hey guys printed Oracle Cave for my players this week.
How do you run exploration for large maps like this? Obviously you can’t be in initiative the whole time — and when they spot hidden or etc 15 minute goes by. But how do you decide how long it takes them to travel through normal passages or keep things moving and not boring?
We had an absolute whale of a time. My friend who has never played an RPG before rolled up a grumpy old Mallard bard, and my partner rolled up a human thief. I ad-libbed a quick little scenario for them to play through, and the Mallard rolled a critical success on her first check! We're going to be headed into Castle of the Robber Knight next session. Even just that short little game has reminded me how much I love RPGs around the table with my friends. What an absolute joy. Dragonbane fucking rules.
Map of the great flying city of Vintaris, a city built entirely on a meteorite fragment floating in the cosmic void. It was very interesting to create this map for Alexander Sword and his interesting role-playing game!🧭🗺️🏰
H-HB pencil, Unipin Pen 0.05-0.1 and Winsor and Newton watercolor on paper then scanned.
Moreno Paissan and Angela Gubert art 2026
Support our art on: https://ko-fi.com/morenopaissanmaps/shop
A map created a few years ago for the *Banners of Honour* RPG, published by Kefa Studio.
Materials used: H-HB pencil, Unipin 0.05–0.1 pens, and Winsor & Newton watercolors on 300g Fabriano smooth-finish paper; subsequently scanned.
Moreno Paissan and Angela Gubert Art
Support our art on: https://ko-fi.com/morenopaissanmaps/shop
>The Tower test you. The Tower is a proving ground. The Tower is a prize no one conquered yet...
The Tower has always stood beyond maps and memory, unless it has only just been found. There may be an adventure to reach it, or the characters may begin at its threshold. Either way, once they enter, the climb begins.
The Tower is filled with strange and dangerous floors, each one a self-contained challenge. Some are brutal. Some are clever. Some are unfair until understood. All of them push the characters to act under pressure.
For this challenge, create one floor of the legendary Tower.
Your floor should present a playable situation that challenges the characters. It may include combat, puzzles, NPCs, traps, treasure, visions, bargains, or strange environments, but the heart of the floor should be a test of action, risk, choice, and survival.
Your submission should include:
- Floor Name (No numbering!)
- Danger Level (Low, Moderate, Deadly, or Strange)
- The Situation (A Quick GM overview)
- What the Characters See First
- The Floor (Rooms, dangers, NPCs, monsters, puzzles, events, or strange features.)
- The Skull (Where it is, what makes reaching or using it interesting)
Format: 1-4 pages , Extra Map pages can be added freely
Submissions Period: July 4 - July 25 - 2026 ( 20:00 UTC+2)
Voting Period: July 25 - August 1 - 2026 ( 20:00 UTC+2)
Submit in the Dragonburn 30 channel on the Dragonbane Discord!
Questions? Ask here, please!
Hello!
I'm building a town with a major adventurer's guild. I want it to be a hub to later write adventurers for one or two groups of players at my local club.
Being an adventurer's guild, I figure it could be a perfect excuse to prepare masters for my players to train with. I wanted to ask to people with more experience, how much would a train session with a retired/professional adventurer in fighting or magic cost? What prices would you set?
The rules do not offer suggestions
FK's Wondrous Wednesday #12 loot card is here (v2) and we think this one fits well into any treasure trove. Special thanks to Emil Dahlöf for feedback on mechanics and overall text.
As usual, we're releasing these cards to make you aware of app.finderskeepers.se where you can create your own loot cards with custom art for free in your browser (PC/MAC is probably best atm).
We haven't had time to implement "the Linen" card (Dragonbane) design yet, but when we do we'll let you know.
About our workflow: all art is painted by me in photoshop (standardard brushes). As a last touch I add a texture, and tweak the colors and the contrast to better fit the card.
No AI.
As probably most of you are writers here, we, just as you find great pleasure in creating for our players, but since English is not our first language we use spell check and most often spend quite a time looking up medieval-sounding synonyms that are not in our everyday vocabulary.
On my Facebook I’ve posted a video and some stills of how I go about creating the artwork. I should share more, but time is limited (all three of us developing the app have fulltime jobs on the side).
Footnote (1): The whole idea with us posting cards here is to spread the fun that can be had with loot cards in tabletop games and ofc. if more people would find our app helpful, perhaps one day we can spend even more time painting, writing and coding for it, instead of spending our days "in the mines".
(2) Btw. we're also aiming to release the "WW-items" in the app one day, for the users to copy and edit as they wish. That could be a really great feature we think - a start of a user generated content platform.
Until next week, have a good one!
I'm wrapping up my first run of the campaign and prepping for another. Since I was running for a group that couldn't play too often I wanted the campaign to be on point without too much of just walking around so after discussion with my group we decided to make the POIs known so they weren't just trying to visit funny looking places on the map. There were some random encounters and stuff I made up ad hoc but I haven't developed much of what had a great potential for side quests (like this scary tree in the west). This way we really managed to get to the finish in less than two year with session happening every three weeks more or less. But I'm now prepping for another run which I would like to be more sandboxy letting player visit stuff and populate the map with more places. Is there a resource for the Misty Vale map giving ideas about those places that don't have adventure linked to it?
How do you run your campaign? Are you doing it from site to site with occasional visit to the Outskirts or is your party roaming free?
Me again, with another question.
There are 4 shifts in a day. Sleeping takes 1 shift and a shift rest (obviously) takes 1 shift. Can these two things happen during the same shift? My initial thought was, yes, but on further reading I became confused whether the shift rest requires dedicated attention and shouldn't (or couldn't) be done while sleeping.
I don't remember what I read in the Rulebook that made me feel that way.
Here are some ideas we used in creating the knuckgoblins:
They have enormous hands that allow them to stun their victims so they can prey on them, but never kill them. They are resourceful, creating non-lethal weapons and traps. They operate in the Knuckle Mountains range and know it like the back of their hand.
Stay updated on the evolution of these treacherous creatures!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reveltales/dragonbane-accidental-heroes-ii-the-lost-vessel
Return to Twin Mountains is a sequel to the 40 year old classic adventure Twin Mountains, which was published in Swedish for the very first version of the RPG now known as Dragonbane.
This is the English version of both the sequel and the original classic, both written for Dragonbane from Free League.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/oldtimer/dragonbane-return-to-twin-mountains
The gangs thoughts about the campaign and some of the stuff we added to it. This was recorded immediately after the last session.
Goblin clan with their Troll Warchief against a Dwarf regiment. I know who wins, do you?
I love Dragonbane, easily one of my top three games in 30 years of play.
I also love playing solo. Scheduling is a breeze! But I get that some people who might want to play solo don't quite know how to start. Dragonbane has excellent solo content packed into the box, but reading it and making it work can be two different things.
So I made a short video to help guide new players. Just walking through how to use an oracle table, and putting it in practice in Deepfall Breach. If you play solo already, you're still welcome to watch though.
Next week will be dedicated to MARINE EXPLORATION, so there will be more maps featuring the sea, seabeds, the abyss, and strange fish.🐬🧭🗺️
This map of the Sunken Tower was created as a private commission for Andrea Conforti and his RPG project; it was a real pleasure to work on it. An underwater tower makes for a fantastic setting for amazing adventures, don't you think?
🐟🧭🗺️
Support my art on: https://ko-fi.com/morenopaissanmaps/shop
So I'm about to start a new dragonbane campaign in a week. I have the core book and bestiary and want to limit kin selection without being too restrictive, so here's what I think I'm going to do for anyone who's interested.
First off, I'm modifying the did you participate in the session advancement. Players will only get this extra advancement mark if they choose a Kin from the core rulebook or roll on the kin table in the bestiary and take the result.
Players can still freely choose anything, but they will be ineligible for the participation advancement. This encourages players to play the kin that is most common in the setting while not being too restrictive for players who want to just play a specific thing.
Big news for Accidental Heroes 2: physical copies are coming!
For the very first time in Revel Tales history, you’ll be able to support the project and receive a printed copy of one of our titles.
Not just a PDF or a pod: a real book for your table, your shelf, and your next adventure in genuine Italian paper.
if you want to check out this project, follow the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reveltales/dragonbane-accidental-heroes-ii-the-lost-vessel
I've been playing RPGs for over 40 years, and recently my youngest son (11) started bugging me about running an RPG for him and his friends. In the past I've occasionally run a game for his birthday (Hero Kids and WEG Star Wars), but I got the impression he really wanted something classic fantasy this time. He plays a lot of Terraria where he prefers mages and summoners, so good spellcasting was a requirement.
Despite having accumulated a way too large collection of RPGs over the years, I didn't really like any of them for this purpose. WFRP? Too rich, fiddly and dark. GURPS? Too complex and DIY. D&D? I wanted that feel, but I hate D&D and class/level systems in general. Savage Worlds? Maybe, but still too DIY. Dungeon World? Too freeform for kids, I think.
Then on r/rpg I came across a recommendation for Dragonbane, and it looks absolutely perfect. A simple system, but still with options. It looks great. Simple mechanics. I got the box, which comes with a complete campaign that manages to look simultaneously accessible enough for kids, and yet with surprising depth, twists, multiple factions and betrayal. I think it will blow their minds.
We played our first session yesterday. Two kids took pregenerated characters (the wizard and the wolfkin), while the other two created their own (a wolfkin blacksmith and a human fighter). We're pretty heavy on the frontliners to protect that single mage. I ran them through the first encounter, they quickly defeated the goblins, and I forgot to introduce the wolfrider on turn two, but for their very first combat, this was fine. I played very loose with the movement rules and just focused on how skill rolls, defense and damage works. We'll build it up slowly.
I had to repeat some of the clues, I wasn't sure they caught the name Leanara, but they took the statue. Went to Outskirt. They weren't sure what to do, but Hardy told them to go the inn and ask Vagnhild if they had any questions. They wanted to buy weapons and armor, realised they needed money and all wanted to find jobs instead of going adventuring. The blacksmith wanted a job with Okald and Badinor, for example, but I said they didn't need any help, and gently tried to dissuade them from looking for jobs (quite the opposite of what I say to my oldest son), and look for adventure instead.
And that's when one of the kids remembered that the dying guy mentioned a name. What was it again? I told him Leanara. They asked Vagnhild, who had no idea, but of course Annabella overheard and the whole thing got rolling. They sold her the statue piece, had money to buy a weapon or armor, learned about the Riddermound, and they're ready to go off in that direction. Next time.
The biggest problem was my own lack of prep: I'm not quite fluent in the system yet and had to look up some stuff. They don't fully understand all their abilities yet, but that will come. They're all excited. Some a bit more proactive, others a bit quieter, so I'll try to balance that out next time, partially by sitting closer to the quiet kid.
I have no idea yet where I'm going to put all the pieces of the statue, but I'm going to read all the adventures more thoroughly to get a better idea. And I really look forward to how they're going to deal with some of the upcoming twists. They're currently working for Leanara of course. Will they figure out who she really is and what she wants? I'll probably have to drop a ton of hints. They haven't spoken to Alfilia Shadowleaf yet, and I notice that another knight of that order that they could meet is rather aggressive, whereas the Orcs are surprisingly likely allies.
No idea how all of this is going to unfold, but I love the freedom with guidance that this campaign offers. The freedom to go through this non-linearly and be flexible about allegiances, but with enough guidance to nudge them in a direction instead of just dropping them in with no idea what to do. Looks like a perfect balance between railroad and full sandbox, and I look forward to seeing how this will play out.
Know they're saying it's not out till August, but been seeing it in shops, so figure it's fine to talk about.
Wondering if those with a copy are also struggling with some of these spells?
Example:
Two damage over time spells, Beetle Boil and Gutworm. Both deal initial damage, and then continue over a number of rounds based on level.
Beetle Boil: Rank 2 - 20m range - auto hit, no save Damage scaling D6: D8 - D10 - D12
Gutworm: Rank 3 - 10m range - hits on failed will save Damage scaling D8: D8 - D8 - D8
So, unless you're only casting power 1 (and arguably even then), Gutworm is straight up worse. But it's higher rank, and even has Beetle Boil as a prerequisite. Doesn't make much sense to me?
Another example are the elementals. All rank 3, 5-15 hp based on power and clearly combat focused. But they take a stretch to cast, and last for a stretch.
In what scenario do you get 15 min to prep, for a fight that then has to take place right afterwards or the elemental is gone again?
Like functionally, I don't understand how these spells are ever getting used, even if you wanted to?
Symbolism is more of this. Generally a really interesting school, but spells are largely defensive, and their whole gimmick is they last for as long as they take to cast. So your defensive ward to guard your resting place, takes a full shift to even place, and then only lasts a shift. Or it takes a stretch, but then only lasts a stretch.
I'm what world do you spend time on a trap that's slow to lay, but then has to be used almost instantly?
They seem like thematically cool, but functionally useless spells :/
Uma das coisas que me desmotivou a ver sobre o sistema era que o ataque de oportunidade era livre pra todos e não uma habilidade dos personagens.
E eu queria saber se mais alguem teve esse sentimento, ou se mais alguem transformou isso em uma habilidade ou errata?
