Dragonbane is the fantasy RPG I've been looking for

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finarvyn said:
If you do this, please post what you use. (After the full rules come out, that is.) I own several BRP-based rules sets but honestly have hardly ever played them, so I feel like quite the novice to the BRP system and wouldn't know which rules read well but play poorly or vice versa.

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If I actually follow through on it - I will!
 
gruagach said:
I can see porting over a few BRP derived house rules to this game to make it really sing. Gotta wait for the full rules to see what's in and out first, and will definitely try at least a few one-shots "rules as written".

I'd like to see a "lingering wounds" set of rules. And, I'd like to see something akin to Mythras' special effects (simplified, if possible).
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I've read the quick start a couple of times and although I'm still skeptical of how RAW Dragonbane will play, I could definitely see a hack/mashup being doable. The toolkit nature of a lot of BRP-based games and the long history of adapting those core mechanics to fit a variety of genres is nothing new, but at that point, I'd probably come to the realization mid-hack that I just need to pick one of those games as a base and add whatever minor bits from Dragonbane seem like they would be worth retaining (maybe that will be the setting, its bestiary, or magic systems?). I'll probably end up backing this for the PDF, just to see what final form it takes and to see if there's anything worth stealing.
 
I like the Dragonbane title.

It's totally unrelated to the fact that my first rpg character ever (when I was 13 years old) was named "Slane Dragonbane"*

*In the original french : "Slane le Pourfendeur de Dragons".

I'm interested in that game ; I don't know exactly why but it seems "fresh" to me.
 
Godfather Punk said:
I liked the quality of the cloth maps in Vaesen and Braexiten, so Deluxe Bundle sounds like a no brainer.
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I think it’s a PRETTY STEEP increase in $ for a GM Screen and a Cloth Map. It doubles the cost of the Kickstarter.

I mean I would like those extras, but it’s the reason $ I’ve held off backing so far. But I’m a sucker for good presentation, art and layout too.

Endless Flight said:
Not every RPG can have an inspired name like Against the Darkmaster!
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Haha, the name of it bugged me as well. I thought ‘Against the Dark Lord’ would have been better, but I get they wanted to hint at the ‘Role-Master‘ connection.

Necrozius said:
Yep if this had been a heavily Norse-inspired mythic Earth setting it would have filled a solid gap on my shelf.

Thank Odin that it isn’t, ooof…
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It may have already been mention upthread but just in case have you heard about “Trudvang’

* Speaking of Trudvang, Riot Minds the publisher sold their IP’s to CMON which is a bit of a surprise to me at least. You can’t find their old games on the Riot Minds website anymore.
 
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Johan Egerkrans, artist of Dragonbane and Vaesen rpg books, is already quite established.
He has several thematic art books available, one of which was inspirational for the Vaesen rpg a year or two later.
I bought them a few years ago - I have 'Norse Gods', 'Vaesen' and 'The Undead' books. All excellent quailty in production standards as well as beautiful artwork.
I am aware that Egerkrans has a more recent book called 'Dragons', so I might have to get that for my collection
I am not sure if his books are widely available, but you can readily find them from the web store where I purchased them: Grimfrost
Great conversation piece books
Truly beautiful to have in one's collection
 
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Mankcam said:
Johan Egerkrans, artist of Dragonbane and Vaesen rpg books, is already quite established.

He has several thematic art books available, one of which was inspirational for the Vaesen rpg a year or two later.

I bought them a few years ago - I have 'Norse Gods', 'Vaesen' and 'The Undead' books. All excellent quailty in production standards as well as beautiful artwork.

I am aware that Egerkrans has a more recent book called 'Dragons', so I might have to get that for my collection

I am not sure if his books are widely available, but you can readily find them from the web store where I purchased them: Grimfrost

Great conversation piece books
Truly beautiful to have in one's collection
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I just went to his sight looking for his books and they are ALLOT more expensive than the listed price for used/good condition copies on Amazon.

I’m all for supporting an Artist, I used to be one myself. But when it’s 3x the cost of Amazon (not including shipping costs) it gives one pause.

www.johanegerkrans.com

JOHAN EGERKRANS

Johan Egerkrans is an illustrator and writer from Sweden. In this shop he sells signed prints of his artwork and signed books. He has previously published the books Vaesen, Norse Gods and The Undead. The new book Dragons will be out in English in April 2022.
www.johanegerkrans.com
 
Korgoth said:
I just went to his sight looking for his books and they are ALLOT more expensive than the listed price for used/good condition copies on Amazon.

I’m all for supporting an Artist, I used to be one myself. But when it’s 3x the cost of Amazon (not including shipping costs) it gives one pause.

www.johanegerkrans.com

JOHAN EGERKRANS

Johan Egerkrans is an illustrator and writer from Sweden. In this shop he sells signed prints of his artwork and signed books. He has previously published the books Vaesen, Norse Gods and The Undead. The new book Dragons will be out in English in April 2022.
www.johanegerkrans.com
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I never knew he had his own site, I previously bought thru Grimfrost.
Yes they are significantly more expensive on his own site, however the books are signed copies and apparently the cost includes shipping
I don't really care for signed copies or not, so as long as I can find the same books for cheaper than thats fine.
International shipping can sometimes be a killer for me down here in Australia, especially when being shipped from Europe.
 
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Mankcam said:
International shipping can sometimes be a killer for me down here in Australia, especially when being shipped from Europe.
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Imagine the frustration of us Canadians getting stuff from the U.S. who have to pay the outrageous markups for International shipping when the books are just across a line on a map.

Which is why I'm happy Dragonbane has a PDF option. I'd rather have a physical copy, but the shipping...
 
Mankcam said:
I never knew he had his own site, I previously bought thru Grimfrost.
Yes they are significantly more expensive on his own site, however the books are signed copies and apparently the cost includes shipping
I don't really care for signed copies or not, so as long as I can find the same books for cheaper than thats fine.
International shipping can sometimes be a killer for me down here in Australia, especially when being shipped from Europe.
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I don't care much about signed copies either, BUT if those costs include shipping across the pond then it isn't so bad buying directly from him. Shipping costs have skyrocketed over the last few years. Most Book/Game purchase these days are bloody double the cost of the product itself due to shipping.

1st world problems I know but still.
 
Chris Brady said:
Imagine the frustration of us Canadians getting stuff from the U.S. who have to pay the outrageous markups for International shipping when the books are just across a line on a map.

Which is why I'm happy Dragonbane has a PDF option. I'd rather have a physical copy, but the shipping...
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Add to that paying DUTY on things like Books which are covered by NAFTA as having NO DUTY!
 
Korgoth said:
Add to that paying DUTY on things like Books which are covered by NAFTA as having NO DUTY!
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And the 'service charge' that is often more than double the duty!

I try to self-clear, although even just getting the necessary paperwork from the delivery company is a hassle in itself.
 
SoManyRats said:
And the 'service charge' that is often more than double the duty!

I try to self-clear, although even just getting the necessary paperwork from the delivery company is a hassle in itself.
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Yeah if your lucky enough to live near the border you can self clear. Brokers are racket.
 
finarvyn said:
If you do this, please post what you use. (After the full rules come out, that is.) I own several BRP-based rules sets but honestly have hardly ever played them, so I feel like quite the novice to the BRP system and wouldn't know which rules read well but play poorly or vice versa.

I was concerned about the whole initiative thing but I found a thread on Free League's boards where a poster had run several combats using the RAW initiative system and was quite pleased with the way it played out. My biggest issue had to do with the lack of parry if you have already used your action that turn. He suggested that the single-action mechanic played quickly and there were different advantages to early versus late initiative, in that early allowed attack before the bad guys could act but late allowed you to find out if the monsters missed before you picked your action. Anyway, he liked it as written but it seemed to be an issue in a quick read-through.
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If the system doesn't allow it already, the simple fix would be letting those who go first delay their actions, so they can wait and see if they need to defend, at the cost of possibly failing their defence and getting nailed when going first might've let them drop the opponent before they got hit. That does make winning initiative very strong though.
 
Mankcam said:
International shipping can sometimes be a killer for me down here in Australia, especially when being shipped from Europe.
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These days I find shipping from Europe positively reasonable compared to shipping from the US. Considering I'm in New Zealand, and the US is somewhat closer than Europe, this seems backwards.
 
Sharrow said:
These days I find shipping from Europe positively reasonable compared to shipping from the US. Considering I'm in New Zealand, and the US is somewhat closer than Europe, this seems backwards.
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I've ordered DVDs and blurays from France and the UK to Canada and have paid far less in shipping than if I ordered from the US.
 
Yep. NZer here too and Europe shipping rates are generally much better than US, and FL have great rates historically.
 
Sharrow said:
If the system doesn't allow it already, the simple fix would be letting those who go first delay their actions, so they can wait and see if they need to defend, at the cost of possibly failing their defence and getting nailed when going first might've let them drop the opponent before they got hit. That does make winning initiative very strong though.
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Dragonbane allows trading of inititave cards, so there is a strong element of cooperation and strategy. Might slow things down a bit, though.
 
gruagach said:
In all seriousness, I'm still sorely tempted to get this game.

My only real concern after a deep dive into the QuickStart is the action economy - specifically that characters have to sacrifice an action in combat to parry (but not to dodge, if I understand correctly). That seems relatively easy to house-rule.

I've done a deep dive on the artists work (Johan Egerkrans - not sure I've got that spelled right) and it's all fantastic. That's a huge plus for me, personally.
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I'll wait until I see the release after the end of kickstarter, but I'm already thinking that if the action economy seems to hinder things, I'll just houserule that everyone gets one free reaction each round. Otherwise, I am really digging what I see on the quickstart. I bumped my pledge from PDF to boxed set :grin:
 
I'll have to see how it plays. If it plays fast so turns take much less time than in most games, then losing your action that turn will not be a big deal. I think I like how it forces you to decide whether to play it safe or hope your armor sucks up most of the damage. It goes both ways - monsters lose an attack if they chose to parry or dodge. You also can dodge, but not parry a monster attack (I don't think this applies to NPC attacks), which increases the difference between an armored build (which has disadvantage on dodge and would usually parry) and an agile build.

Most of the pregens have to roll 14 or less to hit, which is also what they need to parry. I think that translates into double teaming being very important. One on one, there's a good chance that the attack hits, then the defender parries. If a second attacker goes for the same opponent, they are likely to hit and the defender has no response. If you are unlucky and getting double teamed, you might have to decide whether to parry a weak opponent if a stronger opponent hasn't gone yet. You are also likely to see wolf pack tactics vs single big opponents - the one PC getting smacked goes on the defensive while the rest attack.
 
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I ran the quickstart adventure a second time this week with a different group. PCs fared much better this time, mostly because of judicious use of fireball by their wizard. Combats are fast, and I like the single action per turn. Forces some tactical decision making without being overly complex, and contributes to the speed of combat. The possibility to wait and trade initiative cards also led to some nice "light" tactical decision making.

Overall I'm really excited to get the full game.
 
I don’t really need another set of rpg mechanics, especially one partly influenced by BRP. I am pretty content running fantasy using Mythras these days.

However this Dragonbane version of Drakar och Demoner sounds like something I would like reading, and possibly running.
Not sure if my friends can handle me presenting yet another rpg system to them, heh heh.

I quite enjoy Johan Egerkrams artwork, as it evokes it’s own whimsical fable fantasy world for me in much the same way Brian Froud does. The marriage of this with the high quality production values of Free League certainly makes for very attractive books to collect.

I know this is a boxed set, and I had hoped the books within would have a hardcover option, just like Free League did with the Forbidden Lands box set.

I can’t see anywhere this is the case.
Which is a big shame, as a fan of Egerkrams‘ artwork I really wouldn’t want to view his material in anything less than a hardcover book, otherwise I might as well just go pdf-only.

Minor quibble, but it is giving me pause regarding backing this or not.
 
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I just received some other Free League stuff (Tales from the Loop Starter Set, Heart of Darkness) and it feels like again I paid mostly for 2 half-empty boxes, nice art spreads, wide margins, large fonts and generous interline spacing, but relatively little actual content.

I don't care much for the vtt extras, soundtrack, solo mode, special dice and other stretch goals in this campaign. I'm not sure if I will keep my pledge. Maybe I better wait for the pdfs, when there's a special offer on dtrpg.
 
Godfather Punk said:
I just received some other Free League stuff (Tales from the Loop Starter Set, Heart of Darkness) and it feels like again I paid mostly for 2 half-empty boxes, nice art spreads, wide margins, large fonts and generous interline spacing, but relatively little actual content.

I don't care much for the vtt extras, soundtrack, solo mode, special dice and other stretch goals in this campaign. I'm not sure if I will keep my pledge. Maybe I better wait for the pdfs, when there's a special offer on dtrpg.
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Yeah I'm sort of in the same boat. I need another BRP-based fantasy game like I need a hole in the head, but it seems like there might be some stuff here worth pillaging, or it might be a decent introductory game for people new to RPGs, but frankly I'm not sure what to do with this thing? If I wanted a "lite" BRP game I'd probably be much more likely to reach for OpenQuest 3rd edition or use Magic World and have a bit more "meat" to bite into mechanically. The art direction is great, and I like the way it clearly divides monsters from mundane foes, but the single-action, turn economy seems weird and it feels like it's got a lot of 5e in its DNA, making it more "gamey" than I'd prefer.

More power to the folks that are into this.
 
Spartan said:
Yeah, I know. ‍ My mom was from Sweden. :smile: I just couldn't think of an appropriate analogue during the time I felt like making a post.
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Just messing with you anyway ;) I quite like the box sets they put out, but that kind of quality also costs money to produce and they're a pretty big operation (for the rpg world at least) now so lots of mouths to feed just in the company.
 
raniE said:
Just messing with you anyway ;) I quite like the box sets they put out, but that kind of quality also costs money to produce and they're a pretty big operation (for the rpg world at least) now so lots of mouths to feed just in the company.
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Absolutely. But worth every öre.
 
Spartan said:
Yeah, me too. Forbidden Lands, Bloodmarch, Bladerunner, and now this. How many of Free League's kids have I put through college?
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I thought I owned almost everything Free League makes, but I'm not familiar with Bloodmarch. What is that?

EDIT: Wait ... is that part of the Forbidden Lands game? Sounds familiar somehow.....
 
finarvyn said:
I thought I owned almost everything Free League makes, but I'm not familiar with Bloodmarch. What is that?

EDIT: Wait ... is that part of the Forbidden Lands game? Sounds familiar somehow.....
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Yes, Bloodmarch is a new region/campaign book for Forbidden Lands.
 
One Final stretch goal, another adventure. Can it be done? :shade:

Edit: Boom! Stretch goal reached.

I will keep my basic pledge, and see how funds are when the pm opens, To upgrade to luxury level.
 
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Just checking - has anyone else’s pledge been collected yet? Mine hasn’t been and it’s unusual (IME) for it to take this long. Just wanting to make sure nothing has gone wrong.

EDIT: should have read the comments on the Kickstarter first. Apparently a wide spread problem.
 
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Did the many SG adventures get bundled into a printed book?
 
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