Dragonbane - Starter guide

What is Dragonbane?

Dragonbane is a classic fantasy RPG about dungeons, ruins, and the eternal struggle between dragons and demons, played in a frontier region called the Misty Vale. It leans into fast, low-prep adventure rather than heavy simulation, with room for both real danger and genuine silliness at the table, Free League calls it "mirth and mayhem roleplaying."

The game has deep roots. It is an English-language reimagining of Drakar och Demoner, Sweden's first and biggest tabletop RPG, originally launched in 1982 and long a household name there the way Dungeons & Dragons is in the United States. Free League acquired the rights in 2021, ran a hugely successful Kickstarter in 2022, and released this modern edition in English in late 2023 under the new name Dragonbane. The artwork throughout is by Johan Egerkrans, the same illustrator behind Vaesen, and it gives the game a distinctive, lived-in look.

How does the system work?

Dragonbane uses a skill-based, roll-under d20 system, the opposite of what most modern fantasy RPGs do. Each skill is rated from 1 to 18, and you roll a d20 hoping to land equal to or under that number. Rolling a natural 1 is called a dragon, triggering a powerful bonus effect. Rolling a natural 20 is a demon, a serious complication. Advantage and disadvantage exist too, called Boons and Banes, letting you roll twice and take the better or worse result instead of adding flat modifiers.

Combat keeps to one action per turn, and initiative is drawn from a numbered card deck rather than rolled, so who acts when changes every round. When a roll would otherwise fail, characters can push it for a second attempt, but pushing risks a Condition, a lasting penalty that makes future rolls in that area harder until it is treated. The result is a system that rewards bold, sometimes reckless choices without punishing failure permanently.

Character creation starts with a Kin: human, dwarf, elf, halfling, wolfkin, or the fan-favorite mallards, duck-folk who have been part of this game's lineage since the beginning. From there you choose one of ten Professions, including Fighter, Mage, Hunter, Thief, and more unusual options like Artisan, Merchant, Mariner, and Scholar. A Profession sets your starting skills and grants a Heroic Ability, but it never locks you into a class; once play begins you develop your character however you like.

What do you need to start?

The Dragonbane Core Set is the complete package: a softback rulebook covering character creation, skills, combat, magic, and travel; a book of eleven ready-to-run adventures that link into the campaign Secret of the Dragon Emperor; the solo booklet Alone in Deepfall Breach for playing without a group; a large map of the Misty Vale; illustrated cards; five pregenerated characters; a blank character sheet; standees; and a battle mat. It is everything a new group needs in one box.

The standalone Dragonbane Rulebook contains the same core rules in a durable hardcover, plus the introductory adventure The Castle of the Robber Knight, but it does not include the eleven adventures or the physical components from the boxed set. It suits players who already own the Core Set and want a second copy at the table, or anyone who prefers a permanent hardcover reference over the softback that ships in the box.

Who is this game for?

Dragonbane suits groups who want classic dungeon-crawling fantasy without the character-build complexity of modern D&D, and who value sessions that start fast and need almost no prep. The roll-under system teaches itself in minutes, and the tone comfortably holds both real peril and outright comedy, sometimes in the same encounter.

It is a weaker fit for players who enjoy deep tactical builds, feat trees, or an intricate, book-length setting to memorize. The Misty Vale is deliberately sketched rather than exhaustively detailed, leaving room for a GM to fill in the gaps. If you want a system that rewards careful character optimization above quick decisions at the table, look elsewhere in the shop.

How does it compare to other systems?

Against Dungeons & Dragons 5e, the core dice logic is inverted: D&D adds modifiers to a d20 and tries to roll high, Dragonbane tests a skill rating and tries to roll low. Progression differs too. D&D characters climb a fixed class ladder, while a Dragonbane Profession only shapes the starting point, after that, growth is unstructured and driven by what you actually do in play.

Against Vaesen, the resemblance is skin-deep. Both come from Free League and share Johan Egerkrans as illustrator, which gives them a similar visual identity on the shelf, but the engines underneath are unrelated. Vaesen runs on the Year Zero Engine's six-sided dice pools built for slow-burn investigative horror, while Dragonbane is a roll-under d20 game built for fast dungeon adventure. If the art is what drew you to one, the other is worth a look, but expect a genuinely different game at the table.

Where do you start?

Read the core rules chapter first; it is short by design and covers everything needed to sit down and play. Build characters using the six Kin and ten Professions, or hand out the five pregenerated characters included in the Core Set for an even faster start. Then run The Castle of the Robber Knight or one of the eleven adventures included in the box, most of which work fine as standalone one-shots even outside the full campaign.

One piece of advice: let the dragons and demons happen. A natural 1 or 20 is meant to swing a scene dramatically, so treat those results as a spotlight moment rather than something to soften.

Recommended products at Netherbook

Start with the Dragonbane Core Set; it is the complete game and the best value for a new group, solo play included. If you already own it and want a sturdier hardcover for the table, or the introductory adventure The Castle of the Robber Knight, the standalone Dragonbane Rulebook covers that. Once your group wants more creatures to face, and a few new playable Kin, the Dragonbane Bestiary is the natural next purchase. If Johan Egerkrans's artwork is what caught your eye, our Vaesen starter guide covers his other major project for Free League, a very different game wearing a similar visual style. Browse the full line in our Dragonbane collection.