So one of the three RPG's I like right now are Dungeons and Delvers Dice Pool (only available on Big Geek Emporium), Shadow of the Demon Lord, and another RPG that apparently is a re-worked RPG from the 1980's from Britain.
Dragon Warriors. It is similar to D&D at first, but when reading it you see nearly everything has been tweaked. It is a roll under system for 1D20, only 4 attributes scores, and weapons do fixed damage, but have a second stat to penetrate armor, I.E. Swords are 4 damage, 1D8 armor penetration (chainmail armor is target number 5 for example, plate is 6). Magic uses magic points. No non-human races for players. Lots of stuff that make it different than D&D (and recently that means no OGL license malarkey to worry about).
When I looked it up on Drive Thru RPG I saw something odd. It is "pay what you want". I could buy the PDF for $0.00 if I wanted. I have had the PDF for a while, perhaps because I could get it for free.
But what is also weird is that you can do the same for the soft cover and hard cover books. Now, DTRPG won't let me buy a hardback book for zero dollars. It charges a minimum of $12.18 for materials, plus $4 for shipping.
I bought the book (paid a bit more than minimum, but not even close to $54 that is recommended). Anybody else think this seems like a mistake, or they just don't care? The book has been out since 2011, so maybe it is just cheap so it will keep selling?
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/90926/Dragon-Warriors (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/90926/Dragon-Warriors)
I remember DWs from years ago when a friend of mine wayback in the 80s bright the pocketbook editions.
We played a fair bit and it was a lot of fun.
Felt like DnD, but was more deadly.
I did get the never larger edition too and managed to get lot of the physical books pretty cheap 2nd hand.
I ran it for me kids when they were little. They had a lot of fun with it.
Nice find!
Quote from: danskmacabre on January 16, 2023, 12:05:22 AM
I remember DWs from years ago when a friend of mine wayback in the 80s bright the pocketbook editions.
We played a fair bit and it was a lot of fun.
Felt like DnD, but was more deadly.
I did get the never larger edition too and managed to get lot of the physical books pretty cheap 2nd hand.
I ran it for me kids when they were little. They had a lot of fun with it.
Nice find!
Those old 1980's books are probably what you are thinking of. I understand that those books were sort of like, "Choose your own Adventure!" type of books that used dice. Small, portable, and from a time before RPG's were more well known and had an expected layout. I don't actually know, so if anybody wants to correct me, go for it.
The book up on Drive Thru RPG is not those old flip books, but are more traditional RPG rulebook. It may be considered a sort of 2nd edition because of that. The book is also not the original authors. It has changed hands a few times. 1986 was the original Corgi flip books, then it was owned by Magnum Opus press in 2008. Then 2011 it changed to its current owner, Serpent King Games.
Dragon Warriors was always the one that got away for me. Never got to play it, but I've met so many gamers from outside the USA who absolutely love DW and rave about the gameplay.
Bucket list RPG for sure.
Dragon Warriors was always an RPG, though the form factor was paperback similar in size to Fighting Fantasy and Choose Your Own Adventure.
These are my original books from back in the day, this was my favourite system for many years.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52401797307_f9476c1d02_c.jpg)
It's an old skool game with its own take on the stuff that D&D was doing, and a strong 'British Folklore' feel to the world.
Didn't even know those last 3 books existed! You live and learn!
They introduced a new class in each book, the Assassin, Elementalist and Warlock respectively.
I'm somewhere around session 12-15 in my Dragon Warriors campaign at the moment. For what it's worth, it's been a pretty big hit with my players, though we have had to homebrew a fair few things.
Looking at it on Drivethru, it does appear to be PWYW, which is crazy. I went back through my orders, and it looks like I bought the physical copies at the default prices they put in (so $20 each for the corebook and player's guide, and around $10 for the bestiary). Definitely worthwhile at those prices.
There are also a lot of free adventures and other materials by Red Ruin Publishing there
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/17264/Red-Ruin-Publishing
Great game, especially for the price. I got all the physical books when they were first released and fulfilled a 20 year quest to actually play this game. I like how shields and armor are handled and the game world is really evocative.
Yup... Well worth it.
I always preferred it to BX.
Quote from: dbm on January 16, 2023, 06:42:07 AM
They introduced a new class in each book, the Assassin, Elementalist and Warlock respectively.
For those that haven't downloaded Dragon Warriors RPG yet, the version on DTRPG has those classes in it. Warlocks are particularly interesting as that is the name used for a fighter/wizard "spell sword" hybrid in Dragon Warriors
Quote from: Vladar on January 16, 2023, 09:51:19 AM
There are also a lot of free adventures and other materials by Red Ruin Publishing there
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/17264/Red-Ruin-Publishing
Thanks for that. You have just made my Campaign prep much easier.
The Warlock from Dragon Warriors is my favourite class in any RPG I have ever played (across 40 years and many systems...). For me it is the best Gish anywhere.
Quote from: dbm on January 16, 2023, 12:14:54 PM
The Warlock from Dragon Warriors is my favourite class in any RPG I have ever played (across 40 years and many systems...). For me it is the best Gish anywhere.
Yeah, the Worlock is cool. Waaay better than the one Wotc came up with in 5th.
...and still pretty well balanced against the other classes in the system, in my experience.
I think the greatest appeal of DW for me is that it truly is a low fantasy game centered on combat-oriented human characters. Knights and Barbarians are extremely competent and useful and you can have a very fun campaign using nothing but those two classes.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on January 16, 2023, 12:40:18 AM
Those old 1980's books are probably what you are thinking of. I understand that those books were sort of like, "Choose your own Adventure!" type of books that used dice. Small, portable, and from a time before RPG's were more well known and had an expected layout. I don't actually know, so if anybody wants to correct me, go for it.
The book up on Drive Thru RPG is not those old flip books, but are more traditional RPG rulebook. It may be considered a sort of 2nd edition because of that. The book is also not the original authors. It has changed hands a few times. 1986 was the original Corgi flip books, then it was owned by Magnum Opus press in 2008. Then 2011 it changed to its current owner, Serpent King Games.
Yes, the 1980s books are the ones I'm referring to. I DO have the later editions too, which I bought some years ago and even ran it for a bit.
They're pretty similar to the old books really, just a larger book format.
Quote from: danskmacabre on January 16, 2023, 07:02:11 PMYes, the 1980s books are the ones I'm referring to. I DO have the later editions too, which I bought some years ago and even ran it for a bit.
They're pretty similar to the old books really, just a larger book format.
IIRC correctly they re-balance the classes slightly and there is an additional class focussed on archery in the Companion.
But the vast majority of the content is the same.
Thanks all for the heads up. I picked up the solo adventures to give a go and see how I like the system. [Also paid for the DW beast book to maintain my karmic balance and throw a tip in the jar.]
Quote from: Brad on January 16, 2023, 04:10:40 PM
I think the greatest appeal of DW for me is that it truly is a low fantasy game centered on combat-oriented human characters. Knights and Barbarians are extremely competent and useful and you can have a very fun campaign using nothing but those two classes.
I would put the caveat on that that it's much more of a low fantasy game if you do restrict it to just Knight, Barbarian, Assassin, Hunter, Priest or Knave. The Sorcerer has readily available healing, and all the magic-using professions have some extremely potent attack spells available to them. Plus, the MP system means that magic is more freely usable by casters than it is in D&D.
If you do play with the casting classes, it's really just another flavor of high fantasy. More Arthurian and mythological than the weird hodgepodge of weird tales and comic books you get in D&D.
Quote from: zircher on January 17, 2023, 05:23:46 PM
Thanks all for the heads up. I picked up the solo adventures to give a go and see how I like the system. [Also paid for the DW beast book to maintain my karmic balance and throw a tip in the jar.]
If you're looking for some examples of the game in action, Grim Jim streamed all the official modules for it a couple years ago.
https://youtu.be/pn3u-SUz9cc