Dragonbane RPG Review & Discussion

Dragonbane is an interesting D20 RPG with simple but tactical combat. Today we discuss our thoughts on the system as a whole.
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📺 Watch our Dragonbane Actual Play: • Dragonbane Actual Play
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[@metakarukenshi]

The argument of wanting a beefy system for tactical gameplay seems weird for me. Dragonbane is plenty tactical if you want tactics to be actual tactics and not just buffs and debuffs. having only a single action means you have to be tactical in choosing what you do. and with the rules being so light it allows creative players to do pretty crazy things if you encourage it as a GM. beefier games with lots of rules tend to bottleneck players into doing ONLY what their character sheet says they can do, and with less rules it makes it easier for new players to learn and they will much faster be creative in their actions compared to something even like 5e where there are so many rules and options new players tend to forget what they can do. having so many options also bottlenecks players into builds, as no new player wants to accidentally make their character useless, so new players tend to watch videos online and just use those builds, even if it goes against their character's backstory. Rules light is better for games and creativity. Also one thing to keep in mind about health and Willpower it can go as high as you want. 20 isnt the max. if you CON is 18 your health is 18. if you get the Robust Heroic ability it raises it by 2 to 20. but you can take Robust every time you get a Heroic ability, meaning you can raise your health by 2 every time you chose an ability.

[@haananiiz725]

When my players finish an adventure, they gain an HEROIC ABILITY as a reward, just as the book suggests. However, instead of giving just 1 HEROIC ABILITY, I give them 2 HEROIC ABILITIES. One of these is their free choice, the other needs to be ROBUST or FOCUSED. This means that they always increase the HP or WP. If someone wants to take ROBUST and FOCUSED, or ROBUST twice, or even FOCUSED twice, that's fine as well.

[@DaVeO52]

Thanks for the review. I do love the low-magic world pwrsonally. I'm of the school that magic items should be extremely rare and an event to obtain. But I'm a stingy GM lol. Love the skill based system and thenopeness.

[@squarepusher13z]

Could you link the heroic ability cards in the description? Your co-op play videos convinced me this is the right system for my partner who is new to tabletop. Thank you! Love your videos :)

[@ParentiBrothers]

Yes, thank you! I forgot to include it, but it's in the description now! I hope your partner enjoys the game!

[@erikriggiola6780]

These cards are great! They would cost a ton of ink to print so I'll have to be selective but they'll help a lot!

[@ParentiBrothers]

You can always just print the ones that the characters have!

[@simontemplar3359]

Great review! When I first got the box set, I hated it. Then I took some time to understand it and I found that I love the system and most of the art, but it was the setting that I didn't like. Ive seen some great homebrewed alternatives. The Solo Spelunking channel has a solo game where the player was using the Dragonbane rules... Their character was hunting for a fugitive.. on Nar Shadaa! This system gives me the D20 roll under, which i massively prefer, and I like the advancement system. but then again, I very very much dislike 5e. I wanted to get into Pathfinder because I like the art and the story seemed interesting, but holy crunch, batman! I realized that I don't like crunchy systems at all. Of course my opinion should never be misconstrued as objective fact! Anyway, I watched you guys play through this and it was a blast. I could never get my brother to play, so I'm jealous!

[@NotSureWhatsHappening73]

I feel that on the pathfinder crunch problem. I’m giving Pathfinder for Savage worlds a shot and it seems great! If you like Dragonbane you should check out the Tales of Argosa QuickStart for a bit more crunch but manageable I think. Dragonbane and this are my favorite.

[@Hafstrom1845]

The Misty Vale of Dragonbane is not intended to be a detailed setting, but rather acts like a springboard for your own creations. When you read the text about creating adventures and campaigns in the rulebook for Dragonbane it is very much concerned with you creating your own setting. So I think it’s more fair to see the official Dragonbane so far more as a rule system than a setting. I know that some other companies are working on bringing some old campaign settings of Drakar och Demoner to Dragonbane. Why Free League did not do it already come downs to that the licenses for old Drakar och Demoner material are scattered between many small Swedish publishers.

[@greystorm9974]

But there are rules for players making their OWN magic items. It is literally a spell to create magic items.

[@Neruomir]

In Dragonbane you are a mortal adventurer, in D&D 5e you become a borderline unkillable demigod and superhero that can single-handedly slaughter an entire goblin camp by kicking down the main gate or have a bare knuckle fistfight with the god of war. Dying in 5e usually comes down to how badly you managed piss off your DM. Dragonbane makes every encounter something to stay on your toes for as even the most seasoned adventurer can fall if careless and you never level past any monster as a threat entirely.

[@keechpeach2863]

My home game is the same as far as players who don't really care about inmersing themselves in stats and feats etc so I'm definiltely going to give this a go. Thank you for the resources. Very kind!

[@ParentiBrothers]

They’ll probably like this one then. There are some stats but it’s really simple and leveling up is at the table. After playing a good bit since this video, I do recommend rewarding them with heroic abilities every 5 sessions of so! Hope you enjoy it. Thanks for watching!

[@keechpeach2863]

@@ParentiBrothers Ah, thank you yes that makes sense. I'm on the Dragonbane discord now and something similar has recently been discussed there. As a player I do also enjoy the rolling and possible upskilling at the end of each game too.

[@farlanghn]

The “one ring” item has a typo. “Activate this ability after hitting a creature. You roll becomes a dragon.”

[@tubebobwil]

If I close my eyes, you guys sound like a young George Lucas talking to himself.

[@Bauryman]

If I squint my eyes even more so

[@orkcol]

Oh yeah 😂

[@NotSureWhatsHappening73]

Enjoyed your actual play and assessment of the game. Thanks!

[@EduardoOrtizFrau]

Great video! I agree with your comment of "I rather either play a more narrative or combat focused game, rather than a middle ground one". On that note, do you have recommendations for great "narrative focused" style games in the genre? I'm currently looking for one and would love to hear your thoughts!

[@ParentiBrothers]

@@EduardoOrtizFrau Dungeon World! Or anything Powered By The Apocalypse honestly. We’ve also said many times before but Ironsworn is one of our all time faves!

[@EduardoOrtizFrau]

@@ParentiBrothers Ok thank you!

[@LordZeebee]

A very fair assessment of the system. What it does it does honestly really well but it's not gonna be for everyone. As for your HA- and item cards, there's a great unofficial/semi-official Dragonbane discord that i know would love to have them posted in the forums! Would bring a few more eyes on them as well, we're like almost 2k people on there. There's also a buuuunch more homebrew magic items on there and monthly homebrew competitions with cash prizes provided by Free League themselves, it's super fun.

[@ParentiBrothers]

Sounds cool! Have a link to the group?