Drakar och Demoner is nearly as old as D&D, turning 40 this year, and despite that, I’ve never heard of it. In my defence, while Drakar och Demoner was the first ever RPG in Sweden, it’s never been available in English before.
Coining the phrase “mirth and mayhem roleplaying” to describe the game, Free League Publishing has announced they’ll Kickstart a project to translate and publish Drakar och Demoner as Dragonbane.
The lead designer will be Tomas Härenstam of Mutant: Year Zero, Forbidden Lands, ALIEN RPG and Twilight: 2000 4th Edition. They’re all huge Free League Publishing successes. Tomas is currently working on the Blade Runner RPG.
Combine those titles with the likes of Mork Borg, Symbaroum and Tales from the Loop and it’s not a surprise for Free League to acknowledge talk of a “Swedish invasion” of the RPG world. It all started in 1982 with Dragonbane, so it’s been a long time coming.
Also on the Dragonbane team will be Niklas Natt och Dag and illustrator Johan Egerkrans (of Vaesen), with other Swedish talent. Dragonbane may be translated into English, but it doens’t seem to be straying far from its Swedish roots. Free League say;
Now, we celebrate its 40th anniversary with a brand new and reimagined edition, with one foot firmly planted in the heritage of decades of Swedish gaming and the other in the modern and innovative game design for which Free League is known worldwide.
As for details, we’re told it’s a fantasy with magic and mystery. The redesigned RPG will be;
Although a toolbox allowing you to tell fantasy stories of all kinds, Drakar och Demoner / Dragonbane is a game with room for laughs at the table and even a pinch of sillyness at times – while at the same time offering brutal challenges for your adventurers.
We call this playstyle “mirth and mayhem roleplaying” – great for long campaigns but also perfect for a one-shot if you just want to have some quick fun at the table for a night. The core set will include at least one complete adventure and we hope to unlock many more as stretch goals, offering a complete campaign to play even in the core game set.
Quick Links
- Kickstarter alert page Dragonbane.
What do you think? Measured observations are welcome and you can leave them in the comment section below.
