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.

 

[Anarchclown]

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.

 

[Iamoutofhere]

Free League have supported every product line properly so how many fantasy games they publish doesn’t bother me.

I’m guessing they have bought the internal art of the Ruin Masters game along with the licence…as that looks like the same artist who is illustrating Dragonbane/D&D. Very cool style. Vaesen looks tremendous.

As to system…a skill based fantasy game, off the bones of BRP using a d20 like Pendragon. Great.

My only worry is they overplay the ‘mirth’ part of the advertising. I don’t want a joke game where having to be silly is baked in…rarely works out well.

 

[aramis erak]

And that doesn't even inude Norway or Denmark!

Oh, come now, at least one each from other Norse descendant cultures should be there.
I fround references to Draug ... but not in Norwegian... Hmm... maybe not.
Perhaps the Norse-descendent languages mostly publish in English?
«grins, ducks, hustles away quietly»

 

[Andrea Rocci]

(He's made it feel very contemporary despite it's early roots in a way Chaosium can only dream about..)

Dunno what's your beef with Chaosium' but this came across as an unnecessary quip. Especially because, looking at their design choices with RQG, they're not even remotely trying to feel contemporary. They're just doing their own thing (with gorgeous art).

 

[Ulfgeir]

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.

The Free League is also the distributor of the Swedish fantasy-game Sagospelet Äventyr (they also have space-version and is getting a horror-version as well. All of them is made for younger children). The creator of the game first started independently, then for a while was a co-owner of Eloso Förlag (who has made the Swedish version of Call of Cthulhu), but later split and joined Free League instead, and had the game moved to their line. If I understood it correctly, this was due to the creator getting a job at Free League as an actual employee.

They also distribute a number of other smaller games in Swedish. Such as Oktoberlandet, Svärd och Svartkonst. Both of which are sort of fantasy.

 

[aramis erak]

The Free League is also the distributor of the Swedish fantasy-game Sagospelet Äventyr (they also have space-version and is getting a horror-version as well. All of them is made for younger children). The creator of the game first started independently, then for a while was a co-owner of Eloso Förlag (who has made the Swedish version of Call of Cthulhu), but later split and joined Free League instead, and had the game moved to their line. If I understood it correctly, this was due to the creator getting a job at Free League as an actual employee.

They also distribute a number of other smaller games in Swedish. Such as Oktoberlandet, Svärd och Svartkonst. Both of which are sort of fantasy.

They're starting to sound like the Swedish version of pre-Hasbro WotC...

Still, I'm liking what I've run of their games.

• Despite only a short run of Vaesen, I still feel it was a worthwhile purchase. I got 3 of the 5 played, each taking at least 2 sessions of around 4 hours. 5p plus me... so 144 hours, that's less than my threshold of $2 per person per hour.
• A several month campaign of T2K 4 was well worth the KS participation. 3-6 players, 14 weeks or so, 3.5 hour sessions...
• Alien got a trio of 4+ month campaigns (one of which was a cinematic - Destroyer of Worlds), plus two runs of Chariot (1 each FTF and online, both 3 sessions)... definitely worth the preorder price. Looking forward to the next expansion...
• Have yet to run MYZ, Forbidden Lands, Tales from the Loop. But the hours of reading alone have been worth the PDF bundles they were in.
• Not looking to run Mörk Borg, but may wind up playing it. Grabbed the free no-art version. Reading time has been amusing, so worth more well than I paid.
• Looking forward to running Blade Runner...
• Coriolis I plan on running once I again have a group not playing in a public venue; the religious aspects could be problematic. Still, the hours of reading "paid for" the bundle.

TOR2E, I don't like the changes. It's the only FL product where I've truly been disappointed with the game. I'll keep the dead tree in shrink... when I run, it will be 1E. Maybe with the 2e travel system.

I don't know if I'll be getting Dragonbane. But, given FL's standards for fluff, if it hits a bundle, I'll be seeing if I can grab it.

 

[eyeheartawk]

I'm interested in the pre-Free League version of this game. Apparently the rights were sold in 2021. I would be interested in playing the various systems it's had throughout its editions. As I'm not a fan the Free League system I'll be giving this a pass. Apparently, the "old" version of this game still exists as Ruin Masters for those interested and those who can read Swedish.

 

[schneeland]

Ruin Masters also exists in English. But it seems it was pulled from DTRPG (I still have it in my library, but the product page is gone). There should be copies floating around in print, though.

 

[Buzzqw]

The Bestiary of Ruin Masters (and by addon all manuals) was a successull kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/riotminds/ruin-masters-bestiary (by Riot Minds)

i'am just waiting for delivery..

BHH

 

[Maggan]

I'm interested in the pre-Free League version of this game. Apparently the rights were sold in 2021. I would be interested in playing the various systems it's had throughout its editions. As I'm not a fan the Free League system I'll be giving this a pass. Apparently, the "old" version of this game still exists as Ruin Masters for those interested and those who can read Swedish.

The original version was a translation of Basic Roleplaying and Magic World, so if you can find those you can get a taste at how the first rpg in Swedish played.

This system will not be Year Zero-engine, btw.