Just looking to show off some images from Dungeon Crawl RPG I am working on. Looking for conversations and feedback!!!
5 Likes
Will this have any rules for solo play baked in?
1 Like
Yes!!! I have created a very simple Enemy AI system based on my 3Dice system. So there are three different game modes. Solo, Co-Op without a DM and Co-Op with a DM. All my friends who are TTRPG players live hours away so its hard to actually get people together for D&D or any other games. So I had to create a System for Solo play, but also for Co-Op. And while I was creating my last game, I was asking around on Facebook and Reddit and so many people turned out to be Solo or people hated games that needed a GM because the GM usually ends up never being able to make a character and play. So that was a big point I needed to address with this game.
3 Likes
Excellent news! Looking forward to checking it out.
1 Like
Glad to hear it! I should also note that my favorite board game of all time is Dark World. So I used that games mechanics as my starting off point. Only two things in that game that I find lacking are no spell casting and since it is just a board game, you only go from point A to point B. So I took cues from Heroquest and Warhammer Quest in regards to expanding upon the rules. So simplicity but having more customization was key. And since I wanted it also to have the D&D type explooration it’s not 100% a dungeon crawler like those two games are. Theres forests and graveyards, cities and sewers. I also have a plan to add a lot to this game if people like it. One of the reasons why I kept it simple. Easier to expand upon lol. But I will tell you what, when I am about to put this game up on DriveThruRPG I’ll reach out to you and give you a copy of the PDF as a thank you for providing me a place to talk about my project and for all of the Youtube videos of yours I have watched.
1 Like
Well, this description has me interested for sure! Are you going to post here when it’s up on DriveThruRPG?
My wife and I are always interested in ways to do GM-less TTRPG-like experiences. We do have someone that runs games for us online, but that’s like a bi-weekly thing. Gotta fill in all the other evenings somehow!
1 Like
Glad to hear you are interested!!! Yes, I will be letting people know here when it is finally published. I will also be using this forum for posting updates on things. The bulk of the work is pretty much done. Now it’s just formatting the pdf. Editing things. Making sure all the items/weapons/armor stats are all good. I have to re-edit the Book of Beasts (my monster manual) as I have added in like 12 more creatures. They way I formated the book in WPS writer, I have to unformat all of the pages and then insert the new creatures into the proper places and then format everything back haha. I might leave the reformatting it back to the current layout until the very end. I dont know if I am going to add more creatures… theres already 250+ creatures. I am currently going over the quests at the moment. There will be 50 in total that make up the entire campaign.
1 Like
Wow, that’s a ton of creatures. And while I don’t know the scope of your quests, 50 sounds like quite a long campaign.
I’m reading the “What Is…” pic and now I’m wondering about gameplay style. Is this a miniatures agnostic table game? My first assumption (for no real reason other than it being sold on DriveThruRPG) was that it’d be more theater-of-the-mind for combat and exploration.
Just to be upfront, I like both styles of games. I’m just now wondering if my League of Dungeoneers and Maladum components are going to get further use with this game.
1 Like
Sorry I was going to respond earlier, but I hit the limit of replies lol.
So I am envisioning this as a board game with miniatures. So dungeon tiles and battlemats would be used. Right now this is just a basic RPG type book. I am not too familiar with those games honestly.
I am just assuming that everyone who is buying games off of DriveThruRPG already have battlemats and miniatures, so I am not too concerned about selling this with all of those other components at this time. Although… having a lot of those things will be made if people like my game and it gets bought. So baby steps lol.
As for the quests. Theres 9 adventures that make up the campaign. Each Adventure is made up of 5 quests. Each quest hase 5-6 rooms not including hallways, so really its not alot. each adventure takes place in a different realm/country on the main continent map. This way you get to travel all over and adventure through different settings. I kind of made it that way so that if I dont make other adventures, all my bases are covered from the get go.
1 Like
Here are some backstory/history of the races and classes in the game. I left out the game mechanic bits, just wanted to give a look at some of the available options for character creation.
Well, we definitely have battlemats and dungeon tiles galore here. Miniatures too. And I’m always excited at the prospect of being able to use my repository of physical components in another game for the cost of some books. Owning Core Space is what pushed me towards Five Parsecs. And similarly any fantasy stuff can be used for Five Leagues and Rangers of Shadowdeep. And also Darklight: Memento Mori has some components that seem like they’d work great with Forbidden Psalm (Mork Borg miniatures game).
So, my wife and I are all about picking up books that reuse this stuff.
Ok, so this first book is like a sampling of the entire world you’re building. And if it does well you’ll add onto it. Awesome. Giving me Rangers of Shadowdeep vibes a bit. Preconceived adventures with a group you build. Play it out on your own battlemats/tiles with your own miniatures.
I’m on board!
1 Like
Yeah this book is contains some backstory and lore of the world (I know a lot of people dont care about that stuff, but a lot of people do so I decided to put it in there. No one is forcing people to read it haha), character creation, core mechanics, Equiptment Emporium, book of beasts, DM guide which includes guides to making up your own quests, and then the campaign adventures, the character sheet and the dm screen.
If people like the game and it continues to sell, thats when I will start adding on to this. When I get more feedback on the system Ill be able to update and change things and I upload new editions and with DriveThru’s system, everyone who has bought the game previously will get an email notifying them of an update and they can download the new edition for free. One of the first things I want to be able to do if people start buying the game is take that money and pay the artist whose images I use, I have paid for the lifetime use of his images he makes, and commission specific pieces for the book that he hasn’t made.
Id like to make cards for items and armor/weapons and I have been looking at other games that have those plastic character dashboards like Zombicide. Thingiverse has a bunch of them for all sorts of games so I have printed out a bunch to see what I like and dont like and then I am going to mess around and make my own for the game.
If there is enough interest Id like to make some board games on The Game Crafter site. Different ones with different themes and minis. I already know what minis I would pay for the commercial license. This way you could lay out a bunch of the boards together and use the terrain from the games and have a big play area.
Id also put out different campaign books, add more classes and races, maybe more magic so that people can choose which spell or magic ability their character gets at each level. IT would be fun I think to add different continents to the game since this book only takes place on 1 continent in the world.
1 Like
Yeah, I know there’s folks out there that don’t appreciate lore, but I like having some reference points for the world I’m playing in. I generally let the game determine how much it wants to give me.
I know there’s a market for simpler systems in the TTRPG world too. My buddy’s been GMing for decades now and he’s running his own d6 system in place of other systems. He converted Vampire: The Masquerade, for example. The 90s stuff he knows inside and out. I’m not sure if his replacement system would necessarily work for others, but it compliments his GM style well and corrects the elements of that game he took issue with. All the rules probably take up less than 20 pages and we had a blast playing it with him while he refined it (as did a couple other groups).
1 Like
Yeah I went back created my own Dice mechanics that revolve around 1d4,1d6 and 1d8. its a good balance of simplicity, variable outcomes and if I ever want to make a game with stats and modifiers like D&D, you can still roll 18 with those dice lol. The core rules only take up 13 pages I believe out of the 151 pages i believe it is so far in the PDF.
Those are the rules for all the main mechanics of the game. I wanted them to be as simple as can be. After you play the game a few times, your not going to have to keep going back to the rule section. I have a little nephew who is curious about D&D but nowhere at the age of reading through the players handbook, so I needed something very simple for a child around the age of 10 to be able to read and comprehend, but also have enough in the game for adults to be engaged enough to want to keep playing. Look at Heroquest, tons of adults play the game, but a lot of reviews i have seen say the combat is pretty stale & boring.
1 Like
13 pages is pretty concise. And I imagine not being able to rely on a person to judge things on the fly for the game makes it trickier to achieve that balance you’re looking for.
I haven’t revisited HeroQuest since my childhood, so I can’t say for sure, but I’ve heard the same. Though I know there’s plenty of 3rd party stuff out there that will expand the game if you want it to. I actually just directed someone to one of Daniel’s videos about that very thing.
But I hope this pans out for you. And if nothing else, you’ve added at least two new interested players by posting here.
1 Like
Thanks for the interest, it really is a boost in confidence. If one person likes something then more people will. I’m not delusional and thinking I am going to become a millionaire or anything haha. I just want to make a game I would like to play and share it with others. But who knows, maybe this will just become a freebie game like Basic Fantasy and I’ll just release everything for free online if DriveThru doesn’t pan out.
1 Like