Dragon Reactor DEMO
A downloadable demo
CROWDFUNDING NOW!
Dragon Reactor is a mythopoetic mech tragedy game about conflict on a grand scale. It’s about warring governments, rising rebellions, slowly-waking god-machines, and the effects forever-wars have on those involved. It’s about the ever-turning wheel of time, and how we’re always racing against it. It’s about wanting to do the right thing, but having to pull the trigger instead.
Players take on the role of pilots who have fallen into possession of the most powerful war machines in the world.
This is an incomplete sampling of the final text of the game, which will be crowdfunding for a full print run & final release starting on August 1st, 2025.
This demo also serves as a quick-start adventure for the full game! The characters you play here can easily be brought over to the final version and used in a continuing adventure.
If you like what you see here, and want to help support the continued work of queer independent creators, follow our BackerKit page to get notified when the campaign launches!
Print copies available on dinoberrypress.com!
You can order a copy of the Dragon Reactor demo for $5, and all orders made between June 1st and August 29th over $20 will receive a copy for free!
You can find it here.
- The main mechanics & resolution system
- 4 pre-built Dragon Pilots ready to take to the skies, complete with powerful Rivals
- A pre-built strangepunk setting including unique Factions and 3 example Conflicts
- All the rules for running Conflict and experiencing its Aftermath
Once the crowdfunding campaign funds, we’ll be able to work on finishing the game for digital & print release. The full version will take everything you like about this demo and dial it up, giving you the power to customize your strange world and war down to the last detail. Get excited for:
- In-depth tools for creating your own complex and detailed settings, Factions, and conflicts
- Evocative Character, Dragon, and Rival creation.
- Thematic and resonant post-conflict mechanics and character advancement
- Gorgeous art and layout from some of the best in the business
- The DOOM Clock
Playing digitally? Quinn made a character keeper!
Just make a copy of the document for your own use.
Find it here, on Google Sheets!
Keep up with our work
If you’d like to stay up-to-date with Dinoberry Press and all the other things we do, you can sign up for our Newsletter and join our Discord:
Newsletter: https://bytes.rip/newsletter
Discord: https://bytes.rip/discord
To keep up with 200-Proof Games, follow them on BlueSky and their website:
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/200proofgames.bsky.social Website: https://200proof.games/
If you like the sound of this project, and what you see in the demo, then follow us on BackerKit and share the project with your friends!
https://bytes.rip/DREAMS
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Crowdfunding now!Aug 09, 2025
Comments
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Read the demo, absolutely metal. I love the mythic aspect of the giant robots, and the quasi-presence of magic. Did you ever play the solitaire game RIG? Thats also about giant robots but something weird dun happened.
Will the final book have anything for progression?
Mechanics-wise, what do you suggest a refrain translate to- like an auto-success? (Im thinking as regards clocks and when theyte invoked for non-rival vs. Rival fights)
thanks so much for the kind words! I haven't played RIG but I'm gonna check it out~
The final version of the game does have progression, but it's pretty limited since it's not the focus of the story.
For refrains, it varies! As written, whatever the player wants to happen simply happens, but we always want to respect consequences and make sure things are impactful so it shouldn't be a "get out of jail free" card. Sometimes I ask for a roll, but that's very limited. If someone were to use a refrain to fight a rival, I'd count it as a success but wouldn't necessarily have that mean a condition. As an example, I've had a player use a refrain to steal a Rival's weapon before. But I've also let a player use a refrain to keep their character from dying- basically lowering it to maxed-out condition tracks & a destroyed Dragon.
That makes sense- given the scarcity of the refrain, having it be pretty much a high-grade aircushion seems reasonable (i imagine the Fate reader doing their thing might get more mileage before they turn into cherry filling though)
Ignoring rivals/archetypes like the Warlock/Fate Reader (and depending on setting ofc, which may make this question moot), how in-character are the refrains (ex. Does the character know theyre altering reality when they say a given refrain).
That's entirely up to your table tbh. I always play with it being this In Character But Kind of Ignored thing. Frankly, it's VERY much our "newtype" style thing.