Facts: “Dragons and Demons”
The original “Dragons and Demons” was launched in 1982 by the Adventure Games company. It had its heyday in the 80s and 90s and sold more than 100,000 copies in several different versions.
New “Dragons and Demons” has images by the illustrator Johan Egerkrans, also noted for his books about Nordic beings and gods. The adventures are written by, among others, the author Niklas Natt och Dag. The game is also launched abroad under the name “Dragonbane”.
Behind it is the publisher Fria Ligan, which has previously, among other things, published a new version of the role-playing game “Mutant” and Simon Stålenhag’s “Varselklotet”.
In parallel with the game, in collaboration with Bonnier Carlsen, they also publish the youth book “The Awakening”, which is written by EP Uggla and which takes place in the “Dragons and Demons” world.
Niklas Natt och Dag came across “Dragons and Demons” when he was in primary school. Like many others, it was the box itself that first sucked him in. The wildly staring albino warrior on the cover promised a whole world of cool adventures. But when he opened the box, he was disappointed.
— There wasn’t much cool inside, but almost just a lot of text. But I realized that all those cool things were in the text itself. That’s how you learned to read, he says.
— And that was only the beginning of the problems. You had to mobilize more or less disinterested friends. Then you went to be the game manager.
New “Dragons and Demons”, with illustrations by Johan Egerkrans, will be released in the next few days.
Niklas Natt och Dag has written the acclaimed novel trilogy “1793”–”1795″ and he is currently working on a new suite of books. He eventually abandoned “Dragons and Demons” when he discovered “the bootleg and the joys of folk beer”. But he believes that childhood role-playing has meant a lot to his love of storytelling. That’s why he agreed to take part, he explains.
— It was a fantastic nursery for creative creation. And role-playing is a great arena for exploring other parts of one’s identity.
New wave of role playing
The new edition of “Drakar og demons” is published by the publisher Fria Ligan and is financed by a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter. The interest has been great. The game was financed after just four minutes and in total they have collected almost eight million kroner.
That nostalgic middle-aged men are purchasing power may not come as a surprise, but the publisher is also targeting completely new players, explains Tomas Härenstam, CEO and project manager. The classic dice rolling has been given a new lease of life, not least by the Netflix hit “Stranger things”.
— There is also a big phenomenon now with streamed role-playing games, meaning people playing role-playing games in front of a camera. There is a group called Critical Role, which has millions of followers and they have attracted lots of new people to the hobby, says Härenstam.
Niklas Natt och Dag is also current with the new “Fate and hope”, which is the beginning of a new series of historical novels.”Talking ducks”
The interest in “Dragonbane”, as the game is called in the English version, is unexpectedly great abroad, he says. Partly thanks to the publisher’s good reputation in the gaming world, partly because “Dragons and demons” differs from American “Dungeons & dragons” and other fantasy games.
— There is a slight levity about “Dragons and Demons.” Among other things, because there are talking ducks and other things that make it not this bloody serious fantasy, and maybe it is needed in these times, he says.
The new game takes place in something called the Valley of the Mists. It’s a brand new location in the “Dragons and Demons” world, and as a game world, it’s quite small.
— In this valley, there used to be an ancient dragon-worshipping kingdom, but the world outside we are only hinting at so far. It will be easier for a player to get to a limited environment than to get the whole world right away, says Tomas Härenstam.
Tomas Härenstam. Press image.”Strong feelings”
The basic principles of the game are the same as before. But at the same time, certain aspects have been modernized and updated, explains Härenstam.
— Mainly to make it a little faster and easier to get into. Role-playing games in the past were often fiddly and required quite a lot of mental arithmetic at the table, he says.
TT: But do you get sour reactions from players who think you have simplified too much?
— There are always those who think that what we have done is a mockery and that “Dragons and demons expert” from 1985 is the only right thing. That’s how it is with this type of fandom, it means a lot to many people and then you also have strong feelings.
Game plan for the latest variant of “Dragons and Demons”.