Trolls, Giants, and Beasts. Oh my.

I just can’t get enough of Dragonbane. I’m loving this Bestiary. I can’t wait to roll out some adventures. I think of something new every time I open this book.

Disclaimer: This is not a paid review. I bought this book with money I scrounged out of my couch cushions and from helping mow lawns. I am not an affiliate or in any other way associated with Free League Publishing. I am a big Dragonbane fan.

Dragonbane Trolls (not the Internet kind) come more from Scandinavian myth than other RPGs. Cave Trolls are aggressive, eat gold, and are allergic to direct sunlight. However, if not in sunlight, they do regenerate like crazy which makes them very tough to kill. Ferocity 2, Armor 2, and HP 42. They are not to be taken lightly.

Forest Trolls are just plain strange. They share some of the features of their cave dwelling cousins such as the sunlight allergy and regeneration. Unlike Cave Trolls they smell awful and do this cool chameleon thing when they cast an illusion. I’ve noticed with both the Cave and Forest Trolls, some of their attacks are very dependent on their environment.

Mountain Trolls are almost a different creature altogether. Still allergic to sunlight like their cousins, but not aggressive. Instead, Mountain Trolls are portrayed as wise observers of life and nature. They are keen on divination, scrying, and nature. Their blood is compared to tree sap and actually heals more than their cousins. They are capable combatants, but only as a last resort. Most of their attacks are intended to discourage further combat or force the enemy to disengage. If I use one of them in an encounter, I’m hoping the group won’t attack and instead have a nice conversation. (*They seem very grandmotherly to me.)

Onto Giants!

One thing I love about Dragonbane is that it has no moral alignment system in place to say, “Blah creature is Evil,” or “This creature is always aggressive when found because it’s YZ alignment.” I’m really glad Dragonbane giants aren’t all Fee Fi Foe Fum. The Giants in this book don’t conform to some of the RPG stereotypes that we might be used to. In fact, they’re similar to the Trolls in their differences and specialties.

Forest Giants are only Large in size as opposed to their Huge counterparts. They might not be friendly, but they don’t seem openly hostile. They’re more like very woodsy Ogres. I think they’re neat.

Mountain and Sea Giants are also very tied to the land or water they inhabit. Mountain Giants are more what most of us expect in an RPG setting. Sea Giants actually remind me a lot of the ones encountered in World of Warcraft. Sea Giants are pretty much guaranteed to be hostile, and it is best to avoid conflict with them.

We often joke around in the Game Master community about creature being giant walking piles of hit points. It is literal in this case. Giants have more HP than pretty much any other creature in the game. Their damage range is pretty ridiculous, too, as one would expect from a giant.

When I read the entry on Titans all I could think about was the supposed real life encounter with the Kandahar Giant of real world Afghanistan. While the legend is believed to be a hoax, the Dragonbane entry very much made me think of a huge, angry, heavily armored giant who was accidentally awakened and went crazy violent. Titans in Dragonbane are armored juggernauts and not to be underestimated.

Let’s get beastly with the Beasts section.

Calydon: your characters will wish it was just a pig.

I won’t mention every entry, but there are definitely some who stand out above the crowd. Dragonbane has a different take on creatures we might be used to seeing from other games. The art for some of the Beasts is quite different and beautiful from other games. I also want to mention there are some creatures that are new to me, possibly from Scandinavia or just a myth I’m not familiar with.

Basilisks are just plain freaky. Characters encountering these would be wise to bring a chicken or get turned to stone. The Brook Horse is eerie. Calydon remind me of the Boar from Princess Mononoke. Chimera aren’t what we’re all used to because there’s a venomous asp for the tail and no dragon head.

Giant sized regular beasties are always fun to GM with. I especially find the Giant Amoeba amusing since Dragonbane seems devoid of slimes, puddings, and oozes. We also get lots of winged creatures in this section. So far the Beasts also have the best aquatic monsters in the game. The winged creatures are awesome, but nothing terribly new in terms of game stats, etc. The Medusa and Hydra entries are pretty cool.

Werewolves and Worgs are much like those found in other RPGs. I learned today that Wolfkin and Elves are immune to Lycanthropy. It still takes silver to put a werewolf down. Worgs are a bit different in Dragonbane. I don’t think we’ll ever see a Goblin riding one.

Next time we’ll talk about Undead, Dragons, and Demons. They’re three of my favorite monster types in any game. Dragonbane doesn’t really have much by way of Constructs or automaton type creatures. From what we know of the Core rules, Dragons and Demons are going to be vastly different from what we are used to seeing in a lot of other fantasy RPGs.

Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.