Stefano Buonocore
Today, we want to offer you a preview of Drakonia, a fantasy OSR role-playing game currently in progress crowdfunding on Kickstarter. First of all, we thank the team of authors Stefania Rossini, Giordano Sardella and Davide Capozza, for sending us a digital version of the quickstart of Drakonia. Any further information is available on the page Gamers Hunter Editions, Project Manager.
Anyone interested can find the link to download it directly from the project page. The quickstart is available in both Italian and English. Inside the folder, you can find both the 18-page volume itself and the pre-compiled character sheets plus a blank version. These are available both in a print-friendly version and with a parchment effect background. Three tables with statistics for the monsters complete the whole thing.
Preview of Drakonia: the Setting
“Evil makes no distinction between those who wear worn linen and those who flaunt fine silk. Evil destroys everything for the simple and intrinsic taste of annihilating Life”
Drakonia it is presented as an OSR game with a “classic” fantasy setting. The sense of classic fantasy is clear from the first pages of the quickstart, dedicated to the underlying lore of the game. The history of Drakonia, the valley that gives its name to the game, is lost in a remote era, when the world was ruled by dragons. They were wise and peaceful creatures that Kastagar, their power-hungry red-scaled brother, exterminated and conquered. It was Artiglio, an ancient green dragon of enormous strength and wisdom, who saved the day. Using an ancient and forgotten power, he managed to banish Kastagar, then split his soul into three fragments that remained to watch over Drakonia. Three fragments who are currently reincarnated as the heirs of the valley’s first human ruler, ready to awaken to protect the kingdom.
The Quickstart
The quickstart of Drakonia presents the beginning of The First Fragment, the adventure that will be developed in one of the manuals proposed in the Kickstarter. This incipit provides a quick description of Oxian, the city of towers, so called because the height of its tower has become a status symbol for the wizards of the city’s academy. This is an essential description, purely functional to the adventure that follows.
The adventure begins without providing any particular hooks. However, it is good to point out that its purpose is to give a preview of what will be Drakonia once complete, then there is no need to be too subtle. However, there is still a lot of curiosity and a greater taste would have been interesting. All things considered, it is divided into only two main scenes.
The first one is a dialogue with the classic “client” who will task the characters with a mission; this will turn out to be focused on exploring the secrets of Drakonia.
The second one is a fight scene, which introduces an immediate element of interest into the narrative. If the idea of a quick start is to give a taste of the game to encourage purchase, or in the case of Drakoniato supporting the project, perhaps more material would have satisfied the reader (or player) more. A few more details on the setting and the use of more mechanics specific to this game would have provided a more complete picture.
Drakonia: Preview of the Game Mechanics
Part of the quickstart is dedicated to mechanics. The dynamics for generic and combat actions are illustrated, which are very immediate and simple (as per the premises). Drakonia is proposed, as anticipated, as an old-school game.
The characters of DrakoniaThey have three characteristics: Prowess, Intelligence and Speed. To succeed you must roll a number of six-sided dice equal to its difficulty and obtain a result equal to or lower than the ability score. The difficulty of the action will determine not only the number of dice to roll but also the results to select. This is a system that requires some practice, not following a linear pattern; for the first sessions, it is necessary to consult a specific table, losing a bit of immediacy. Definitely an invitation for lovers of OSR more linked to the consultation of the tables during the sessions.
The quickstart of Drakonia is actually a bit too concise. Although there is everything needed to play the proposed scenes, the experience runs out very quickly and does not give an effective overview of what the game will be like once completed. Being able to get a broader idea of the setting, the themes, the regulation options and the characters would help you immerse yourself in this world.It becomes reasonable to expect that once the obstacle of crowdfunding has been overcome, the quickstart will also be strengthened.
An Exceptional Cast
Drakonia is an ambitious project. The various reward levels, in addition to three volumes of the game and physical maps, offer a master screen, thematic dice and even pre-generated character miniatures. These were created through Hero Forge, therefore still with an absolutely appreciable quality. The only exception is that of the draconic warrior available with the early bird: an original project by Gamers Hunter Edizioni. Moreover the dice have the unmistakable mark of Wolfy and Jordy: a guarantee of style and quality.
The team behind the project is made up of decidedly famous names. Andrea Rossi, author of the BOSS System, the original rules system, is the Italian editor of Old School Essentials and a great lover of OSR games. Jessica Prando, the graphic designer, and an emerging illustrator, has at her side the work of Fabio Porfidia, now a national treasure for the world of RPGs. Dany Orizio and Milivoj Ceran, on the cover, are really big names in the international gaming world. In the end, Enrico Ercole, as the editor, has a highly respectable academic and editorial career which has seen him as a press officer in the world of Italian comics for decades.
Even more so with these premises, a quickstart more rich in content and a more attractive layout would have helped further understanding the project. As regards writing, we find the widespread (but incorrect) vice of sometimes using the comma between subject and predicate. The choice to define the damage inflicted as Impact Points is also curious.
Conclusions of the Drakonia Preview
Generally speaking, Drakonia is a project designed to dream big. With such great names and a juicy series of Kickstarter goals, the wish would have been to find more content in the quickstart. It was probably put together a bit hastily to give backers some points of reference, but such an ambitious Kickstarter would have deserved more in-depth analysis.
We are waiting for the crowdfunding campaign to close to see what the complete game will be like, with the curiosity to see if what was mentioned in the quickstart will receive the right development. The impression is that many additional elements can be found that can make a project of this type unique.
