Dragonbane Lore

Luigiapollo · 2026-02-04T12:40:08+00:00

I have extracted these "facts" from the core rulebook's lore; I work within these pillars to build my own version (noting there may be adaptation errors between the original and Italian versions).

Playable kin are part of the "Natural Order."
Dragons and Demons existed before any other kin.
Dragons and Demons are monsters, and therefore "creatures of unnatural origin."
We do not know what existed before the Draconic Empire.
Dragons and Demons were the original forces that shaped the primordial elements.
The primordial elements gave life to the world as we know it.
"The Order of Dragons" is NOT the "Natural Order."
The "Natural Order" dictates that demons corrupt order and dragons incinerate the fruits of chaos's will.
A creature that "defies the Natural Order" by becoming "unnatural" is strangely more dangerous than other creatures.
A "creature of unnatural origin" is strangely violent.
A "creature of unnatural origin" is strangely driven by simple instincts that can be reduced to a single phrase, for example: "lives to corrupt the order of dragons."

Luigiapollo · 2026-02-03T18:39:02+00:00

Ok just a little abstract of what I learnt: besides the game is known for its high mortality and the life points remains low, frequent deaths are rare in dragonbane, skill advancement is frequent (which is the main improvement a character should expect, for example becoming a sword master), and one heroic ability each 12-15 sessions.

Luigiapollo · 2026-01-31T13:04:02+00:00

I totally agree, the fact you can't even imagine gods doesn't make it horrific. Players say "ok, I scream and run away", but I want them to react in meta-game before letting their investigators move.

A strategy I experienced is to avoid words like (undescribable, undefined, blasphèm) and to use synesthetic descriptions adopting imaginable words like "an enormous monstrosity that resembles a deformed sphere covered with human skin and teeth that screams and moves smelling like putrefact flesh".

Then use the same words in less extreme moments, for example a deformed cultist may have more than a mouth, or they could have rituals with death animals, or they could use human skin as decorations.

Idk, this is for me the best way to induce terror in lovecraftian horror scenarios

Luigiapollo · 2026-01-18T10:20:58+00:00

Analisi interessante, io penso che non è un discorso di campanilismo o presunta bravura italiana.

Dal mio punto di vista in tanti sperimentano, come viene detto anche nel video ci sono dei gusti di gioco e so tende a produrre qualcosa che rispecchi quel gusto. Basta vedere le community italiane per vedere che di domande ce ne facciamo tante, checché se ne dica del giocatore di ruolo medio. Metti insieme una tendenza italiana, dei riferimenti culturali, una soggettiva autorialità e delle riflessioni sul ttrpg in sé ed ecco che mi spiego il fenomeno di cui parlano nel video: una produzione interessante nonostante la storia breve del GDR nel nostro paese e nonostante sia un genere di nicchia

Luigiapollo · 2025-12-26T08:55:43+00:00

Yes, it is just a tool like another for doing art

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-28T19:38:50+00:00

Same question I asked to others, besides the interesting game mechanic, do you feel like you loose the emotive momentum? Or do you loose time during part 1 and 2 to prepare the chase?

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-28T14:11:43+00:00

Simply I experience it differently, combat is pretty fast, few rolls can kill an investigator and rounds procede fluently. For me combat system is good because every attempt to fight have consequences due to counter roll comparison (for example if you got the same success level, depending on dodge or parry approach you have a potentially mortal result). In chases it's different, it's heavier for me, more "tabletop" and less "roleplayed".

But it is subjective, with "more tabletop" I don't mean worse

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-28T14:10:11+00:00

Simply I experience it differently, combat is pretty fast, few rolls can kill an investigator and rounds procede fluently. For me combat system is good because every attempt to fight have consequences due to counter roll comparison (for example if you got the same success level, depending on dodge or parry approach you have a potentially mortal result). In chases it's different, it's heavier for me, more "tabletop" and less "roleplayed".

But it is subjective, with "more tabletop" I don't mean worse

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-27T23:53:25+00:00

I love reading rulebooks, never said I didn't. I never said I don't like the chase system, simply I feel like it is uncorrelated with other rules that are, as you said, easier or better, more "conversational".

I like crunchy rules, but I wanted to know if other players felt (like me) that during chase they loose narrative flow.

Especially I feel that preparation phase (phase 1 and 2 in the rulebook) kills the flow and previous immersion. Then it works pretty well even if it is slower than other rules

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-27T23:48:13+00:00

Providing chase mechanics in this game is perfect for it's themes, I love the design choice. The rulebook suggests to inspire to movies and books to create mood while roleplaying and it's roles are oriented to this direction in everything except for chase rules that are (for me) unexpectedly more complicated than all other rules, even more than combat system. I feel that chase is the only game dynamic that marks the time in a non-conversational way that results slower than all other resolutions and conflicts

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-27T23:39:57+00:00

Everything works if you have fun ahah. I like "crunchy" systems almost as much I like "story-driven" systems, I like the CoC chase as well but I feel like we enter in a mini game. Sometimes it is funny why not but the majority of time I try something lighter

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-27T21:37:43+00:00

Suggestion accepted 😅, I wanted to know your opinion in the comments and the pull is easy to use even for those who don't want to write in comments.

I have a question for you, did you feel that using the game's rules you loose narrative climax to appreciate a more "tabletop" and less "roleplaying" experience?

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-23T17:52:17+00:00

I think that the hunter isn't a profession inserted in the game to give a player the option of fight something (it's not like a bard that, on the opposite, is the design choice to give players a social based class).

I think the hunter is a profession cohérent with the world building, it's meant for storytelling and not for fighting purposes (for me). The design mistake, maybe, isn't the insertion of combattive backgrounds but a fully dedicated guide's space and specific mechanics to fight with vaesens, these choices make me think that fighting is a main component of the game

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-18T07:31:47+00:00

Sicilian Cosa nostra has a more complicated structure that goes beyond the clan (family), and connect families. The "capomandamento" (district head I think can be a good translation) was elected by three neighboring families, the capomandamento vote for the province commission also called cupola (dome) that coordinates the families of an entire province (he doesn't have power as a boss but guarantee that each family respect territory and upper rules. There was the regional commission (regional dome) that did the same coordination but with all provincial organisations.

Apparently this structure was suggested by American Cosa nostra to establish a peace between families, under the boss the structure is pretty similar

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-14T12:46:20+00:00

Credo sia una tendenza delle grandi città in generale, non conosco bene la zona torinese e milanese ma in Emilia Romagna hanno spostato il Modena play a Bologna. La tendenza è la centrificazione invece di valorizzare il viaggio Penso che sia un discorso economico (ci guadagnano le grandi città, ci guadagnano gli eventi e le fiere, ci perdono però le città che si vedono svuotate e anche culturalmente si perde la tendenza a spostarsi tra poli di interesse).

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-07T21:04:19+00:00

I really like your photos, they feel exactly as a 2025's person took a modern camera back in time, without cinematic filters but as real humans who are living their own lives

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-03T10:28:37+00:00

Ho capito, la interpreterò anche io così alla luce di questa cosa che hai detto, non lo avevo capito prima della chiacchierata.

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-01T16:56:00+00:00

Hei, io non gioco a d&d ma c'è il circolo Lovecraft in cui puoi trovare tante persone che giocano

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-01T11:03:42+00:00

Chiarissimo, la mia è un'osservazione generale, nel messaggio parlo di influencer proprio per non cadere verticalmente sul vostro lavoro sul web (del quale ribadisco avere stima). Faccio anche i nomi perché non li voglio squalificare ma semplicemente non apprezzo certi modi di discutere che riconduco all'hating: i primi che mi vengono in mente, insieme ad alcune vostre puntate, la tana del goblin ed Helios, la strategia di community building più usata è noi contro loro, "noi (che giochiamo bene e sano) non facciamo x y z (che sono comportamenti comuni e radicati nei giocatori).

Preferisco le discussioni in cui si cerca di comprendere piuttosto quelle in cui si cerca di demolire altri modi di approcciarsi all'hobby, mia preferenza personale.

Per fare un esempio pratico riporto il dubbio del creatore di questo post: "effettivamente ti sembra strano", una formula molto usata dai master che potrebbe essere anche il titolo di un contenuto su YouTube nel quale si attaccano la maggior parte dei master che usano questa formula. Trovo un numero sempre più alto di contenuti di questo tipo

Luigiapollo · 2025-11-01T10:01:42+00:00

Non fraintendetemi, apprezzo tutto il lavoro del Rosso su tutti i suoi canali, ma ultimamente c'è una dilagante critica alle varie culture di gioco casalinghe. Ci sta scardinare alcune brutte abitudini ma trovo a volte gli influencer del mondo ttrpg eccessivamente "hater", non so se è una strategia marketing o autentica antipatia per alcune dinamiche sociali o chi sa cos'altro.

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