" Gold and Darkness, TH Dungeon Crawl and Four Against Dark" Topic

All,
Of the above three, which do you prefer for solo games? I have the first two.

TMP said my title was too long. Basically I am asking which of the three do you prefer and why? Song of Gold and Darkness, Four Against Darkness or Two Hour Dungeon Crawl?

I don't know Song of Gold. I've played FAD and found it fun. I really like THDC.

Here's an AAR of a THDC game I played: link

THDC and 4AD are both fun solo games and easy to pick-up and play. SoGD is more developed and detailed, but will require more work and input for a good solo game, especially generating a random dungeon and encounters.

You can get a game of 4AD or THDC started quickly, but I can see it wearing thin if you play it exclusively.

4AD doesn't require miniatures (oh, the horror!), but I use them and a laminated grid for my mapping and battles. THDC uses miniatures, although you could play without them. It would be difficult to play SoGD without miniatures.

All require minimal record keeping. In 4AD and THDC your characters may max-out quickly in terms of levels. SoGD allows you to build your characters and campaign them longer.

4AD is very inexpensive, while the others are not much more, except you need SoBH for SoGD, so two books required.

I'm a big fan on Four Against Darkness and have played it extensively. Why do I like it?

1. Characters are class/level based so creation is super easy. You'll be up an running in no time.

2. The game plays quickly. Combat vs. minions will be over in a round or 2. This allows you to speed through the dungeon. Boss fights will take a little longer, as they should. Personally, I prefer the combat system to THDC and SGD

3. The system is flexible. I have modified tables for wilderness adventures and themed dungeons. I've used the system for pulp and sci-fi. I have found that this flexibility mitigates against it "wearing thin" as jhancock notes.

jhancock has a valid point about maxing quickly. It hasn't happened to me yet because I keep jumping around with different characters, but it is a concern I have. There was supposed to be an expansion with higher levels but it hasn't been released yet.

If you decide to go the Song of Blades/Song of Gold and Darkness route, I actually put together a set of rules for solo dungeon crawling using those two books:

link