I read through the Dragonbane boxed set two years ago, but still haven’t had a chance to try it out.  However, while on our way to Rehoboth Beach a few weeks ago, we stopped by a game store and I snagged a copy of the Dragonbane Bestiary.  With a bit of reading time on the trip, I cracked it open and started reading.  Right away, I was invested.

The whole vibe of Dragonbane is great.  It brings me back to the games I ran and played when I was a lad.  Not in a regressive way.  Not in the sort of He-Man Woman Haters Club way that so many OSR advocates seem to latch onto (I know it’s not universal).  But in a wistful, pleasantly nostalgic sort of way.  I’m sure part of it is the excellent art by David Brasgalla, which fits so well with the cover art by Johan Egerkrans.  It has a storybook vibe, while also capturing some Pulp Fantasy book cover vibes.  I’m reminded of the Steve Jackson’s Sorcery! series, of the Prydain books by Alexander, and of Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories.  Or a dozen random books found on the dusty shelf of a used book store in 1988.  Good stuff.

One complaint I saw about this book was that it was covering fairly standard, well trod territory.  Most of the creatures within are classic fantasy critters, like ogres, mermaids, manticores, and hill giants.  That is true.  There are a few more unique creatures, like the karkion, a sort of winged cat person, or frog people who are…frog people.  However, I think it’s really the nature of the game and the general.  As far as I can tell, this is meant to be the grittier, wilder, more free-wheeling side of somewhat generic, Medieval Europe inspired Fantasy.  Taverns, sailing ships, foggy coastal villages, dragons, demons, rats in the basement, and jealous old kings hiding in drafty stone castles. Calling it generic is perhaps misleading.  It has a tone that it’s going for, and a bunch of really weird critters probably wouldn’t fit that tone very well.  Though it still leaves the door open for some to sneak in.  Especially with the demons.  I suppose the one frustrating thing is that the creatures from the core rulebook are repeated in this volume.  So, theoretically that’s fifteen new creatures that could have had entries, instead of going over older ones.

The text is written as though you’re reading an in-world guide, written by a slightly pompous halfling named Theodora Sneezewort, likely deceased.  Each entry starts with a quote about the creature about to be described, taken from various characters in the world.  There’s then a brief description by Sneezewort, usually followed by a random encounter suggestion, and a more fleshed out adventure seed.  And finally there’s the stat block, and for “monsters” there’s a chart of various attacks for the GM to roll on.  The random encounters are typically the sort of thing you could plug into another session with little preparation, depending on circumstances.  For example, the player characters might be walking along a forested road when they encounter a trapped wolf.  They can free it or kill it or whatever.  And what they choose to do will no doubt have repercussions.  But once resolved, they can move on with their travel, the encounter essentially over.  The adventure seeds are much more involved, and often require that you lay the groundwork, flesh out NPCs, etc.  They might take your whole campaign in a new direction.  Each creature is also illustrated.

If you’re looking to run Dragonbane, I think this one is a no-brainer.  It’s very well produced and full of ideas for encounters and adventures.  Reading it felt like a warm hug, and it made me itch, not only to run Dragonbane, but to dust off my old Basic Roleplaying stuff and start kicking it around.  If nothing else, I may try the solo rules.

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