
Advanced Search

Author:
Artist:
Price:	$to $

Dragonslayer Role-Playing Game

From

OSR Publishing

ADD TO WISHLIST >

Selected Option:

PDF

$30.00

Hardcover, B&W Book

$61.00

PDF + Hardcover, B&W Book

$68.50

$91.00

Dragonslayer: The Ultimate OSR Game System for Old-School Role-Playing Enthusiasts

Step into the Golden Age of Role-Playing Games with Dragonslayer, an OSR (Old-School Renaissance) game system that brings the classic magic, adventure, and wonder of 1980s tabletop RPGs to life! Built for fans of D&D-inspired OSR gameplay, Dragonslayer combines the streamlined rules of B/X with the tactical depth and flair of First Edition, offering a single-volume ruleset packed with everything needed to fuel your fantasy TTRPG campaigns.

Dragonslayer includes all the core elements of the classic fantasy RPG experience: distinct races, iconic classes, powerful spells, terrifying monsters, and hoards of treasure — all meticulously curated for OSR-style adventures. Immerse yourself in a world where myths come alive, terrifying monsters roam, and every quest could be your last.

This beautifully designed book also features exclusive artwork by notable artists like Jeff Easley (Cover Art), Kennon James, Darlene, Diesel, Peter Pagano, and more, adding vivid visuals to your tabletop experience.

Unleash the true spirit of old-school RPGs with Dragonslayer, the OSR ruleset that brings high-fantasy adventures and timeless dungeon delves to your table.

Adventure awaits: Embrace the legend of Dragonslayer today!

Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased

Reviews (25)

Discussions (50)

Please log in to add or reply to comments.

Lesley N March 16, 2025 11:56 pm UTC

It IS a good book

But at 80 bucks hardcover, I require all the art in colour at least.
Basic Fantasy is a great item too, hardcover black and white same content more or less by 20 bucks
Osric again, fraction of the price a lot more content

I paid less for 3 hardcover 1st edition original AD&D books
40 bucks for a pdf that is normally free is just not an option

Anthony S March 27, 2025 6:47 pm UTC

PURCHASER

You might be in Canada or Britain, since you spelled it "colour." Perhaps that means the price is higher for you. In the US, the hardcover is currently $55. For one book that contains all you need to play, that's cheaper than buying the two Advanced OSE books you need to play ($40 each) or getting a boxed set version of OSE ($70). Even if you add on the cost of a PDF, it's still cheaper to go Dragonslayer. Maybe not as cheap as Basic Fantasy or OSRIC, but I'd argue the presentation and contents of those two are not as polished as Dragonslayer. Just my two coppers...

Lesley N March 27, 2025 8:27 pm UTC

Canadian here :)
No, the price is only a problem with the addition of postal additional expense.
You are correct as well. Some OSR designs are quite pricey. Castles and Crusades is top drawer quality, but also quite expensive. Adventures Dark And Deep has a Core and a Bestiary that come in as 90 bucks each. Both incredibly good, but that's before postage (ouch).
And OSR regardless of how well organized and written, is really just the same material as 1st edition AD&D in the end.
The consumer really needs to want the product.

Anthony S March 06, 2025 10:10 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Overall, I really enjoy the art and RPG ethos of Dragonslayer. One thing keeps jumping out at me whenever I read through the character creation section: I feel like there's an abrupt jump between the races and classes that almost makes me feel like a page is missing! Though I doubt there was a full page of preamble for classes that is supposed to separate half-orc and cleric! But it might be something to consider for future iterations/"editions" of the game: an introduction to the classes of some sort, even if it's just a header and a paragraph or two.

Chad K August 30, 2024 6:49 am UTC

Wow...simply suggesting that a smaller, cheaper Players Book would be neat- gets flagged and removed? No insult, not being nasty, just suggesting something. Instead of having one $80 book in a group- a couple smaller/cheaper Player Books to pass around a gaming group would be a good idea. But my suggestion was removed.

John P July 28, 2024 3:38 pm UTC

PoD is gone? What's happening?

Hunter H July 27, 2024 7:57 pm UTC

What happened to the POD options??????

David J May 20, 2024 12:27 am UTC

PURCHASER

The game is amazing and exactly what I want from a TTRPG system. The art is fantastic and the system is easy to understand. Ignore the people who are crying about the book, keep up the good work. I'll buy every book you make.

Norbert L June 19, 2024 7:45 am UTC

PURCHASER

Constructive criticism is not "crying". Dragonslayer is a good adaption of an "Advanced BX" with much good-enough art. But it is not flawless. A rework of the wilderness random encounters would make sense, like by terrain and climate. By level is nonsense, and many veteran DMs I talked to agreed with me on that.

Scott N April 24, 2024 12:41 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Ordered this but they had to refund because the printer never shipped after 19 days having it?
Very unprofessional if you ask me for an $80.00 book.

Matt W May 03, 2024 4:10 am UTC

PURCHASER

Mine took a long time to print as well but it was worth the wait. Lulu gets backlogged sometimes.

Brian S June 05, 2024 1:15 am UTC

Wait a minute. It's printed by Lulu and he's still charging 80 bucks??

Norbert L March 30, 2024 8:40 am UTC

PURCHASER

What I really liked about Dungeonslayer were the FAQ and Magic User 101 at the end, the take on the Monk and 2/3 of the art. But I am disappointed nevertheless...

Yes some of the art is good, a few pictures are outstanding. But some of the illustrations are not. This is just another retroclone, you get a generic BX plus Advanced set of rules, with Ability Scores modified by Race. Race and Class are separate, everything is pretty standard. All in all - there is nothing special about this book and the system. Everything is pretty generic, besides some of the pleasant art.

Among the points that disappointed me:
- unclear layout in the Magic Items section when it comes to sub-items. Like in the Figurines of Wondrous Power-section which fills almost a whole page. The next item is Filangee’s Propeller Beanie, but the typeset is identical; so the subitems and the new entry look the same.
- Wilderness Random Tables according to level, sorted by alphabet? Sorry, this does not make...See more sense at all to me. By terrain, by climate, special regions etc. has been standard forever. Different character levels can be incorporated by rolling different dice for example, or adding a number. But does make adding character levels into wilderness exploration sense? I don't think so.
- I understand the game simulates medieval fantasy or swords&sorcery, but especially the Hyborian Age goes far beyond Europe. The Conan stories are set in Asia and Africa. Why not mention Human characters can be from there too? What about science fantasy games, planetary romance etc.
- I miss a bit of a setting - at least in broad strokes. This book has to compete with the Rules Cyclopedia and ACKS, which have this. Even the thin D&D BX Expert Set has a tiny sniplet of the Known World.
- at least a bit about Domain Play and what happens after Expert Levels would have been nice,
- instead we get silly and immature carousing rules.
- Why elves should not be able to wield a two handed swords doesn't make sense to me. According to the rules they are to "lithe" for it. OK, maybe they don't use Mauls or Two Handed Battle Axes, but this would be a cultural thing. But never mind, this is just a minor point, just like among the Figurines of Wondrous Power table: There is an entry for Onyx Wolf, but in the text it is an Onyx Dog (and mentioning a panther...)

Conclusion:
299 pages of an All in One rulebook for a price of 80$ including PDF. This is the very upper end.

How does it compete against other games?
One can get their Core Rules PLUS a whole campaign/Hexcrawl/several modules/setting for that price. ACKS, Osric, Swords&Wizardry, Basic D&D, AD&D (1e or 2e, the latter perfect bound), (Advanced) Labyrinth Lord etc. have way better deals. Some even have the premium color print options for example.

Dragonslayer does not offer this, it is B&W standard print, you get nothing on top of it for 80$. Some are arguing OSE or Hyperboria cost the same. Well, yes, they do. But they have hard cover quality, linen sewn offset print. For only a few more bucks you get DCC plus a full retail boxed set (Lankhmar or Dying Earth, classic game worlds and campaign settings). These games aren't its competitors though.
Dragonslayer is overpriced, it has substancial flaws when it comes to gamedesign (encounter tables, commonplaces concerning building a setting) and layout, childish rules about carousing my group would have come up with at the age of 16.

Dragonslayer is - JARC. I do not know who needed this, esp. while there are differend BX Clones on the market which are better deals. This book was kickstarted, so the publisher already got the artists payed. Art is expensive, but other games have Otus covers for example. I do not know which niche this book fits in. If it wasn't for the authors pupular megadungeons, I would not know, but they are perfectly useable with other OSR or original games.

Fairly OK, not bad (2.8 points of 5)

(because of the encounter tables and game design flaws, layout flaws, "lack of meat", like no setting, not even implied and no domain play, cost/performance ratio)

Shadow D March 31, 2024 11:40 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Spot on, 3 out 5 stars max.

Norbert L April 01, 2024 11:03 am UTC

PURCHASER

@Shadow I was reasoning how many points I substract from the total. 2.5 would have been to harsh, because most of the art is really good. But the Book doesn't offer the possibility to choose between Basic play and Advanced play, like its competitor Lablord offers. It doesn't offer an ascending AC option either, or a unified (optional) Saving Throw system (Like S&W and Whitebox) - options are great. I understand that it is GEGs Homebrew System, but when somebody releases their game to the public, it becomes the readers, players and DMs system, just as Gary Gygax has pointed out.

I could have given 3.0 or 3.2, depending on how I weigh my plusses and minusses, but the Random Tables for Wilderness adventuring have no explanation for a newby player or DM, they are just there without commentary. As an experienced DM playing and DMing more thand 35 years, I know how to include them into my world building or adventures. But without commentary, they may be pointless for unexperienced people or those...See more

Shadow D April 02, 2024 11:12 pm UTC

PURCHASER

There is going to be opportunity for the author to charge for a campaign setting that goes with the ruleset in a future KS.

Norbert L April 09, 2024 5:25 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Oh, I am looking forward this... esp. if he manages keeping RL politic out of that book. He didn't in the rulebook :/ (see Humans race entry for example)

Christopher D February 20, 2025 4:22 pm UTC

PURCHASER

In response to your post on Apr 9th... What exactly do you find to be modern politics about the Human race section? He lists that in his setting humans are styled after Greeks, Romans, Picts, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. This would be consistent with a lot of published RPG material which is overwhelmingly produced for a Western audience. I can't imagine anything else in those two short paragraphs that could offend anyone.

Additionally, he doesn't say that you can't play any type of human you want to play, if you want to be a gray blob from Seattle, nobody is going to show up at your house to stop you.

Finally, considering he went out of his way to include a Seax knife as an officially listed weapon in the game (similar to the 20-bajillion types of polearm that Gygax included in his) you shouldn't be surprised what his conception of the setting in his home game is like.

Esmeralda B March 26, 2024 7:35 am UTC

Is this based on the 1981 film of same name?

Shadow D March 27, 2024 3:32 pm UTC

PURCHASER

No, there is a disclaimer on page 298 although the font is very similiar maybe too similar:

“This game is not associated or affiliated with the motion picture film Dragonslayer or Paramount Pictures Corporation.”

Przemyslaw S March 22, 2024 5:33 pm UTC

PURCHASER

FOR GODS SAKES JEFF FIX THE HEAD OF THE SORCERESS IN THE BACK ITS OUT OF PROPORTION

Lesley N March 22, 2024 11:53 am UTC

Do I really need yet another OSR game? Probably not.

Am I likely to get this one, entirely possible :)

30 bucks pdf and printing out 300 pages, vs getting the hardcover... hmm
Depends on my mood I suppose.

The sample's contents page sure looks impressive. I always measure a book on how much it offers in completeness.

Chris S March 14, 2024 3:21 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Are there rules for the pixie familiar?

Also did not see any rules on magic resistance... would the old base chance to outright resist a spell cast by an 11th level caster modified up or down work?

Really like the PDF, thank you for putting this together.

The dungeon design and wilderness sections alone is worth the 30$.

Steve T March 12, 2024 10:15 am UTC

Why so many boobs in the YouTube video?

Cutter G March 13, 2024 2:13 pm UTC

PURCHASER

You should probably attach a link, purely for context, and if the YouTube video in question happened to be about Dragonslayer, well that would be a bonus...

Joseph C March 27, 2024 2:33 am UTC

Worked for me. I'll be buying it this Friday!

Chris G March 29, 2024 2:53 am UTC

Because boobs are awesome.

Jamal T March 08, 2024 3:57 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Why does the Ranger have 1d12 HD? makes no sense...

Michael J March 08, 2024 4:18 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Actually, it makes perfect sense. Dragonslayer is based off B/X D&D and AD&D 1E. In 1e the Ranger at level 1 starts with 2 d8 hit points. Plus Con bonus of course. Your question is fair because you are probably not familiar with 1e.

Shadow D March 09, 2024 5:11 am UTC

PURCHASER

There was never a good reason for a ranger to have 2HD when it was created by Joe Fischer in the Strategic Review (Dragon precursor) during OD&D and modified by Gygax in AD&D PH. This is pure nostalgic fluff, just change it to d10 like the other fighter sub-classes.

Michael J March 09, 2024 4:54 pm UTC

PURCHASER

I fully agree with Shadow. I like the d10 idea myself. However, I did want to answer the question specifically as to where the original idea came from in the first place.

Angela J W March 14, 2024 3:15 pm UTC

PURCHASER

For Goodness sake let the ranger get his extra HD. All four players who ever make a ranger will be happy with that at least.

March 17, 2024 8:46 pm UTC

well they tend to still operate solo when not in an adventuring party, they have to be really tough. D12 for the win !

Bazeal B March 05, 2024 6:37 pm UTC

Is Ring Mail (p.42) meant to be armour class 6?

Keith M March 05, 2024 9:33 pm UTC

PURCHASER

That’s what I was thinking, otherwise it’s the same as studded leather???

Shadow D March 05, 2024 10:52 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Ring mail is essentially the same as studded leather (rings sewn into a leather instead of metal studs.) However, it also a light armor and the cost should be comparable. I replaced ring mail with scale mail as a medium AC 6 armor. See AD&D PH (1978), p. 36.

Keith M March 04, 2024 7:49 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Question regarding the equipment section. A War Horse has its cost listed as 275 gp but a Pony is 338gp! Is this accurate? A Draft Horse is 45gp. Should a Pony be 38gp?

Shadow D March 04, 2024 11:38 pm UTC

PURCHASER

There is inflation in Dragonslayer world compared to Advanced LL but the prices are comparable. Likely the Pony should be the same as a mule - 33gp.

Keith M March 05, 2024 9:31 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Thanks, that sounds about right.

See 16 more