[Free RPG Day 2023] Dragon Shield Roleplaying

Now in its sixteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2023 took place on Saturday, June 24th. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and interesting little releases, which are traditionally tasters for forthcoming games to be released at GenCon the following August, but others are support for existing RPGs or pieces of gaming ephemera or a quick-start. Thanks to the generosity of David Salisbury of Fan Boy 3, Fil Baldowski at All Rolled Up, and others, Reviews from R’lyeh was able to get hold of many of the titles released for Free RPG Day, both in the USA and elsewhere.

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The award for the slimmest release for Free RPG Day 2023 goes to Dragon Shield for its Mini-Adventure, ‘The Knights of Botan’. It amounts—more or less—to a single sheet of card, in US Letter-size, upon which is detailed an encounter which a Dungeon Master can easily add to her Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition game. If that sounds underwhelming, well, that is because it is and also it is not. For in actuality, the release from Dragon Shield—better known for its range of accessories for the collectable card market rather than the roleplaying hobby—consists of three things. One is the aforementioned one-sheet adventure for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, the second is a monster card for the major NPC in the adventure, and the third is The Pocket RPG Guide, a miniature booklet of tips for both player and Game Master.

The first is the adventure, ‘The Knights of Botan’. This is presented on a single sheet of light card. There is no set Level for the Player Characters, but it is assumed that they are heroic and have completed several adventures. The scenario begins when they awake in a dream. This enables the scenario to be run either between adventures or even during an adventure as a side quest. The scenario thus takes place on the astral plane where they are faced with four doors, each connected to a dragon. Beyond each door lies a similarly structured, but thematically different challenge. All require certain bones to be identified and rifled through to locate a certain object, a terrain and environment to be overcome, and so on, with monsters impeding their progress if the Player Characters falter. All four challenges adhere to the same format, with only their various elements differing. The Dungeon Master will need to prepare some monster stats here and probably break down the procedure to best understand it. If they succeed, the Player Characters will be rewarded with the trust of the Botan, the dragon of dreams. The idea here is that Botan will return to call upon the Player Characters for aid as Knights of Botan.

The structure and set-up for ‘The Knights of Botan’ is presented on the one side of the card, whilst on the other is the set of four tables for the scenario’s four challenges, along with an illustration of an unnamed dragon. In terms of presentation and design, ‘The Knights of Botan’ is succinct. It needs close attention and a little development upon the part of the Dungeon Master to make it easier to use and in the long term, some ideas of the Dungeon Master’s own if she wants to bring Botan and the Player Characters new positions as Knights of Botan into her campaign.

The second of the items is the Monster Card. This is of Abigan, the small Fey Dragon who is part of the events of ‘The Knights of Botan’. This is the creature’s full stats and abilities, or rather ability. This is ‘Fey Dragon Charm’, which enables Abigan to charm a single humanoid and convince him that he is the Fey Dragon’s truest, most trusted friend. On the front is an illustration of Abigan. Unfortunately, there are no personality or roleplaying notes for the creature.

The third of the items is The Pocket RPG Guide. This is a seven-page, full colour booklet which contains tips for player and Game Master alike. For the player, there is ‘Breathing Life Into A Character’, a quick and dirty step-by-step guide to creating interesting Player Characters. It starts off a bit silly with a Player Character called Milly Cyrus, a bard who wants to go to the magical land of Las Vegas. However, the advice is not without merit, highlighting the difficulty of creating interesting characters and suggesting a way round this by starting with a cliché and combining that with a motivation, and using it to drive the Player Character’s actions, whilst also throwing in a contradiction to add complexity and generate interest in the Player Character and his actions. The advice is obvious, but that does not mean that it is bad advice. In fact, for the player new to roleplaying games, it is good advice as a starting point, and for the experienced player, it is advice worth revisiting because it still works, especially if the player is short of ideas or inspiration. Similarly, the advice for the Game Master is obvious, but not necessarily bad. ‘5 Tips To Becoming A Great GM’ talks about how to get the right players involved that want to be involved, the importance of running a ‘Session Zero’ and being consistent to it, and so on. Much like the advice for the player, there is nothing new or innovative in the advice given, but it is good advice and it is helpful advice. Rounding out The Pocket RPG Guide is two sets of tables, one for generating locations and one for NPCs. Each is given four tables, for example, ‘Personality’, ‘Quirk’, ‘Archetype’, and ‘Desire’ for the NPC Generator, with six entries per table. The mix of options is limited, but as a starting set, is reasonably serviceable.

What is noticeable about The Pocket RPG Guide is that it is heavily illustrated with photographs, especially for a booklet as short as this is. The photographs all show two items that Dragon Shield makes as aids for both the player and the Game Master. These are the Game Master Companion and the Player Companion which are shown throughout The Pocket RPG Guide in actual use.

The literally slim offering from Dragon Shield means that as a scenario, ‘The Knights of Botan’, is not as easy to use in play as other releases for Free RPG Day 2023. It is underdeveloped and it underwhelms, but it has scope to be further developed and made easier to use by the Dungeon Master. Similarly, the Monster Card feels the same way, whereas there is that little bit more to The Pocket RPG Guide that makes it more obviously useful. Overall, succinct, but potentially serviceable is the best description of the Monsters Cards, Mini Adventure, and The Pocket RPG Guide from Dragon Shield for Free RPG Day 2023.