Magic and Combat.
(*I promise I won’t do reviews this long for all of the Free League Products, but Dragonbane is just so darn good!)
[DISCLOSURE: I received a free digital copy of the Dragonbane Core Set from Free League Publishing. I am not an affiliate, nor have I received any compensation for the review itself. ]
For my first Mage, I rolled up an Animist.
Have I mentioned there’s no religion in Dragonbane? No clerics. No Paladins, and no Monks. However, there are Mages. No Druids or spellcasting Rangers either, but nobody’s perfect.
In the United States, we’ve become accustomed to fantasy RolePlaying Games that include a massive pantheon of 9-12 or more gods and demigods. Each god covers huge things from Life or Death to Taxes or Sandwiches. I was so happy when I opened Dragonbane and found no such nonsense. (I love Sweden. I want to visit there now. They seem to have a good grasp on TTRPGs without all the drama and nonsense.)
The core set of Dragonbane contains three Schools of Magic plus a General category that all Mages can learn. Because I’m a sucker for playing the group’s healer, I chose Animist as my first Mage School. Animists are a kind of blend of druid/cleric in most other d20 fantasy games. I should probably mention there are only three levels of spells, but they’re all pretty cool.
My first Magic Tricks were Light (General,) Sense Magic (General,) and Cook Food (Animist.) Magic Tricks in Dragonbane have minor effects that are easy to learn, cheap to cast, and do something fairly useful. In a lot of other games they are referred to as cantrips.
My first three Level 1 Spells are Dispel (General,) Treat Wound (Animist,) and Banish (Animist.) I chose Banish because there is a chance on a Spell Failure to summon a Demon. That, and it’s comparable to Turn Undead in that other game.
Elementalists are the second kind of Mage. As one would expect there are Fire, Water, Air, and Earth spells in this school. Hey- Fireball is a first level spell, and they only get better from there.
Mentalists are the third kind of Mage. They’re part Professor X/Cerebro and part fighting monk. They do a little bit of everything from seeing into the future, punching things with Power Fist, stone skin and levitation. The one Spell I expected to find- Telekinesis- is not on the list. Levitate is a poor imitation but doesn’t really cover the whole spectrum of what I would expect the Spell/Power to do. (*I play a lot of telekinetic characters with ICONS and other supers TTRPGs. I know telekinesis and all the stuff it can do.)
New spells and their counterpart Heroic Abilities are earned via gameplay at the Game Master’s discretion. Basically, they’re treasure or Milestone rewards. Mages guard their Grimoires very carefully in Dragonbane. I probably should mention that you only begin play knowing one school of magic, but the Mage or any other class may learn spells with the appropriate Heroic Ability.
Casting is pretty straightforward. Spend Willpower, make the skill check. If successful apply results. If unsuccessful, the WP was wasted. Roll a Natural 20 (Called a Demon in Dragonbane) and consult the Spell Mishap table with some pretty grim results. (*There’s a reason I took Banish on the Animist.)
Probably my only complaint about Dragonbane so far is just the overall lack of magic in the game. It’s great as a starter set. There are lots of spells open to various uses and interpretations. Magic Items are 90% up to the GM to create. (*And certain game designers like me who are gonzo about magic.) I would have liked more spells within each school including General. I’m glad they left Demonology and Necromancy out for the players.
Let’s turn our focus to Combat in Dragonbane for a few minutes.
I’ve monkeyed around a bit with some pawns and tokens on a grid map and have a pretty good feel for how combat in Dragonbane goes now. I like it, but I will say it can be brutal. I also have rolled up two characters so far who seem ill-suited for combat. I understand TTRPGs grew out of miniatures wargaming and I’m guessing Drakar och Demoner is no exception, but ouch! If it weren’t for the Improvised Weapon cards and some out-of-the-box thinking, my Scholar would probably die hideously every time.
Fighters and Knights do pretty well in combat. Elementalist and Mentalist Mages do pretty well. PCs in general should stick to safe tactics and proven ways of dealing with humanoid NPCs. Running away, negotiating, persuasion, or stealth might be preferable to combat for some characters.
Dragonbane features a somewhat unique 10 card Initiative System. Characters get one action. Monsters get a number of Initiative Cards equal to their Ferocity. Once an action has been taken, flip the card. 10 second rounds. No funky action economy, reaction skills, interrupts, counterspells, or anything weird. It’s a very old school way of running combat.
I mentioned in a previous article that monsters hit automatically. Players have to be judicious with their actions because they may well have to parry or dodge, which takes the character’s action for the round. Once that roll has been made, pray that no one else goes after that same character again in the round. Surround and pound tactics are pretty effective in Dragonbane.
Heroic Abilities, chosen during character creation and earned or awarded through gameplay have a major role in combat. They act similarly to Feats in other d20 fantasy games. Some of their effects are pretty useful in combat. Yes, it is possible to Dual Wield with the appropriate corresponding ability. I had to look. There’s also an ability letting casters throw two spells in one action.
Otherwise, I don’t have a lot to say about combat in Dragonbane. I mean it’s a lot like combat in any fantasy TTRPG. The only major outstanding difference in my mind is the bad guys theoretically become more challenging over time and the PCs Hit Points stay the same as they were during character creation. The PCs are going to have to make careful decisions in combat and use terrain or other factors to their advantage. There’s really no such thing as a “balanced encounter” under this system like there are in some other d20 fantasy games.
There will be a Part 6 to this series to tie it all together.
I’m excited to get going on Dragonbane either writing short adventures, creating a campaign world, plus making up new magic items, spells, and monsters. For a game that’s been around about as long as I’ve been involved in TTRPGs, I’m just as excited about it as a game that came out last week. Nothing has gotten my attention this much since I finally got my hands on Shadowdark RPG.
Even then, Dragonbane sets itself apart from the rest by having so many different takes on Old School Renaissance concepts and mechanics. We can’t even really call it an “OSR” game because much like Basic RolePlaying: Universal Game Engine, it’s just been around this whole time. Sure, Dragonbane has been streamlined a bit and spruced up with some sweet artwork, but it’s still pretty much the same game since creation. More next time.
Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.
Jeff's Game Box 