![]() Dragon Warriors Book 1 cover | |
Designers | Dave Morris Oliver Johnson (writer) |
---|---|
Publishers | Corgi Books |
Publication | 1985 |
Genres | Fantasy |
Systems | Custom |
Dragon Warriors is a fantasy role playing game (RPG) system written by Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson and published by Corgi Books in 1985 and 1986. In 2009, it was re-collected in a new hardcover edition by Mongoose Publishing. [1] This print run included the publication of several supplements to the Dragon Warrior's world "Legend". However, as of September 2010, this publication run had been discontinued but the books continue to remain available in PDF format.
Unlike most RPGs which are primarily presented as box sets or large hardback or softback books, Dragon Warriors consisted of six paperback books of ordinary size.
Dragon Warriors is set in the world of Legend, the same as that of the Blood Sword game books.
As of April 2011, Serpent King Games is the licence holder of Dragon Warriors, and has re-published updated versions of the Mongoose books which are available on DriveThruRPG.com . [2]
Books 1-3 were published together and established a coherent and fully featured, if lightweight game system. The latter three books were released one at a time and added depth to the game.
Dragon Warriors ( ISBN 0-552-52287-2) was the original book. It included rules for combat, a listing of weapons and armor, and a selection of opponents. The game offered a choice of warrior classes, Knight and Barbarian, as well as the necessary information required to play a Human, a Dwarf, or an Elf. The book was published in 1985 and has 208 pages.
The Way of Wizardry ( ISBN 0-552-52288-0) expanded the original game to include magical spells, potions, and devices. It added Mystic and Sorcerer to the available classes. It was published in 1985 and has 176 pages.
The Elven Crystals ( ISBN 0-552-52289-9) provided three long adventure scenarios, as well as a few new monsters, magic, and items, although the scenarios make up the bulk of the book. It was published in 1985 and has 192 pages.
Out of the Shadows ( ISBN 0-552-52333-X) added rules for the Assassin class. It includes rules for stealth, martial arts, alchemy, and trance-magic. It also includes a new selection of monsters, which for the most part are more powerful and less common than the ones featured in Dragon Warriors. It was published in 1986 and has 256 pages.
The Power of Darkness ( ISBN 0-552-52334-8) added rules for the Elementalist class. It includes new spells as well as an epic adventure scenario making up the bulk of the book. It was published in 1986 and has 192 pages.
The Lands of Legend ( ISBN 0-552-52335-6) adds rules for the Warlock class. It also includes several elements for campaign setting such as a complete world map and the accompanying descriptions of far away lands and cities. Sections are also devoted to popular myths or rare items, both of which lending themselves to become starting points of new adventures. It was published in 1986 and has 272 pages.
Dragon Warriors rulebook ( ISBN 978-1-906103-96-5) is the first book of the re-released series. The original material from the six Dragon Warriors books of the 1980s has been re-edited and updated, including new covers and artwork. The new material has been overseen and approved by the original Dragon Warriors authors, Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson, and includes a new introduction to the rulebook by the former. The 8.5" x 11" hardback book was published is 2008, and has 256 pages.
Dragon Warriors Bestiary ( ISBN 978-1-906103-99-6) is the second release of the re-released series. It is a supplement containing a large list of monsters from the world of Legend along with a set of Random Encounter Tables for various terrain. It also contains an expanded Treasure/Habitat tables for the new and existing monsters. The book itself is a softback at 88 pages in length and was released in 2008.
A supplement containing 36 NPC characters for inclusion in campaigns.
A supplement adding information on Living in Legend, new skills, weapons, and armour, demons and new spells.
Taking content from Magnum Opus' In From The Cold, this adds in the previously PDF only adventure, Fury of the Deep.
Published so far are The Elven Crystals (taken from book 3 of the original series), Prince of Darkness (taken from book 5) and Sleeping Gods (a compilation of the adventures contained in books 1, 2, 4 and 6). The Cursed King is planned, as well as Brymstone, an expansion of the material originally presented in Red Giant magazine.
An unofficial fanzine ran for 2 issues, and was known as Ordo Draconis. It was produced in pdf-format only, featuring adventures, new professions, and other material for the Dragon Warriors RPG re-release. In August 2010 two fans who had contributed to Ordo Draconis released a 54-page pdf adventure through Magnum Opus Press titled Fury of the Deep; it is a digital-only release that will not be issued in printed form. These are available through sites that sell electronic versions of roleplaying games, such as DriveThruRPG and RPGNow. [3] [4]
Red Ruin is a fan-community-driven organisation. Red Ruin publishes original and accessible content compatible with the Dragon Warriors RPG as an independent non-profit publisher. Their flagship publication is Casket of Fays, a quarterly A5 fanzine, although they have also produced a pair of chapbooks detailing The Adventures of Cedric and Fulk, a series of short adventures and gamebooks intended for solo play, (e.g. The Village of Frogton, Village of the Damned, Icon of Death), and scenarios such as The Fallen Monastery . All of these are available in pdf format from DriveThruRPG and itch.io.
Casket of Fays is an A5 fanzine produced by the Dragon Warriors community and published by Red Ruin on DriveThruRPG. Casket of Fays features adventures, new magic items, non-player characters, new monsters and articles on the lore of Legend, all compatible with the Dragon Warriors RPG. There are currently ten issues of Casket of Fays available.
Ambula in Fabulam has produced Cadaver Draconis, content that was originally produced for the Players Guide, and The Nomad Khanates, a guide to The Great Steppes. Both these provide additional content and background for Dragon Warriors and were crafted by the community.
Like a number of RPGs, Dragon Warriors uses a variety of contextual rule systems rather than a single encompassing game mechanic or dice system. However, there are two primary mechanics within the game. The first is the opposed score system, where an ability value of a character or creature is subtracted from the opposed ability value of another to generate a number that must be rolled below on either a d20 or 2d10. Examples are ATTACK vs. DEFENCE, MAGICAL ATTACK vs. MAGICAL DEFENCE, STEALTH vs. PERCEPTION, and SPEED vs. EVASION. The second main mechanic involves an attribute score being compared to a difficulty score determined by the GM. If the attribute is equal or above to the difficulty, then the character succeeds automatically, otherwise they must roll below their attribute score on d20.
Dragon Warriors requires the use of the whole spectrum of polyhedral dice: d4, d6, d8, d10 (d100), d12, and d20.
Robert Dale reviewed the first three books in the series - Dragon Warriors, The Way of Wizardry, and The Elven Crystals - for White Dwarf #74, giving it an overall rating of 9 out of 10, and stated that "The three books are well-presented, eye-catching, and should appeal to the uninitiated. The more experienced gamer should appreciate the care that has been taken to provide a fast, unrestrained, yet balanced and fair game." [5]
Dragon Warriors was ranked 48th in the 1996 reader poll of Arcane magazine to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time. The UK magazine's editor Paul Pettengale commented: "Unfortunately, even though this is a fine, solid system, the format makes it tricky to use in play. Still, it was well received throughout its short life, and is highly collectable these days." [6]
Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos. The game, often abbreviated as CoC, is published by Chaosium; it was first released in 1981 and is in its seventh edition, with licensed foreign language editions available as well. Its game system is based on Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing (BRP) with additions for the horror genre. These include special rules for sanity and luck.
RuneQuest is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. It was first published in 1978 by The Chaosium. Beginning in 1984, publication passed between a number of companies, including Avalon Hill, Mongoose Publishing, and The Design Mechanism, before finally returning to Chaosium in 2016. RuneQuest is notable for its system, designed around percentile dice and an early implementation of skill rules, which became the basis for numerous other games. There have been several editions of the game.
Tunnels & Trolls is a fantasy role-playing game designed by Ken St. Andre and first published in 1975 by Flying Buffalo. The second modern role-playing game published, it was written by Ken St. Andre to be a more accessible alternative to Dungeons & Dragons and is suitable for solitaire, group, and play-by-mail gameplay.
Spelljammer is a campaign setting originally published for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which features a fantastic outer space environment. Subsequent editions have included Spelljammer content; a Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition setting update was released on August 16, 2022.
Monte Cook is an American professional tabletop role-playing game designer and writer, best known for his work on Dungeons & Dragons.
David John Morris is a British author of gamebooks, novels and comics and a designer of computer games and role-playing games.
Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM) is a tabletop role-playing game originally produced by Guardians of Order in 1997 that was designed to simulate the action of anime and manga. The title alludes to the common anime drawing style of characters with large expressive eyes and comparatively small mouths.
Sorcery!, originally titled Steve Jackson's Sorcery!, is a single-player four-part adventure gamebook series written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Blanche. Originally published by Penguin Books between 1983 and 1985, the titles are part of the Fighting Fantasy canon, but were not allocated numbers within the original 59-book series. Sorcery! was re-published by Wizard Books in 2003 and recreated as the Sorcery! video game series by Inkle.
The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a fantasy role-playing game published by Palladium Books in 1983.
Bruce Robert Cordell is an American author of roleplaying games and fantasy novels. He has worked on Dungeons & Dragons games for Wizards of the Coast. He won the Origins Award for Return to the Tomb of Horrors and has also won several ENnies. He lives in Seattle.
Aftermath! is a role-playing game created by Paul Hume and Robert Charette and published in 1981 by Fantasy Games Unlimited.
Steve Kenson is a writer and designer of role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction.
The Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game is a role-playing game originally written by John Wick and published by Alderac Entertainment Group, under license from Five Rings Publishing Group, in 1997. The game uses the Legend of the Five Rings setting, primarily the nation of Rokugan, which is based on feudal Japan with influences from other East Asian cultures.
Mongoose Publishing is a British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, publishing material since 2001. Its licenses include products based on the science fiction properties Traveller, Judge Dredd, and Paranoia, as well as fantasy titles.
Scarred Lands is a post-apocalyptic fantasy campaign setting in which characters live in a world recovering from a devastating war between gods and titans. Initially published by White Wolf Publishing under its Sword & Sorcery brand using the d20 System, Scarred Lands is now owned by Onyx Path Publishing. In 2017 Onyx Path Publishing released an updated version of the setting using the 5th Edition Open Game License system along with a version of the core setting book using the first edition of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules. Scarred Lands draws inspiration from Greek mythology.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) that was published in 2009 by Paizo Publishing. The first edition extends and modifies the System Reference Document (SRD) based on the revised 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) published by Wizards of the Coast under the Open Game License (OGL) and is intended to be backward-compatible with that edition.
The following is a timeline of tabletop role-playing games. For computer role-playing games see here.
Ree Soesbee is an American game designer of collectible card games, role-playing games, and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), as well as a writer of primarily fantasy novels.
Free RPG Day is an annual promotional event by the Tabletop role-playing game industry. The event rules are fairly simple: participating publishers provide special free copies of games to participating game stores; the game store agrees to provide one free game to any person who requests a free game on Free RPG Day.
Role Aids is a line of role-playing game supplements published by Mayfair Games starting in 1982 intended for use with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.