CC25 Character 5: Finndorr Silverfife (Dragonbane)

For 2025, I’m participating in the 2025 Character Creation Challenge. The idea is to create one RPG character per day for each day in January, for a total of 31 characters. You can find new characters as they're created here.

Character 5: Dragonbane

Inspired by yesterday’s Call of Cthulhu character and my current non-D&D fixation, today I’m going to present a character for Free League’s Dragonbane RPG.

If you aren’t familiar with Dragonbane allow me to give the briefest of explanations. When roleplaying games came to Sweden back in the 1980s, it wasn’t Dungeons & Dragons that made the most lasting impression on Scandinavian gamers. Instead, it was a game based on Chaosium’s house system, the same rules that powered Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and other games.

Called Drakar och Demoner (Dragons and Demons), this game was, for thousands of Swedish kids, what that other D&D was to those of us growing up in the United States. In that way, it’s kind of like an alternative universe Dungeons & Dragons. A sort of What If? re-imagining of the same fantasy tropes that informed the world’s most famous RPG.

I find this idea fascinating. It helps that this version of Dragonbane is a well-written, streamlined, and highly imaginative game. I have no idea how it compares to the classic versions of Drakar och Demoner, were like, but Dragonbane reminds me of the best parts of OSR-style gaming (deadly, non-restrictive rules) mixed with a modern approach (clean design, great art, consistent mechanics).

Of all the characters I’ve made so far for this blog challenge, this is the one I’d most like to use in a game ASAP.

Process

The Dragonbane rules make it possible to roll up a character entirely randomly, using dice to determine everything from character occupation to starting equipment. I did just that, using these dice from the Dragonbane boxed set.

 

I rolled the dice inside the boxed set lid

The Character: Finndorr Silverfife

Finndorr’s trained as a battlefield musician, as part of the dwarven Fife and Drum Corps. When the armies of the dwarves march into battle, it’s the Fifers who play the shrill marching tunes that quicken the soldiers’ steps and fill their hearts with courage and resolve.

Alas, Finndorr himself never made a great soldier. He’s not particularly fit or physical, and he is more fond of ale and song than of axes and armor. As soon as he finished his enlistment, Finndorr left the army to seek a life of leisure and ease. He carries an old copper coin that supposedly belonged to an old dragon horde, and he hopes to eventually track down the rest of the riches and retire. 

Finndorr is very much at home in a roadside tavern, spinning tales for the locals (accompanied by his fife) and can always charm his way to a hot meal. While he’s not one for combat, Finndorr absolutely loves the vagabond life of the adventurer. He's impulsive, hates to overly plan things, and loves to follow his instincts...which time and again lead him into otherwise avoidable trouble.

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