Free League Opens Pre-Orders for Dragonbane: Path of Glory

Free League opened pre-orders for the new edition of the classic 1980s adventure campaign Dragonbane: Path of Glory. The adventure was originally published for Drakar och Demoner over 1985 and 1986 in three parts. The new edition will be updated for the most recent edition and will be the first official English language edition, collecting the campaign into a single volume.

From the announcement:

“Hooves.”

“Come on, there haven't been horses around for years," Pedrina exclaims contemptuously. "You're just imagining things.”

“I'm sure of it. They are hooves.”

With a resigned sigh, Nrim'to lifts his head from the ground and sits down next to Pedrina by the small campfire.

Suddenly, the peace is broken by two huge shapes rushing towards the adventurers with axes drawn.

“WE WILL HAVE GLORY!” the minotaurs roar, delivering a violent blow with their double axes to each of the adventurers.

Coming to the legendary Dead Forest in search of treasure, glory and a solution to the ancient curse laying waste to the forest, the adventurers soon find themselves embroiled in an epic conflict reaching back to the very foundations of the world. The quest will take the adventurers through the depths of the forest, under the mountain, and into a strange new land where the fate of the world will be determined.

The hardcover will be available for 438.00 kr (US$41.870, £32.91) while a green faux-leather collector's edition will be available for 768.00 kr (US$73.30, £57.70) with the complimentary PDF available in June, a few months ahead of the hardcover release.

 

[CapnZapp]

Ah, "Ärans Väg".

That's some serious old-skoolery right there.

 

[sevenbastard]

Does anyone know if this adventure is a sandbox like the one in the Box Set? Or is it more plotted? Based on the fact it was originally released in three parts my hope is three sandbox areas.

 

[EthanSental]

I’ve enjoyed reading Dragonbane, haven’t played it yet but I like the system. I’ll probably pick up this up as well.

 

[Von Ether]

I've enjoyed running Dragonbane. It can do trad fantasy or OSR/sandbox. It's just more deadly on average and stays more deadly as there are no levels and thus no HP bloat.*

The game is closer to a streamlined Pendragon or BRP that uses a d20 instead of d100. Using the d20, the game also uses Advantage/Disadvantage. Even cooler, there is a standardized rule for getting temporary Disadvantage to all skill checks linked to an attribute for pushing yourself too hard or from occasional monster attacks. It's an elegant spin on the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic.

*For me, it makes more sense that a gritter game does not have levels and Dragonbane is the first game to tempt me to take on a sandbox format. (And the whole idea of killing off PCs before the reach troublesome levels seems to be a a band aid. And then why have those higher levels there in the first place?)

 

[Andrea Rocci]

Does anyone know if this adventure is a sandbox like the one in the Box Set? Or is it more plotted? Based on the fact it was originally released in three parts my hope is three sandbox areas.

From what I've heard, the three parts of the old campaign were:
1. Sandboxy forest crawl
2. Dungeon crawl
3. Railroady linear adventure
The new edition is expected to keep 1 and 2 mostly intact, while revising 3.

 

[niklinna]

Huh. I guess if horses have been missing for years, a fella wouldn't be able to tell their hoofprints from those of a bull! Or maybe this is like that story I heard about how urban schoolkids didn't recognize raw vegetables.

The preview pages look nice.