An accessory you (I) appreciate: Dragonbane Bestiary.
I did write a four part review of the Dragonbane Bestiary. The first part can be found here. I enjoy this English version of Monsterboken. I think Dragonbane needs even more monsters, but the Bestiary is a good start.
Free League Publishing doesn’t pay me to talk about their stuff, but they were kind enough to donate a digital copy of the Core box for me to review. Since then I’ve managed to scrounge enough change together to pick up the hardcover rulebook and the Bestiary. I am a happy camper when it comes to this game. It is kinda my new “forever game” in place of the ampersand thing.
Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.
Monster books are always going to be the Number One fantasy accessory.
What is a brave knight or a powerful wizard without a frightening menace to face? What is a hero if not the brave adventurer who stands up to things that go bump in the night? What would ancient ruins or forgotten tombs be without a demon or some undead prowling around them?
In an ideal world, every fantasy game would have at least two or three really outstanding books of monsters, fully illustrated and written by a variety of authors. Speaking as someone who loves to design monsters, I would happily contribute to such a supplement for Dragonbane. I truly wish a couple of other games would jump on the monster building bandwagon as well, but I guess that’s what third party publishers are for.
While I’m on the subject of 3PP-
Isn’t it wonderful that we have Third Party Open Game Licenses for Dragonbane and all of the Free League products? (Except maybe Alien, Blade Runner, and Walking Dead.) Free League Workshop on DriveThruRPG.com gives us a chance to publish for Year Zero Engine, Vaesen, and Dragonbane among others without fear of legal reprisals. The Community Content program was designed by OneBookShelf to be the DMSGuild.com for all of the non-ampersand games. With the new ampersand game coming, I suspect that we’ll see a lot more Community Content coming in the near future.
I most definitely support (legally operated) Third Party Publishers for any OGL for any game. If anything, we need more 3PP, especially for games such as Dragonbane. (*I’m a little biased because I want to be one of them.) The more attention we can draw to non-ampersand products, the better. I would love to see a prolific amount of adventures, bestiaries, spells, magic items, and other stuff come out for this game.
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 