Drakar och Demoner
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| Drakar och Demoner | |
|---|---|
 1991 version rule book cover |
|
| Designer(s) | versions 2-5: Lars-Åke Thor, Anders Blixt, Åke Eldberg, Henrik Strandberg, Marcus Thorell - version 6: Dan Slottner, Magnus Malmberg, Theodore Bergquist |
| Publisher(s) | Target Games, Riotminds |
| Publication date | 1980s- |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| System | Custom (based on Basic Role-Playing) |
Drakar och Demoner (Swedish for Dragons and Demons) is a Swedish fantasy role-playing game first published in 1982 by the game publishing company Äventyrsspel ("Adventure Games", later renamed to Target Games).
Drakar och Demoner was a huge success in Sweden, where it introduced many people to role-playing games. Sales for all versions combined amount to about 100,000 copies in Sweden [1], a large number compared to a population of 9 million. In the 1980s it was also translated to Danish and Norwegian but with little success.
First edition was basically a translation of Steve Perrin's Basic Role-Playing (which in turn is based on RuneQuest) combined with the Magic World booklet. One of the available player races, the anthropomorphic ducks, was incorporated from Glorantha.
Second Edition was published in 1984, rewriting the text from scratch, fixing many translation errors and glitches in the rules although no other major changes were made.
The transition to a new system of rules began in 1985, not with Third Edition which mostly corrected spelling errors, but with the publication of an "Expert" rule expansion: Drakar och Demoner Expert. This among other things introduced hit locations and the use of a 20-sided die instead of the percentile die.
Fourth Edition in 1991 was a major revision of the rules, obsoleting Drakar och Demoner Expert by incorporating it into the basic rules and then expanding them.
In 1994, Target Games released Fifth Edition. This version was notable mainly because it came with an integrated world description. Changes to rules was minor, mostly reflecting the new campaign setting.
In the end of the 1990s, Target Games found itself in economic difficulties and ceased its publication of role-playing games. The rights to Drakar och Demoner was transferred to Paradox Entertainment and they in turn licensed them to the gaming company Riotminds. Riotminds created a brand new Drakar och Demoner in 2000. This Sixth Edition meant a complete overhaul of the game rules to support a much less generic game world. The idea of "Expert" rules was re-used, and many rules expansions followed.
In 2006, Riotminds consolidated the line with Seventh Edition, which like Sixth Edition before it, meant many rule changes to better support its chosen campaign world. This edition is the first boxed edition in many years.
[edit] Campaign settings
Just like many other early role-playing games, Drakar och Demoner started out without a fully developed campaign setting.
The first campaign setting of Drakar och Demoner was called Ereb Altor. It was created bit by bit by different writers through adventures and source books creating a somewhat haphazard world; medieval feudal states exist side-by-side with comparably advanced Renaissance-styled nations.
With the fifth version Target Games decided to introduce a new, darker, campaign setting named Chronopia, thereby ceasing publication of new material for Ereb Altor. After an outcry among fans of Ereb Altor ensued, Target Games decided that Ereb Altor and Chronopia existed on the same planet but on different hemispheres.
Riotminds created a new campaign setting called Trudvang which utilized cultures, creatures and monsters based on Scandinavian folklore instead of the standard fantasy creatures.
[edit] Trivia
When Riotminds released their first take on the venerable Drakar och Demoner ruleset, it featured a concept very close to levels ("yrkesnivåer"). It didn't take long before an official addendum appeared on their website, "allowing" players to play without this feature. And in the subsequent reprints (as well as later editions) little or no traces of "yrkesnivåer" remain.
