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martedì 29 marzo 2016

Dragons from Brazil

Two OSR Dragons were born in Brazil, they hatched in the comfortable caverns under RedBox Edition.

I bought them in pdf format from their online store (hoping that it will become simpler in the next days).

The first one is a fantasy rpg "Old Dragon", this one I also printed out (I can just skim pdf but to really read something I have to print it.... ok I am not really into portuguese but I can get around a bit to get what is going on.

I must say that this is not a review but just "first impressions" from reading here and there. But I am getting really good vibe from this two games.

Old Dragon is a clever mix of Swords & Sorcery, 3rd edition and BECM plus something new and fresh. 

You get the classical six attributes and bonus like in 3rd edition (+1 each 2 point over 10, bonus spell for high Int or Wis) and from previous editions (% bonus to thief abilities, % to know spells, % of resurrection, % bonus to reaction, a bonus to the number of undead turned by clerics based on Charisma).

There are the 4 classical races: human, dwarf, elf and halfling (each get a +2/-2 to one attribute, human get to chose where) with the usual special abilities, there are no level limits and no multiclassing.

Hit dice are like in Ad&D (Cleric d8, thief d6, mages d4, fighter d10 - but not elf fighters), the classes are the four basic classes but each of them have 2 or more specialization that can be taken around 5th level, such specialization work like the druid and knight/avenger of BECM (you get some powers at higher levels).

Each classes have a To hit Bonus and a Saving Throw (only one like in Swords & Sorcery), the interesting thing is the progression of the To Hit that is quick up to 10th level and then slow down (so a Fighter will have +10/+4 at 10th level but only +15/+9 at 20th level - in the tables the Fighter is the only one to have double bonus).

Clerical spells go up to 7th level, Mages spells to 9th.... there are monsters, spells, magical objects and rules for the Master. The game is complete in 150 pages plus appendix...

We have the classical Law, Neutral and Chaos alignment.

In the monster section we also get old buddy Cthulhu


As you can see even at first glance the game is a lot of old school fun... but the Old Dragon is not the only Dragon as we said.

Indeed the nice people from RedBox Edition also get us Space Dragon a pulp space opera osr rpg based on the same overall system (with adjustments) of the Old Dragon rule set.

In this second game we get 3 races (human, android and mutants), Science take the place of Wisdom and Comunication the place of Charisma. We also get 4 classes (Scientist - that can deactivate robots instead of turning undead, Prowler - a thief, spy and pirate, SpaceMan - pilots and fighters, Mentalist) like in old dragon each class get specialization based on affiliation that get alignments in space, you can be Lealist, Neutral or Rebel.

Then we have spaceships, aliens, relics, powers and all that you need for your pulp space opera rpg in less than 200 pages.

This two games are a steal at less 4 euro/dollar each (consider that the price of both manual in pdf is 12.90 R$ and each US$ or Euro is worth around 4 R$, a R$ is the Brazilian Real, for the two books 25.80 R$ I cached out 6.59 Euro), I suggest you to add this fine OSR books to your rpg collections....

My beautiful printed copy
Interior art

I have to add that a new edition boxed set of Old dragon is coming (that is a box with the rules and some additional goodies as was explained by Fabiano Neme - one of the authors - in the comments), you can find the news here: Old Dragon New Boxed set 


with new logo and graphics and a new print of the bestiary with a hard cover (capa dura!)... looking forward to getting also the new edition new printed versions!

7 commenti:

  1. Hello there. I am Fabiano, one of the writers of Old Dragon and one of the owners of Redbox Editora. First of all, let me say thank you so, so much for your kind words about our game. Old Dragon has been such a crazy ride in our lives, and it makes me very happy to see it's fire breath reaching the other side of the Alantic.

    I hope you enjoy our games, and that they can enrich your game.

    Just a correction: the bestiary already exists (I'm the author), and there's no plan for a 2e Old Dragon right now, it's just a boxed set version, with some cool stuff inside (it already exists too, but it is sold out, just like the bestiary, and we are re-releasing it).

    We have plans for more books on Old and Space Dragon this year, and I hope you enjoy them as well.

    Thanks again!

    RispondiElimina
    Risposte
    1. Questo commento è stato eliminato dall'autore.

      Elimina
    2. Thank you, I am really happy to have you here.

      Thanks for the information on the new printing of the box and the bestiary (it is not present in pdr?), I have corrected it.

      And thanks for the great game. Keep giving us such good games.

      Elimina
    3. First of all - thanks for the quick overview of Old Dragon for us English speaking folk (from Poland no less).

      The game sounds and looks awesome. Is there a skill system included in the game or something akin to that?

      Also is there any chance for the boxset/bestiary being released in English? Via maybe a Kickstarter?

      Elimina
    4. Hi Zdan, thanks! As much as I know there is no plan of translating this fine game in english.
      There is no skill system, you roll under attributes. In other games with a single saving throw you can use saving throw and attribute bonus to simulate growing skills.

      Elimina
  2. Actually we do have the bestiary in pdf. But we took it down since we are releasing the revised edition on the next few days.

    RispondiElimina