Dolmenwood

Dolmenwood is a fantasy adventure RPG built on the acclaimed Old-School Essentials rules, presenting a familiar B/X D&D experience with a lavishly detailed setting inspired by the fairy tales and eerie folklore of the British Isles. Like traditional fairy tales, Dolmenwood blends the dark and whimsical, the wondrous and weird, creating a unique campaign world that feels both nostalgic and refreshingly original.

Theme and Setting

The game is set in Dolmenwood, a moss-clad forest on the borders of Fairy, rife with intrigue, secrets, and magic. This is a world fractured by sordid betrayal, magical mishaps, and ancient chaos, where players explore perilous lands, traverse fairy roads, unearth shrines, and contend with the unpredictable weather of the many seasons and unseasons.

How Play Feels

The setting draws heavily from British folklore—the kind of stories where the Brothers Grimm meet the hedgerows and standing stones of rural England. Seven major factions vie for control of the forest: the Cold Prince, the Drune, the Human Nobility, the Longhorn Nobility, the Pluritine Church, and the Witches.

What Makes It Distinct

Players can explore 200 detailed map hexes, visit 12 settlements, and encounter over 280 NPCs. The campaign book provides extensive rumor tables, hex descriptions, and narrative seeds to fuel years of sandbox play.

Where It May Not Fit

You mainly want short standalone sessions with minimal carryover You want the system to stay almost invisible at the table.