The Dragonbane roleplaying game written by Lead Designer & Editor Tomas Harenstam for Free League Publishing (second printing 2023) bills itself, “a game with room for laughs at the table and even a pinch of silliness at times – while at the same time offering brutal challenges for adventurers” (Dragonbane Preface, 4). While I am not a fantasy RPG player at heart (sorry, no D&D in the the Port of RockyMountainNavy) titles like Dragonbane attract my attention not just because it comes from favorite large-house RPG publisher, Free League Publishing, but because it calls it’s style of gameplay “mirth and mayhem roleplaying” (Dragonbane Preface, 4). For this Classic Traveller RPG player that absolutely fits my style!
As we all know, you can’t have a fantasy adventure without beasts of some sort. While the core rulebook for Dragonbane has a bestiary, the latest release from Free League Publishing for the Dragonbane series offers more. The Dragonbane Bestiary will formally release in late February, 2024.
The Dragonbane Bestiary is a 148 page book with about 65 beasts. What is perhaps the best part of this bestiary is that each beast is not just a boring stat box with some art, but a mini-adventure. Each beast in the Bestiary comes with a random encounter and adventure seed as well as a custom monster attacks table.
All too often, end up playing roleplaying games solo. In the Dragonbane Core Set is the booklet Deepfall Breach which shows how a solo adventure can run. The extra elements of the Dragonbane Bestiary support group or solo play equally, perhaps with a nod to solo roleplaying a bit more. The Bestiary will certainly find its way to my adventure table for solo or maybe even a one-shot in the near future.
Special thanks to Free League Publishing for the generous free digital download. A more fullsome review of the Dragonbane core rulebook and the Bestiary is in the works.
Feature image courtesy Free League Publishing
The opinions and views expressed in this blog are those of the author alone and are presented in a personal capacity. They do not necessarily represent the views of U.S. Navy or any other U.S. government Department, Agency, Office, or employer.
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