A+ game, I played as a moon dragon whose breath was gunpowder and was the librarian of the sacred order of our lady's rifles. I conjured 300 weapons behind me and fired them all in a crescendo of gay violence. Loved it.
Dragonhearts is an 18 page rpg in which you play as dragons from space, fighting and romancing . It plays over 3--4 hours, for about as many people, and it feels like it has all the political crunch of a larp, while still being an easy, low-prep storytelling game.
Basically, it's good, and if you like dragons, cosmic-level fantasy, and settings that are interesting but maybe not on the edge of collapse, I'd strongly suggest giving this a look.
It's well-written, easy to read, and in a feature that genuinely surprised me for a romance rpg, as part of character creation (in addition to cool stuff like declaring your blood, your breath, and what you hoard) you set a romance flag if you're open to your character being romanced.
This feels like it should basically be a standard feature of any game that handles romance, as it lets people signal way in advance what they're looking for, and it was really cool to see here.
Plotwise, Dragonhearts is a stone soup. There's an overall frame to the story---you're dragons at a dragon festival and maybe some mystic stuff is going to happen---but the specifics are entirely what you make of it.
Also, the game's structure is largely built of minigames, all of which are approachable and flavorful, although I did feel like it wanted a bit more interstitial space in between those games. A minigame might be anything from a fight to a dinner to a tryst, and they all create fairly defined, structured scenes---making them great for two-player encounters, but less for ensemble cast stuff.
Ultimately, though, this isn't much of a problem. A little bit of adjustment can work in a few more informal 3+ people minigames (or let the 2-player games include more folks,) and the setting, characters, and prompts do a lot to help you tell a story about an event that will feel momentous, even if it doesn't kill anyone in the process.
I think Dragonhearts has basically something for everyone. There's magic, drama, optional romance, and the overall feeling that you were involved in something big. If you're looking for a crunchy game, this isn't that, but otherwise I'd strongly recommend giving this a look.
Minor Issues:
-The table of contents feels a little weird being on page 14. It caught me completely by surprise when it showed up.
Stories about dragons are much improved with romance, and stories about romance are much improved with dragons. If you ever wanted to make out with a dragon, but you were worried your grandmother would not approve, but then you thought you could get away with it if the dragon was a shapeshifter and turned into a highly evolved primate, this is the game for you. Dragons are people too.
Also if you want to have surreal, prophetic dreams about the mysterious requirements to fulfill your destiny, attain totality, and control the eclipse ritual in order to reshape reality, this game might be for you.
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In Dragonhearts, you get to be shapeshifting dragons. Oh, and the dragons get to kiss. What more can I say to convince you to read/play this game?
How does one go about finding communities of people to play this game with?
A+ game, I played as a moon dragon whose breath was gunpowder and was the librarian of the sacred order of our lady's rifles. I conjured 300 weapons behind me and fired them all in a crescendo of gay violence. Loved it.
Heck yeah, that was such an amazing scene!
Also everyone else reading this, please share comments with your own dragons and the cool stuff they get up to, it gives me LIFE
Dragonhearts is an 18 page rpg in which you play as dragons from space, fighting and romancing . It plays over 3--4 hours, for about as many people, and it feels like it has all the political crunch of a larp, while still being an easy, low-prep storytelling game.
Basically, it's good, and if you like dragons, cosmic-level fantasy, and settings that are interesting but maybe not on the edge of collapse, I'd strongly suggest giving this a look.
It's well-written, easy to read, and in a feature that genuinely surprised me for a romance rpg, as part of character creation (in addition to cool stuff like declaring your blood, your breath, and what you hoard) you set a romance flag if you're open to your character being romanced.
This feels like it should basically be a standard feature of any game that handles romance, as it lets people signal way in advance what they're looking for, and it was really cool to see here.
Plotwise, Dragonhearts is a stone soup. There's an overall frame to the story---you're dragons at a dragon festival and maybe some mystic stuff is going to happen---but the specifics are entirely what you make of it.
Also, the game's structure is largely built of minigames, all of which are approachable and flavorful, although I did feel like it wanted a bit more interstitial space in between those games. A minigame might be anything from a fight to a dinner to a tryst, and they all create fairly defined, structured scenes---making them great for two-player encounters, but less for ensemble cast stuff.
Ultimately, though, this isn't much of a problem. A little bit of adjustment can work in a few more informal 3+ people minigames (or let the 2-player games include more folks,) and the setting, characters, and prompts do a lot to help you tell a story about an event that will feel momentous, even if it doesn't kill anyone in the process.
I think Dragonhearts has basically something for everyone. There's magic, drama, optional romance, and the overall feeling that you were involved in something big. If you're looking for a crunchy game, this isn't that, but otherwise I'd strongly recommend giving this a look.
Minor Issues:
-The table of contents feels a little weird being on page 14. It caught me completely by surprise when it showed up.
Stories about dragons are much improved with romance, and stories about romance are much improved with dragons. If you ever wanted to make out with a dragon, but you were worried your grandmother would not approve, but then you thought you could get away with it if the dragon was a shapeshifter and turned into a highly evolved primate, this is the game for you. Dragons are people too.
Also if you want to have surreal, prophetic dreams about the mysterious requirements to fulfill your destiny, attain totality, and control the eclipse ritual in order to reshape reality, this game might be for you.
Lovely review, thanks Orion! <3
well, this game is wildly fun and I'm really glad i got it while also supporting racial justice. highly recommended from me
Pretty fun game about dragons and romance. If you're a fan of both, you're going to really like this game.