I love the current trend toward rules-light dungeon crawlers that put some serious thought into what makes the mechanical gameplay loop of a dungeon crawler tick rather than just subtracting random pieces from Dungeons & Dragons and saying "it's better because there's less of it", but with that serious thought seems to come the impulse to make one's rules-light dungeon crawler be About Something™, and in the spirit of perversity I feel moved to try my own hand at the genre with the explicit goal of writing the dumbest fucking rules-light dungeon crawler you've ever seen.
Here’s a series of board games I’ve made recently.
Astro Asterid’s Quick Shuttle Repair
Derelict ships in space need to be fixed quickly, so they call on Astro Asterid to repair them! Carry resources through the halls of various ships to repair systems that have crashed. The more resources you carry, the slower you move, and the more likely more systems will go offline! Move quickly but strategically to repair all the systems before time runs out!
Treasure by Torchlight
A single player dungeon crawling role playing game featuring cute little mammal characters in a fantasy setting. Journey through dungeons collecting treasure and defeating monsters to level up your character so you can take on the final boss! But be careful, with every step you take your torchlight grows dimmer. Keep that torch lit as you explore randomly generated dungeons!
Treasure by Torchlight: Bite Size
This is a mint-tin version of the same game. This “bite size” version contains everything the full size game does. An enormous game in a tiny package!
Noah’s Ark
A very simple mint-tin game for young players. Move down the landscape collecting animals and bringing them one by one back to the ark. But hurry up! The flood waters are rising! Count up points at the end of the game and see if you got a high score!
The Longest Week
In the middle of a zombie apocalypse you manage to find shelter and call for help. However, help won’t arrive for 7 days. During the day scavenge for weapons, farm for food, or gather resources to strengthen your gate because when night falls the zombie horde attacks! As the days progress the horde outside grows larger and stronger. Can you survive the week and be rescued?
All of these games can be found with more information and prices on my storefront on The Game Crafter website here!
Large insectoid dungeon hazards: carrion crawler and tunnel worm. The well-known carrion crawler is 9' feet long and attacks with 8 paralyzing tentacles. The tunnel worm is a 30' long centipede that lunges out of dungeon walls to grab prey, chewing through armor in several rounds. It lays its eggs on corpses stashed in its burrows. (AD&D Monster Cards Set 3, TSR, 1982) The carrion crawler appears to be signed with Laura Roslof's initials.
Baroque (1998) is a post-apocalyptic first-person action RPG taking place inside the Neuro Tower, a mysterious place nobody dared to enter before.
It's a game that uses death as a core mechanic to advance the plot, rather than resulting in a game over.
Developed by Sting Entertainment for Sega Saturn, it later got ported to PSX, PS2 (remake), Nintendo Wii, and Switch (JP exclusive).
It looks and plays similarly to the classic Shin Megami Tensei games. (Fun fact: Atlus published it for NA)
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, it shows us a world hit by catastrophic climate changes on May 14, 2032, after conducting an experiment to understand the Absolute God.
Its surviving humans got physically twisted by manifestations of guilt, pain, and suffering.
As the amnesiac, mute, and nameless protagonist, you are picked by Archangel and tasked with entering the Neuro Tower.
You have to advance its levels, find the Absolute God, and fix the world.
Each floor is randomly generated and your aim is not to reach the top floor. It's to reach the bottom.
You explore the floor, gather items, fight enemies, and reach the next floor. The usual dungeon-crawler gameplay.
Upon death, contrary to other games of the time, it doesn't result in a game over but rather teleports you back to your hometown. Every death progresses the narrative, unlocking new dialogue and areas. It's a core part of the game.
You are able to save some of your items using consciousness orbs and gather them on your next playthrough.
Throughout your playthrough, you get to meet NPCs and have various dialogue options with them. Through these encounters and other contextual elements, you learn of the game's overall story.
Just dropped the newest version of the Sealed Fortress Demo!
Devlog for this new version is here
Play the demo here !
The Lady of the Red Mask's precious fallen star has been missing for half a decade now. Its location has always been known, but no one has managed to breach the powerful seal keeping it inside the last fortress of the bygone Velithian empire.