Dragonslayer RPG has made Charm Person great again!
Ho, everyone! The Dropbear is back after a long hiatus. And in a new place!
Not much to say about the tabletop gaming scene at large for the past few years, honestly. Not much positive, anyway. Until now…
There are many reasons as to why I am attracted to old-school style games. The primary reason is that I have fonder memories of them than I do of many of the more “evolved” versions of the games that have supposedly progressed since The Grand-Daddies of TTRPGs (which I consider to be Dungeons & Dragons and Traveller).
When new versions of these old games are released, although I might play through them and even enjoy them to some extent, the memories are just not quite as good and the fun not quite as fun.
I have told many that I can‘t quite define it. But I really can, just not in a simple sentence or two and most modern gamers shut down after that so I don’t bother to explain myself anymore. You see, in Dungeons & Dragons’ case in particular, it has increasingly become the designers and the fans that turn me off.
Especially with this newest update of 5E that is soon to come. I would honestly prefer to go back to the orignal Basic/Expert feel of the game, with a few minor changes.
I prefer race & class as opposed to race-as-class. Experimenting with a variety of different games that explore a B/X style made me realize that. And yep, I said race. I‘m fine with that terminology in a fantasy TTRPG, and don‘t really want to hear the arguments about why I should or shouldn’t feel comfortable using that term in a fantasy game about make-believe stuff.
I like level titles and always have. It says a lot about your character and their place in the world. The only level title I really think of with modern D&D, since there technically aren’t any, is Super Hero. I prefer zero to hero play rather than being a hero at level 1. There isn’t any sense of accomplishment to be earned in that. Just affirming a sense of power fantasy entitlement.
I hate the proliferation of multi-paged character backstories with a passion. It’s supposed to be a group game and not a “look at my character!” game. The story of the game, and the characters in it, should be emergent from play. All I can think of when someone hands me reams of paper and says “this is my character’s backstory” is ripping the entire ream apart with a smile on my face.
But most of all… I hate the turn that Charm Person has taken in D&D. I think that it speaks a lot to the mentality of both the designers and the die hard fans of 5E that this spell even made it into the book and was accepted as it’s currently worded.
“When the spell ends, the creature knows it was charmed by you.”
There’s absolutely no reason any creature that was ensorcelled in such a way would automatically know that there was a spell cast upon them or who exactly it was that cast the spell on them. They might have a hint or clue, maybe, but to know with absolute certainty beyond any shadow of doubt?
Pure bs game design. And the stupidity of the game has snowballed from there, through supplement after supplement that has been released. At this this point in time, with current events at Hasbro and WotC, I don’t even want to purchase anything in the Dungeon Masters’ Guild that supports WotC, let alone directly purchase books (or, more likely, all-digital content) from them.
Now that that’s all off my furry chest, there’s a new RPG that is out that makes Charm Person great again. And that RPG is called Dragonslayer RPG.
Not only does Dragonslayer RPG contain all of the items listed above in my preferences, there are quite a few bonuses in addition to those that will make it the top contender as my go to fantasy TTRPG to replace D&D.
Do you prefer the old-school B/X side-based initiative? It’s in there. Roll 1d6 for each side, high roll is first. Spellcasters must declare spells being cast before the roll is made.
Do you prefer monsters to be monsters, and not baristas? Check. It’s in there. No monster races for PCs. No monsters as heroes. No more asking monsters about how they feel. They feel like eating you. You need to stop them from doing that, or your character dies. Yes, your characters quite possibly may die in this game.
Do you prefer to use your own imagination, rather than be spoon-fed a laundry list of feats and skills that you have to make sure your character has before they try to do anything cool? Check. It’s in there – or, rather, all of the feats and skills are not.
Describe what you want your character to do. The Maze Controller either tells you that they do it, or asks for a roll if there’s some consequence for failure and all that. The rules are light, loose, and old-school. Perfection.
Do you absolutely have to use miniatures in all of the games you play? While Dragonslayer is an OSR game and theater of the mind is a pretty basic assumption with those games, there are pretty good abbreviated miniature rules included in this book as well.
Do you like critical hits and misses, but don’t like a bunch of complicated charts and tables to look them up, or wish your old-school game even included such rules in the first place? Check. A simple table for critical misses, and a simple rule for critical hits.
Do you think healing sounds kinda rough with old-school clerics and no Medicine skill to save your hoop? Everyone can Bind Wounds at the end of a combat in Dragonslayer RPG!
And for my last question(s), do you want cool old-school inspired artwork that makes you reminisce about gaming of yore, or do you just like badass artwork? Check. From the Jeff Easley cover to more fraggin’ amazing art than you can shake a stick at featured throughout Dragonslayer RPG, Dr. Greg Gillespie has delivered a game that brings together the best old school D&D style rules and artwork together into a rather kickass combo.
For those of you who have difficulty grasping a lot of things about the old-school play style, Dr. Gillespie has included a handy set of appendices at the back of the book as well.
I’d highly recommend Dragonslayer RPG as a complete replacement for WotC Dungeons & Dragons, and it’s all in a single volume. As an added bonus, the Megadungeon Monster Manual adds even more monsters!
I think my only disappointment in this game was the fact that the Barbarian class has the rage ability inflicted upon us by WotC since 3rd edition. I hate that. But, on the plus side, the Barbarian has also received the ability Coward Sense. So I will roll with the humor in the ability’s title.
So with that, I’m off to seek out more tater tots, since I am leaving my whole plateful of them at the doors of OSR Publishing, Dr. Greg Gillespie, and the crew of amazing artists who brought us Dragonslayer RPG.
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