Dungeon Crawler Session Part 3

Loosely based on the Forest of Shadows Campaign. Starter format but the beginners encounter limit of 4. No Quests, just trying to exhaust the Dungeon Deck. Card names ARE CAPITALIZED. All mistakes are mine and the Designers are not held responsible. The choice of AM and PM turns is mine.

You may recall that the town council of Servid had advertised for a “valiant” group of adventurers to clear a neighboring dark and savage forested region to finally bring some peace and security to the town’s populace. Four adventurers responded to the advertisement: the Gold Dwarf Warrior (GDW), the Keldorman Cleric (KC), the Keldorman Pyromancer (KP), and the Gypsy Thief (GT).

STATUS – GDW 2/4 (2 wounds out of a total 4 Life points), KC 2/4, KP 1/3, GT 0/3. Four fifths of the deck exhausted as the party is tantalizingly close to clearing the forest and earning the town of Servid’s gratitude and reward. Wounded, tired, and locked in a battle with an evil tree of the forest that may rage though the night…….. to be continued Marching order is GDW, KC, KP, and GT bringing up the rear.

Day 13 AM – Massing for one final assault on the tree, the party realized they were in GRAVEYARD of littered bones from previous victims of this evil MASSIVE ANIMATED TREE. Finally their strength of numbers felled the evil tree, a feat it would appear many had tried but none had succeeded in doing. Taking stock of their equipment, the party opened a BACKPACK and replenished their equipment and spells before moving on.

Day 13 PM – It seemed the bones went on forever as the party moved deeper into the forest. Trying to avoid crushing the remains of countless creatures in the bone GRAVEYARD, the party was AMBUSHED by a LEAF VODYANOI, but it fortunately mistimed it’s leap and was easily dispatched by the GDW.

DAY 14 AM – As the party finally was leaving the vast GRAVEYARD of bones it was set upon by a large club wielding TROLL followed by a GOBLIN THIEF. The GDW wasted no time killing the GOBLIN THIEF but only their increasing proficient BRAWLING skills prevented a party member from being wounded, as it appeared ordinary weapons had no effect on the TROLL.

DAY 14 PM – While the other party members were finding a way to kill the TROLL, the GT was warily checking of traps and while performing this MOVING SEARCH managed to disarm a SPEAR TRAP. The KP recognizing fire was the best option for killing the TROLL, cast FLAMING FURY and incinerated it was a distinctly sharp crackling sound.

Day 15 AM – Having barely recovered from the first TROLL, the party was disheartened to see another TROLL appear before dawn, and not only another TROLL but a GIANT GREY SPIDER and GOBLIB CONJURER. The GT on guard duty had heard the large TROLL approaching through the undergrowth and the party was sufficiently prepared for battle. As the battle began the GOBLIN CONJURER summoned a LEAF VODYANOI to assist but it’s only contribution was to grab a set of spare CHAINMAIL armor and drag it away. The GIANT GREY SPIDER snared the GDW’s WOOD SHIELD and stored it out of sight and was quickly back to attack. Fortunately, with the combined defense of the party and the KC’s WOOD SHIELD the GIANT GREY SPIDER and GOBLIN CONJURER were killed but the party was left with the TROLL still to be defeated.

DAY 15 PM – The tireless TROLL was reinforced by a SKELETON and during the battle a SPEAR TRAP was triggered. The GDW was wounded but in a COUNTERATTACK by the party, the TROLL was brought down and then the SKELETON was easily dealt with.

DAY 16 AM – The attack by spiders and trolls signaled that the party had reached the last defenses of the evil forest. With luck the quest would soon be completed and none to soon, as the GDW was bandaged almost from head to foot. Their suspicions proved correct as another GIANT GREY SPIDER moving quickly in the treetops approached the party while on the ground a JUNGLE TROGLODYTE advanced. As the party formed up, only a feat of ACROBATICS prevented the GDW from falling into a 20’ PIT TRAP. The GIANT GREY SPIDER snared the GDW’s SHORT SWORD which became tangled high in the branches overhead. The KC, worried about the condition of the GDW cast HEAL SERIOUS WOUNDS on him. Using their experience of fighting together with their DEFENSIVE TRAINING they were able to negate the JUNGLE TROGLODYTE’s attack and finally defeat the attackers.

DAY 16 PM - Rested.

DAY 17 AM – RAPID DEVELOPMENTS were certain to bring the quest to a close and the party sensed this would be the finally day. No sooner were they on their way, when a WILD NAGA attacked, enfeebling the KC and pinning the GDW. The GT reacted rapidly and was able to slay the WILD NAGA before it could wound any party member.

DAY 17 PM – As the setting sun cast ominous shadows over a dark and brooding clearing, the party spotted the final MASSIVE ANIMATED TREE and an ARCHAIC SLAUGH guarding it. (OOC – since the deck is exhausted I will ignore the ShapeShift attribute if the AS is not killed). Leaving the recovering GDW in the rear, the other three adventurers attacked in almost berserker fashion, making on effort to defend themselves. The effort allowed them to slay the ARCHAIC SLAUGH but the GDW struggling forward unsteadily was wounded by the MASSIVE ANIMATED TREE before the party could COUNTERATTACK and scar the tree with deep cuts. Unwilling to retreat to await daybreak, the party lit torches and jumped in for another round of combat with the evil tree. With torches blazing and weapons hacking endlessly the tree was finally felled with a thunderous crash. Victorious, the party made camp, using limps from the MASSIVE ANIMATED TREE to start a blazing bonfire of victory to rest by. As they settled for the night they talked of the many ways they planned to spend their much deserved new wealth.

Some personal observations:

The game plays quickly (when you don’t have to write the events down) once you become familiar with the mechanics and attributes. At first it seems like quicksand, but before long you will find yourself cruising through several encounters before some new or less frequent attribute slows you down for a round. PRINT THE INTRODUCTION (the guide with all the attributes listed) and keep it beside you when playing. It is ESSENTIAL. I also printed the CORE RULES SOLITAIRE back and front on one page and it is an excellent turn summary.

Keeping the lead adventurer alive is quite a challenge, as that adventurer is the main target of most attacks. Change Marching Order is a great card to swap out a wounded leader and put a fresh adventurer at the front of the line. Any card that avoids wounds is worth much gold.

Making the Dungeon Deck and Crawler deck will take about 25% of the total game time. I enjoy making the Crawler Deck but it does take time and might frustrate some players. But for me it is fun to decide how to outfit your adventurers before heading off on the quest. I only made it through about two thirds of the Crawler Deck before exhausting the Dungeon Deck.

There are a lot of replays possible and more expansions will increase that exponentially!!

The name Dungeon Crawler seems a bit off target as all the terrain cards (except maybe Dark Corridor and Evil Altar) seem more a tune to an outdoor setting?

I wish there were treasure cards to find in the Dungeon Deck. I might even try my own variant and drop a few Crawler cards in the Dungeon deck as treasure finds??

I can hardly wait for my 4 MOK pack!!!

A lot of this was due to artist interpretation, however, much of it can be interchangable. For instance, whenever I draw dark corridor and murky swamp, I picture moving through a swampy area with old broken walls around it that are overgrown and sunken in the darkness.


Reward cards are in the works, it's difficult to find a balance where you would want to risk playing a Reward card against an opponent in your dungeon deck (unless playing solitaire, and then WHY wouldn't you put them in your solitaire dungeon decks!?), so this has been on the backburner for a while and we have a few ideas for down the road.

Awesome write-up, and interesting feedback on the game mechanics. Thanks for sharing this and letting us know what you liked/didn't like.

Could you have them increase the encounter limit when they come into play, and then turn into items if the adventurers win? With a little bit of work, it seems like that could be balanced, and players would get rewarded for hard fights but never easy ones.

The only issue is exponential reward, once you gain a permanent reward, your power increases and makes future challenges far less challenging.

We've come up with a few "draw back rewards" for instance permanents that eat up resources to keep in play like Trusty Magic Dagger, and the reward found on the Damsel where you get to Rearrange 3 cards. These kinds of reward balances are the things that we will be expanding on.

That makes sense, cool!