dungeons & Dragons and clearly neither Symbaroum, Forgotten Lands or whatever is going to touch it.

In Sweden, a new actually playable version of Drakar & Demoner will probably blow everyone else in that market out of the water. Especially since several of the games on the market are versions of Drakar & Demoner made by people frustrated with the way Riotminds has been running it.

As a last note I find it likely that Symbaroum that has had some trouble with its very simple and shiny but deeply flawed system design might actually adapt to the Drakar & Demoner ruleset eventually due to the fact that it is based on the designers love for that exact game and there are even a lot of references to the old Drakar & Demoner campaign setting Ereb Altor in Symbaroum (i mean... to start with... the Ambrians came to Ambria from their homeland Alberetor... which is an anagram for...) If that happens I imagine I will be quite happy about it since I really like the setting but the rules not so much.