Free League has done a great job with its fantasy revamp of the Swedish tabletop RPG Dragonbane, released back in 2023. In March 2024, they released the Dragonbane Bestiary, a monster sourcebook that added 63 new creatures to the base set. Now, most recently, in November 2024, Free League has adapted its first companion campaign book, Dragonbane: Path of Glory, to go alongside the base set.
The base set included a ready-to-play campaign, which was intriguing because I didn’t have to create a story from scratch. I also praised the artwork of the book, the GM (Game Master) screen and the maps. Thank you to Johan Egerkrans and David Brasgalla for their incredible artwork and to Francesca Baerald and Niklas Brandt for the map illustrations in the book. I am a big visual learner so seeing the visuals of almost everything was appreciated.
While the rule set was initially confusing on paper, it became clearer the more I played. Also, I learned how to adapt the rules that made sense to me and my party members. I appreciated seeing that Free League put out videos afterward explaining the rules in more detail. Dragonbane: Path of Glory lets my party and I explore this vast new campaign, revealing the many possibilities of this exciting world.
The description for this campaign trilogy is as written by Free League: “Coming to the legendary Dead Forest in search of treasure, glory and a solution to the ancient curse laying waste to the forest, the adventurers soon find themselves embroiled in an epic conflict reaching back to the very foundations of the world. The quest will take the adventurers through the depths of the forest, under the mountain, and into a strange new land where the fate of the world will be determined.”
Dragonbane: Path of Glory is an awesome addition to the core set because this includes three connected adventures: The Dead Forest, Gates of Power and Heart of Darkness. I found a way to integrate the party’s last adventures in Riddermound, and led them into The Dead Forest. Path of Glory continues to provide extensive content and allows me to shape the world according to the story I want to tell while still considering the party’s desires.
It is funny how long my party wanted to stay at the starting inn at the beginning of The Dead Forest. What I learned from the last playthrough is finding a better balance of letting the party go where they want within certain confines of the story area without it feeling like I am steering them a certain way. The Dead Forest was good because it had a lot of opportunities for the party to go out and smash and grab loot.
“Dragonbane: Path of Glory is an awesome addition to the core set because this includes three connected adventures: The Dead Forest, Gates of Power and Heart of Darkness. “
The Troll Cave was a fun place the party stumbled upon within The Dark Forest, more fun for me. This is another example of Dragonbane: Path of Glory’s strengths where this location only has two pages of content to help the GM, but the party’s choices allow the GM to figure out some of the consequences or ways to warn the party.
Additionally, I appreciated the red text from the core set returned, where the GM is reminded that there is some danger coming for the party. The colour-coding of text like this really helped me distinguish whether good things are coming up for the party or if I have to find a way to inadvertently warn the group of the dangers that lie ahead if they choose to go down a certain path.
The bottom line with Dragonbane: Path of Glory is that if you enjoyed the core set’s adventures and fundamental structure, then this is a must-play. Whether you are a new or veteran GM, Dragonbane is a great entry in the TTRPG genre. The remix of the D20 dice system (the Mirth and Mayhem system) continues to bring chaos and laughter to the table for this expansion. I have to add again: you get to play as a mallard!
For this reason, I can overlook how Path of Glory is very looting and heavy on collecting versus the heavy narrative. The result is that this format makes for better player moments and interactions. And even with all the looting and building out the lore, there are opportunities to have upwards of 20 sessions of 3 to 5-hour play sessions with this trio of campaigns—or the shenanigans can add even more time!
For those already loving this game style, there was a tease in this companion book about an upcoming book called “Book of Magic,” which will supplement Dragonbane with a larger selection of demonology spells and more. This will be similar to last year’s release of Bestiary. Just as Dungeons & Dragons gained popularity in North America, I hope more players will embrace this RPG experience beyond its Swedish/Scandinavian roots. It has quickly become a home staple for me.
