We’ve long recommended eye catching, sepia toned classic fantasy RPG Dragonbane as a palate cleansing alternative to DnD – and there are now not one but two free Quickstart games available for new players to try it, as publisher Free League has released The Sinking Tower, a 60-page “tournament style adventure” intended to be smashed through in two hours.
What does “tournament style” mean? Essentially, it means the adventure is a challenging, traditional dungeon crawler adventure which Free League says “offers difficult challenges for even the bravest and most skilled adventurers” Crucially, you’ll be aiming to “solve puzzles, win battles, and find valuable treasure” against a two-hour time limit.
While that does mean veterans of the best tabletop RPGs will probably have an easier time ‘beating’ the adventure than newbies, this is still a quickstart – meaning the first half of the PDF is a condensed form of the game rules, so it contains everything you need to get started.
There’s a full page of “guidelines for convention play”, giving the GM tips for keeping the game flowing at pace, and ensure you all feel immersed in a proper fantasy world and storyline, despite the ticking clock.
And, of course, the element of time pressure is woven into the game itself. The Sinking Tower is an adventure set in an dark sorcerer’s fortress which only emerges from the sea once every 20 years – and only for a few hours. Your party must brave the tower and retrieve its legendary, priceless emerald before the cursed structure sinks back beneath the waves. It’s an enticing pitch, especially for a free adventure, and I personally dig it.
Plus, if you don’t fancy the timed, tournament vibes, remember that Dragonbane already has another free Quickstart adventure, titled Riddermound, that’s much more straightforwardly noob-friendly. You can download The Sinking Tower free from DriveThruRPG now, or the original free quickstart, Riddermound, if you prefer.
My weekly RPG group recently migrated from Blades in the Dark to Dragonbane after considering another dip back into Dungeons and Dragons 5e, and I can heartily recommend its combination of simple action rules, crunchy adventuring, and utterly lethal monsters. We’re playing it on the Alchemy virtual tabletop, and having a blast (even though a sea monster called The White Death ate my friend in our third session – I meant it when I said lethal).
Dragonbane is a modern reimagining of the classic 1970s Swedish Dungeons and Dragons rival Drakar och Demoner (Dragons and Demons) – so as you’d expect, the character options map fairly closely onto the familiar DnD classes (though there are some interesting original additions).
Most of the main, Tolkien-esque DnD races are represented too, with their own distinguishing quirks – but we also have wild cards like the Wolfkin (exactly what they sound like) and the delightful Mallard, who are duck people, with all the racial abilities that implies, except a liking for bread.
So, if you’re looking for something a bit like DnD, but with fewer moving parts, simpler (but often harder hitting) tactics, an old-school vibe, and some surprising weird bits, check Dragonbane out with one of those quickstarts.
Alternatively, if you’re sticking in the Forgotten Realms, we can keep you up to speed with the latest DnD release schedule, and a list of the best DnD books to expand your adventuring collection. Speaking of: if you’re quick, Humble has an excellent bundle deal for 97% off a huge stack of DnD resources.
Source: Wargamer
