Best system for Dungeon Crawling

[Dannyalcatraz]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, WAIT.

The Fantasy Trip is descended from Melee and Wizard? Are we talking the same thing, the little pocket games were you fought in an arena and leveled up slowly when you didn't die? Wizards used their health (whatever it was called) to cast?

Wow, nifty.

Yep!

 

[The Crimson Binome]

If I really wanted to run a dungeon crawl, I would probably use Basic Fantasy. It's a small, but competent retro-clone.

It's also available for free download: http://www.basicfantasy.org/downloads.html

 

[whenderson04]

I play some DCC and it's great for dungeon crawls. The skill system is super simple and there's a wild variety of crit, fumble, and spell tables to spice up the crawl.

Don't fear the tables either, I know many get flashbacks when they hear tables, but the DCC ones are a lot of fun.

 

[Ovinomancer]

For a non-RPG solution, Massive Darkness is a nice boardgame dungeon crawler with a good amount of options and RPGish advancement.

Bit pricy, though, being a CMON product.

 

[Dioltach]

I'm having great fun lately running the first edition of Das Schwarze Auge. For dungeon crawls it's perfect: very simple rules, enough monsters to make things interesting, and I have enough experience (after 30+ years of gaming) to handle anything the rules don't cover.

 

[Mercule]

Gloomhaven is a solid contender. It sounds about as close as a boardgame can get to being D&D.

Gloomhaven! Can't believe I forgot about that. We've played several quests, and it completely scratches the dungeon crawl itch.

The only drawback is that it's only a 4 player game. There are some hacks (phone apps plus extra rules on BGG) that could get you up to six, though. I haven't tried those, but they should work.

 

[Campbell]

My recommendation for Dungeon Crawls would either be Moldvay Basic or something derived from it like Red Box Vancouver's excellent The Nightmares Underneath. for me the most important element of dungeon crawling is the sense of an expansive ecosystem that can be played off of and responds to player action. Things like reaction rolls, morale, time as a resource, consistent dungeon restocking procedures and being able to choose difficulty based on dungeon level are crucial to a good crawl.

 

[Jhaelen]

Gloomhaven! Can't believe I forgot about that. We've played several quests, and it completely scratches the dungeon crawl itch.

The only drawback is that it's only a 4 player game. There are some hacks (phone apps plus extra rules on BGG) that could get you up to six, though. I haven't tried those, but they should work.

Well, some reviewers think that it already stops working (well) with 4 players...

 

[Mercule]

Well, some reviewers think that it already stops working (well) with 4 players...

So I've heard. I'm playing with my wife and daughter and three is, apparently, the perfect number.

 

[arjomanes]

if you want minis and maps and maneuvers/powers, then 4e.

If you want freeform imagination and description, then Original D&D, or something close to it (Labyrinth Lord and Lamentations of the Flame Princess have free PDFs that make it easy to get started right away). The free basic 5e works too.

The KEY for your game though, is find a great DUNGEON. And then drop them right in the entrance. "You're treasure hunters who heard about the riches of X..."

Don't worry about starting in a village or any of that. Get right to the good part. That's more important than the system.