Swedish fantasy adventure with d20 roll-under skill checks, quick combat, and a focus on exploring dangerous places.
From 40 firsthand play reports in 6 r/rpg threads. The threads alone average 7.0.
No visitor ratings yet.
430 r/rpg posts named it, October 2023 to October 2026.
Light. Hype 7.4 for its age.
Rate Dragonbane from 1 to 10. One rating per browser and device; you can change it any time.
Tables that ran Dragonbane mostly describe a game that is easy to pick up and quick to run, with dangerous combat and light prep. Reports come mainly from one-shots, the Riddermound quickstart and a few ongoing campaigns. The quickstart split tables sharply, and one GM with a long campaign found combat flat at high skill.
Each thread is rated for the play it describes, from the firsthand reports in it. Load one here or read it on Reddit.
Reports on the Riddermound quickstart adventure are split. Groups that used stealth, fire and magic, or fled, survived a tough run and often enjoyed it. Groups that fought straight through, especially without a mage, got badly beaten or suffered a TPK, and many called the rooms dull and the maps cramped. 13 firsthand · 30 comments
Players and GMs who actually ran Dragonbane describe a game that is easy to pick up cold, with fast, tactical combat and memorable chaotic moments. The OP ran it with almost no prep and it worked, though a demon (critical failure) roll killed a character. Much of the thread is general praise and comparison to other systems, so the firsthand evidence is thinner than the comment count suggests. 9 firsthand · 30 comments
The thread is mostly a system-choice discussion, but the Dragonbane GMs and players who weigh in report fast, easy-to-run play. Prep takes about an hour, monsters run themselves, and a long campaign holds up. The drawbacks are early lethality and slow, flat progression with few Heroic Abilities and limited magic variety, which clash with a D&D-style power curve. 8 firsthand · 76 comments
Most people who actually ran Dragonbane report it runs smoothly and works well for new players, and several are still in ongoing campaigns. The negatives are a lukewarm one-session try-out, a long-campaign GM who is moving on because combat gets boring once weapon skills reach 18, and complaints that Heroic Abilities are unbalanced or half-baked. The thread itself is mostly a meta debate about whether hype has faded. 6 firsthand · 22 comments
The thread is a DM's complaint about their first Dragonbane sessions, where quick character creation, a GM reading straight from the book and two messy combats left them cold, and most replies argue about 'narrative' versus 'gamey' play in general. The only other firsthand voice is a 35-year GM who likes running Dragonbane with his usual method, and commenters mostly blame the GM's style or a D&D mindset rather than the system. 3 firsthand · 159 comments
The only firsthand Dragonbane report is one commenter who ran the starter adventure and said the group thoroughly enjoyed it, praising the snappy, dangerous combat and easy monster running. The rest of the thread is mostly about OSE, Dolmenwood, Vagabond and other OSR games, plus second-hand opinions on Dragonbane. 1 firsthand · 22 comments