I have been following the game Dungeonslayers RPG for some time (late 2011 I think). My son and I had a go with it when I first became aware of it and at that time he was gosh.. maybe 8? It really helped open up the world of table top roleplaying games for him and this game is responsible for rekindling my love for gaming after decades. Because of that I guess Dungeonslayers RPG holds a special place in my heart but I got to tell you, regardless of my little sappy story - there is a lot to like about this little game and here are some highlights that come to mind. This quick little write-up is likely the first of many about this game.
A character can be created in less than 10 minutes if you choose - but can be added with nice details and fleshing out to keep any character creation freak happy enough. So there is simplicity and depth that you can turn on and off when you want. There are hero clasess (level 10+), lots of Talents (skills) to play with, Slayer Points, optional firearm rules, and a race tool kit to try as well. All within a neat little 170ish page book (electronic version is free for download)
Dungeonslayers is released and available licensed under the Creative Commons license 3.0. So you can really contribute and expand the game how you see fit. Please take a look at what others have added in the way of optional rules, monsters, alternate magic/spell systems, etc. etc. to get your creative juices flowing. English 'Slayerforum' & International Forum
This is a hack and slash, beer and pretzels game to the core... but also offers plenty for players / GMs to start up a nice long campaign. Within the book is an introduction to the game's fantasy world setting, Caera, to get you started as well as over 80 monsters to sprinkle in.
The game revolves around a single d20. In combat, one roll of a d20 will decide hit/miss and also the damage inflicted based upon the attacking party's melee attack or ranged attack value. This interesting mechanic makes for some fast and bloody encounters, and also a quirky-cool factor that I love.
There are several "kid friendly" RPG games that have been released recently. The problem I had for some of the systems is you take one look at it and I am like...yuck... too "kiddie for my taste.. look at it, its like a bad PBS cartoon". There is no reason why an adult should have to bite their lip and resort to playing a game with crayons. Dungeonslayers RPG is so easy to grasp the basics that it is a really cool gateway for the young ones. My daughter (7 years old) got a kick out of designing her female elven wizard (Josie) and within minutes she was blasting giant rats in the dungeon with her fire beam spell in giddy laughter. If anything, you need to reach for this game if you have any desire to introduce a child to gaming, no question and ITS FREE.
Actual Play Recap with the kids - Session #1
As I mentioned in another recent post, the printed rulebook showed up in the mail recently with much delight. And since his first introduction to DS and RPGs, my son that has moved on to playing Pathfinder with me and a loose local group, as well as other game systems, has been talking about Dungeonslayers since we got the book and finally, last night, we had some time to create some characters and play one of the introductory adventures in the book as the kids are home from school on their winter break.
Essentially, in Adventure 1 : The Lord of The Rats the party meets in an Inn after a long journey. The party, hungry and thirsty order up the mead only to discover that the tankards are empty. The innkeeper explains that they have run into a rat problem in their cellar that is destroying all of their stores. The adventures are lured into a deal to help the innkeeper rid his cellar of the pesky rats and the rodent extermination fun begins. I must admit, its very basic but a great way to run through the combat mechanics, the "check" system, and earn a few coins and treasure for new players in about an hour to and hour and a half. The kids had fun battling the nasties and searching rooms, we had a great time going through the first half of the dungeon before we had to call it a night, last night... but it left them in a bit of a cliffhanger, and thirsty for more. We hope to pick back up and finish with Session #2 before the weekend hits us.
I am really thinking about setting up a pickup game at my local game store/meetup and see what others think of it too. Wish me luck. :)
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