Physical Edition Provided by Free League Publishing
Free League Publishing has released the finished version of the TTRPG remake of the classic Drakar och Demoner, or Dragons and Demons in English. Entitling the game as Dragonbane, which is a much more digestible title that gives a unique aspect overall, gives new players a chance to experience a modernized version of a game that could be considered part of the roots of all tabletop gaming. Does the game hold up to today’s gaming standards though, is the question?
Gameplay
Back when I had a chance to try this game out with a group of friends, my first impression left me wanting more of the game and hoping that they add more details to it than what was initially offered. To start this section off with good news, they definitely added more and improved the overall gameplay quality with this finished version!
But before we dive into the gameplay itself, let’s take a look at what is included in the box. You get pretty much everything you need to play: a set of dice that are emerald green, cutout figures for different characters and enemies, a bag of stands to put the cutout figures on, two decks of cards (one for adventures and one for treasures), blank character sheets alongside five premade characters, a booklet with instructions on how to play the game solo (or with a group and no Game Master), and two books featuring the rules and the adventure pre-built for the game. All items featured in the images provided in this review.
As for the game itself, we are getting rid of all the math that goes into the game and simplifying it to be more digestible. For starters, this game is all about the low roll. Rolling a natural 1 on the d20 is called a Dragon Roll, the game’s critical success, while a natural 20 on the d20 is called a Demon Roll, the game’s critical fail. On top of that, modifiers aren’t added to your roll but rather are what you need to beat in order for success. So, if you have a 5 in Acrobatics, then you need to roll a 5 or lower for success. The good news is, they have an aspect in this game called Push The Roll. You can choose to reroll a d20 at the cost of a negative impact for a stat. These impacts can be found under each ability stat on the character sheet. For example, if you push the roll, you can choose to take Angry - the negative impact for the Intelligence stat. You get to reroll that d20 and accept whatever it rolls, but until you take a long rest, all Intelligence-based rolls will be with a bane, this game’s term for disadvantage. As with most games, a bane can be countered with a boon, this game’s term for advantage, and they don’t stack either way.
Combat is pretty interesting as well. There is no armor class to compete in this game. Instead, attacks are just like any other skill check. When you swing a sword, you need to beat your Sword’s ability score. When you shoot a bow, you need to beat your Bow’s ability score. Each weapon type is given either a Strength or Agility-based style, which applies to the damage bonus. For instance, a longbow does d12 damage and a Hunter class could have an Agility-based damage bonus of d6, meaning the hit will do a d12 plus a d6 of damage. Then, if the creature they are hitting has armor, you subtract the armor score from the total damage, doing no damage if the number is dropped to zero. As for the GameMasters, the blame is off of your shoulders because you don’t get to pick how enemies attack. Instead, each enemy is given a rollable table of attacks and you must roll to see which attack happens. However, creatures can not do the same attack twice, so you will have to re-roll if you get the same attack two turns in a row.
Now, something that takes time to get used to is that they use meters in this game. While most TTRPG players would be used to feet, the measurement makes sense given the Swedish roots of the game. I personally convert them to feet, rounding to the nearest divisible of 5, for the ease of conversion for myself and my players. However, if you are able to run it with meters, then the more power to ya. The game uses a similar grid system as other TTRPGs.
The last thing that is worth noting is that there is no leveling system in this game. Your characters will not grow through experience. All of the growth is in the actual players running the characters, along with the roleplay aspects of the characters they are running. Instead of leveling up, all situations can either be run individually or as a string of challenges to make up a full adventure. Enemies and situations are quite diverse, so staying at the same level isn’t going to be a big deal, but as a GameMaster, I know how much players enjoy leveling up.
Modules and Enemies
The adventures in this game make up their first module and it is a series of situations that are quite dangerous but hold a clear goal. Of course, some situations are a bit more mysterious than others, but the good thing here is that you can run them in any order. There is a map provided of the land, so perhaps keep that in mind when trying to string these into a full adventure, especially since there are randomized journey events that can be held during the traveling sections of the game.
As I mentioned above, enemies don’t really grow in difficulty along the way. The situations themselves get harder or provide a different type of challenge. There are a ton of different enemies though and the diversity of threats is always a fun aspect to play with. From the classic dragon to the goblins and orcs, there are so many choices to play with. Given each enemy holds the same threat level at any moment of the adventure, the opportunity to spring favorites and hated ones at any moment is a fun concept to play with as well.
Verdict
Dragonbane is an exciting TTRPG and I am happy to see it brought to life once more for a new generation of players! Holding a unique play style and being bold enough to be built with no leveling system is something that takes all of the complications of tabletop gaming away and provides an experience that is simple to understand and quick to jump into. Whether you are new to tabletop games or a veteran looking for a change of pace from your usual experience, this is the TTRPG to turn to.
Dragonbane is available now physically on the Free League Publishing website and digitally on DriveThruRPG. You can even check out a sample of the game for free here!
