Editing Drakar och Demoner (section)

== Development history ==
''Drakar och Demoner'' has its origins in the Swedish [[recreational wargaming]] scene. Target Games, the company that went on to publish ''Drakar och Demoner'', was founded in 1980 to import and sell wargames. One of the founders of Target Games, Fredrik Malmberg, moved to the United States in order to import wargames to Sweden, while also working for various game publishers. There he came in contact with the burgeoning role-playing game scene in the United States.<ref name="avent" />

Seeing that role-playing games were much more popular in the US than wargames, Malmberg got the idea that Target Games should publish a [[Swedish language]] role-playing game. (English language role-playing games like ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' had made some inroads in Sweden at the time, but the [[language barrier]] prevented them from reaching a larger audience.) Malmberg (who rented a room from [[Steve Perrin]] during his stay in the California) was one of the game testers of the ''[[Call of Cthulhu (role-playing game)|Call of Cthulhu]]'' and ''[[Stormbringer (role-playing game)|Stormbringer]]'' role-playing games and had access to the unpublished manuscript of the upcoming ''[[Worlds of Wonder (game)|Worlds of Wonder]]'' multi-genre set of three role-playing games.<ref name="avent" />

Malmberg states that he was influenced by working with [[Chaosium]]'s rules sets, and considered ''Dungeons & Dragons'' rules to be inferior and obsolete. Target Games bought a license to publish [[Chaosium]]'s ''[[Basic Role-Playing]]'' combined with the [[fantasy]]-themed ''Magic World'' booklet from ''Worlds of Wonder'' to create a new Swedish language role-playing game: ''Drakar och Demoner''. Since Target Games was a reseller of games and not a publisher, Target Games' board decided to found a separate arm of the company that would publish games, and they named it ''Äventyrspel''.<ref name="avent" />

The second edition was published in 1984, rewriting the text from scratch, fixing many translation errors, glitches in the rules, with no other major changes made. One of the available player races, the [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] ducks, was incorporated from [[Glorantha]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

A rules transition began in 1985, not with the third edition which mostly corrected spelling errors, but with the publication of an "Expert" rule expansion: ''Drakar och Demoner Expert''. Among other things it introduced hit locations, and the use of a [[Icosahedron|20-sided]] [[Dice|die]] instead of the [[percentile die]] for skill rolls.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Drakar och Demoner Expert |url=https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/49168/drakar-och-demoner-expert |access-date=2023-11-06 |website=RPGGeek |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

The fourth edition in 1991 was a major revision of the rules, superseding ''Drakar och Demoner Expert'' by incorporating it into the basic rules and then expanding them.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

In 1994, Target Games released a fifth edition, called ''Drakar och Demoner Chronopia''. This edition came with an integrated [[campaign setting]]. Changes to the rules were minor, mostly reflecting the new setting.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Drakar och Demoner (5th Edition) |url=https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/72024/drakar-och-demoner-5th-edition |access-date=2023-11-06 |website=RPGGeek |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

In the late 1990s, Target Games found itself in financial difficulties and discontinued their line of role-playing games. The rights to ''Drakar och Demoner'' were transferred to [[Paradox Entertainment]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010515015544/http://www.paradoxplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=9&lngID=2 Pressmeddelande Stockholm] at the [[Wayback Machine]] ''(archived April 17, 2001).'' {{in lang|sv}}</ref> who in turn licensed them to [[RiotMinds]]. RiotMinds published a new version of the game in 2000. This sixth edition was a complete overhaul of the game rules, supporting a much less generic game world. The idea of "Expert" rules was reused, and many rules expansions followed.

When RiotMinds released their ''Drakar och Demoner'' ruleset, it featured a concept very close to [[Level (video gaming)|levels]] ("yrkesnivåer"). It didn't take long before an official addendum appeared on their website, with optional rules on how to play without this feature. In the subsequent reprints (as well as later editions) little or no traces of "yrkesnivåer" remain.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

In 2006, RiotMinds published the seventh edition, which has many rule changes to better support its campaign world. Among those were the removal of the basic character stats (''grundegenskaper'') which were replaced with 'exceptional abilities' (''exceptionella karaktärsdrag''), and the introduction of specializations of skills. This boxed edition is called ''Drakar och Demoner Trudvang''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fenix – |url=http://www.speltidningen.se/recensioner/gamedetail.asp?g=145&t=2 |access-date=2023-10-23 |website=www.speltidningen.se}}</ref>

In 2015 RiotMinds announced a re-release of the 1987 edition of the game featuring new art and minor fixes, but otherwise identical. A line of products including several new campaigns was planned after its August 2016 release.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Daun |first=Christian |date=2016-02-14 |title=Drakar och demoner flyger igen |language=sv |work=Svenska Dagbladet |url=https://www.svd.se/a/4391add7-3d8f-483f-bf28-7714d886e625/drakar-och-demoner-flyger-igen |access-date=2023-10-23 |issn=1101-2412}}</ref> On May 16, 2016, RiotMinds announced that ''Drakar och Demoner Trudvang'' would be released in an English version, under the name ''[[Trudvang Chronicles]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trudvang Chronicles {{!}} RELEASED NOW: Trudvang Chronicles! For the fist time in English and for international audience. Early access available in the digital suite RiotOnline.... {{!}} By RiotMinds {{!}} Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/riotminds/videos/trudvang-chronicles/575654889258715/ |access-date=2023-10-23 |website=www.facebook.com |language=en}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

In 2019, RiotMinds successfully [[crowdfunded]] ''Ruin Masters'', an updated and re-designed English version of the classic game, including new art and design.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/riotminds/posts/fully-funded-and-counting-towards-that-hard-back-stretch-goal-get-ready-for-some/1225629750927889/?locale=sv_SE |access-date=2023-10-23 |website=www.facebook.com}}</ref> It has cover art by [[Adrian Smith (illustrator)|Adrian Smith]], and interior art from artists including, Jesper Ejsing, [[Johan Egerkrans]] and Alvaro Tapia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/riotminds/posts/fully-funded-and-counting-more-art-from-alvaro-tapiahttpswwwkickstartercomprojec/1223429364481261/ |access-date=2023-10-23 |website=www.facebook.com}}</ref> ''The Ruin Masters Bestiary'' was successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=RiotMinds – Ok, ruin crawlers! Get ready for the Ruin Masters Bestiary. On kickstarter beginning of August! More action than you can handle! {{!}} Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/riotminds/photos/a.116460941844781/1932333403590850/ |access-date=2023-10-26 |website=www.facebook.com |language=en}}</ref>

In August 2021, RiotMinds announced that it had sold the IP for ''Drakar och Demoner'' to [[Free League Publishing|Fria Ligan]] (Free League Publishing).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Drakar och Demoner |url=https://drakarochdemoner.se/ |access-date=2023-11-12 |website=drakarochdemoner.se}}</ref> RiotMinds stated they would continue to support their ''Ruin Masters'' game and its Caldarox setting with no connection to ''Drakar och Demoner''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Log in or sign up to view |url=https://www.facebook.com/116115328546009/posts/just-a-quick-comment-on-the-recent-news-that-riotminds-has-sold-its-ip-drakar-oc/1958981864259337/ |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=www.facebook.com |language=en}}</ref> Consequently, Free League successfully crowdfunded a new edition of the game in August 2022, called Dragonbane in English.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://us3.campaign-archive.com/?u=2dcfb24fb7c8d0fb9c2f52040&id=f2c3ab1908|title=A Legend Reborn – Pre-Order Dragonbane Today|website=us3.campaign-archive.com}}</ref> The new edition has English, Swedish, and German language versions.