Dolmenwood Players Book Flip Through

Setting Up for Character Creation

Hobby vlog day 92. Today we’re opening up the Dolmenwood Players Handbook. I’m going to run you through the races and classes so you can see them all, then build out one of the characters we made last night.

The cloth players map is very vibrant—the colors are awesome. It’s thicker than I thought from the unboxing. This thing is beautiful.

What is Dolmenwood?

If you don’t know anything about Dolmenwood: “Everything you ever heard about The Wood is true, and everything you ever heard is false. Dreams and fairies walk between standing stones and dancing trees, slipping in and out of the mortal world as easily as you or I slip through an open door.”

It’s heavily inspired by works like The Fellowship of the Ring, The Goblin Market, Gormenghast, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, The King of Elfland’s Daughter, and films like The Green Knight, Princess Mononoke, Legend, Labyrinth, Spirited Away, and Twin Peaks. There’s intrigue, mystery, and horror mixed in.

The Rule System

This is essentially a rule set built upon OSE, which is built upon old school Dungeons & Dragons. At this point it’s a mix of the early editions—Beginner and Expert—with maybe a little Advanced creeping in.

The Kindreds (Races)

Folk Factions include:

• Breles - Goat people divided into two castes: aristocratic long horns and commoner short horns. Not like the Beasts of Chaos you may be familiar with.
• Mosslings - Little hobbits/gnome people, part mortal flesh and part plant or fungus
• Fairies and Demi-Fay - Innately magical, with their own religions and mindsets
• Grimalkin - Humanoid cats with different forms: normal humanoid, fat Chester form, and a fae predator Wilder form
• Wood Grues - Capricious bat-faced goblins

This isn’t just a simple rule book—this is a whole campaign system, a whole living world hex map style. In my opinion, this will be what role-playing games are compared to going forward. This is setting the new bar.

The Classes

Here’s the summary of classes and their main capabilities:

• Bard: Counter charm, enchantment, decipher script, folklore
• Cleric: Holy magic from level 2, holy order, turn undead
• Enchanter: Glamours, fairy runes (very powerful), detect magic, use arcane items
• Fighter: Really cool combat talents—expanded beyond just swinging weapons
• Friar: Herbalism with a robust alchemical system, holy magic, turn undead
• Hunter: Animal companion, alertness, tracking, missile attacks
• Knight: Horsemanship, monster slayer, strength of will, chivalric code
• Magician: Arcane magic, detect magic
• Thief: Actually useful! Backstab, climbing, disarming traps, picking locks, decipher script

Building Our Dwarf Cleric

Our character is Thoric Duskorn. Dwarves aren’t in Dolmenwood proper, so it’ll be interesting to see people’s reaction to seeing him in the game world.

His stats: 11 Strength (no modifier), 7 Intelligence (minus one—he’s a little dopey), 17 Wisdom (plus two), 13 Dexterity (plus one), 14 Constitution (plus one), 6 Charisma (minus one).

Rolling hit points with his d6 and constitution bonus—a five! So six HP. That’s a good roll. Maybe he’ll be our tank.

Equipment and Starting Gear

I like that equipment is rolled. Everybody gets common clothes, backpack, rations, water skin, tinder box, belt pouch with 3d6 gold pieces. Class items are determined on a class-by-class basis with some customization through adventuring items.

It limits you in meaningful ways but still has customization. There’s an optional rule for 3d6 × 10 gold if you want to purchase gear traditionally.

Moon Signs

Characters born in the mortal world come under the sway of the moon’s potent magical influences. Each moon of the year has different effects during waxing, full, and waning phases. We rolled for Thoric: The Witches, waning phase, giving him plus one AC.

The Magic System

Spells have ranks instead of levels. Holy magic has prayer names tied to associated saints—so it’s not just “I cast Detect Evil,” it’s “I say St. Wit’s Vision.” That’s really cool and flavorful.

Final Thoughts

If you’re interested in Dolmenwood, I think this is a pretty good glimpse into it. I’m not planning flip-throughs of the Campaign Book or Monster Book—you’ll see those as I play through the game. I don’t want to spoil that for myself.

Thank you for being here. See you tomorrow!