Almost Bedtime Theater

Dragon Dowser: Review, Actual Play (Ep 19)

• Dan & Rachael • Season 2 • Episode 19

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A transcript of this episode is available via the episode page on Buzzsprout.

In this episode, we review and play the RPG Dragon Dowser.

  • 04:51 – Actual play

Dragon Dowser was created by Hatchlings Games.  You can purchase the game through itch.io and they will be launching a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter: Dragon Dowser by Hatchlings — Kickstarter

You can also reach them via @HatchlingDM on Twitter.

How to reach us:

  • Email: AlmostBedtimeTheater@gmail.com
  • Twitter: @AlmostBedtime
  • Instagram: @Almost_Bedtime_Theater

Other TTRPG content referenced in this episode include:

  • TTRPGkids.com review of The Librarian’s Apprentice, an all-ages solo journaling game

Our intro and outro theme music are by McRoMusic, who can be found on Patreon at patreon.com/mcromusic.

We also used music by Filip Melvan of Michael Ghelfi Studios. You can find their content on YouTube and on Patreon at patreon.com/MichaelGhelfi. 

Music

  • Lights of Ulhannar
  • Broken Lutes and Rusty Daggers

How to reach us:

Rachael:

Hi, I'm Rachael.

Dan:

And I'm Dan, Rachael's dad.

Rachael:

And this is Almost Bedtime Theater, a podcast about playing role playing games with kids. In this episode, we are reviewing and playing Dragon Dowser, a journaling game about the search for an abandoned dragon egg and getting it safely to a sanctuary. Now technically, Dragon Dowser is listed as a solo journaling game, so you would normally play it by yourself, but we were inspired by a recent review on TTRPGkids.com where they played a solo journaling game with their 4-year-old as a collaborative story game and thought it might be fun to do the same. Dragon Dowser was created by Hatchlings Games, who are behind the RPG Inspirisles and the upcoming Cryptid Creeks RPG. The book is about 40 short pages, but only about 6 of those are instructions about how to play, and they are an easy read. The rest of the book is mostly devoted to prompts that can come up during play, plus a bit of lore and multiple examples of play. There's also an index, which is nice, and it features some gorgeous art.

Dan:

In addition to the book, you need a method for recording your experiences, a pool of tokens, a six-sided die, and a standard deck of 54 playing cards. And that's because this game is based on the Carta game system from Peach Garden Games. And that means that it involves laying out cards face down in a grid, and then traveling from card to card, flipping them over as you go. And then you use the prompts and descriptions associated with the revealed cards to guide your story. And that brings us to the story. The short version is that tyrannical rulers are killing helpful dragons and using their eggs to fuel ancient weapons. You play a mysterious character known as a Dowser, who's part of a rebel group trying to rescue the remaining dragon eggs. War is definitely present as a theme, though it's mostly in the background and you can obviously lean into it or not, depending on the story you want to explore. It's also worth noting that although there are perils and challenges for the character you're playing, there's no risk of that character being killed.

Rachael:

We played using the digital version currently available on itch.io, which runs about$13 US, but you can also pre-order physical copies and copies that come with a custom deck of playing cards. There is also a Kickstarter set to launch on May 23rd to help fund the physical versions. Links to all those will be available in our show notes if you'd like to check them out.

Dan:

All right, let's talk a little bit about what we thought about the game. We have been rating things as simple, moderate, or complex in terms of their complexity, and I would say this one is simple. There's next to no rules and it's very easy to prep because there isn't a story to prep. Its only prep is getting the cards out there and then you start moving around and seeing what the prompts tell you. What were some things that you liked about this game?

Rachael:

I like how, like, you got to choose which egg or ace you were going after. I think it's cool that they're having you, like, actually write it down And then afterwards you could go back and read through it. I think it'd be so cool to just have this little leather notebook that you wrote in.

Dan:

Oh, yeah, yeah, that would be neat. I liked how simple it was; how easy it is to just jump in and play. This was the first time that I had played in a game where you have a map of cards like that. And when you get down to it, the, oh, I can't wait to get those cards.

Rachael:

You're not alone, you're not alone!

Dan:

They're going to just look amazing.

Rachael:

What suggestions would you have for someone about to play this game for the first time?

Dan:

I think the big suggestion I have is that as you're going through, if you find prompts that don't fit with the story you've been creating, don't take them literally. Feel free to tweak them, change them so that they, they line up with what you're envisioning.

Rachael:

And even though it was a solo game, we had a lot of fun just playing it, like, with more than one person.

Dan:

And we ended up playing a pretty quick game. You could easily take longer by answering the prompts in a lot more detail or writing the answers down, making art to go with your story, all that kind of thing. It's really up to you and how you want to play. And with a full deck of prompts, it's also a very replayable game. You could pick a different egg to go find and you could have a very different experience each time you go out. I should also mention that despite there being very few rules and there being very clear examples, um, we, we still managed to overlook that it costs you a resource to move from card to card. So, please do not look too closely at our math. And that's our review. If you would like to get in touch with us with a question, comment, or suggestion, you can email us at AlmostBedtimeTheater@gmail.com, find us on Twitter as@AlmostBedtime, or follow us on Instagram as@Almost_Bedtime_Theater.

Rachael:

And now, let the adventure begin! Hock! Hock! P'tueee!

Dan:

So you want to go looking for the wintery egg, the Ace of Spades?

Rachael:

Yep!

Dan:

Okay, well let's start with the story... With his last breath, the egg's brother called upon an eagle to carry the egg far from the Mecharch soldiers. They were ordered to shoot the bird from the sky, but their bolts seemed to ricochet off its feathers as if they were made from stone. The captain realized the dragon at their feet was uttering words of protection, which echoed in their ears louder than any scolding they would soon receive. Well, let's make up a couple of things about our Dowser, or do you want to just launch into moving through the map and see what the prompts teach us about our Dowser?

Rachael:

Kinda just wanna start seeing what the prompts are all about.

Dan:

Alright, well, let's do it!. Which path do you want to take? To the northeast or the east?

Rachael:

Northeast.

Dan:

The ten of spades. In general, higher numbers are better. So a ten is good news. If you could, read us the description and then the prompts and then the effect to our resources.

Rachael:

The description is: you come across a stray wolf cub and raise it alongside your hatchlings. It eventually becomes a loyal companion. Prompts: what do you call it and why? How does it interact with the dragons? Effect is plus two.

Dan:

Okay. So that's plus two to our resources, bringing us up to 10 resources. That's good. That's good. All right. It says we've got some hatchlings, so we're out trying to find this egg, but along the way, we already have some baby dragons with us. How many baby dragons do we have, do you think?

Rachael:

Probably like two or three. I imagine we wouldn't like, just bring them all.

Dan:

You know, it would make us very obvious, I would think, if our character is like this, this rebel, who's kind of working against the tyrannical overlords and they have soldiers... We would kind of want to hide a little bit. But if we're going around with these little baby dragons, we're going to be kind of obvious. Maybe we've got little hatchling dragons hiding out inside our cloak, so people don't know we've got dragons.

Rachael:

Yeah.

Dan:

All right. All right. But now we've got this wolf cub. What do we name it?

Rachael:

Floofy Cheeks.

Dan:

The next question is why? but I think that's probably obvious.

Rachael:

How does it interact with the dragons?

Dan:

I think it gets along okay. You know, it feels like it becomes part of the pack. Maybe with the little dragons ride on its back. Trn, trn, trn, trn, trn. That sound good?

Rachael:

Or okay, remember we played a role play game once that I was a little tiny animal inside somebody's helmet and there was like a second level to the helmet for me to be in.

Dan:

That's right. You were the fairy princess and you were inside Finn's... battle helmet.

Rachael:

Maybe the wolf has a helmet. A multi-story helmet. We're very inconspicuous here.

Dan:

You know, it wouldn't just have to be a helmet, it could just be like this thing, like a backpack, kind of but it's a big, tall backpack that the little dragons can hide inside. Look out the windows. Okay. Which direction do you want to go?

Rachael:

You choose. We'll take turns choosing.

Dan:

How about we go...

Rachael:

Imagine it's the one below us, but we go around and do all the other ones and then we...

Dan:

That's exactly what just occurred to me. We took the long route. Okay, let's go north. Seven of clubs. What's the information on seven of clubs?

Rachael:

The effect is negative d6.

Dan:

Ouch. Okay, here we go. Here we go. Two. We lose two resources.

Rachael:

Okay. The description is a machine malfunctions causing havoc in a nearby settlement. Prompts: what damage does it cause? How do you shut it down? This is assuming we're good natured and we go and shut it down.

Dan:

It does make some assumptions. And, you know what, that's a very good point. I think if we hit a prompt that really doesn't fit with the story that we're creating, we can, we can tweak it. We don't have to take it literally

Rachael:

If anything, we would add more chaos with all our baby dragons and...

Dan:

Ha!

Rachael:

Floofy Cheeks! Don't bite that! No! No! The barn's on fire!

Dan:

Did the machine make the barn on fire or did our dragons make the barn on fire?

Rachael:

Who knows? I think we better skedaddle.

Dan:

The machine is causing chaos. and we don't get involved?

Rachael:

We tried to?

Dan:

We tried to get involved and now things are on fire and now we are going to be not involved.

Rachael:

Yes!

Dan:

Run away! Run away! And I think it's in that, that running away, we managed to leave a few of our resources behind. That was our cost in resources. Just getting out of there. Okay. Okay. Cool.

Rachael:

Floofy Cheeks!

Dan:

Now which direction should we go at speed?

Rachael:

How about east?

Dan:

East. They won't have heard of us in the east. Ooh, the Jack of Hearts.

Rachael:

Plus three is the effect.

Dan:

Nice. That brings us back up to eleven.

Rachael:

Um, description: You return an adolescent Spring Dragon to its family after rearing it from an egg. Prompts: describe the reunion. How does the adolescent react to leaving you?

Dan:

Ah, so one of those hatchlings we had was apparently a Spring Dragon. Where do we find spring dragons? What kind of place?

Rachael:

Probably in like... I bet... Ooh. Ooh, I think there's... They're like up on a mountain? But, there's like a little... spring there?

Dan:

It was a spring as in the season, but it could absolutely-

Rachael:

I know, I know-

Dan:

Oh, okay. Oh, oh, I see word play. Ah-huh. Okay, so sorry. Describe again please.

Rachael:

Like a little spring, like a little... water... Thing. Place? Yeah.

Dan:

A little pool of water.

Rachael:

I think there's hammocks between the trees because dragons are obviously more advanced than we are.

Dan:

Excellent. How big are Spring Dragons, do you think?

Rachael:

I think Spring Dragons are on the smaller side. They're like the halfling of dragons.

Dan:

Do they have like shimmering green scales?

Rachael:

Yes, they're green. Green and blue.

Dan:

Nice. I like that.

Rachael:

I think like a grown one is like, four feet tall. The babies are like, two inches.

Dan:

No wonder we were able to carry it around without getting spotted. Alright, so we drop off the baby Spring, or the adolescent, my bad. The adolescent Spring Dragon with its fam. And we give Floofy Cheeks lots of pets because we're leaving part of the pack behind.

Rachael:

Oh, woah, woah. It's okay, Floofy Cheeks. It's okay.

Dan:

And then we continue our journey. Which direction do we go?

Rachael:

I swear we're gonna go like all around and then find it right there, but we're still going all around. Okay, I guess southeast?

Dan:

Ooh, the Ace of of Hearts.

Rachael:

Wait, which one was the one we were trying to get?

Dan:

The Ace of Spades.

Rachael:

Okay, what happens with the ace? If you discover an alternate ace, it is found broken with its contents destroyed. Though this is a sad discovery, your Dowser can offer a blessing for the departed dragon in whichever manner the player sees fit. This can take the form of a burial, a eulogy, some form of ritual, or any other ceremony of your imagination.

Dan:

Okay, so we have found a nest with a broken egg. What do we do?

Rachael:

Um, decorate it with flowers?

Dan:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. We could totally do that.

Rachael:

Your turn.

Dan:

Okay, how about let's go...

Rachael:

Five of Spades. The effect is minus two.

Dan:

Minus two resources, okay... That brings us to 15; we're good.

Rachael:

Whilst traversing a river, you lose your footing and slip. You are submerged in the dark water and quickly develop a fever. Where do you shelter to get warm? What remedies or techniques do you use you use to recover?

Dan:

Well, I think we, we clamber back out of the river, make sure that Floofy Cheeks and the two remaining hatchlings are okay. We, try to get them dried off and we get a bit of a cough ourselves. Not feeling so good.

Rachael:

Cough up a loogie.

Dan:

Cough up a leech? What?! And, I think we find maybe like a great big tree that fell over. And so now it's this huge log and we can kind of get up, partially behind the log with a few branches and things, over us for protection. And we get a little fire started. One of the dragon hatchlings goes up there and starts a fire.

Rachael:

THEY coughed up the leech!

Dan:

Starts up this little fire for us so we can stay warm and we can all get dried off. And then we make a, we make tea with some of our secret herbs and that'll help us with our fever.

Rachael:

It's probably what, we had our resources, that's...

Dan:

Yeah, we probably lost a couple in the river, and then to make that tea. Yep. Alright.

Rachael:

Okay, we're going south.

Dan:

Ooh, King of Hearts. Big numbers.

Rachael:

Ooh, plus five. You land in a ravaged local settlement on the back of a male Spring Dragon. Together you defend them while they rebuild. The prompts are, describe the restoration. What part do you play in the settlement's future? Maybe the part we play is using up their resources.

Dan:

How about, we're weak from our, our dip in the river and, you know, starting to feel a little better. And a Spring Dragon comes by checking on us because we've, we've had all the contact now with those Spring Dragons, right. And then helps us get to the settlement. Since we've described Spring Dragons as rather small, we probably didn't arrive on the back of one, but perhaps one led us to the village.

Rachael:

Yeah.

Dan:

Okay. So they've been smashed up. What attacked them? One of the big machines, maybe?

Rachael:

Probably.

Dan:

And what part do we play in their restoration and future?

Rachael:

Maybe lending a few of our resources and then getting, so many back? Maybe they gave us a lot of cookies. Plus five in cookies.

Dan:

So many cookies. We helped them rebuild. Put together their houses and stuff. Just lending an extra pair of hands.

Rachael:

Can I just say something?

Dan:

Yes, you can say something.

Rachael:

Before we go around, like, the entire thing, I want to go see if that actually was the ace.

Dan:

The, the one step out of the sanctuary that we didn't take? Okay, well we can either backtrack through known territory, using up resources as we go, or we could cut west.

Rachael:

Yeah, just go west, because there might, there, it might be like, one of the other ones.

Dan:

Oh sure, yeah. Okay, heading west. Three of hearts. What do we got?

Rachael:

Let's see, the effect is negative four.

Dan:

Oof.

Rachael:

Description: a stranger you meet at the crossroads says that there are clutch of dragon eggs to the north. You follow the path and it's straight into an ambush.

Dan:

D'oh.

Rachael:

People are cruel. Prompts: Describe the fight. How do you survive the ambush?

Dan:

Okay-

Rachael:

Well, Floofy Cheeks and the two dragonlings that are probably, honestly, adolescent, if the other one was adolescent, too.

Dan:

Floofy Cheeks is getting bigger. I mean, I figured this wasn't like all in one day. We've been making this long trek, right?

Rachael:

Floofy Cheeks had probably gotten a few upgrades to the, the house on their back.

Dan:

Floofy Cheeks has been getting... solid.

Rachael:

Buff Floofy Cheeks.

Dan:

Buff Floofy Cheeks.

Rachael:

ENTERING NOW IS FLOOFY CHEEKS, THE BUFF!

Dan:

(Vader breath) Whoops, that's totally the wrong noise. Ooooo. So, they pounce us. Who pounces us?

Rachael:

I mean, there's a stranger, so, I guess whoever.

Dan:

A group of strangers?

Rachael:

Yeah.

Dan:

Okay. I think Floofy Cheeks, like... goes snarly. I think they run away in pretty short order.

Rachael:

Yeah.

Dan:

We get, you know, a couple adolescent dragons pop out, start blowing flames.

Rachael:

Oh! Ah! Ha!

Dan:

Ah! Ha! Ha!

Rachael:

Did that one just cough up a leech?

Dan:

Ha, ha, ha! I'm-

Rachael:

I bet their breath smells like leech now, cause they got a burned leech.

Dan:

I'm just envisioning now a dragon that has, for its breath weapon, it blows out a pile of leeches.

Rachael:

Some breath weapon!

Dan:

That's that's a doozy of a breath weapon.

Rachael:

Hock!

Dan:

Alright.

Rachael:

Okay, Should we go like, up one to make sure?

Dan:

I think let's, let's keep cutting west.

Rachael:

Okay.

Dan:

Okay.

Rachael:

Queen of Clubs.

Dan:

Oh, queen, that, that's going to be a good one. Big numbers. Big numbers.

Rachael:

Maybe we'll get plus three leeches.

Dan:

I think we ended up using a bunch of resources in that battle, and I think most of them were leeches.

Rachael:

That's so wrong.

Dan:

And then we had to eat a bunch of cookies afterwards to get the flavor of the leeches out of-

Rachael:

Ew, Daddy, why did we eat the leeches?

Dan:

No, No, I'm just saying, whichever little dragon is, is, is blasting leeches might...

Rachael:

Okay, Queen of Clubs. Plus four.

Dan:

Oh, okay. More leeches.

Rachael:

Destru- blah! Blah! Not destruction. Description! You construct a makeshift incubator from machine parts to cover for the female Summer Dragon while she goes foraging. Prompts: How do her adolescent children react to the peculiar device? What does the female bring back for you in return?

Dan:

Something worth...

Rachael:

Cookies!

Dan:

Four cookies.

Rachael:

Cookies.

Dan:

What do Summer Dragons look like?

Rachael:

I think they are these really big dragons, and their size matches their really big personality. Like, I guess sunny. Sunny is their personality. They're like really... bouncy and happy and really willing to help everybody, I guess.

Dan:

That sounds awesome!

Rachael:

Maybe they live in little groups of, like, family or friends or stuff.

Dan:

Yeah, they sound like they would be gregarious.

Rachael:

I think like they're like mixes of pale yellow, buttery, different shades of yellows.

Dan:

Ooh, yeah, yeah. Like a dandelion ones...

Rachael:

Maybe like a little green in there.

Dan:

That sounds very cool. Alright, how did the adolescents react?

Rachael:

Hock! Hock! Ptui!

Dan:

You're saying they're not impressed.

Rachael:

No, I was saying they're hocking up a leech. I think it's the Summer Dragon's specialty, they hock up leeches.

Dan:

Oh, so one of these little hatchlings we've got is a Summer Dragon hatchling. Oh, now it's all coming together.

Rachael:

Seeing as there doesn't seem to be, like, a specific water dragon. You know, because in the summer, like, people go to the beach and stuff, and...

Dan:

Yeah, yeah. Excellent.

Rachael:

Hock! Hock! Ptui! Okay, that was wrong, but...

Dan:

So the adolescents... they go in the incubator, but they make their feelings known. And then we get cookies in return because Summer Dragons know that we'd like cookies too. Are they different kinds of cookies, or are they same cookies that we got-

Rachael:

They're probably different for each type of dragon.

Dan:

Of course.

Rachael:

Leech cookies!

Dan:

Uggg! Okay.

Rachael:

I'm assuming we're going west.

Dan:

We're gonna go west, almost back to the sanctuary.

Rachael:

Why are we doing this?

Dan:

Because, because we are going to rule it out, and then we can launch off to the northeast, and up and around.

Rachael:

Oh, right. That's true. Is it really? I don't believe that. I legit don't believe...

Dan:

Okay, listeners, for the record, that means that the Ace of Spades was one step out of our sanctuary. If we'd gone east instead of northeast, we would have had a very, very short game.

Rachael:

We called it! Multiple times!

Dan:

Oh dear. Okay. So what happens when we find the egg we're after?

Rachael:

I'm like really disappointed in myself here. But I think it's very funny.

Dan:

Because we didn't go east?

Rachael:

Yes. Even though we said literally at the start if we go east we're gonna find it.

Dan:

Yes. Okay, so what happens now that we find...

Rachael:

Okay. If chosen egg, collect six resources and head for sanctuary.

Dan:

So where do we find this, this cold wintery egg that the, remember there was an eagle carried it off to protect it.

Rachael:

I think it's deep in the mountains. Like by a frozen lake or something.

Dan:

Ooh, up above the snow line. Is it like an eagle's nest that it's been left in?

Rachael:

Ooo, yeah. That makes sense.

Dan:

Icy eagle's nest. And we find the egg. We package it up. I was gonna say really warm, but probably not warm. We package it up packed with snow so it's nice and cold. And then we

Rachael:

I figure it like it's in it's incubating is freeze... Is ice-cubating.

Dan:

Oh, absolutely!

Rachael:

Ice-cubating!

Dan:

Nice word. Nice word. And then, apparently we just hike down the mountains and back to the sanctuary. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Then there was a little paragraph about what happens when you rescue the egg and what you do.

Rachael:

Okay. Egg-K.

Dan:

Uh.

Rachael:

I'm so funny! Um. once you've returned the egg to a sanctuary, you have completed your task. But we want you to add one final journal entry. Imagine what it would be like to rear the hatchling to adulthood. The years of bonding, the training, its eventual freedom.

Dan:

So we make it back with this egg encased in snow. We've described Spring Dragons, Summer Dragons, what about Winter Dragons? What are they like? Like when this one hatches, what comes out?

Rachael:

You know, actually, I would just, because the baby ones are going to want to be more protected, so I think they're going to be basically all white, maybe with little specks of pale blue and as they grow older, I think their scales get darker and darker.

Dan:

Do they have color control, like a, like an octopus? So, so if they're going into the territory that doesn't have as much snow, they can shift camouflage.

Rachael:

That's so cool.

Dan:

Oh yeah, but of course they start out white. Yeah, because they're in the snow. All right. Awesome. And there's our show on dragon dowser. If it sounded like fun, you can find it on itch.io and Kickstarter, and you can find Hatchlings Games on Twitter as@HatchlingDM. If you'd like to hear more about running a solo game as a duo with a younger player, check out TTRPGkids.com and search for their review of The Librarian's Apprentice. Our intro and outro themes were created by McRoMusic. This episode also features music from Michael Ghelfi Studios. A list of specific tracks and links to their work are available in our show notes. Thanks again for listening and have a good night.

Rachael:

I don't believe that. I legit don't believe... We called it!

Dan:

We called it.

Rachael:

I'm going to tell Mommy.

Dan:

Okay. But then you come back and we need to play this out.

Rachael:

I feel like our viewers aren't going to believe it.

Dan:

Oh, dear.