Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Your "New" DUNGEON!


This will be a quick post as I've got to get to lunch...I am starvin' like Marvin.

Here are the files for my revamped DUNGEON! board game...remember me talking about this last month? Okay, so I've got it together (just finished the rules document, which was the delay in posting this).

You can download the cards here.

You can download the rules here.

You will need your own board and pawns, of course (I was able to acquire a matching set of the correct colors from a Queen Anne game shop, but would like to have painted minis one of these days).


A few notes on assembly:

For me, I printed the cards, cut them into appropriate "color sections" and then glued 'em to a construction paper back using glue stick and the appropriate color. I then ran them through a cheap, cold-press laminator and cut them out with a pair of scissors. They turned out surprisingly well (I'm not all that "crafty") but this is more of a "what you can do" thing...you can certainly get away a simple cardstock (or heavy paper) back and no lamination.

ALSO, since I'm lazy and used the same back for both monsters and treasure (and didn't want to pay money/wait three weeks for a custom rubber stamp to do the markings), I distinguished the "encounters" from "treasures" on the same level by putting a silver "star sticker" on the back of each treasure card (you can use "gold stars" if you like...they're available in packs of hundreds from the local drugstore). I put these stars on before lamination, just BTW.


A few notes on copyright infringement:

This revamp is not intended for commercial sale but for personal use...period. I created this because my two-year old appears to have eaten half of my old cards and I'm less-than-satisfied with WotC's re-print. As such, DO NOT SELL THIS! If you want to print it up for your personal use...well, that's why I'm making it available. I freely borrowed images off the internet for use in the cards, and was happy to use terms like "Hobbit" and "Balrog" because this is a non-comercial, arts-and-crafts project. Don't be an ass trying to peddle this on eBay or something. Thanks!

Even better...feel free to use this as a template to make YOUR OWN version of Dungeon!


A few notes on play-testing:

Both the "Basic" and "Expert" rules have each been play-tested exactly one time. I always found the hero to be the easy victory, and such was the same in the current version of the basic set. In the expert game, the guy playing the hobbit came out on top...but he had a lot of lucky draws (and the other players spent a lot of time in cages). I can't thus vouch for the over-all "game balance" of this...but it sure looks fun!

Feel free to contact me with any questions.
: )

9 comments:

  1. So if I understand the cards PDF correctly, the first group of encounter cards at the top are the 1st level encounters, followed by the group of 1st level treasures, followed by the group of 2nd level encounters, etc...

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  2. @ Kipper:

    Yeah, sorry that was unclear...I forgot that meant to include a card list for each level showing which was supposed to go with each. I'll get that uploaded soon!

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  3. Thieves: if there is more than one treasure in the room and the thief makes his sneaky roll successfully, does he select one treasure to take blindly (cards face down) or may he look at the cards and then select one?

    Wizard: Can the wizard cast a spell into a room already occupied by a monster AND another character? If so, is there any effect on the other character?

    Secret doors: If a new secret door is used while in possession of a secret door card, and later the secret door card is lost, does the character still treat that secret door (previously passed through with the card) as a normal door?

    And finally (this is a general question for anyone), do any "Dungeon!" players out there actually use the TELEPORTATION spell? And if so, in what circumstances is it useful? I can only imagine it may be useful if there are many players and you want to quickly travel to a fresh/unspoiled area, but personally this has never come up for me.

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  4. Oops, just realised the answer to my Wizard question is "No", because the wizard must be able to move into the room to cast a spell.

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  5. @ Kipper:

    RE: Thieves

    I leave this to folks to house rule. My personal take? GIve the thief the choice of A) choosing one of the treasures previously dropped, OR B) drawing (blindly) the treasure card of the room.

    RE: Secret Doors

    Since a character is not forced to find a secret door again (once it's been found), my ruling is that it remains a normal door even after a secret door card has been dropped.

    RE: Wizards casting spells

    While it doesn't apply to rooms, your question DOES apply to chambers (since more than one adventurer can occupy a chamber). Since I've never owned a copy of Dungeon! that included PVP or "ambush" rules (there are some editions that do) our table ruling has always been that spells only target monsters...i.e. treat the chamber as if there is no other player within.

    RE: Teleportation

    I always carry one, sometimes two. They're useful for making a "quick escape," generally when loaded with treasure and heading for the exit. Hit a 5th level chamber, jump to a 4th level chamber that's already been cleared by superheroes, and make your run back to Start. No one wants to risk drawing that dead-hard 5th or 6th level monster when you're out o spells. Also, not bad for extended games when you need to get back to Start to "recharge."

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  6. Very cool cards and rules, JB. The Megarry OSR proceeds apace! :-)

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  7. Thanks for the replies, JB. My 5yr old son loves "Dungeon!", we'll be giving these new rules a good playtest this weekend :).

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  8. @ Cygnus:

    Thanks! I ended up using MS Excel for making the cards, since I'm pretty worthless with Power Point. 'Course this makes it harder to do the card backs...

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  9. Sadly, my dungeon board was thrown away years ago. Accidentally, somehow, by someone,, during a post-family party cleanup. To add injury to injury, this was while it was being using to hold my just-sorted Car Wars counters! I replaced the CW countermix but not dungeon.

    Now I need to track down a board.

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