I’ve tried a lot of different systems over the years. I love this one.

I think Dragonbane pretty much wins the prize with its d20 roll under system. It threw me for a loop initially. I was like, “How do I hit stuff?”

Oh, you roll against the weapon skill. Character has Swords 12. Roll 12 or under.

1s are called Dragons. That’s a good thing. 20s are called Demons. That’s a very bad thing most of the time. It takes a little getting used to.

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.

Skills such as Bushcraft are incredibly easy to deal with. It makes woodlands survival a lot easier to hack. Same with most of the Lore skills. No funky modifiers, nor impossible challenges.

The only real concern in terms of the dice are Boons and Banes. They basically work the same as Advantage and Disadvantage do in Dungeons & Dragons only backwards. Boons roll 2d20 keep the lowest. Banes roll 2d20 keep the highest. Boons and Banes cancel one another out.

Pushing failed rolls may be done once per check. You get to reroll the failed skill, BUT you take on one of the six Conditions, causing a Bane on any future rolls on that Attribute’s Skills until it can be removed via a Shift rest. (Six hours.)

It definitely adapts well to solo play. No fidgeting with difficulty class or modifiers. You succeed or you don’t. One roll per skill. The rest of the group can like it or lump it. It’s not “Make a Perception Check” and then all six players roll. One inevitably succeed. Dragonbane is one roll per encounter from ONE member of the group. That person can choose to push the roll.

Dragonbane is more of an Old School system. There aren’t a lot of blanket “Make a Perception Check” moments. Awareness is used to detect someone or something sneaking up on the character. Spot Hidden covers looking for traps, secret doors, etc and usually takes an entire Stretch (10 minutes) to perform. Otherwise, it’s a simple case of telling the Game Master what your character wants to look at, inspect, listen for, etc. Just like we did back in the fabulous 1980s in D&D.

In short, I can’t recommend Dragonbane enough, especially for new players and GMs. The system is intuitive, easy to pick up, and overall more efficient than many other games. The skills on the character sheet are all that will ever exist in the game save for Secondary Skills. Secondary Skills are for spellcasters, primarily. The new Book of Magic that’s coming sometime in 2025 (I think) might have some new Secondary Skills for those casters.

Please use my Affiliate Link and get the Quickstart Rules and module today and try it out. If you like the way the characters look and feel, please come back for more. I think Dragonbane deserves more credit and recognition than it gets currently.

Thank you for being here with me today. I appreciate you. Keep it real, but please strive for positivity, too. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy in your life.