This game is phenominal. When comparing to 5e, there are some things I like about it much more. Combat and armor are simpler. Willpower points instead of spell slots just makes so much more sense from a verisimilitude perspective, the much slower progression of player power, the fact that you could very easily homebrew a leveling system. The fact that characters aren't really stuck with a specific class and can progress in ways other than what would tie into their background. Anybody can learn magic.

The adventure included is excellent, I really hope to run it one day. It is sort of sandboxy but not a hexcrawl. Runnning travel is as simple as rolling on a couple charts, and pretty much every landmark on the map has an adventure tied to it.

There are definitely some things missing as another reviewer mentioned, but I expect that soon there will be more supplementation to assist with rules for those things.

Dragonbane might be the best game to teach new players. After playtesting Dragonbane extensively over the last two months, I think this might be the best game to teach new players how to play in an RPG I have ever come across: It is easy and reasonably streamlined, offers enough substance to give a player something to do, even if they are unsure, but don't overwhelm them with options or tidbits to memorize. The game offers some tactical depth, and reasonably dangerous fights that are both fun and threatening enough to make other options but brute force inherently attractive. All characters can do cool stuff and can have special powers. Elements like exploration and wilderness survival is well supported and can be quite adventurous. The illustrations and layout are kid-friendly, but not childish.

A little bit about my background: Prior to the Covid lockdowns and the resulting fading of extracurricular activities, I ran an RPG club at the school I worked at, for several years. I have played with preteen and teenage students for years, and might very well provided the first contact to the hobby for about 30-40 kids. I don't claim to be an expert on introducing kids to RPGs, but I think I have quite substantial anecdotal material. I tried a few things, homebrewed a bit here and there, and for the most part, it worked. Still, I think it would have been so much easier with (a German Version of) Dragonbane. But since most of you won't face that language barrier, and want to run a game for new players, I think Dragonbane would be a great starting point. Hell, if you are as burnt out on D&D as I am, this is a great game.

It is a very enjoyable system, with a simplicity to teach and master in a very short time. It is more focused on short adventures, not so much on long-term campaigns. A very precious art, which makes it very enjoyable to read.

This game just looks incredible and feels it too. It is rather incomplete though. There are just 16 monsters despite dozens of punters pleading for more on the Kick starter. There's no Ring mail, There's no Scale mail, There are almost no pole arms. Necromancers are having a difficult time, as there are no Zombies. The nick names for characters almost all come from modern English. There aren't quite enough spells. There are no rules for castles nor manor up keep rules. There are no maratime rules. It reminds me, (although it is BRP), of BECMI's first two booklets. Basic and Expert, (simplified from BX) in detail. There are no tresure tables in the rules booklet. They're just on playing cards. Relavent tables aren't repeated at the end of the book for ease of reference. There are rumours of future supplements but I didn't pay for those. I paid for this one!

The Duck race is worth the price of admission! But, seriously I can't wait to GM this. Wonderful art, concise rules (no game needs to be 400 pages these days, please stop this!), character sheet, maps, its all very pro looking and easy to learn and play. Buy this now! Cheers.

Dragonbane can easily become my Go-to-system for fantasy. I like the old-school vibe of the game and how it blends classical mechanics with modern approaches. It hits my sweet spot in many ways, and I’m eager to test it with a campaign soon (a conversion of the great Humblewood).

I prefer the roll-under resolution in general, and the game avoids any modifiers on rolls except for dis/advantage makes it quick and fun. After character creation, it’s mostly a classless system (which I like) without levels (which I also like).

The beta version would have earned a 5-star review, but I’m not happy with some decisions made to please fans who played early versions of this game 30 or 40 years ago. Namely: The skill bloat is unnecessary. If you prefer to find the solution on the character sheet (instead of with your soft skills as a player) and think a whole character needs 30+ skills to be defined, you’ll be happy. If you are more into an OSR-style for gaming like me, cut down the skill list or try to get your hands on the beta quickstart.

There are some other (minor) parts in which the original vision was superior over the final product, but it’s still a great game, just one step away from being awesome. I highly recommend it as alternative for your favourite fantasy RPG.

Long time DriveThru customer & First Time Rating. - Dragonbane is my alsolute favorite system to play Solo RPG. It seems as though they designed this game from the beginning to be played solo and THEN added group mechanics. Just Awesome! Cant' wait for future supplements, modules, etc. Great Job!

This is shaping up to becoming one of my favorite systems! While the core box is (understandably) light on rules and player options, I have great hope in future expansions and community content! This most certanly makes me not even want to look back at D&D 5e! It is exactly what i want a fantasy sytem to be, and is great for both one shots and long campaigns.

Dragonbane has a lot of potential to be the perfect replacement of the DnD 5e system at your table. The rules are a lot lighter than DnD while still having the aspects of character progression that is meaningful and resource management. Upon trying out some of the combat, I also quickly realized that the game is very deadly for the players and will likely continue to be deadly to the PCs for as long as the game runs. I do not know what that means yet for the higher level monsters included in the game set but the combat is very streamlined and allows for interesting styles of play. Will definitely be playing a campaign using these rules once the final physical copy comes out. Also, I love that the writers over at Free League are updating the Rulebook for balancing as it is coming out because, as it is a BETA version, the rule are still a little rough. Still, super hyped for the full release.