"Dungeon crawls" Topic
19 Posts
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bpmasher | 05 Mar 2015 6:04 a.m. PST |
I'd like to hear from people who have run somewhat detailed dungeon crawl and fantasy adventure games with miniatures. I'm especially interested in anything campaign-oriented, as I would like to replicate some of that old role playing magic while playing with fantasy toys. Did you use war game rules or rules borrowed from an rpg? |
SonofThor | 05 Mar 2015 6:28 a.m. PST |
Two Hour Wargames has a new dungeon crawl game. I haven't played it but I like their other games. link |
PatrickWR | 05 Mar 2015 6:46 a.m. PST |
There are a number of retro-clone RPGs published in the last 10-12 years that do an admirable job recapturing the vibe of early D&D. OSRIC is one … I played in an OSRIC campaign that was fantastic. Plenty of miniatures were used to play out combat, dungeon exploration, etc. so what I'm saying is, you can choose an RPG system and use it to run miniatures adventures. |
RobH | 05 Mar 2015 7:02 a.m. PST |
I also recommend going back to the old style D&D type games, my preference is Swords &Wizardry but Osric, Labyrinth Lord or Lamentations of the Flame Princess will work just as well. Beauty is the adventures are all available in massive numbers for free or very cheap download as they all use the same basic system. Just pick and choose those that emphasise combat and exploration over npc interaction, so dungeon or wilderness adventures rather than urban based ones. |
bpmasher | 05 Mar 2015 7:03 a.m. PST |
Probably going with Hero then. Miniatures-tested combat and plenty of customization. |
Mister Tibbles | 05 Mar 2015 7:59 a.m. PST |
Buy Fantasy Flight Game's Descent (2nd Edition). That is the best dungeon crawl game out there and comes with its own miniatures plus storyline. Tons of expansions as well. If you want a game using generic miniature rules, there are options as mentioned above but all pale compared to Descent. Make sure to buy it discounted online. |
boy wundyr x | 05 Mar 2015 8:27 a.m. PST |
Song of Blades and Heroes, with its supplements, lets you do this, with a campaign system. |
bpmasher | 05 Mar 2015 9:12 a.m. PST |
I want a free form game with miniatures of my own, so a RPG or skirmish game is probably the ticket. I did play Hero System with miniatures a while ago, and it wasn't bad at all. Song of Blades and Heroes is generally well-thought of it seems. I'll look into it, and THWs rulesets are pretty good too. |
nukesnipe | 05 Mar 2015 11:10 a.m. PST |
If you are interested in the Two Hour Wargames 2 Hour Dungeon Crawl game, I have an AAR/review here: link And, THW's Warrior Heroes: Legends has a dungeon crawl/campaign mechanic built in: twohourwargames.com/wahele.html Regards, Scott Chisholm |
Sgt Slag | 05 Mar 2015 2:37 p.m. PST |
If you can find a copy, BattleSystem Skirmish is basically a predecessor to 4th Ed. D&D: a miniatures game with a veneer of RPG on top. If you are familiar with 1st/2nd Ed. AD&D, it's easy to pick it up. The book is quite good, with rules for converting anything you can come up with, to play it in your games. It is long OOP, but copies appear on Amazon.com, and e-Bay, for less than $20 USD, typically. It has printed spell/breath weapon templates, which can be scanned, and printed onto transparencies. That's what I did for my games. The combat is much faster than RPG's… Cheers! |
David Johansen | 05 Mar 2015 7:18 p.m. PST |
D&D never really needed a skirmish set as it was already a pretty functional one. I'm always disappointed as each new edition passes by that they never think it's worthwhile to court that market with the core game. |
bpmasher | 06 Mar 2015 3:30 a.m. PST |
Sgt Slag: How is the BattleSystem Skirmishes ruleset? Do you have an AAR or something somewhere? It looks interesting and I found a cheap copy off ebay. Does it need AD&D books to be useful? |
bpmasher | 06 Mar 2015 7:23 a.m. PST |
I found AD&D second edition books too. I'm tempted to pick them up along with the Battlesystem Skirmish book. |
Bombshell Games | 06 Mar 2015 8:10 a.m. PST |
Check out Trapdoor. It delivers that old school RPG feel in a modern rules light package. The designer has some tutorials explaining the basics that can be found here |
Sgt Slag | 06 Mar 2015 9:36 a.m. PST |
The BattleSystem Skirmish game boils down combat like this… I ran a trial game recently, in preparation for using it to play out the three module series, Against the Giants, in miniature. I ran a smallish party with a couple of Fighters who had 80-90 HP, in the RPG. Translated to BS Skirmish, they each had around 18-19 Hits. Their Attack Dice was in the 6-8 range, so they rolled 6-8 Attack Dice (AD), using THAC0 and traditional AC values to determine success in their attacks (the rules meld their min/max damage with their typical weapons, factoring in bonuses for Strength, magic, etc.), which determines the number of AD they roll for each round. The Hill Giants they fought, under 2nd Ed. AD&D rules, had 12 Hits, and 3(2) AD. The fighters were around 15th Level, to put it into better perspective. There were also a Dwarven Fighter, and a Gnome Fighter, only 9th Level, who participated in the battle, chopping at the Giants. Both the Dwarf, and the Gnome, had around 70 HP (Con bonuses, rolled near max each level), which translated into 15-16 Hits, but their AC was worse. They still got their racial bonuses for attacking Giants, which helped. The Giants only rolled 2 AD for rock hurling, so the PC's decided to close fast, as their ranged attacks were not as effective as the Giants! The stumpies, however, could only move at 1/2-speed compared to the Humans! This posed a problem, until they pulled out some potions… The Dwarf, and Gnome, each quaffed a Growth Potion, which effectively turned them into Stone Giants for size, which was fun, but it didn't seem to alter the combat all that much -- they still dropped the Giants fairly quickly, in their vertically-challenged modes, or in Giant-mode, in melee. My opinion is that it plays quickly, with high-level monsters and PC's, while still giving the same basic results as the RPG combat system would have done, but the Skirmish rules were remarkably quicker to reach the end results. For lower level combats, it would end even faster, as the combatants have fewer Hits, so every one counts even more. The offset, however, is the THAC0: if you miss, your opponent lives another round. Bad dice throws could doom the unlucky. It sacrifices a lot of the subtleties of the RPG, and it grossly simplifies combat (which I like, a lot). I don't think I will replace my RPG rules with it wholesale, but for larger skirmish battles, it is very quick. I really liked the results we got, and I am looking forward to running some larger games with 4+ players, to really take it through its paces. Cheers! |
Sgt Slag | 06 Mar 2015 9:45 a.m. PST |
Oops! Forgot to discuss the need for 2nd Ed. AD&D books… For just skirmish games with them, no, you would not need the RPG books at all. They cover 95%+ of what you would want, it is only for getting stat's for monsters not listed, that you would want the Monstrous Manual. The DMG would be nice for magic items' details, as they are not listed at all within the BS Skirmish book. The PHB is of limited use, unless you are using the game as a simplified RPG. Cheers! |
bpmasher | 06 Mar 2015 10:18 a.m. PST |
I bought the Battlesystem Skirmish book, thinking about picking up the AD&D books just to improve the skirmish experience, if they can help. Thanks for the summary, Sgt Slag! |
ImhotepMagi | 06 Mar 2015 9:02 p.m. PST |
My advice is to get Song of Blades & Heroes, it's dungeon supplement Song of Gold & Darkness, then download my dungeon crawl supplement, Deep Dark Dungeons. link The first two lay the groundwork, but my supplement adds random encounters, furniture with rules and a (very) light campaign system. It takes SGD from skirmishes in dungeons to a dungeon crawl experience similar to HeroQuest or Warhammer Quest and no need for a DM. |
Ed the Two Hour Wargames guy | 07 Mar 2015 8:37 a.m. PST |
One thing to mention – 2HDC can be played without a DM. |
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