Dragonbeard (1983)

Set sail for harrowing high adventure, as the pirates of the Dreadspine seek an ancient treasure guarded by a fearsome beast. When they grasp the treasure, they find that a dragon’s horde changes those who would possess it. Can they undo the curse, or will they become slaves to the horde forever?

Design

Look, you saw that name and you know it HAD to be a monster, right? Dragonbeard is our take on the horror-romance genre where someone becomes a dragon monster thing. He’s a dragon who is a pirate. What more do you need from me?

The concept of “buying” actions is common in the board game space. In fact, most worker placement games function on this principle. Workers can be temporarily spent to access certain actions. Dragonbeard is effectively a worker placement monster where your workers are gold. Throughout the game, Dragonbeard will slowly reclaim his treasure to gain power, letting him buy more actions with his bigger bank. Once his hoard is complete, he’ll use his fortune to buy ALL the actions and crush all these other monsters!

Ideation

Dragonbeard was a tough concept to pin down. Since dragons and pirates are commonly associated with adventure and fantasy, it was hard to make the poster not look like it was the next family-oriented blockbuster. We tried making the dragon scarier, or even just depicting the dragon symbolically, but these didn’t end up feeling right. 

Turns out, less is more. By depicting Dragonbeard in a much simpler style, we leave just enough to the imagination to help stretch the viewer’s perception to the scary levels. What truly brings it together is also framing it as a monster romance movie, which makes the less outwardly scary depiction of the dragon read properly.

Strategy

Dragonbeard is a weird monster who plays the game very differently. He can’t play cards by default, which means he has to spend treasure for the privilege. Even then, he ignores the bonus “play a card” effects on them, making cards such as Jumpscare and Search much worse for ol’ Dragonbeard. What he gains in exchange is one of the most consistent monster kits around. Since he can reliably use any effect that’s on his Bounty Board, he can always fall back on using things like Hypnosis and Roar to consistently get points. As he builds up his hoard, he’ll get more treasure to spend, opening up combo plays with the Skeleton Crew and Dragon’s Curse.

Of course, Dragonbeard’s cards themselves are no slouch either. However, given the nature of his board, the cards offer more utility rather than straight-up power. Buried Treasure is an awesome card that allows Dragonbeard to open-up spaces on his Bounty Board and double-up on already-used actions! Remember: his turn doesn’t end as long as he has treasure to spend, so this can lead to some crazy combos.

Play If You Like:

• Being a FREAKING DRAGON
• Slowly accruing power during the game
• Performing combo sequences other monsters can only dream of

Avoid If You Dislike:

• Being excessively mean to the rest of the table
• Immobile monsters
• Inflexible monsters who rely on specific combos to gain tons of points

See it LIVE!

Watch last week's preview of the Captain!

COMING SOON!

Next week's event will feature Shiny Toys!

Alternate Poster

The alternate poster for Dragonbeard comes from the magnificent naluxk. This definitely leans into that “Pirates of the Caribbean" style of poster, with the floating head over the boats. THIS is probably what the adventure-fantasy remake of the movie looks like.

What will you pay to play this monster? Tell me in the comments below!