by RockyMountainNavy, 16 December 2024
Though I am not a regular player of the Dragonbane roleplaying game (RPG) from Free League Publishing, I have found the player support materials very interesting to read. The latest campaign release, Path of Glory, is no exception. Whether you are a Dragonbane player or not this adventure, which makes a good story itself, can be used as inspiration for a variety of RPG adventuring, even beyond the fantasy genre.
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.
Path of Glory, publisher’s blurb
Dragonbane: Path of Glory is a campaign book intended for Gamemaster eyes only. As such, my comments here will try to avoid spoilers as best I can. This practically means I am sharing with you limited portions of the story. If you are a player in a group that might run this adventure read on at your own risk.
Path of Glory was originally published in 1985 and consists of three adventures – The Dead Forest, Gates of Power, and Heart of Darkness – that should be played in order. The campaign is set in the same world as The Secret of the Dragon Emperor campaign found in the Dragonbane core rule book but they are completely independent from each other.
The three adventures for Path of Glory are packaged in a 164 page book that includes all the adventure material including maps and handouts for players. Be forewarned, however, that this is more a campaign for experienced players.
As I stated above I am not a regular Dragonbane player. As such, I read Path of Glory as if I was a Gamemaster preparing to run the campaign. What I will say is that the story underpinning Path of Glory is somewhat trope-ish, but not in a clumsy or amateur way. The underlying story is solid and in many ways easy to understand meaning one can transfer it into other settings or campaigns. Yes, there are some “magical” elements to the storyline but nothing so egregious that any $tar War$ fan worth their salt could not “translate.” If you are into “harder” settings with low-magic and not-so-much advanced technology you might be challenged to incorporate Path of Glory. I can see people mixing Path of Glory into maybe their ALIEN: The Roleplaying Game campaign but probably not Twilight: 2000 4th Edition.
I wish to thank Free League Publishing for providing Armchair Dragoons the free digital book of Path of Glory to review.
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