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  • Aug 2, 2018

    Dragon's Dogma Bestiary: Lesser Dragons

    Copyright 2012 Capcom.

    This is another entry in the Dragon’s Dogma bestiary. So, uh, it’s been a while since I posted one of these hasn’t it? The reason for that is twofold. First, we’re getting into the final stretch of the game’s main plot here, and I confess I haven’t played it much past that point.

    Second is that the only monsters really left to cover are dragons, and dragons are kinda hard to stat not only because I feel I have to get them right, but because the Dungeon Fantasy RPG already did such a good job of it that almost anything I tried to do would only end up looking like a straight copy from it. Here is my attempt to do something different.

    Lesser Dragons

    The path of the Arisen is a long and grueling one, and one of the most shocking revelations many of them face while walking it is that The Dragon is not the only such beast. There are others, smaller in size but still quite large and deadly.

    Most people of Gransys ignore the existence of lesser dragons. Not even those who make it their business to study the cycle know much about them. The secret of their origin might only be learned from the dragons themselves, or from an ancient Arisen who survived past encounters with them: every lesser dragon was once an Arisen. One who was defeated by The Dragon, and as a result was reincarnated in a draconic body to be sent into the world during further incursions.

    Lesser dragons have the same general body plan as their larger “cousin”. They fight with their natural weapons (teeth, claws, tail, elemental breath) but might also have access to some of the powers they posessed in their past lives. A lesser dragon’s recollection of that life varies from individual to individual, but all feel a compulsion to test the might of the Arisen in deadly combat. How they deal with that also varies from individual to individual.

    All such creatures are sapient and capable of speech, though only the Arisen and the Pawns can understand their language.

    If you have access to DFRPG: Monsters, the stats for SM+3 dragons contained there are perfectly adequate for representing Dragon’s Dogma lesser dragons. The stats for western dragons found in GURPS Dragons also work nicely.

    If you can’t or don’t want to use those, keep reading!

    Build-A-Dragon

    Rather than giving you a “canonical” lesser dragon stat block, I’m going to give you a basic, generic template and instructions on how to customize it. This reinforces the notion that every lesser dragon is a unique individual.

    Basic Lesser Dragon Stats

    ST 20; DX 12; IQ 10; HT 13;

    HP 20; Will 12; Per 12; FP 13;

    Speed 6.25; Move 6 (Air Move 13); SM +3

    DR 3

    • Bite : thrust-1 cutting, +1 per die. Reach C, 1. Can count as a grapple!
    • Front Claw: thrust-1 cutting, +1 per die. Reach C-2.
    • Hind Claw: thrust cutting, +1 per die. Reach C-2.
    • Horns: thrust-1 cutting, +1 per die. Treat as weapon for attacking and parrying. Reach C, 1.
    • Tail: Thrust crushing, +1 per die, or double that for knockback only. Reach C-3.
    • Wing: thrust -1 crushing, +1 per die, or double that for knockback only. Reach C-3.
    • Breath Weapon: Costs 2 FP per use, with no recharge time or limit of uses per day. Can be any one of the types listed in DFRPG: Monsters or lightning (1mx10m cone, burn damage, metal armor only protects with DR 1; dragon has double DR vs lightning). Damage for the cone-shaped breaths weapons is based on thrust for the dragon’s ST.
    • Dominate Pawn: As the Charm spell, cast at skill 15. Costs 3 FP and works only on Pawns.

    Traits: Bad Grip 2, Extra Attack 1; Flight (Winged); High Pain Threshold; Horizontal; Immunity to Disease; Loner (12); Nictitating Membrane 3; Night Vision 9; Penetrating Voice; Peripheral Vision; Temperature Tolerance 2 (Cold); Temperature Tolerance 4 (Heat); Unfazeable.

    Class: Mundane.

    Customizing your dragon

    To get a final stat block for your dragon, you’re going to have to decide who they were in life. Choose the DFRPG professional template that most closely matches the original person’s capabilities, and quickly select what advantages and disadvantages that person had. Let’s call that the original character. Combine it with the dragon stats above in the following way:

    • ST: For every point ST the original character has over 10, add 2 to the dragon’s ST.
    • DX, IQ, HT: For every point over 10 the character template has in these attributes, add 1 to the dragon’s corresponding attribute.
    • Secondary Characteristics: Figure the new totals from the dragon’s final primary attributes, plus any modifying traits from the original character. Double any levels of Lifting ST, Striking ST or extra HP - all other such traits apply at the same level.
    • Other Advantages and Disadvanatages: These all transfer directly to the dragon where applicable, and are modified to apply to the dragon’s natural DR or weapons where it makes sense. Points spent in things like Armor or Shield Mastery would convert into increased DR or defenses for the dragon, and a former Weapon Master might be considered Trained by a Master when fighting with its natural weapons.
    • Skills: The dragon has a Brawling skill equal to the original character’s highest melee combat skill, or DX+2, whichever is highest. It also has an Innate Attack skill equal to the original character’s highest ranged combat skill or DX+2, whichever is highest. Points spent on Acrobatics or other such movement skills would transfer to Flight and Aerobatics instead. All other skills transfer directly.
    • Magic: Magery, spells and any other magic powers transfer directly!

    If you want tougher dragons, the easiest way to get them is to start with a more powerful original character. You can also increase the dragon’s base DR to a level you find appropriate before performing the rest of the operations above.

    Example Dragons

    These are the three lesser dragons you can find in the original game.

    The Drake

    This dragon was once a dutiful knight that protected his liege with sword and shield. Now he feels compelled to test the current Arisen’s resolve to face the challenges he himself could not.

    The Drake prefers to stay on the ground and engage his opponents in melee combat, making use of Rapid Strikes and Deceptive Attacks. Enemies who try to keep their distance get hit with his fiery breath weapon, or dominated if they’re Pawns. All the while, he taunts them and questions their worth.

    The Drake will not pursue foes who choose to flee and escape its chosen territory, unless the Arisen is among them. In that case, or if its opponents stand their ground, he will fight to the death.

    ST 32; DX 16; IQ 10; HT 16.

    HP 32; Will 12; Per 12; FP 16.

    Speed 8.50; Move 8 (Air Move 16); SM +3

    Dodge 12; Parry 14; DR: 6 (12 vs fire)

    • Bite (20): 3d+3 cut; Reach C,1. Can count as a grapple!
    • Front Claw (20): 3d+3 cut, Reach C-2.
    • Hind Claw (20): 3d+4 cut, Reach C-2.
    • Horns (20): 3d+3 cut, Reach C,1. Counts as a weapon for attacking and parrying.
    • Tail (18): 3d+4 cr, or double that for knockback only. Reach C-3.
    • Wing (20): 3d+3 cr, or double that for knockback only. Reach C-3.
    • Dominate Pawn (15): As the Charm spell. Costs 3 FP and works only on Pawns.
    • Fire Breath (16): Costs 2 FP per use. 1m-wide and 10m-long cone of flame; 3d+1 burn.

    Traits: Bad Grip 2; Born War-Leader 2; Combat Reflexes; Extra Attack 1; Flight (Winged); High Pain Threshold; Horizontal; Immunity to Disease; Loner (12); Nictitating Membrane 3; Night Vision 9; Penetrating Voice; Peripheral Vision; Temperature Tolerance 2 (Cold); Temperature Tolerance 4 (Heat); Trained by a Master; Vow (never refuse a challenge to combat); Unfazeable.

    Skills: Brawling-20; Carousing-16; Forced Entry-16; Innate Attack (breath)-16; Leadership-12; Strategy-11; Tactics-11;

    The Wyrm

    The Wyrm was once a wizard whose spells failed him when he needed them the most. As a lesser dragon he remains quite articulate and fully cognizant of his past life and current situation. He seeks to lair in the ancient ruins of his city and stay out of the conflict, but will still fight the Arisen should the two meet.

    In an hostile encounter, the Wyrm will try to lead the PCs to an arena of his choosing before engaging. He will prefer to fight in an enclosed, flooded ruin chamber where his sound and ice spells are extra effective. In combat the Wyrm relies on his spells. He might try to incapacitate his opponents with Daze of Sleep (in single or mass versions), surprise non-Pawns by dominating them with Charm, or cast Resist Sound on himself and attack with Concussion and Thunderclap. His physical abilities remain formidable of course, and so does his breath weapon.

    That said, out of all the example lesser dragons here the Wyrm is the most likely to be friendly if the party doesn’t include any Arisen, and could be convinced to impart some important piece of lore or teach some of his magic by sufficiently honey-tongued characters.

    ST 20; DX: 14; IQ 15; HT 14;

    HP 20; Will 16; Per 13; FP 16.

    Speed 8.00; Move 8 (Air Move 16); SM +3

    Dodge 11; Parry 13; DR: 3 (6 vs cold)

    • Bite : 2d+1 cutting. Reach C, 1. Can count as a grapple!
    • Front Claw: 2d+1 cutting. Reach C-2.
    • Hind Claw: 2d+2 cutting. Reach C-2.
    • Horns: 2d+1 cutting. Treat as weapon for attacking and parrying. Reach C, 1.
    • Tail: 2d+2 cr, or double that for knockback only. Reach C-3.
    • Wing: 2d+1 cr, or double that for knockback only. Reach C-3.
    • Breath Weapon: Costs 2 FP per use. 1m-wide, 10m-long cone of cold, 2d-1 burn damage. Won’t set fires.
    • Dominate Pawn: As the Charm spell, cast at skill 15. Costs 3 FP and works only on Pawns.

    Traits: Bad Grip 2, Energy Reserve 8; Extra Attack 1; Flight (Winged); High Pain Threshold; Horizontal; Immunity to Disease; Improved Magic Resistance 1; Loner (12); Magery 4; Nictitating Membrane 3; Night Vision 9; Penetrating Voice; Peripheral Vision; Stubborness (12); Temperature Tolerance 4 (Cold); Temperature Tolerance 2 (Heat); Unfazeable.

    Skills: Brawling-16; Innate Attack-16; Alchemy-15; Diplomacy-13; Hidden Lore (Demons, Magic, Magical Writings and Spirits)-14; Occultism-15; Teaching-14; Thaumathology-15; Writing-14.

    Spells:

    • Air:
      • Create Air-17
      • Concussion-17
      • Shape Air-17
      • Thunderclap-17
    • Body Control:
      • Frailty-17
      • Debility-17
    • Healing:
      • Lend Energy-17
      • Recover Energy-17
    • Water:
      • Breathe Water-17
      • Create Water-17
      • Dehydrate-17
      • Destroy Water-17
      • Freeze-17
      • Fog-17
      • Hail-17
      • Shape Water-17
    • Sound:
      • Garble-17
      • Resist Sound-17
      • Sound-17
      • Voices-17
    • Mind Control:
      • Bravery-17
      • Charm-17
      • Command-17
      • Daze-17
      • Foolishness-17
      • Forgetfulness-17
      • Loyalty-17
      • Mass Daze-17
      • Mass Sleep-17
      • Weaken Will-17

    The Wyvern

    The Wyvern was a scout, quick and nimble, who zigged when she should have zagged. Only recently reincarnated, she is still confused and running on little more than instinct.

    The Wyvern will fight any who approach her by taking to the air and doing strafing runs with her lightning breath or front claws, which don’t incur any of the usual penalties for Move and Attack. These can include attempts to grab a target and drop it from a great height. She will only fight for long enough to discourage pursuit before flying away to look for a safe place to rest, unless the party contains an Arisen - then, as usual for lesser dragons, she will be compelled to fight to the death.

    The Wyvern departs from the generic template a bit more by trading the ability to dominate pawns for a beefier than usual breath weapon and the enhanced skirmishing ability described above.

    ST 22; DX 16; IQ 11; HT 15;

    HP 22; Will 13; Per 16; FP 15;

    Speed 9.25; Move 9 (Air Move 18); SM +3

    Dodge 13; Parry 13; DR 5 (10 vs. electricity)

    • Bite (18) : 2d+2 cut. Reach C, 1. Can count as a grapple!
    • Front Claw (18): 2d+2 cut. Reach C-2.
    • Hind Claw (18): 2d+3 cut. Reach C-2.
    • Horns (18): 2d+2 cut. Treat as weapon for attacking and parrying. Reach C, 1.
    • Tail (16): 2d+3 cr, or double that for knockback only. Reach C-3.
    • Wing (18): 2d+2 cr, or double that for knockback only. Reach C-3.
    • Breath Weapon (20): Costs 1 FP per use, with no recharge time or limit of uses per day. 1m-wide, 20m-long cone doing 2d+2 burn damage. Metal armor protects with only DR 1.

    Traits: Absolute Direction; Bad Grip 2, Combat Reflexes; Danger Sense; Extra Attack 1; Flight (Winged); High Pain Threshold; Horizontal; Immunity to Disease; Loner (12); Nictitating Membrane 3; Night Vision 9; Paranoia; Penetrating Voice; Peripheral Vision; Temperature Tolerance 2 (Cold); Temperature Tolerance 4 (Heat); Unfazeable.

    Skills: Aerobatics-16; Brawling-18, Innate Attack-20; Flight-16

  • Jul 27, 2018

    I'm done with Kickstarter

    That’s it. I’m done with Kickstarter. It’s just too much of a hassle.

    After an excruciating process that involved 2 permanently blocked credit cards, a 2-week wait for the replacements to arrive, a third (thankfully virtual) blocked card, a total of 2 hours of trying to convince the nice people at my bank and/or credit card operator that I was myself and that I did indeed want my card unblocked and that transaction completed, I’m finally an official backer of the Hall of Judgment campaign and have the preview PDF on hand.

    Now, the thing with all the blocked cards was a first for me1, but the rest has been pretty much par of the course every single time I backed a KS project. It seems like either my bank (Banco do Brasil) or VISA really hate the way KS charges Brazilian cards. It always gets flagged as a security violation and there seems to be no way to let them know beforehand that it’s really OK. And by now I’m really tired of this whole Kafkaesque nightmare.

    So until one or more of these corporations comes up with a better way to take my money, I won’t back anything else on Kickstarter and will instead wait for the stuff I’m interested in to be available through normal channels.

    1. And boy did it mess up all my online subscriptions. ↩

  • Jun 25, 2018

    New Kickstarter: Hall of Judgement

    I thought Gaming Ballistic’s Lost Hall of Tyr1 looked like an interesting adventure when it came out, but I didn’t buy it because it was for D&D 5th Edition. I did think at the time that it would be really nifty if it ever came out for GURPS… and now I’m about to get my wish.

    Gaming Ballistic has recently starter another kickstarter campaign for Hall of Judgement, which is a version of the same adventure for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game.

    It’s not a direct conversion. The setting part has been made a bit more generic so it can fit into ongoing DFRPG campaigns, and the adventure itself has been expanded to be more sandboxy, with more wilderness travel and a few sidequests added in. It’s also the first ever licensed third-party supplement for the DFRPG, so I’m backing this not just for the book itself but to send a message to Steve Jackson games that I want to see more of this type of deal.

    1. Affiliate Link, Non-Affiliate Link ↩

  • Jun 20, 2018

    Modern Loadouts for Dungeon Delving

    Ready for the dungeon! (image source)

    So you found a passage to fantasy world full of magic and wonder at the back of your grandmother’s old walk-in closet. You’ve read about things like this before, and you’re thinking of going in and raiding the place for treasure having a wholesome and memorable sightseeing trip. What should you take in your expedition?

    The first thing that comes to a lot of player’s minds in a game like this are guns, but we’re not going to talk about that here. Plenty of other people already did, for once: there’s at least one Pyramid article about it, and GURPS Loadouts: Monster Hunters gives you a very complete treatment of what guns to take to fight monsters. No, we’re going to talk about all the other stuff that plays a role in keeping you alive: camping and expedition gear!

    That sort of equipment is vital to every traditional dungeon fantasy adventurer and no less important for modern PCs venturing into such worlds. In fact, the less combat your game features, the more important this gear becomes. Even if the game is a pure dungeon crawl, that closet portal might not open directly into the dungeon. And even if it does you might have a hard time coming back home and might have to stay on the other side for a while. And who knows, maybe your game actually is about a wholesome and memorable sightseeing trip, making the journey the whole point.

    Modern camping gear is often much lighter and better at its job than the TL 3 equivalents, and can give you as much of a comparative edge to traveling and survival as a brace of guns would give for combat. The loadouts described below are supposed to be modern versions of the Minimal, Deluxe, and Group kits described in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 13: Loadouts. They assume an incursion into the fantasy realm might take several days but won’t last forever, so taking things that require batteries or fuel is allowed. All modern gear and attending rules are taken from GURPS High-Tech.

    The goal is for these loadouts to be at least as effective and no heavier than the originals - if possible they should be both lighter and better. They’re inevitably going to end up being more expensive, but even a “settled” modern character has access to four times the entire life savings of a starting medieval adventurer, so keeping price down isn’t as big of a priority.

    A Note on Clothing

    If you follow the rules from High-Tech, your weight savings start with the good old set of Ordinary Clothing every character gets! The totally generic set from Dungeon Fantasy weights 1 kg (2 lbs.), but TL 8 garments weight half that. It might not seem much, but every pound you save is another pound of treasure you can bring home! The same savings would apply to winter and arctic clothing, which is good news if that portal opens into a winter wasteland.

    A Note on Food

    After looking at the options for travel-ready food in High-Tech, it turns out the generic “Traveler’s Rations” from Dungeon Fantasy are already as close to optimal as you can get in terms of weight per meal at 0.25kg/0.5lbs. Few of the “realistic” rations presented in High-Tech weight less than that. I went with Survival Tablets for travel rations here because they feel high-tech, weight about half of what the generic rations do, and can be eaten on the move just like those rations.

    World-hopping delvers who insist on eating actual food and don’t mind doing a bit of campfire cooking can instead pack meals of Freeze-Dried Food (p. HT 35) and bring along a titanium Personal Mess Kit (p. HT57, $45, 0.15kg/0.3 lbs). The price and weight per meal of the two types of ration is close enough that the only difference for the whole loadout is the price and weight of the mess kit.

    Minimal Modern Delver’s Kit

    $424, 7.05kg/14.10 lbs

    This kit provides a 30% weight savings over its medieval version, a much better light source, a much stronger rope, and a +1 to Survival rolls because of the sleeping bag.

    The included batteries can last you for days. A set of spare batteries for all powered equipment here costs $4 and weights 0.4kg (0.8 lbs.)

    • Sleeping Bag (p. HT56) [Torso]: +1 to Survival. $100, 1 kg (2 lbs.).
    • UV purifier (p. HT 59) [Torso]: Holds 1L of water, which it purifies in 1-2 minutes. Given weight is for a full container. $100, 1.25kg (2.5 lbs.)
    • Batteries for UV purifier (p. HT 13) [UV purifier]: 4 XS batteries, good for 20L. $2, weight already included.
    • Backpack, Small (p. HT54) [Torso]: Holds 25kg (50 lbs.). $120, 1.5kg (3 lbs.).
    • Personal Basics (p. B288 or HT53) [Backpack]: $5, 0.5kg (1 lb.).
    • Bottle of Survival Tablets x 2 (p. HT35) [Backpack]: Provides nutrients equivalent to 12 meals in total. $50, 1.5kg (3 lbs.)
    • Rope, 1cm (3/8”), 10m (p. HT56) [Backpack]: Synthetic. Supports 325kg (650 lbs.). $25, 0.8kg (1.6 lbs.).
    • Flashlight (p. HT52) [Backpack]: 10m beam. $20, 0.5kg (1 lb.).
    • Batteries for Flashlight (p. HT 13) [Flashlight]: 2 S batteries, good for 50 hours of illumination. $2, weight already included.

    Deluxe Modern Delver’s Kit

    +$393, +6,41kg/12,82 lbs

    Like the original version, this is an add-on to the corresponding minimal kit. It weights a little over a quarter of the corresponding add-on kit and it’s cheaper, though the basic and deluxe kits combined are still a bit more expensive than the originals. The tent included here combines with the sleeping bag from the basic kit to add a combined +2 tool bonus to Survival. The price of the whole package ($817) also falls well within the budget of even a “settled” TL8 adventurer.

    Further sets of spare batteries for the lantern add $4, 0.66kg (1.21 lbs) each.

    • Backpack, Large (p. HT55) [Torso]: Replaces the minimal kit’s Small Backpack. Holds 50kg (100 lbs.). $200, 2.5kg (5 lbs.)
    • Dive-Certified Electric Lantern (p. HT 51) [Backpack]: 5m radius. $60, 1.5kg (3 lbs.)
    • Batteries for Lantern (p . HT 13) [Lantern]: 4 S batteries, good for 20 hours of illumination. $4, weight already included.
    • Spare Batteries for Lantern (p. HT 13) [Backpack]: $4, 0.66kg (1.21 lbs.)
    • Load-Bearing Vest (p. HT54) [Torso]: $30, 1kg (2 lbs).
    • Bottle of Survival Tablets (p. HT35) [Backpack]: Provides nutrients equivalent to 6 meals. $25, 0.75kg (1.5lbs).
    • Rope, 1.25cm (1/2”), 10m (p. HT56) [Backpack]: Synthetic. Supports 2 tons. $90, 1kg (2 lbs).
    • Tent, Personal (p. HT57) [Backpack]: +1 to Survival. $100, 0.5kg (1 lb).

    Modern Group Kit

    +$563, +29kg/58 lbs

    As I write the modern version of DF’s Group Kit, I notice it gets harder to find high-tech replacements for some of the stuff here. First-Aid Kits cost and weight the same, though obviously the TL8 version is a lot better than the medieval equivalent. We can replace the crowbar and shovel with titanium versions from Low-Tech for a little weight savings, but there’s no listed high-tech substitute for the good old pickaxe. High-Tech also doesn’t talk about Group Basics, opting to break that convenient abstraction down into its components. However, I believe it’s safe to assume that like Personal Basics the modern version costs and weights the same but includes more modern items (like a camp stove and its propane tank).

    The resulting kit is still quite a bit lighter than the original because TL 8 tents are awesome, and fits entirely into a single large backpack with some room to spare. The party can still opt to split its items among themselves if they don’t manage to make a half-ogre barbarian friend in the fantasy realm.

    • Backpack, Large (p. HT55) [Torso]: Holds 50kg (100 lbs.). $200, 2.5kg (5 lbs.)
    • Crowbar, Titanium (p. HT30) [Backpack]: $50, 1kg (2 lbs).
    • First-Aid Kit (p. HT221) [Backpack]: A modern first-aid kit. $50, 1kg (2 lbs).
    • Group Basics (p. B288, see above) [Backpack]: $50, 10kg (20 lbs).
    • Pickaxe (p. B288) [Backpack]: $15, 4kg (8 lbs).
    • Pole, 3m (p. B288) [Torso]: $8, 2.5kg (5 lbs).
    • Shovel, Titanium (p. HT26) [Backpack]: $40, 2kg (4 lbs).
    • Tent, Dome (p. HT57) [Backpack]: +2 to Survival. $150, 6kg.
  • Jun 18, 2018

    Review: Dragon Heresy Introductory Set

    Copyright 2018 Gaming Ballistic LLC (image source)

    The Dragon Heresy Introductory Set is a book written by Douglas Cole and published by his company, Gaming Ballistic LLC. Mr. Cole has long been a freelancer for Steve Jackson Games, and he has to his name books such as GURPS Martial Arts, GURPS Technical Grappling and several others. I’ve been following his blog, also called Gaming Ballistic, for quite a while now.

    The Introductory Set is the company’s latest offering, and it’s Kickstarter campaign is just wrapping up. As far as KS campaigns go, it was quite successful: it got the money it needed, hit some cool stretch goals, and is set to deliver on time. I expect the finished product will be availabe on the store before the end of this month.

    Having read my preliminary backer copy, I will endeavor to give you my impressions of it.

    TL; DR

    Dragon Heresy might be the first iteration of D&D Fifth Edition that doesn’t put me to sleep. From now on, I will always be a bit sad when I play vanilla 5th edition because I could be playing Dragon Heresy instead.

    On the Book Itself

    The mostly-final PDF of The Dragon Heresy Introductory Set I have in front of me is around 285 pages long - the final book will have 288, so this is just missing the covers and perhaps a page or two of editorial information. People who backed it at a higher level than I did will also get a luxurious hardcover version (an offset print run was one of the stretch goals they achieved).

    The book contains everything you need to play the game from levels 1 to 5, from basic die-rolling concepts to character creation, rules for lots of common situations and large catalogues of spells and monsters. You can see that all of this was taken from the as-yet-unpublished full game, since there are hints about higher-level stuff left here and there, but the text is self-contained. The hints act mostly as teasers of what the future might bring.

    Layout-wise, the text is reminiscent of the official D&D books at a first look, but all the graphical elements on the page are specific to Dragon Heresy. The body font is a workable serif face, and the titles manage to be both fancy-looking and readable. The art that is already there is quite good overall. Several artists worked on this book, and their styles are usually dissimilar enough to be noticeable, but not enough to make the book look inconsistent.

    The writing is generally clear, and occasionally sprinkled with the same delightful bits of humor you can find in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy supplements, which for me is always a plus.

    Last, but not least, this thing has an table of contents and index comparable to those of a GURPS book. This is high praise: no one, and I mean no one publishes books that are as well-indexed as those of GURPS. The PDF also contains links in its text, which further helps referencing related concepts.

    On Player Characters

    Core mechanics and character creation options take up roughly the first 50 pages of the book. The basic mechanics are what you’d expect from any SRD 5.1 game: ability checks, advantage/disadvantage, and so on.

    Character creation uses a set of three different number arrays. The player chooses one and assigns the numbers to the character’s abilities. As the author says, people who really want to roll 4d6-drop-lowest or even 3d6-in-order already know how to do it by heart.

    The available races are Humans, Dwarves, Dragonborn, Half-Elves and Tieflings. None of them are what you’d expect from reading the names alone, and all of them get a detailed overview of their culture. Humans are basically ethnically diverse vikings. Dwarves look like they’re made of stone and have a stronger bond to their craft guild than to their biological family. Dragonborn can look like anything from humans with a bit of a skin condition to barely humanoid lizard-people, and have a history as former slaves of the Elder Dragons. Half-Elves and tieflings, in an interesting reversal of the cliche, are generally well-liked by others wherever they go, having innate bonuses to Charisma as they do.

    You can’t play a full-blooded elf, because this is a Norse-inpired setting and full-blooded Norse elves are scary.

    Class-wise, you have the Berserker (a renamed Barbarian), the Skald (a renamed Bard) plus Fighters, Clerics and Wizards. The basic rules for each are pretty much the same as in standard D&D, but their class options contain some interesting novelty. Berserkers who don’t just want to rage harder at 3rd level can choose to either channel rune magic or become monsters at grappling. Fighters can get what I think might be the best Warlord-like abilities I’ve ever seen in 5th edition material, and can start at first level with a fighting style that makes them Valkyrie-good at spear-fighting. Skalds, Clerics and Wizards also get their own flavorful options.

    No rogues in this book, which is kind of appropriate as both the historical Norse and the people of Torengar consider theft to be dishonorable. The honorable thing to do is to first kill them, then take their stuff.

    You also get a small selection of setting appropriate backgrounds, which segue into an interesting set of rules for social standing. The more lavish your lifestyle and the more expensive your bling, the more pull you have in Torengur society.

    On the Setting

    Dragon Heresy has its own setting: the Norse-inspired kingdom of Torengar, located in the world of Etera. The text takes pains to emphasize the inspired bit, and that you shouldn’t expect the setting to rigorously match real historical Norse facts, but you can still see that quite a bit of research went into it.

    The wider cosmology is based on Norse myth: you have Yggdrasil and its Nine Realms, but there are several differences that are caused both by the need to bring this a bit closer to a D&D-ish arrangement and by the setting’s specific history. The latter are the most interesting.

    For example, Jotunheim is inhabited by dragons, not giants. Giants used to live here at the beginning of time, but the dragons kicked them out. Alfheim was similarly changed by ancient historical events. These details make me feel like this is a post-Ragnarok world even though the Aesir are still kicking around.

    The Aesir themselves are slightly changed from what you’d expect from reading up on Norse myth. Of the “main cast”, Freya and Frigga have been mashed up into a single deity (Valfreya), and several of the others go by names that as far as I know are historical, but not as popular in the present-day real world. Woden, Donnar, and such. There are also a whole bunch of other Aesir who don’t normally get top billing in Marvel movies but which play an important part in the lives of the people of Torengar.

    The ancient history of Etera is dominated by a long war between the Winter Fae and the Elder Dragons, which ended when a Fae faction performed a desperate magical ritual of apocalyptic proportions that pretty much shattered both empires and allowed their former slaves to spread out and form many smaller, squabbling kingdoms. A few centuries ago, the dwarves of the island of Barakthel began exerting their influence on the neighboring lands to make them a bit more stable, resulting in the current political map.

    Most Introductory Set adventures take place in Torengar, the most viking-like kingdom of Etera, or in the neighboring land of Tanalor where most of the ancient Fae and Dragon ruins are. There are other kingdoms that take more after other real-world cultures and which the Torengur love to trade with and/or raid, but they aren’t given much emphasis here. I imagine the full three-book set would have more on them.

    Overall the setting as presented in the Introductory Set is quite gameable, and comes with plenty of advice and general hooks for creating adventures. It’s certainly a lot more flavorful than the Forgotten Realms the official 5th edition books stick to.

    On the New Mechanics

    I’ve touched upon this a tiny bit when describing the character creation options, but Dragon Heresy has a lot of new and interesting mechanics that, in my eyes, turn D&D 5th edition from the flavorless substrate of generic fantasy roleplaying into something interesting in its own right.

    The most obvious change is that it ditches Armor Class and Hit Points in favor of a new Vigor/Wounds system. No, this isn’t the first wounds system in roleplaying: Star Wars d20 tried something similar, and any Brazilian readers will know Tagmar did it a decade before Star Wars d20. This is, however, one of the best-executed wounds system I’ve ever seen.

    Your hit dice give you Vigor points, which explicitly represent your ability to protect yourself from harm via weapon parries, shield blocks or plain dodging. You gain more Vigor when you level up, and recover lost Vigor by resting (much like HP in vanilla D&D). You don’t take Vigor damage - you spend vigor to avoid taking Wounds. Wounds are serious business. They take days or weeks to heal without magic, and taking Wounds can seriously impair your character long before they’re at death’s door.

    Instead of a single Armor Class value, characters have a relatively low Threat DC and a higher Hit DC. If an enemy beats your Threat DC, it means they will hit you unless you actively defend yourself by spending Vigor. Beating your Hit DC means they bypassed all of your defenses. Avoiding injury from that takes a “frantic defense”, which among other things costs your reaction for the round.

    Armor no longer makes you harder to hit - instead, it provides damage resistance that reduces the amount of Wounds (not Vigor) you take from an attack. Shields do make you harder to hit, and you need a shield to be able to defend yourself normally from arrow fire or certain similar spells.

    On top of this there’s grappling. Dragon Heresy uses a version of the grappling system introduced in Dungeon Grappling, where attempts to grapple an enemy cause Control Damage and enemies are more impaired the more Control has been applied to them. You can also turn control directly into wounds, which isn’t as efficient as just stabbing your enemy but is better than trying to punch them barehanded.

    I quite like these systems! You can kinda see the influence from GURPS here - spending Vigor is the equivalent of making active defense rolls, and Dungeon Grappling was of course inspired by Technical Grappling. These rules do a good job of putting the age-old “hit points versus meat points” debate to rest.

    Aside from these combat mechanics, there are other interesting additions. The social standing system was already discussed earlier, and there is also a simple system for Flyting, which is a ritualized contest of insults that was practiced by Norse. Yes, apparently social combat was a thing in the real world.

    Conclusion

    If you have any interest at all in the mechanic changes I summarized above, then you should definitely get this book. This goes double if you like vikings! This is only an introductory set, but the new mechanics and the setting could easily be transplanted into a game based on the vanilla SRD. The only thing you’d be missing are the new character options beyond level 5.

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