Dragonbane, a game I've been eagerly anticipating, is a d20-style, simplified fork of Runequest. What truly sets it apart and piques my interest is its innovative solo-playable mechanics, particularly the use of initiative cards. The game's 'solo play' rules and grim-fantasy aesthetic, reminiscent of classic Warhammer Fantasy and folklore, further enhance its appeal.
Dragonbane, much like Shadowdark, is a rules-light adventure game with a comprehensive skill system and intricate combat mechanics. However, it distinguishes itself by offering a different experience, one that is less resource-focused and more about the exhilaration of prewritten adventures. This departure from the hex-crawl style of Forbidden Lands adds a unique thrill to the game.
The balance is flatter, again, on the level of a Runequest or other d100 game. Experience comes from skills, and combat is deadly. The game also feels like a "sandbox," like you have a map, and your story is how your character (or party) navigates through this place and all the trouble they find along the way. There are also card elements to the game, like treasure cards, which provide a source of power and "leveling up."
I like the monsters and how their turn actions are randomized. There is also a "random action table" for NPCs in the solo rules, so you can play this solo and manage to have the monsters and enemies surprise you. Very few games do this, and it is a fantastic solo-play mechanic, along with a tool for referees to "run" monsters effectively.
I get most any 5E monster manual, and monsters above a certain CR are always homework assignments to learn how to use effectively. Every D&D-like game post-year 2000 has this problem, from D&D 3.0 on through Pathfinder 1e, and even 5E has these complex "homework monsters" that are a pain to run if the dungeon contains more than a handful of different types. You get an adventure for 12th-level characters and have a weekend of research to effectively run a dozen high-level foes.
Part of why high-level play in 5E seems like the characters are invincible is likely because very few game masters can run those monster stat blocks effectively. Dragonbane solves the problem, eliminating GM bias and aversion to complex magic and condition-based attacks.
You can also randomly create a hero, wholly randomized in kin, class, age, gear, and background. You can play Dragonbane like a rouge-like game, solo, with your character advancing, finding treasures, and completing missions as you go.
The game's solo missions are more abstract than the Shadowdark map-based style; in Dragonbane, you create a dungeon by stringing together waypoints, and you can do a rough map like a connected bubble graph. Once you solve or clear a waypoint, you move on to the next one.
Dungeons in Dragonbane are smaller; encounter sites have from 1-4 locations, medium ones have 4-10 areas, while the larger dungeons have 12-20 rooms. Most places have just 1-2 locations of note and a story point that happens there. I would keep most dungeons in the 6-9 "bubble" range for solo play. You aren't mapping and exploring as much as solving problems, fighting, and using your skills in these places.
I see a lot of similarities to Forbidden Lands here. Still, Dragonbane feels like a simplified system focused on the "situation and character sheet" dungeon and fight gameplay loop. Forbidden Lands feels like a Civilization-style game, where you are simulating a grand and epic quest of exploration, where the action feels a step away, and you are exploring hexes, building strongholds, and discovering ancient places of wonder. The broad sweeps of narrative action, timekeeping, and resource management while in dangerous lands make Forbidden Lands compelling from a "sim" perspective and dip a little into fantasy wargaming.
Forbidden Lands feels more like a "fantasy novel simulator" than a "dungeon game." Characters die frequently here; there are even stickers to mark where your heroes met at the end of their tales. If Gorm the dwarf died on this hill protecting his friends from skeletons two years ago, we mark this map spot with a sticker (and perhaps, in-game, a small memorial of stones) and call it "Gorm's Hill" in his honor.
Forbidden Lands is a "sim" style game.
Everything you do in Forbidden Lands is worldbuilding. There is a map where everything happens during play and is generated organically. It is a "Legacy" style game, where the map and "game board" change each time you play, and a fresh start is called for. You can keep one map going for years over dozens of parties and adventures, with new generations picking up the sword for adventure.
Forbidden Lands is also more complex in mechanics. There are a lot of special rules and dice with symbols, each of which has a special meaning. The book has "subsection rules" that make sense of the results, what can happen when, and how to take the abstract dice results and make those work in the game. You must keep an "operating system layer" in your head when playing; much like Savage Worlds, the game relies on a translation layer framework between the die results and your character.
Dragonbane feels more "play from the character sheet" than Forbidden Lands.
Dragonbane focuses on the "here and now dungeon game" and succeeds wildly. It is more character-focused, with more skills and character details than Forbidden Lands. It is less "Lord of the Rings" and more "Conan" in a novel perspective. The action and mystery are immediate. Characters have three times the depth. The fights are visceral and detailed. You have thirty skills that define your character, plus unique heroic traits, spells, and other abilities. This is a "zoomed-in" fantasy with the character in tight focus.
Dragonbane is an action RPG.
Dragonbane has a map and campaign setting; the first adventure focuses on that valley. You can ignore it and create your own setting, like a hew-crawl or dark fantasy style. Dragonbane has a cartoonish, gritty, dark fantasy vibe, almost as if Darkwing Duck were a mature graphic novel for adults and published in Heavy Metal, with plenty of blood, violence, and classic Batman Animated Series character designs out of the 1990s. Forbidden Lands feels like Larry Elmore Dragonlance art, by comparison.
Dragonbane is a good game. It is simple, fast, playable, and fun, and its art style inspires daring, dark, gritty, pulp adventure.
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