"Solo Dungeon crawl? Is it possible?" Topic

All,
I am a solo gamer by circumstance. I've always wanted to do a dungeon crawl game, but havent found rules that work without being overly complex. Any suggestions?

2 Hour Dungeon Crawl

link

Simplest (just roll, map, track combat):
Four Against Darkness: link

Miniature Systems:
Dungeon Saga from Mantic Games, using the Invisible Overlord rules.

The new HeroQuest from Avalon Hill/Hasbro. Requires the (free) HeroQuest Companion app for solo play.

Tunnels and Trolls was the classic.

Four Against Darkness works a a solo.

I think "Melee" had some scenarios that could be played solo.

Shadowdark recently released solo play rules. You need to eh shadowdark rules as well.

link

Melle, wizard -Death Test

Tunnels and trolls

Both work well

One Deck Dungeon, d100 Dungeon both do the job quite well

Two Hour Wargames rules for solo dungeon works pretty well IMHO. Here's a report: link

1st ed DM guide in the appendix had a great random map generator complete with wondering monsters and treasures.. Should be easily converted to what you're looking for…

Madcam.

Blacksmith, thanks that sounds pretty cool.

League of Dungeoneers is now my goto for solo / coop dungeon crawls. It plays like a simple RPG but has dungeon tiles and uses figures. THere is a map for moving around the world and going to cities for quests. THe AI if really good and the quests are well thought out.

There is a second edition currently going through fulfillment on Gamefound.

Can't recommend it highly enough.

Mike

Also, the HeroQuest Companion app is so designed that all you really need to play are physical dice and the Treasure deck— the app includes the board layout, markers for the heroes and monsters, and all the rules and details for spells and magic items. You could get away with ignoring the deck and instead rolling dice.
10 bad— 6 monsters, 2 pit traps, 2 spear traps
6 potions— 3 healing (1d6), 1 defense (+2 dice on next defense roll), 1 strength (+2 dice on next attack roll), 1 heroic brew (make 2 attacks one time)
6 treasure— 15 gp, 35gp (2x), 25gp (2x), 50gp (2x)
22 total
Traps and Wandering Monsters return to the deck. Treasures and potions do not.
So roll a d20:
1-6 = Wandering monster
7-8= pit trap (lose 1 Body Point, can only move 1 space on next turn).
9-10= spear trap (lose 1 Body Point
11-13= Potion of Healing (mark off— after three marks, re-roll)
14= Potion of Strength (mark off— re-roll)
15= Potion of Defense (mark off— re-roll)
16= Heroic Brew (mark off— re-roll)
17= 50 gp (mark off— after two marks, re-roll)
18= 35 gp (mark off— after two marks, re-roll)
19= 25 gp (mark off— after two marks, re-roll)
20= 15 gp (mark off— re-roll)
When all treasures marked off, just roll a d10– but really, you shouldn't be searching at this point!
(I do not promise that the above chart is equivalent in probability to the actual deck. Alternatively, you could use a deck of cards, strip it down to 22 cards, and assign results to each card. The rules call for you to reshuffle the deck before any draw, but that's time consuming. I only re-shuffle after a trap or monster is drawn.)
And there you go. You'll need to understand the rules, but they're simple enough, and the app itself explains a lot of them for you.
For more, I point you to my blog: link
(Note that review is old— the app has been updated and improved since.)