Free League Announces Dragonbane: Trudvang

Free League Publishing has announced its next Dragonbane content - a four volume set featuring the Celtic and Norse inspired world of Trudvang. This week, Free League Publishing announced Dragonbane: Trudvang, which is based on the board game Trudvang originally published by CMON. The set will include the following books:

• World Book: A deep dive into Trudvang's history, peoples, and regions – from Stormlands to Westmark, from Soj to the Great Ice Plains, richly illustrated.
• Book of Heroes: New Trudvang professions, skills, heroic abilities, and magic – wielded by vitner weavers and dimwalkers.
• Jorgi's Bestiary: The classic monster manual for Trudvang returns, featuring beasts from braskelwurm and draugr to hrimtursir and yggdras, all adapted for Dragonbane.
• The Black Sun: A legendary four-part epic campaign in Trudvang, revised and published in English for the first time.

Trudvang has an interesting history. The IP was originally developed as a campaign setting for Drakar Och Demoner, the Swedish version of Dragonbane. RiotMinds sold the Trudvang IP to CMON shortly before selling the Drakar Och Demoner rights to Free League Publishing, and CMON developed Trudvang into a board game before its more recent financial troubles started. In some ways, this Kickstarter will bring Trudvang full circle.

A Kickstarter for the new campaign setting book will launch in 2026.

 

[Von Ether]

I'm not really a fan of the setting, but I also finally caved and decided to back the core rule book. Reading through the Kickstarter page, I'm interested in the new mechanics, heroic abilities, and such that this game introduces. It may provide a glimpse into the rumored upcoming Expert book later down the product pipeline.

They are stressing the rules can be used in generic DB. It is pure speculation, but I feel that the core spell system won't be new, just new spells with less standard durations and casting times to fit the vibe of the setting.

I have a friend who is a "Bought everything but never played it" Trudvang fan who keeps going on about the coolest part of the magic is that resembles Earthsea. Energies pulled from here will upset things somewhere else, but I haven't really seen anyone talk about any mechanics that reinforce that vibe.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I'm not really a fan of the setting, but I also finally caved and decided to back the core rule book. Reading through the Kickstarter page, I'm interested in the new mechanics, heroic abilities, and such that this game introduces. It may provide a glimpse into the rumored upcoming Expert book later down the product pipeline.

For me it's the opposite. I was curious of Dragonbane's rule, but didn't care much for the art and the tone of their flavor of fantasy. This is much more up my alley. So it's a door for me into Dragonbane. If I fall in love with it maybe it'll pull me into some of the mainline content.

 

[Bill Zebub]

For me it's the opposite. I was curious of Dragonbane's rule, but didn't care much for the art and the tone of their flavor of fantasy. This is much more up my alley. So it's a door for me into Dragonbane. If I fall in love with it maybe it'll pull me into some of the mainline content.

The ducks turn off a lot of people.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

The ducks turn off a lot of people.

I don't really like the duck, I actually am not a big fan of most anthropomorphic races and huge zoos of races. But in Dragonbane it's only symbolic. I think the art is gorgeous, I own the Vaesen books and for Vaesen it feels perfect. But for me, fantasy wise, it evokes very little.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I don't really like the duck, I actually am not a big fan of most anthropomorphic races and huge zoos of races. But in Dragonbane it's only symbolic. I think the art is gorgeous, I own the Vaesen books and for Vaesen it feels perfect. But for me, fantasy wise, it evokes very little.

Agree about the Vaesen books. I know I'm not going to play it, but I'm still always tempted to buy them.

 

[JohnSnow]

I'm in the same boat on Dragonbane except for two things:

1) I don't like the ducks and

2) Roll under systems just don't jive with my neurodivergent brain that screams "Big Number GOOD!"

Other than that, I really like a lot of Dragonbane's systems, like starting profession + skills approach to character development, and how it handles damage. And the existence of a system of perks/feats for character customization is cool, even if it's been badly handled in many games.

 

[Aldarc]

For me it's the opposite. I was curious of Dragonbane's rule, but didn't care much for the art and the tone of their flavor of fantasy. This is much more up my alley. So it's a door for me into Dragonbane. If I fall in love with it maybe it'll pull me into some of the mainline content.

Norse-inspired TTRPGs are a bit dime a dozen, so anything that claims to be about vikings or Norse-inspired is usually a pass for me. Also, I don't particularly like the art style of Trudvang. So much of the art features shriveled, misshapen characters. I don't like how dwarves look in this game.

I don't really like the duck, I actually am not a big fan of most anthropomorphic races and huge zoos of races. But in Dragonbane it's only symbolic. I think the art is gorgeous, I own the Vaesen books and for Vaesen it feels perfect. But for me, fantasy wise, it evokes very little.

I didn't like the ducks at first, but they grew on me. And watching my partner play a mallard and enjoy it did a great deal to turn my opinion around. I also don't really think that there are "huge zoos of races" in Dragonbane.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I also don't really think that there are "huge zoos of races" in Dragonbane.

No, there's not. I was just saying that I think my reluctance to the duck stems from the same source as my reluctance of zoos of races in other games. I think 97% of my characters in games have been Humans, Dwarves or Halflings. I'm fun like that.

 

[Bill Zebub]

No, there's not. I was just saying that I think my reluctance to the duck stems from the same source as my reluctance of zoos of races in other games. I think 97% of my characters in games have been Humans, Dwarves or Halflings. I'm fun like that.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind some humans-only (PCs) fantasy RPGing in my life.

I'm racist like that?