Dragonbane

Dragonbane – rulebook walkthrough pt 3: combat and monsters

David Skelector Dragonbane, Fantasy, jeux de rôles, Roleplaying Game, RPG

Part 1: character creation and magic

Part 2: character advancement and conditions

Final part of my walkthrough/overview of Dragonbane’s rulebook. We’re getting at the most interesting part: combat and monsters!

Combat system features:

You don’t roll for initiative in dragonbane, you pick an iniative card from the initiative deck (1 to 10 cards). Still a random process but it offers some additional options as players might choose between two cards or swap cards between themselves depending on their abilities, or if they choose to wait before acting.

Combat is lethal. There’s no hit points bloat in DB, on the contrary, the possibility of raising a character’s hit points is very limited. Your character’s constitution score determines your hit points. An orc’s scimitar for example does 2d6 + d4 (str bonus). It does not take a lot of hits to get through your 3 to 18 hps or maybe a bit more (for a long-standing hero with several Toughness say).

The players must be very careful and find ways to mitigate damage.

Armors (and helmets) do help a lot but have some drawbacks too (penalties on skill checks depending on type of armor). For example, a chainmail + open helmet gives 5 armor combined rating and reduce as much incoming damage but gives you a bane (roll twice take worse) on evade, sneaking, awareness.

And then you can also try to parry (with shield or weapon) or evade attacks at the cost of your (only) action, if you don’t have already acted this round. But, if your character has heroic abilities like fast-footwork and defensive you’ll still be able to act after evading or parrying, incredibly useful.

All weapons have features: subtle, long, toppling, piercing, slashing, bludgeoning – depending on type. An halberd for example is long, toppling, slashing and piercing. These add some depth to the combat system, particularly if the optional special attacks are allowed in your game. Indeed if every optional cambat rules are on (shove, weapon damage type as related with armor type, severe injuries when reduced to 0 hp, melee mishap, range mishap, parry movement and special attacks) you have a fairly complex system, not exactly crunchy, but with a lot of options and great verisimilitude I’d say.

Monsters:

The bestiary section of the rulebook shows us 15 classic monsters, a page each. Some are considered « non-monsters » like goblins, orcs and skeletons. The others are, well, monsters… The latter are more complex – they all have a « ferocity » level that determines how many time it can act (how many « turns », with one action and one move per turn) in a round. Thus, the standard giant with a ferocity 1 will act once but dragons with ferocity 3 will have three different initiative cards and have 3 turns in the same round.

In addition, monsters attacks are always rolled on a random d6 table. Taking the dragon again as example, it has 6 possible actions: « Dragon Roar! », « Claw Attack! », « Dragon Wind! », « Tail Strike! », « Dragon Bite! », « Fire Breath! ». You re-roll if you get the same action twice in a row.

Not like this.
More like: « They have a cave Troll »

In practice, with the relatively weak power curve of character advancement, combined with the lethality of monsters, you’ll probably never fight a horde of (true) monsters in Dragonbane. The scene inside the Moria in the LotR movie with the cave troll and multiple orcs is pretty much how I see combat in DB (with one big monster wreaking havoc in the middle of a confusing melee). Which, y’know, isn’t a bad thing at all.

Closing Comments:

  • No hp bloat, armors that reduce damage, good tactical depth – those are all things I like for a combat system.
  • The bestiary section of the rulebook is quite limited. There’s also a Bestiary book, and, it’s fine? It’s no monster bible by any means, I would have like to see more content than that.
  • I haven’t tested much combat with monsters in my campaign to be honest, with most fights being against humanoids or critters, so « non-monsters » to date. I’ll probably add something to this post or another with more experience.

No helmet? (amuse-bouche post)

David Skelector Dragonbane, Fantasy, jeux de rôles, Roleplaying Game, RPG

I will finish my dragonbane rulebook’s walkthrough soon enough. Part III is about how dragonbane handles combat, a strong point of the system in my opinion. In short I think it achieves to strike a good balance between providing tactical options (manoeuvers, weapons variability, heroic abilities and so on), and simplicity.

Armors in dragonbane offers damage reduction, something I’ve always prefered over decreasing chance of being hit.

And it also has helmets… How is there no helmets (except magic ones) in typical D&D? I understand we’re playing a game and not everything has to be realistic but come on!

Resting/camping in rpgs

David Skelector Delicious in Dungeon, Dragonbane, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, jeux de rôles, musings, Roleplaying Game, RPG

A few years ago, in my D&D 5E campaign in the jungles of Chult, my players fought a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Awesome? Heck no, twas a real snoozefest of a fight. A bit predictable in fact, dinosaurs are pretty bland in D&D, the T-Rex has one bite attack and a tail attack (how does a tail attack makes any sense I wonder) and that’s it – but that’s not really what I want to talk about. One character, Rufb the barbarian, was pretty messed up by the fight, the T-Rex bite attack does hit very hard obviously, and he lost probably more than half his hit points, even with his damage resistance. No worries, one long rest later and he was as fresh as ever – full hps, all his abilities back, etc. And that was with the so-called Gritty option on mind you. He healed, naturally healed – no magic, not even bandages involved, from wounds by a T-Rex bite frikkin overnight…

Now, we know that D&D 5E has definitely a super-heroic style, characters are pretty much like in video games and, yeah, there’s absolutely no sense of verisimilitude.

On the other hand, in many old-school systems for the same long rest all you get is 1 hp (unless you’re a magic-user and much more importantly also get all your spells back!). That’s more realistic for sure, healing takes time, and more in tune with a game of resources management.

But in my opinion also lacking in some way?

I mean, it’s a bit annoying, it goes against what I said about 5E, but I think that the best example of an interesting resting mechanics I can come up with is also found within video games rather than a supposedly more flexible tabletop rpg.

In Darkest Dungeon, in medium and large expeditions you’ll most likely camp along the way. You then spend a bundle of wood and some food to get back some hit points and, more interestingly, also spend from a limited pool to activate camping skills.

Three skills are accessible to every characters, anyone can do an Encourage, a Wound Care or a Pep Talk to help another character.

Every other skills are character-specific. Be it the Anger Management of the Abomination, the Restring Crossbow of the Arbalester, the Zealous Speech of the Crusader, they all are coherent rp-wise and flavorful For example, if the highwayman’s camping skills are about giving fighting bonuses to himself only, the Vestal’s are all about helping others.

A personnal favorite of mine is the Grave Robber’s Gallows Humor which has, for all companions. 75% chance to decrease stress by 20 (that’s good) and 25% chance of increasing it by 10. The Grave Robber herself has an automatic -25 stress. Dark humor is hit or miss, it is well known. A somewhat similar skill is the Jester’s Mockery which decreases stress for everyone at the expense of one companion, the butt of the joke the poor lad.

Now, many of those camping skill gives temporary buffs and that is something that can be portable to ttrpgs if one wishes so. Get your whetstone out of your backpack and sharpen your sword or encourage a low morale henchmen – could be included in any system I think. On the other hand, the examples from Darkest Dungeon mostly work on the premise of the specifi Stress parameter. I guess you must have some resource other than hit points, if not stress then something else in order for it to work. I know that I could borrow some things and implement it into Dragonbane for example because it got a willpower pool and conditions to fiddle with.

Edit: It seems like Tales of the Valiant, a 5E derivative system from Kobold press, has some interesting resting (or resting-adjacent) mechanics involved. Here’s a play report from blogger Blacksteel who uses it to good effect: https://towerofzenopus.blogspot.com/2025/10/valiant-swords-of-greyhawk-session-14.html I still wouldn’t run something similar to 5E but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Edit: Here’s someone who did a real attempt at it as opposed to my halfassed commentary above: A Camping Procedure by Rise Up Comus :https://riseupcomus.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-camping-procedure.html

Dragonbane – rulebook walkthrough pt 2: character advancement & conditions

David Skelector Dragonbane, Fantasy, jeux de rôles, review, Roleplaying Game, RPG

Part 1: Character creation and magic

If character creation in Dragonbane is a bit different from other D&D-adjacent system, we’re now gonna talk about two mechanics that makes it, hmm maybe not groundbreaking (what is nowadays?), but unusual in a good way.

Character advancement:

There is no levels in Dragonbane. Instead how your character can improve is by increasing his skills (including with weapons), gaining new spells (see part 1) and, less frequently, gaining new heroic abilities.

Each time you roll a d20 and roll a 1 (a dragon) or a 20 (a demon) you check a box next to the skill you used.

In addition, if you answer yes to these questions at the end of the session you can check a skill box of your choice:

  • Did you participate in the game session? (a freebie)
  • Did you explore a new location?
  • Did you defeat one or more dangerous enemies?
  • Did you overcome an obstacle without using force?
  • Did you give in to your weakness (optional rule)

(You can also find a teacher that has at least 15 in the skill you wish to improve and is better than you. The cost in time and money is left to the GM discretion, no direction is given in the rulebook beyond that unfortunately.)

Then, at the end of the session, with all checked boxes you must roll a d20 and exceed the number you already have in order to increase your skill by one. Pretty simple.

Heroic abilities: There’s 2 ways to gain new heroic abilities. The first is if you manage to increase a skill to 18 you immediately gain a new heroic ability of your choice. The other way is by accomplishing a « grand heroic deed », that’s also left to the GM’s discretion but it’s mentionned that it should be a rare event.

Pushing your roll & Conditions:

Now, another fun and interesting mechanics that is actually an optional rule, but I really see don’t why one wouldn’t include it, is the Pushing your roll. If a character fails a skill check he can choose to re-roll but with a cost, he’ll suffer from a condition from now on. Each attribute is linked to a specific condition: Strength >> Exhausted, Constitution >> Sickly, Agility >> Dazed, Intelligence >> Angry, Willpower >> Scared, Charisma >> Disheartened.

You choose the condition you’ll gain and will have bane (roll two d20 take worst) on any skill check linked to the affected attribute. You can’t choose a condition you already have and you’re also supposed to roleplay somewhat the whole deal.

You can also gain conditions in other ways, an environemental effect, a monster attack, etc. To remove a condition (or all conditions) you must do a shift rest (6 uninterrupted hours).

Closing Comments:

  • For me the character advancement system is reminiscent of the Elder Scrolls video games (I’ve played extensively to Morrowind back in the day, didn’t even try Skyrim though) where your stats simply improve with how much you use them. I like this.
  • An unfortunate side-effect though, at least for my young players, is the « I want to roll… » just in the hope of rolling a 1 or 20 and check the skill box. Listening to a door with an awareness check has never been so popular I tell you.
  • I’ve homebrewed somewhat the questions in my game (i.e did you explore a new location? >> did you find an iconic location in the dungeon?)
  • The way we play, my players’ characters suffer from at least one or two conditions each session, both from pushing their luck and dungeon hazards. The way to remove a condition is a bit more arduous than simply shift resting in my game, they must find a way for their characters to have a good time (i.e having a quality meal).
  • The conditions makes me think of my basic military training where I saw several guys vomiting from exertion (sickly!) but still going on, I dunno, makes sense to me.

Part 3: Combat and Monsters

Gunderholfen – Meeting Bayard the Bold and his guild (session 14)

David Skelector Dragonbane, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Gunderholfen, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG

Battered from their last expedition, the Battle Brothers are back in town to recuperate and do some training afterward – before going back to the dungeon. They bring their new member, another goblin named Grimoire, a friend of Torch that can do magic.

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs) – The Battle Brothers:

  • Aracyne, Elf Hunter, fearless Guild Leader, (Isaac)
  • Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
  • Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
  • Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
  • Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (me)

Longfelt

Rumor

-There’s a monstrous rat disguised as a person going by night in the thieves’ quarter – hey (pointing at Jedri) wait a minute, y-y you’re a rat!

  • Hearing of this « disguised monstrous rat » they immediately think of their friend Tlali and they go see her at her house. There’s a nice reunion, she explains that she started the process to get back her human form but there’s powerful magic involved (Sethid’s, the Master of the Dungeon) and it will take a while.
  • They do some training and are living at the Hare & the Hound inn for the moment.
  • They buy some supplies, Forka buys a great helm and then, after 9 days in town, are ready to go dungeon-delving once more.

Gunderholfen

  • Travel through the Ganfal swamp is uneventful.
  • They enter the dungeon and when they approach Level 1C they start to see a trail of dead hobgoblins – all missing their ears. The corpses are fresh – recently killed for sure.
  • Forka pick up the scent of non-hobgoblins and tries to track where it goes – more dead hobgoblins on the other side of the (cut) rope bridge that leads to the exit of Level 1. They spend some time reparing the bridge and continue their tracking down in Level 2 and then it goes south and west in an area the PCs already explored (and had a bad time against both zombies and giant ants).
  • They’re near the giant ants’ nest, the insects are clearly agitated. The PCs quickly cross the area and further south, they hear some voices coming from the room with the aforementionned zombies.
  • The Battles Brothers decide to go back the room with broken crates and wait there for the other guild to come their way (there’s no other path). They soon hear the sounds of a battle between adventurers and giant ants though.
  • It seems like the other guild is retreating in order, with a rearguard fighting in the narrow tunnel. The Battle Brothers see an elf, with short sword and buckler in hand, emerging from the tunnel. The latter is surprised and maybe a bit alarmed but then he asks for their help against the giant ants – they’re coming in great numbers.
  • Aracyne hesitates an instant on what his best for his guild (even contemplating murder!) but then he decides to help the other adventurers IF they accept to give his guild some money… The two elves quickly negociate and settle for 80gp to be given after this fight. The other members of the rival guild come into the room one by one, two mages, a hunter and the last being Bayard the Bold, their leader, brandishing a glowing mace and his plate armor covered in insect juices – an impressive sight! His companion informs him that the Battle Brothers will help the Protectors and already the first giant ants enter the room.
  • The ensuing battle is intense, with the fighters type holding the line, at least at first, against both normal worker giant ants and bigger, meaner soldier giant ants. Another wave of monsters arrives though and some get past the frontline and one mage of the Protectors get nearly bitten in half by a soldier ant. The other mage hurries to keep him alive with healing magic. Forka makes good work of his two-hand hammer, delivering massive blows left and right. Aracyne and his hunter counterpart shoot arrow after arrow on the incoming ants. Grimoire, their new goblin mage, proves to be a good addition and incinerates ants with fireballs. Two dozens dead ants are littering the floor and the two guilds seize the opportunity to move away from there, going east and south, with the Battle Brothers knowing their way around, and soon getting behind a door where the ants horde won’t reach them.
  • Now in safety, the Elf from the Protectors (their treasurer named Bodil) counts 80 gold coins and gives them to Aracyne with Bayard frowning at the sight but not saying anything. The two guild leaders then exchange a few compliments, talk about their recent delves and then Aracyne has this idea, he offers to the Protectors to do a joint expedition into Level 4. Bayard, not one to decline a challenge less his reputation for bravery takes a hit, doesn’t think much and accepts.

Closing comments:

  • I had decided when I started this campaign that I would put some emphasis on adventuring guilds interactions. I have written some random tables, erased them, re-written some more, to help me get a sense of what NPCs guilds would likely achieve as competing explorers (the PCs still having a decent headstart, of course it’s still about them). I’m not quite satisfied with this tool yet but it did indeed lead to this, I think, interesting session.
  • Now, dealing with so many NPCs, adventurers with all their abilities to boot, is certainly cumbersome for me as a the DM. In fact, I’m pretty certain it’s the reason why in most campaigns rival adventurers don’t seem to accomplish anything ever and are reduced to discreet appearances here and there.
  • Isaac’s first instinct was to ambush the Protectors while they were fighting the giant ants. A sound plan strategically speaking. Also quite ruthless. I let him choose his course of action but I’m happy in the end he chose to help (with a price attached) instead of killing.

Gunderholfen – Between a harder place and a bigger rock (session 13)

David Skelector Dragonbane, Fantasy, Gunderholfen, jeux de rôles, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG

The Screaming Devilkin that the PCs killed last session wasn’t that dangerous in itself but the ruckus he made sure attracted attention!

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs) – The Battle Brothers:

  • Aracyne, Elf Hunter, Guild Leader, (Isaac)
  • Jedri, Ratman Thief (Isaac)
  • Forka, Dogman Knight (Edmond)
  • Torch, Goblin Torchbearer, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
  • Ghardeet, hired Hobgoblin Mage/Shaman (me)

Level 4A

  • The Battle Brothers go back at the entrance of Level 4 nearby and there they see someone coming from the south. It’s an orc, grievously wounded but still standing. They decide to capture him so they can interrogate him at their leisure and get more information about this level. They jump on him but right at this moment there’s much noises coming from the ogre lair just the other side of the eastern door.
  • The orc isn’t happy either at the idea of meeting with ogres and they all flee together southward and then east into natural passages – unexplored territory yet for the PCs.
  • There’s boiling sounds coming from the east and it’s also noticably warmer the more they advance. The orc says it’s not a good place, better follow him and get to his home he says. The PCs accept to follow him.
  • They backtrack a little and now they see several ogres (five of them) coming their way. They hurry and turn south and then east, fleeing away from the brutes. After more than an hundred feet they turn north and soon get at the entrance of a large cavern (dimly lit).
  • There’s a lower section in the middle of the cavern with an island in the middle. To the left and right are also elevated sections and five orc archers stand on each side, bow at the ready.
  • The wounded orc shouts: « don’t shoot, it’s Snagrat! » They shoot anyway, the orc get hit by a several arrows and dies. Torch the not-expendable-goblin-anymore blocks many arrows with his nice dwarven shield.
  • The PCs hear the ogres behind them and they decide to they’d be better taking on the orcs and they all try to jump on the eastern section (I’ve messed up with the difference in elevations, that shouldn’t have been possible, oops o_O).
  • They all succeed to jump, except Ghardeet who didn’t react quickly enough (slow iniative) and gets caught by a massive blow from an ogre’s club from behind and he’s down! Aracyne shouts to Ghardeet to get up already (rally) and get with them and the mage makes an ultimate effort, get on his feet and tries a levitate spell but fails, falls down all the way to the bottom of the cliff and dies…
  • The Battle Brothers have lost their hired mage and are now fighting against 5 orcs in melee. The 5 archers on the other side concentrate their fire on the ogres for the moment and kill the closer one, the one who clubbed Ghardeet, forcing the remaining ogres to turn tail. The archers then switch their focus on the adventurers and shoot at them but, in the confusing melee, they hit their comrades as often as not.
  • Aracyne isn’t in melee though, he stays behind his companions with his bow and he kills two orc archers and disable another over the course of the fight. He manages to evade several arrows aimed at him too (good evade skill and fast footwork).
  • Meanwhile, Forka, Jedri and Torch slowly gain the advantage despite being initially outnumbered. They eventually kill all 5 orcs on their side but they’re also all pretty banged up from this fight, with heavily-armored Forka being the least wounded.
  • But now they see a throng of orc warriors coming from the west and they don’t have much choice but fleeing the way they came, with the remaining orc archers shooting at them (but missing fortunately). Forka throws Torch moria-style across the chasm (as his acrobatic skill his poor and he suffers from a condition making it even more difficult) and then himself, Jedri and Aracyne jump back on the southern section.
  • They hurry down the passage to get away from the orc arrows. The ogres don’t seem to have lingered fortunately.
  • They want to go back at the level’s entrance and they go westward but then they see a giant lizard (pretty much like a komodo dragon in my mind, bacteriological-hazard bite included) coming at them from a side-passage (random encounter) and they now sprint to escape.
  • They’re in sight of the entrance, the stairs, with the giant lizard breathing down Aracyne’s neck (last on marching order) and they can see an ogre sort-of keeping watch nearby. They dash for the stairs. Aracyne dodges a bite attempt from the giant lizard and then also manages to get into the stairs. Now the ogre and giant lizard face each other and start fighting harryhausen-style and the adventurers climb up not looking down. Halfway, Aracyne throws up from exertion (sickly condition) and almost fall to his death but he wills himself and soldiers on.
  • From Level 3 they get to Level 2 pretty quickly with the ladder that leads to the secret room and then they’re down to Level 1 in no time.
  • There their hobgoblin allies complain that the blockade of Level 1 isn’t doing that great, the adventurers are inflicting heavy casualties on them. But they also trapped one party into the special room, they’re there right now but one adventurer mage have blocked access with a magic stone wall. By the time the hobgoblins manage to enter the room the adventurers are gone, the portcullis trapping them smashed open. There’s one dead adventurer left in the room, it seems like the Black Axes don’t care that much for each other.
  • Chief Nerulf is in a bad mood and he tells the Battle Brothers that since they lost his mage (Ghardeet) he’ll keep theirs (Hedralynn) as his warriors need a healer.
  • The Battle Brothers leave Gunderholfen to go back in Longfelt and, apart from a few stings from angry wasps, don’t have any troubles crossing Ganfal Swamp.

Closing Comments:

  • Very near tpk territory here. In fact if I hadn’t messed up with the elevation in the orc cavern I don’t think they could have survived.
  • I’m a bit disappointed by myself for that mistake really. Not that they haven’t been killed but I very much like verticality in dungeons, something that is often lacking, so to mess this up is annoying. Less skimming through the rooms’ description I guess.
  • The rally mechanics in Dragonbane allows for a fellow characters to « persuade » another to still act even getting down to 0 hp. I was on the fence about that but I think it makes sense narratively speaking and I’m all for it now. There’s also a « 3 failures- 3 successes » count (borrowed from D&D 5E no doubt) and that I don’t like that much and I’m replacing with the grittier Frail feature from Worlds without Number where one is kept at just another hitpoint from dying unless he receives magical healing.
  • Fleeing in unkown territory is very very risky. Their orc « guide » had his own motives for sure. The issue of whom to trust is maybe a bit too much to ask from my young players though. They have a nice childhood, why wouldn’t they be trustful? Well ttrpgs are good for a variety of reasons, one is to simulate non-favorable situations and learn from those perhaps (i.e not everyone has your best interest in mind).
  • I like the concept of the Screaming Devilkin monster. More of an alarm system than a real threat, it does only light damage but is hard to kill (27hps as per the book). The real threat of course is in having a good chance of provoking a random encounter and possibly alerting nearby denizens too. I’m thinking about making them somewhat more prevalent in the dungeon, that may be a bit evil…

Gunderholfen – Into the Darkness (session 12)

David Skelector Dragonbane, Dungeons and Dragons, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG

With the kiigoths dead, the entrance to Level 4 is freed. However, the PCs will get to discover that Level 4 is not so easily conquered…

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs) – The Battle Brothers:

  • Aracyne, Elf Hunter, Guild Leader, (Isaac)
  • Jedri, Ratman Thief (Isaac)
  • Forka, Dogman Knight (Edmond)
  • Torch, Goblin Torchbearer (Edmond)
  • Ghardeet, hired Hobgoblin Mage/Shaman (me)

Level 4

  • The Battle Brothers (their official guild name now) go down the long slippery stairs to Level 4A.
  • They get into a rectangular room, there’s a stuck door east, with deep ogre voices coming from the other side.
  • The PCs go south down a slope and into a natural passage. They look into a small cavern on their right and find several dead orcs, hard to tell what they died from.
  • They go south and ascend a little now and come in front of a 10′ wide chasm barring their way. They all jump over on the other side without any special precautions.
  • They’re inside a large cavern and further south into a smaller one with no exits and suddenly their torchlight diminish to only the faintest of glow. From the darkness a small, stunted-built humanoid comes at them with a wicked dagger but Jedri the ratman reacts quickly and stab him first, with both his daggers, the Dark Creeper dies and his body releases a dazzling flash of light.
  • Inspecting the room further Forka feels a slight draft of air from the southern part of the cavern and the party soon discover a secret door (that lead to Level 4C).
  • They follow a long, sinuous passage and get into a small cavern where they’re immediately ambushed by 3 other Dark Creepers (their torchlight almost extincted again). One Dark Creeper place himself behind Torch and is going to slit his throat but Forka saves his underling by rushing to his help (Heroic Ability: guardian) and takes the hit instead (mostly blocked by his superior chainmail). Jedri gets stabbed and is hurt. Aracyne kills an opponent with a well-placed arrow but the ensuing burst of light dazzles Ghardeet. Forka kills another with a big blow of his two-hands hammer and Jedri kills the last one.
  • The PCs get a bit further and Aracyne spots two Dark Creepers standing on ledges on each side above the floor. He shoots and kills one. The other jumps and dash towards the PCs but he quickly meets his demise.
  • They then fail to spot a well-concealed trap and Torch falls into a spiked pit trap and is fatally wounded. Only magic can save him but Ghardeet doesn’t see any value in saving the still (for him) expendable goblin. He’s finally convinced with the gift of a wine jug. Torch is saved.
  • Thence, they get to the entrance to a large cavern but before they get in another Dark Creeper jumps on them from somewhere above. Jedri, the fast-footed thief, manage to evade the blade that targeted him and his own hit connects efficiently. A flash of light but everyone cover their eyes in time.
  • Other Dark Creepers come out from somewhere inside the large cavern. Aracyne kills one with a well-placed arrow. Ghardeet kills another with his magically-augmented staff.
  • With no immediate danger the PCs come across a hut furter into the cavern, search it but nothing much of interest.
  • There’s a rope bridge that goes over a large chasm and the PCs get across. On the other side they follow a reddish cobblestone patway that lead to another cavern with several huts. There isn’t anyone there but the adventurers do some good looting in coins, jewelry and semi-precious stones.
  • Further south the adventurers hear a piercing whsitle sound and then fight against 3 more Dark Creepers that they vanquish without much trouble.
  • There’s a guard hut nearby and a large palissade south-east with large double doors. The doors are slowly opening and large throng of Dark Creepers, dozens, emerge from the palissade.
  • The adventurers can’t hope to win against such numerous foes and flee the way they came. They have to be quick, any delay and they’ll get a blade between their shoulders. They manage to get across the rope bridge and they quickly cut it down from their side, this is met with nothing more than threatening whispers from the other side of the chasm.
  • The PCs get all the way back to the entrance of Level 4A.
  • They go north into a corridor and then west. They spot a skeleton (unmoving) inside a small room, adorned in chainmail and his skull crushed.
  • Next room they get assaulted by a monkeyish Screaming Devilkin that took surprisingly many blows to kill, and yes, screaming devilishly loud all the while. Troublesome situation.
  • TBC…

Closing Comments:

  • A series of fight that went really well and then a desperate flight. Things can change fast!
  • There’s a whole village of Dark Creepers and the book specifies that since it’s their home they try to kill the intruders instead of just stealing from them like they would do elsewhere in the dungeon.
  • I’ve changed a bit the effect of darkness, or at least the fluff, the way I describe it – the Dark Creepers aren’t casting the spell Darkness in my version, rather their bodies just absord light (and release it upon dying). I don’t know, not important but I prefer it this way, like it’s something of a quasi-natural biochemical effect. Furthermore I think a 5 or 10′ radius of faint light, a torch reduced to a candle let’s say, with shadowy figures dancing just outside, isn’t that much more reassuring than foes shrouded in darkness I would think.
  • But this time either the Dark Creepers missed their sneaking checks or the PCs succeeded their awareness checks (even with bane), surprise attacks just did not happened in any of the ambushes.
  • Good reaction from the boys to cut the bridge, twas the only way to survive I think.
  • Ended in hostile territory this time and lot happening in next session…

Gunderholfen – Against the Kiigoths (session 11)

David Skelector Dragonbane, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Gunderholfen, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG

There’s officialy 5 parties of adventurers (including the PCs) in our campaign that have been given permits to explore Gunderholfen. Being the first one in place gave the PCs a huge headstart, particularly with their alliance with the hobgoblins. But now comes a dilemna, do they help their allies against other adventurers and be complicit on such a dubious course of actions or do they let them fare for themselves onward to their incoming annihilation?

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs):

  • Aracyne, Elf Hunter, Guild Leader, (Isaac)
  • Jedri, Ratman Thief (Isaac)
  • Forka, Dogman Knight (Edmond)
  • Torch, Goblin Torchbearer (Edmond)
  • Ghardeet, hired Hobgoblin Mage/Shaman (me)

Longfelt – Gunderholfen Level 3

  • Leaving Longfelt and all went well with getting across the Ganfal Swamp.
  • In Gunderholfen, they talk to Nerulf who informs them that the Hobgoblins are taking heavy casualties againts adventurers, most recently against a party with 3 magic-users. This party has installed itself in Level 1A for the past few days and is still there. With current rate of losses, Nerulf will remove patrols outside of 1C except the nearest exit in 1B.
  • Unmoved by the hobgoblins plight, the PCs hire Gardheet, the hobgoblin mage (30gp and 10% cut) and go to Level 3, taking the shortcuts they know.
  • Down the ladder in Level 3 they go west where they hear sounds of grunting and growling and open a set of double-doors and come face-to-face against 7 kiigoths.
  • They kill a few quickly but as much as 15 others rush from the 2 adjacent rooms!
  • The PCs take a few steps back to get into the corridor behind them in order not to get immediately surrounded.
  • A long and violent brawl ensues. Kiigoths often keep fighting even when mortally wounded and get more ferocious while doing so. Jedri gets wounded by a club attack but Ghardeet casts stoneskin on him at maximum power and the protected thief is able to stay in the fight and, with one knife in each hand, stab foes left and right. Forka’s chainmail deflects most attacks from the crude weapons but is still getting bruised after getting hit by numerous blows. Aracyne shoots arrows from behind and Torch even manage to burn a couple of kiigoths here and there. With several of his own now dead the bigger, meaner kiigoth leader gets into melee against Forka and has one good hit with his deadly-looking, not-crude-at-all battle-axe but is smashed to pulp by the knight’s 2-h hammer in return. The death of their leader isn’t changing the savage kiigoth’s will to fight unfortunately and the adventurers eventually have to kill them to the last, not without being severely hurt themselves in the process.
  • The fight over, the PCs go to Jedri’s place nearby and Ghardeet heal all their wounds. They then get back to to the big pile of dead kiigoths, but there’s not much else other than the very nice battle-axe (nobody is very proficient with axes though).
  • They then go at the big room south and find big non-locked chests that contain coins, a nice chainmail (taken and wore by Forka) and a big, sturdy dwarven shield (given to the less and less expendable Torch, who’s overjoyed by the gift).
  • Going to the west now, they find a lot of broken, useless stuff and also an intact clay jug of wine. A bit further they also find an okay helmet (to Jedri).
  • They get into a very long and narrow passage going south, there’s also a side-passage going west with a brirge going over fast water. There’s a really bad smell coming from that way though and they decide to go further south instead.
  • They open a door into a room with a statue of a dwarven warrior. They spot a depression on his extended hande but can’t do much with anything and right then, an ooze drops from the ceiling on Forka’s head! Torch burns the ooze a few times with his torch and saves his boss from asphixy. Forka looks at the ceiling fearfully for a while.,
  • Nearby, they see a Sun Face carved into a wall and messing with it, manage to obtain a ruby from its opened mouth. It’s exactly the rigth size for the depression on the statue’s hand and they put it in place. An aura of virile dwarven energy surrounds them and they all feel a bit more competent. Except the elf, virile dwarven energy isn’t for elves obviously.
  • Next room, looking for it, they spot an ooze suspended on the ceiling and they send Torch with his shield up to bait it to drop down, which it does but it somehow slides on the shiels and target Torch’s head and it’s the turn of Forka in coming to the help of his sidekick.
  • The PCs now have found their way to the Level 2 stairs coming from the other way around and connecting their map in the process. They decide to go to the lair of ogres in the central corridor but the door is stuck and that’s enough to dissuade them for the moment.
  • They get back into the long passage west and Jedri, who’s walking a few steps ahead, sees an ogre coming the other way. He’s dragging a kiigoth corpse along.
  • Aracyne tries to cast Augment Weapon on his bow but only gets a nosebleed for his effort. He shoots nonetheless and hurts the ogre. The latter try to bum-rush the elf archer but Forka valiantly gets in front (guardian) and takes the hit instead. He gets slammed hard against the wall but still manages to take a big swing of his hammer at his foe. Jedri then plunges his dagger in the ogre’s chest and gets the kill.
  • Leaving the dead ogre behind but picking up the dead kiigoth, the party goes back to the ogre lair and boldly shouts at the inhabitants that they want to make a deal. Or more of a fait-accompli, since they killed the kiigoths, the enemies of the ogres, they ask that they show them the way to Level 4. The ogres (there seem to be 3 of them) are surprisingly amiable (excellent persuade and reaction roll) to this non-deal and Glorm, their leader escort them to the stairs to Level 4. He also tells the adventurers that there’s an ogre colony in Level 4 (not in good terms with himself) and also an orc colony.

Closing Comments:

  • The players chose to explore and let the hobgoblins fight alone, that’s probably the thing to do. I’ve built an okayish random table to see how goes the protracted fight between the hobgoblins and adventurers and let the dice decide, mostly.
  • Big fight against the kiigoths, close one too. Forgot one major thing on my side though, the squares on the map are 10′ wide, so that was a 20′ wide corridor not a 10′ one like I had in mind. Fighting there wouldn’t do much to prevent encirclement in fact. Bad DM, bad!
  • The ogres of Level 3 were amiable at that moment but will find their dead kin before long. With an arrow protruding from his chest, even an ogre will make the link…
  • They found the entrance to Level 4! The last of the Upper Levels and more complex than what they’ve seen so far, no doubt about that.

Dragonbane – rulebook walkthrough pt 1: character creation and magic

David Skelector Dragonbane, Fantasy, jeux de rôles, Play reports, review, Roleplaying Game, RPG

I’ve been using the Dragonbane ttrpg system (DB) for several sessions now- testing the limits of it in fact, with a megadungeon campaign, but I think for the moment I’d do something between a walkthrough and a true review. Suffice to say I like Dragonbane a lot but like every other systems, it also has some flaws.

First thing first, I’ve seen it often called an « OSR » game but I don’t think that’s quite accurate. It’s a fairly light system (the rulebook is slim at 112 pages) and there’s also many random tables (i.e magic mishaps, injuries, etc.), but here the comparison ends as I think the implied style of play is a bit different than OSR (i.e all the different actions you can do in combat).

Character creation:

You have the classical humans, elves, dwarves, halfings and then you’ve also got those guys, the duck-persons mallards and also wolfkin.

Choosing your Kin, you get an ability from it, a small power that you can activate spending willpower points (your wp pool is equal to your willpower score), for example the mallards get « ill-tempered » giving them a boon (advantage, roll twice take best) on attacks at the cost of getting angry (a condition, more on that later).

Choosing a Profession (the complete list: artisan, bard, fighter, hunter, knight, mage, mariner, merchant, scholar and thief), you get an Heroic Ability, another thing you can activate spending willpower points (the fighter for instance gets Veteran, something that lets him play with his initiative order a bit).

If you choose the Mage profession, you don’t get a Heroic Ability but instead get access to three Rank 1 spells and two Magic Tricks from one magic School. Others can also learn magic but not at the beginning.

Next step is rolling your attributes (the same 6, or thereabouts, willpower instead of wisdom, 4d6 take three, assign to one attribute at a time.

Lastly, based on your attributes numbers, you’ll have scores on skills, which are either free or trained (chosen from your profession’s list and a few you can choose as you wish), the minimum is 3, maximum is 14. thus if you have a 17 or 18 score in an attribute on a trained skill, you have 14 for that skill that will be used with a d20 roll under or equal. So, it’s a Roll Under system.

The whole character creation is pretty easy and fast as apart for Kin and Profession most of the choices are already made for you. A few more customizations, rolled randomly (i.e starting gear, a memento), and you’re ready to go. Nothing to complain there, all good.

Magic:

Spells are ranked from 1 to 5, with most within the 1-3 range, with each rank from 2 and above having a lower-ranked spell as a prerequisite.

There’s four magic schools: General, Animism, Elementalism and Mentalism. Everyone that has the Magic Talent heroic ability (from being a mage most probably) can access General magic and also choose one of the three other schools.

You can remember a finite number of spells depending on your Int score but can have more into your Grimoire. The magic system is somewhat Vancian (memorizing spells, spending them and getting to choose anew after resting) but with the addition that you can cast any spells that you have in your Grimoire if you double the casting time (2 rounds instead of 1 for most spells). That’s a nice touch, a bit more flexibility is good.

Spells also take magic points to cast (from you wp pool, as determined by your willpower score) and cost 2, 4 or 6 points depending on how strong you want the effet to be.

So both memorized spells and spell points, a bit cumbersome in my opinion.

But something pretty big is effectively missing from the whole thing: how do you acquire new spells? As it stands, it’e pretty much up to the DM to decide, that’s weird.

I would add that the spells list to choose from is a bit limited, some offensive spells are just stronger versions of lower-ranked ones, making the latter completely obsolete (which also feels wrong). There’s seventeen Rank 1 spells to choose from initially, with not too bad a variety of effects but it could also be better.

There’s also a nice (optional) Magical Mishaps table in case a character roll a 20 (remember, it’s a roll under system) whereas they could vomit a frog the moment they tell a lie for some time or some such.

Addendum:

There was a KS going on recently for financing two more Dragonbane books, one being the Book of Magic… They clearly recognized the need, that’s great, because as it stands the magic part of the game is the weakest.

Part 2 – character development and conditions

Gunderholfen – Back in Longfelt (session 10)

David Skelector Dragonbane, Fantasy, Gunderholfen, jeux de rôles, megadungeon, OSR, Play reports, Roleplaying Game, RPG

Short session without any combats but in which the PCs managed to get out of the dungeon efficiently (after 3 sessions inside) with the help of their new friends.

1,5 hours

Gunderholfen by G. Hawkins: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/265629/gunderholfen

Player Characters (PCs):

  • Aracyne (Isaac), Elf Hunter, Guild Leader
  • Forka (Edmond), Dogman Knight
  • Torch, Goblin Torchbearer (Edmond)
  • Ghardeet (me) Hobgoblin Mage/Shaman
  • Tiali, Ratwoman Thief (me)
  • Jedri, Ratman Thief (me)

Level 3

  • We start in Level 3 in a set of rooms occupied by Tiali and Jedri, cursed adventurers turned into rat persons. They shared a nice broth together and had time to rest and talk.
  • Among the things Tiali and Jedri shared is a shortcut to get to the entrance of Level 2. It’s near, to the north, next to the kiigoths’ den.
  • The PCs set for a plan of action, they would get out of the dungeon ao that Tiali could ask in town for a cure to her affliction. Jedri for his part, doesn’t mind being a rat person as it gives some good advantages as a thief and he never was a good-looking fellow anyway.
  • Getting out of the room, wary of the Gelatinous Cube in the vicinity, the PCs go north at the pair of double doors.
  • They get inside a large room that has a dead ogre and 3 dead kiigoths, casualties from the conflict going on between these two sides.
  • There’s a locked room at the left but the two thieves warn that there’s something dangerous inside.
  • Door to the right, there’s a small closet with a lone skull in a corner. Forka smashes it with his 2h hammer and kills a green centipede at the same time.
  • Going north they get into another large room with another dead ogre (no kiigoths this time) and a ladder next to the northern wall.
  • Forka goes first up the ladder followed by Torch (they named the goblin follower by what he does) and everybody else and up they go for a 100 feet until they reach a secret room right next the great hall, the entrance of Level 2!
  • From there they get among their hobgoblin allies and separate from Ghardeet and Torch until their next delve, maybe.
  • They get out under the sun, which they haven’t seen for several days, and start the trek through Ganfal Swamp. Aracyne the hunter manages to lead them well through the treacherous swamp and they reach the town of Longfelt before the end of the day. They leave Tiali to her own device but promise Jedri to invite him for the next delve.
  • Forka and Aracyne both takes training course in their respective guilds, pay 100 gold each and learn new tricks.
  • They’re then ready to leave for their next delve, out in the farmlands they encounter a patrol of horsemen and talk with them a little. They learn that the adventuring party « The Protectors » led by Bayard came back from Gundeholfen a few days ago with 9 pairs of hobgoblin ears that will earn them money by one Reginald in town, a Halfling inn-owner who pays for any dead hobgoblins.
  • The PCs are unsure if they can do something about that at first but then decide to turn back and talk to Reginald at his inn. They learn thar Reginald’s village had suffered heavily from hobgoblin raids in his youth and now he spends his money to avenge himself.
  • TBC…

Closing comments:

  • No big eventful things happening but a very useful session nonetheless for the players as they progress in their knowledge of Gunderholfen.
  • Jedri will be a nice addition to the team.
  • I finally chose how to deal with the Ganfal swamp in my game: I make Aracyne the hunter makes a bushcraft check, that’s a skill in DB, if he succeeds there’s still a 1 on 6 chance of encounters, if he fails there’s a roll on the Dragonbane journeys’ mishaps table and also a 1 on 6 chance of encounters. At the moment, there’s still a bit more than 50% chance that something inconvenient/bad happening which seems fair to me.
  • Forka learned the heroic ability Massive Blow with his weeklong training and Aracyne learned Fast Footwork with his.