What Non-D&D Would You Use For A Dungeon Focused Campaign

[zakael19]

That looks interesting. I am not a huge fan of the tarot card bit, but I would love to find a dungeon game that was more about the crawl than the combat.

You can play as the GM with a d20 and give the players a standard playing card deck. The "cards as randomizers" does allow for some fun stuff with Tests and the like.

HMTW and TB2 kinda come at a similar idea from different angles. Heavy on procedure and phases, but HMTW is a pretty lighthearted game in relative comparison about the bonds between a group of losers venturing into the depths and is great for large to mega dungeons; while my understanding of TB2 is that it keeps the heavy emphasis on personal beliefs and goals that BW has, moved into the milieu of harsh dungeon crawling on a smaller scale.

 

[Autumnal]

What is your 100 words or less summary of Questworlds?

• Freeform traits in a 1-20 scale, with levels of mastery do 21-40, 41-60, etc. anything you can solve problems with can be a trait, and voice versa.
• opposed d20 v d20 rolls, with degrees of success (fumble, fail, succeed, crit), conflict resolution.
• Like Pendragon (it’s a Stafford-influenced design), strong emphasis on cultural traits in action.
• No combat-specific mechanics. A common set of principles and abstractions apply to all sorts of situations. Traits shape the kind of interactions likely to face particular characters.
• Very clear writing and literally the most examples I’ve ever seen in an RPG book, covering every point of mechanics.

 

[Parmandur]

• Freeform traits in a 1-20 scale, with levels of mastery do 21-40, 41-60, etc. anything you can solve problems with can be a trait, and voice versa.
• opposed d20 v d20 rolls, with degrees of success (fumble, fail, succeed, crit), conflict resolution.
• Like Pendragon (it’s a Stafford-influenced design), strong emphasis on cultural traits in action.
• No combat-specific mechanics. A common set of principles and abstractions apply to all sorts of situations. Traits shape the kind of interactions likely to face particular characters.
• Very clear writing and literally the most examples I’ve ever seen in an RPG book, covering every point of mechanics.

Used to be HeroQuest before Hasbro bought that trademark back, right?

 

[Autumnal]

Yes. They took the opportunity to give it a thorough overhaul.

 

[pemerton]

Used to be HeroQuest before Hasbro bought that trademark back, right?

I didn't know that that was the reason for that!

 

[pemerton]

Is there a quickstart for TB2E? I found a free introductory adventure, but it does not seem to have the rules of play included.

There are some free downloads here. I haven't looked at them, but from the descriptions they should give you some idea as to whether or not it's of interest.

HMTW and TB2 kinda come at a similar idea from different angles. Heavy on procedure and phases, but HMTW is a pretty lighthearted game in relative comparison about the bonds between a group of losers venturing into the depths and is great for large to mega dungeons; while my understanding of TB2 is that it keeps the heavy emphasis on personal beliefs and goals that BW has, moved into the milieu of harsh dungeon crawling on a smaller scale.

TB2e can be light-hearted in the sense of non-serious or ironic. But it's not light-hearted as an actual game experience: it's fairly intricate, and players who don't pay attention (in managing their conditions, their inventory, and the various "currencies" that drive the phases) will find themselves hosed!

An illustration of how those two aspects of the game interact: more than once more than one of the PCs in my game has been shoeless, because they have worn their shoes out travelling (in mechanical terms, they spent them to buy off Toll from a Journey - rather than take the Toll in conditions). This is funny - the destitute adventurers trudging about with their bare and dirty feet - but also an example of the intricacy of play (choosing how to buy off Toll, making decisions in town phase about how to re-equip and whether or not to buy new shoes, etc).