Well this is a bit confusing. Just two days ago I mentioned that Goodman Games announced that they will be producing material based upon Michael Moorcock’s “Elric” novels for the Dungeon Crawl Classics and 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons role-playing games.
Now it looks like the Free League also will be getting in on the Eternal Champion multiverse action, with Legends of Stormbringer, based upon their Dragonbane system. (Hat tip to Todd S for alerting me to this in his comment on my previous post.)
“Today, we are thrilled to announce Legends of Stormbringer, a new officially licensed tabletop roleplaying game based on the iconic fantasy works of Michael Moorcock, planned for release in 2027.Legends of Stormbringer will carry you into the Young Kingdoms – a world of dying empires, warring gods, and doomed heroes – and bring Moorcock’s richly imagined setting to the tabletop using rules mechanics based on our award-winning Dragonbane RPG. The game will feature the same accessible, dynamic, and deadly approach that has made Dragonbane one of our most celebrated titles.Returning to the Young Kingdoms as setting writer is Richard Watts, whose work on previous Stormbringer RPGs helped define how generations of roleplayers have experienced Moorcock’s world.”
This announcement is a lot more interesting and appealing to me than the one from Goodman Games, given Watts’s involvement and the use of Dragonbane instead of DCC or 5e D&D. I have yet to actually play Dragonbane, but I own and have read it. My overall impression of the game is quite positive. Moreover, since Dragonbane is descended from the Basic Roleplaying System – just as were Chaosium’s various editions of Stormbringer – there is greater continuity here with previous Eternal Champion role-playing material than there is with Good Games’ projects. This continuity is reinforced with Watts’s involvement.
But I have to confess that I’m a bit confused by these multiple announcements! Given the setting in question, though, I suppose that this kind of Chaos is appropriate.
By Arioch!
Well, this is definitely more interesting to me than anything along the D&D/DCC lines. Still unlikely to purchase, but I'll at least pay attention to it. That Whelan cover is the best of all the editions, IMO, too.
ReplyDeleteNot that unusual to see a non-exclusive license issued, although having two announced in such close proximity is more noteworthy. To add to the confusion, I've also seen claims (unsupported by anything official that I can find) that Chapsium itself plans to do reprints of 2nd (and possibly 3rd) edition Stormbringer soon as well, perhaps as some sort of anniversary celebration (which seem to be working well for them so far - still waiting on a Ringworld reprint myself).
ReplyDeleteRegardless, Dragonbane seems like a much better fit than DCC or 5e and will leave Goodman Games out of the equation as a plus. Probably still needs some mods (especially around the magic systems, plural) but it's in a better starting position, and Free League's production quality is generally very high.
This brings back memories! I spent countless hours on similar games growing up. Great write-up.
ReplyDelete