Getting an email that my favorite TTRPG is getting two new books this summer is a fantastic feeling. For those of you who don't know, Dragonbane is undoubtedly the best and most fun TTRPG I've played in years.
It took over my group's 5e sessions quickly, and we've played pretty much weekly for over a year now (though currently, our DB campaign is on pause while we explore the Starfinder 2e playtest).
So when I saw the email announcing the Kickstarter for a duo of new books, I got exceptionally excited. One is a setting book called Arkand, and the other is a magic sourcebook called, aptly, Book of Magic.
Why This Is So Great
We haven't had a setting book for Dragonbane yet. Not a true one. The Core Set came with a setting called the Misty Vale, a self-contained valley caught in the middle of the war between demons and dragons. And the adventure path Path of Glory expanded that into the northern reaches of the world, but it was still an adventure book that took you through the setting, not a worldbook.
Arkand – City of Waves and Flames fixes that by giving us just that, a worldbook that has adventure seeds and ideas, rather than an adventure book that has world seeds and setting info.
Book of Magic is also unique in that it's the first title for Dragonbane that is solely player options. There is a Bestiary with some player kin (the DB term for race/species/ancestry) options, but it's still a monster manual at its core, with those being added on as a bonus to having the stat blocks for GMs to use.
Finally, having a worldbook and a magic core is going to really round out the game. Currently, the options players and GMs have are in no way limited. But now, we'll have not only a core set, an adventure path, and a bestiary, but they will also be supplemented by a full world book and magic core.
This will not only going to flesh out the toolkit we can use, but also round out the number of titles for sale and help Dragonbane have a solid shelf presence in our own personal libraries as well as in game-store shelves.
What's In the Books?
Anyway, here's the full rundown of what's coming in the Kickstarter. Be sure to follow along and get notified when the Kickstarter goes live and nab your books. I'm definitely going to, as I have all of the gold-foil special editions already, and they're beautiful. I can't pass these up.
Arkand – City of Waves and Flames Key Features
- A rich, bustling setting: Over a dozen adventure sites spread across five districts, along with a number of campaign seeds, and even more adventure sites available to be unlocked as stretch goals in this Kickstarter.
- Danger and intrigue: The player characters will experience a fierce power struggle in the city’s underworld, take on the role of demon hunters, and uncover secrets about Arkand’s storied past that could change the city forever.
- Award-winning creativity: Arkand – City of Waves and Flames is written by Johan Sjöberg and illustrated by Johan Egerkrans and David Brasgalla. If unlocked as a stretch goal, this book will also include a large separate 432 x 558mm full-color map drawn by Francesca Baerald.
Book of Magic Key Features
- More magic: The Book of Magic adds at least five new schools of magic to your Dragonbane game, including harmonism, demonology, necromancy, witchcraft, and illusionism – as well as new spells for the existing schools of general magic, animism, elementalism, and mentalism.
- More spells: All featured schools of magic come with a wide range of spells, which now come in five ranks. Each school is also described with information about their practitioners, station and reputation in the world, and what kind of spiritus familarius their members typically summon.
- More award-winning creativity: The Book of Magic is written by Mattias Johnsson Haake and Mattias Lilja (creators of Symbaroum) with Tomas Härenstam (Dragonbane Core Set) as co-writer and editor, and illustrated by Johan Egerkrans and David Brasgalla.
Two Last Things
I interviewed with Tomas Härenstam of Free League Publishing last year at Gen Con, and we talk a bit about this. So if you want to listen to that, you can do so here:
And like I said, Dragonbane is my favorite TTRPG. It's also my favorite TTRPG to design for. If you'd like to check out the slew of content that I have for the game and play through some of my adventures, you can find them all in my BJK Games portfolio.
TIP JAR: Help Geek to Geek Go Ad Free!
We hate ads. You hate ads. But they are what keeps the site online. If you like our content, consider helping us out so we can remove annoying banners and pop-ups .
