Dragonbane Bestiary Release Date Announced

Free League announced the release date for the Dragonbane Bestiary: February 24, 2024

From the press release:

Oh, will no good deed go unpunished? I suppose time will tell, but right now things are looking bleak indeed. I have wandered, ridden, climbed, crawled, and swum all over this earth; I have spoken with all manners of creatures, observed, analyzed, and recorded almost everything worth knowing about the people and beings of the world. And yet here I am, unthanked and crouched in a godforsaken crevice, hunted by several of the creatures that I’ve graciously included in my catalog. How astoundingly rude!
– Theodora Sneezewort, one of a kind

From cat people to chimeras, fairies to frog people, hippogriffs to hydras, and many more – creatures both wondrous and horrifying are crawling, slithering, climbing and flying closer towards us all! We are happy to announce that our upcoming Bestiary for our critically acclaimed fantasy RPG Dragonbane is set to release on February 27.

The Dragonbane Bestiary includes no less than 63 creatures, each brought to life in text and art, as well as a random encounter and a seed for a complete adventure. Among these fantastic beings, there are nine new playable kin included, each with their own unique ability.

The hardcover is available for pre-order for 483.00 kr (about US$46.58) and the collector’s edition for 768.00 kr (about US$74.06). Both pre-orders will give immediate access to a PDF of the book provided through DriveThruRPG. A set of 64 cardboard standee pawns is also available for pre-order for 258.00 kr (US$24.87).

 

[S'mon]

I preordered the Bestiary from a UK retailer to save on shipping as I didn't think I needed the PDF. The wait is agony though! They say delivery by 1st March. I'm running Dragonbane fortnightly, next on 18th Feb, so will miss it for one more session I expect.

 

[Staffan]

Heh, good to see them working the nostalgia angle for us Swedes. This was the cover for Monsterboken, the bestiary for Drakar och Demoner back in the 80s:

 

[EthanSental]

Can’t decide if that cover is homage to Charlton Heston’s Moses or an Animal House frat party robe, either way it’s epic, thanks for sharing!

 

[Von Ether]

So an perceived issue is that for the boxed rule book alone, there's a low number of monsters -- until you read the Adventure book and find out your monster count has doubled (more than doubled if you count various NPCs as encounters.)

Add to that the dice, standees, and solo rules (which honestly give you a whole alternate way to build and use NPCs) and the box is great value if you plan to GM the game.

If anyone is wondering about upcoming support, they already have a second campaign coming out in Q2 and thanks to their GSL 3pp license (3pp can only create new rules for new gear and new monsters - the core rules can not be changed), there are KS that have already delivered and new adventures/accessories on DTRPG.

DriveThruRPG

www.drivethrurpg.com

 

[Von Ether]

Can’t decide if that cover is homage to Charlton Heston’s Moses or an Animal House frat party robe, either way it’s epic, thanks for sharing!

Evidently Swedish publishers would buy rights to old sci-fi/fantasy novel covers and use them for their books.

https://www.amazon.com/God-Tarot-No-1/dp/0441294707

I preordered the Bestiary from a UK retailer to save on shipping as I didn't think I needed the PDF. The wait is agony though! They say delivery by 1st March. I'm running Dragonbane fortnightly, next on 18th Feb, so will miss it for one more session I expect.

I preordered the Bestiary from a UK retailer to save on shipping as I didn't think I needed the PDF. The wait is agony though! They say delivery by 1st March. I'm running Dragonbane fortnightly, next on 18th Feb, so will miss it for one more session I expect.

The Adventure Book has a few more monster in it but you should be find if you are just setting up Outskirt, or a similar base town.

 

[Ravenheart87]

Still waiting for my book, but already read the beta and final pdf too. My biggest gripe is they don't have any guidelines for creating new monsters.

 

[S'mon]

Still waiting for my book, but already read the beta and final pdf too. My biggest gripe is they don't have any guidelines for creating new monsters.

It definitely seems to be "play it by ear". Runequest/BRP standards don't quite work as damage is higher, hp need to be higher too.

I've made a fair number of new monsters by combining and adapting stat blocks, eg a giant minotaur combining giant and minotaur. I'm finding that monsters without armour tend to die very fast and that increasing their hp seems to work better than increasing Ferocity. Ferocity does let them use actions to dodge/parry but players find it more satisfying to remove a whack of hp than remove an action card.

 

[S'mon]

A general tendency in Dragonbane is that large groups of NPC opponents tends to be nastier than one Monster. Eg two goblins per PC is worse than a troll Vs 4 PCs. Most fatalities have been when an NPC fells a PC in one round, then acts first next round and kills them before they can be healed or rally.

 

[Paragon Lost]

A general tendency in Dragonbane is that large groups of NPC opponents tends to be nastier than one Monster. Eg two goblins per PC is worse than a troll Vs 4 PCs. Most fatalities have been when an NPC fells a PC in one round, then acts first next round and kills them before they can be healed or rally.

A common thing with skill based rpgs like GURPS, BRP/RuneQuest/Call of Cthulhu and Dragonbane. Which means you need to use your head a bit more versus just charging in and attempting to murderhobo everything. heh.

 

[S'mon]

A common thing with skill based rpgs like GURPS, BRP/RuneQuest/Call of Cthulhu and Dragonbane. Which means you need to use your head a bit more versus just charging in and attempting to murderhobo everything. heh.

I ran an ambush on Saturday, 12 goblins ambushing 9 experienced PCs and 2 allied NPCs. It was brutal! One NPC was immediately killed, and a PC was dropped to 0 hp in the first round. The adventure said '2 goblins per PC' but I think that would have been a TPK.