Dragonbane

Overview

Dragonbane is a classic fantasy tabletop roleplaying game published by Free League Publishing in 2023. It is a modern English translation and reimagining of
Drakar och Demoner https://groupfinder.gg/library/drakar-och-demoner
, Scandinavia's first and longest-running TTRPG, originally released in 1982. The game carries over four decades of Swedish gaming heritage into a sleek, accessible package designed around the philosophy of "mirth and mayhem": fast-paced adventures with minimal prep, where danger is real, luck matters, and even a humble merchant can become a legend. Unlike many modern fantasy RPGs, Dragonbane deliberately avoids the power-escalation treadmill of level-based systems. Characters are capable but mortal from session one, and the game works equally well for a single one-shot evening or a sprawling long-term campaign. It was a strong contender for TTRPG of the year on release, praised widely as one of the most accessible entry points into tabletop fantasy roleplaying.

Description

In Dragonbane, players take on the role of adventurers in the Misty Vale, a hidden mountain valley, ancient and full of ruins from fallen kingdoms, only recently cleared of orc and goblin occupation. The world is shaped by the eternal cosmic struggle between two great powers: the Dragons and the Demons, rival godlike forces whose conflict bleeds into mortal life. Players choose from six playable Kins: Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, the duck-like Mallards, and the feral Wolfkin and one of ten Professions (Fighter, Mage, Hunter, Thief, Artisan, Merchant, Mariner, Scholar, and others), each providing a distinct set of skills and heroic abilities. One player takes the role of the Game Master (GM), who builds the world, voices NPCs, and runs the dangers the adventurers face. The tone balances genuine peril and dark fantasy with moments of levity and absurdity.

Key features

Roll-Under D20 Skill System

Dragonbane uses a clean roll-under mechanic. Every skill has a rating from 1 to 18, and to succeed, the player must roll equal to or below that number on a D20. There is no adding up bonuses or consulting modifiers, a skill of 14 means you need a 14 or lower. This keeps the math fast and intuitive while still creating meaningful differences between a trained and an untrained character.

Rolling a Dragon & Rolling a Demon

Natural 1s and 20s are not just successes and failures, they're narrative events. Rolling a 1 is "Rolling a Dragon": a critical success that triggers powerful, flavourful special effects. Rolling a 20 is "Rolling a Demon": a critical failure with immediate consequences. This naming convention ties the dice directly into the world's mythology and gives every roll dramatic weight.

Push Your Luck

If a skill roll fails, the player can choose to Push it, picking up the dice and rolling again. But every die that fails a second time inflicts a Condition. Characters can become Exhausted, Sickly, Dazed, Angry, Scared, or Disheartened, each imposing a specific mechanical penalty. Pushing is rarely free, and the decision of whether to push adds meaningful tension to every uncertain roll..

Willpower Points & Heroic Abilities

Each character has a pool of Willpower Points (WP), a resource spent to activate their Profession's Heroic Abilities. A Fighter might spend WP to make a devastating counterattack; a Mage burns it to cast spells. Willpower represents the spark of exceptionalism that separates adventurers from ordinary folk, and managing it carefully is central to play.

Card-Based Initiative

Combat initiative is determined by drawing from a shuffled deck of initiative tokens. One per character and one per monster group. This creates a genuinely unpredictable turn order every round, keeping both players and GM on their toes and preventing the predictability of fixed initiative lists.

Kin & Profession, Not Class & Level

Character creation is fast: pick a Kin, pick a Profession, assign starting skills. After play begins, advancement is open: characters grow by spending experience on skills of their choice, unconstrained by class restrictions. This avoids the feeling of "wrong builds" and keeps development tied to what the characters actually do in play.

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DND5E
Dungeons & Dragons 5E
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's-Hertogenbosch
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FlorianMambosa
Forever D&D DM who wants to increase his horizons by playing and learning new systems from experienced DM's as a player
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Savage Worlds
Savage Worlds
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Call of Cthulhu
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Marlon
Hello, fellow gamers. My name is Marlon, but everyone calls me Jay-long story there that I won’t get into. Anyways, I’m the forever DM in my family, and I run weekly podcast games for my wife. We’ve designed a tabletop RPG called Prosperon: A Bio‑Cyberpunk RPG, and we’re actively looking for more playtesters. If that interests you, shoot me a message and we’ll make it happen. With that being said, I’m also an active player in several games. I’m currently in a Blades in the Dark campaign every Thursday, which is absolutely amazing, and I have a few open biweekly days where I can commit to another game-as long as it’s the right game, the right crew, and the right day and time. That’s all for now. Take care, and don’t forget-have fun at your table.
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MOTHERSHIP
Mothership
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Scotland
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Jacob
The problem solver Mini-campaign fan
Hey there! I'm a 10-year rpg veteran and 7-year forever GM. Most of my playing experience is with 2014 5e, but I've really enjoyed branching out into all sorts of other games. I think I'm at 12 systems GM'd these days, though I'd love the chance to play in more. I'm broadly free on Sunday-to-Wednesday evenings (GMT), but only my Thursday evenings are absolute non-starters. I enjoy a little bit of everything but definitely lean most strongly towards narrative, intrigue, problem-solving stuff. I'm not a fan of DnD's slow, attritional combat but I'd be interested to see if other games (Draw Steel, 13th Age, etc) handle this better. I'm a big fan of pulpy historical fiction like Bernard Cornwell's, as well as the Wheel of Time, Dragon Age, and Star Wars. Questionnaire results: Problem Solver, Tone chameleon, Balanced player, Focused & prepared, Backstory architect, Mini-campaign fan
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Savage Worlds
Savage Worlds
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Ramlatus
About Me & My Experience:     • Role: Player (stepping out of the GM chair after several years).     • The Situation: My long-running home group recently dissolved due to conflicting adult work schedules, so I am looking into online gaming. Systems I Have Played/Run:     • Sci-Fi & Cyberpunk: Traveller (Mongoose 2E), Shadowrun 3E & 5E, D6 (WEG Star Wars), Star Wars (various), Star Trek (various).     • Fantasy: D&D (BECMI, AD&D, AD&D 2E, 3.0, 3.5, 5E 2014), Pathfinder 1E & 2E, Burning Wheel, Daggerheart, Ironsworn.     • Supers & Generic: Mutants & Masterminds 2E & 3E, Aberrant, Savage Worlds (Deluxe & SWADE, including Deadlands & Hell on Earth).     • Indie/Horror: Dread, and various other miscellaneous games.
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Charlie
I've been playing DnD 5e for almost six years and now dming Icewind Dale for the past two years for my in-person group in Janesville, Wi. We're looking for a new local player so check out my players wanted post if interested.  I also play in a weekly Dragonbane ttrpg game at a lgs. I've also played Pathfinder and Starfinder games.
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Newtownards
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Unlucky Dragon
Hey hoping to be a player in a ttrpg game I've 13 years experience playing on and off mostly GMing but would like to play more used to play pathfinder 1st edition back in the day played some 5e but most comfortable with shadowdark and osr but happy to learn any system for one shots or  campaigns
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