Dragonbane Core Rulebook

Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying

Dragonbane is a classic fantasy tabletop roleplaying game full of magic, mystery, and adventure. It is designed from the ground up to facilitate fast and furious play, with very little prep time and adventures that are a breeze to run. This is a game with room for laughs at the table, while still offering brutal challenges for the adventurers. We call this playstyle “mirth and mayhem roleplaying” – great for long campaigns, but also perfect for a one-shot.

Dragonbane is a translation of Drakar och Demoner, Scandinavia’s first and biggest tabletop RPG, originally launched in 1982. This new and reimagined edition has one foot firmly planted in the heritage of decades of Swedish gaming and the other in the modern and innovative game design for which Free League Publishing is known worldwide.

Dragonbane comes with all of the fantastical creatures that you’d expect plus a few more – not least the duck-like mallards!

The game uses a skill-based D20 system that is very easy for new players to learn. Each skill is rated from 1 to 18, and the player needs to roll equal to or lower than the skill level to succeed. That’s right – in this game you want to roll low. Rolling a natural 1 is called rolling a dragon, and triggers powerful special effects.

The core Dragonbane game has ten professions, including the classic Fighter, Mage, Hunter and Thief, but also the more unorthodox Artisan, Merchant, Mariner and Scholar. The profession will impact a player character’s starting skills and give it a starting heroic ability, but after the game starts the player is free to further develop their character in any way they choose, unbound by any class restrictions.

Dragonbane is a game of fast-paced fantasy adventures. The core game presents a core mythology of this fantasy world, focused on the eternal struggle between dragons and demons. The ruins of fallen kingdoms, worshiping either of these rival godlike creatures, beckon brave adventurers with the lure of hidden treasures.

Rather than describing entire continents, the core game focuses on the Misty Vale, a hidden mountain valley until recently overrun by orcs and goblins. In recent years, the orcs have retreated into the mountains, leaving the land open for explorers, settlers and adventurers of other kin such as humans, dwarves, elves, halflings, mallards, and wolfkin. The land lies open for adventure.