Is Dragonbane Old-School?

Is Dragonbane an old-school game?

The history of the game dates back to the "Scandinavian D&D" of 1982, and it has endured multiple editions and variations to the present day. It finally went global with Dragonbane when Free League acquired the rights to the game.

The Free League presentation feels modern and slick, and the mechanics have a "new game" feeling to them. The art is fantastic, and the game still keeps its old-school sensibilities while embracing the high adventure and "high fantasy action gaming" feeling of modern games.

Dragonbane feels more modern in its play. Where in Shadowdark you are creeping around corners and prodding with a 10-foot pole, in Dragonbane, you charge into a fight, because fights are fun. The same is true about DCC, but DCC also rewards careful play. Dragonbane feels more like an action game, in the modern D&D style. Skill-based play is also strongly supported, leading to a more substantial roleplaying experience than D&D, along with a more organic levelling experience.

Dragonbane does solo play far better than most of the old-school games, which is a massive plus for those of us who don't have regular groups, or our regular group is flaky enough that they always talk about playing but never get together to play.

Sorry, group! But we already knew that, and I am partially to blame.

Dragonbane seems to exist in its own alternate universe, free from the TSR & Wizards influence of fantasy gaming that the rest of the world has had over the last 50 years. It is also free from the influence of Games Workshop and Warhammer Fantasy, yet it still retains that distinctly European feel. It is such a breath of fresh air breaking free from those influences, like you are reading a fantasy book from an author with a completely different perspective and style of world, and you feel everything is new and fresh again.

Mind Flayers, the Great Wheel, Skaven, Chaos, Beholders, the Forgotten Realms, Spelljammer, Drow, and all the other tropes are just gone. The monsters are strange, new, and exciting. They have bizarre, terrifying attacks and habitats. I can set aside all that I know and just explore new things, new worlds, and live in a new one.

D&D leans on its nostalgia way too hard, and it holds the game back. Yes, this is a part of the fun, but there is a point where the game is mostly nostalgia, and mostly things I have already seen.

Also, while Dragonbane is definitely Western in view, it is not too modern, one-world, and blindly political, where there are no meaningful differences between kin. While there are no ability score adjustments, there are essential differences, and different races have different abilities.

The conflicts in the game are also diverse, featuring dragons, demons, undead, night kin, giants, trolls, and other major monster types, each serving as a faction in the world's story and plots. The sides fight, and characters can get caught up in the mess. The fight between dragons and demons shapes the world.

"The hostility between dragons and demons has brought death and ruin upon their ancient civilizations. It seems almost like a fundamental law of nature – that anything created by dragons alone is corrupted by demons, and that anything born of demonic will is burned to ashes by dragonfire." - Dragonbane Rulebook, page 5.

There are no "demonic dragons" like there are with D&D, and the sides here are clearly delimited and stand in direct opposition. Demons are a corrupting force that affects all of the living, but this is not the default for some races, like it is in old-school AD&D. Orcs are not all demon worshippers by default, and they must be corrupted first, just like humans and any other living thing.

Be careful of your default "D&D assumptions" because they are mostly incorrect, and the world of Dragonbane is vastly different. You can have factions of powerful orc tribes that are a significant threat, with no demonic influences anywhere to be found. Dragons are loners, survivors of a lost age and broken world, and are not a "default force of good" like you would assume. Many have turned to selfishness and wrath. The individual motivations matter!

This can also be applied to all kin and factions in the game. Motivation and history matter. Corruption matters, but it is not gamified and remains a recurring theme in stories. What you do matters, and your choices will shape the narrative as guided by the game master. You don't need gamified systems to track story things, beyond what is contained in the rules. In that sense, it is very OSR, involving work with evil factions and committing heinous acts, and it is up to the game master to decide what the effects and consequences of that are. This story-based approach is similar to an Old School Essentials and Basic D&D model.

Your actions matter. They will have consequences, both good and bad. How good or bad it depends on what was done. This is all up to the referee. If you are playing solo, roll an oracle die.

The answer to the question is yes, Dragonbane is an old-school game at its heart. There are a few new-school concepts and mechanics in the game, but for the most part, the sensibilities and design are very old-school.

Welcome aboard!