Home-brew Dungeon Delving (Latest: Translucent foes!)

[The Bibliophile]

I recently developed an itch to play in a "dungeon" setting, like I did so many times in my youth with Dungeons & Dragons. I had tried to scratch this itch with some dungeon-themed board games, but none of them were as fun or satisfying as tabletop miniatures games. I spent months reading through other miniatures rule sets that attempted to bring the basics of wargaming to a dungeon setting, but most were either too simplistic and reminded me of board games, or they required one person to act as a game master while the other players had the fun of clearing out a dungeon. Most of them also failed to meaningfully capture the experience of dungeon exploration, and tended to have rote mechanics and generic encounters.

What I realized I ultimately wanted was a head-to-head set of dungeon delving rules that still played like a wargame and allowed all players to take their own warbands into the dungeon to explore, fight the denizens, and eventually cross paths with each other in the dark depths. I also wanted it to have some thematic and narrative tissue that connected the experiences and encounters in the dungeon environment, something D&D was particularly good at.

The photos below were shot during the first couple of play tests of my home-brew rules. My blog has many, many more such photos, as well as more detail on a lot of the mechanics I developed to craft this game.

Scrum in Miniature: https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2017/11/ballads-of-dungeon-delving.html

Interspersed with the game play photos are some examples of the card decks I've created for the game. My rules have been designed to be scenario-based to avoid everything feeling too generic. The encounters, treasures, room features, wandering monsters, traps, etc. are all thematic and location-specific. I plan on creating similar decks for other settings such as ruined temples, prisons, abandoned keeps, etc.)























After a couple of play tests, I continued to refine and add to the rules for dungeon delving. One idea to help speed up room and encounter generation was to develop a set of custom dice that could be rolled simultaneously to generate all of a room's basic information faster than making four or five sequential rolls and cross-referencing each separate table in the rule book. Below are some photos of the dice.



I have a short video explication of the dice in action on my blog, for the curious...

Scrum in Miniature: https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2017/11/ballads-of-dungeon-delving.html
 

[driller]

Looks great!

[thenamelessdead]

Sterling work. The components look shop-bought. Di you make all that yourself?

[The Bibliophile]

Sterling work. The components look shop-bought. Did you make all that yourself?

Thanks! I did make all of the cards, dice, etc...a bit of a compulsion. I work professionally in publishing and so always want these kinds of projects to look and feel as nice as I can. If I like the way future playtesting goes, I'll probably hire some illustrators and get this pulled together enough to publish in some fashion.

[bazookajoe]

This looks great.  I love the flame effects.

[The Bibliophile]

This looks great.  I love the flame effects.

Thanks, BazookaJoe! It's the translucent flame wall minis by Reaper. The light in the dining room did a nice job of illuminating them that afternoon!

 I dig the terrain on your post. Are those rooms scratch built?

[The Bibliophile]

Painted up various pieces this week to take my home-brew dungeon delving rules out for another spin. I haven't had a chance to play test it since last summer, but we have a game on the books at our local club--Second Saturday Scrum Club--a week from tomorrow.

I'm really enjoying how quickly you can get these Bones translucent miniatures looking decent. Below is a before and after. Also included a snap of the various scatter terrain bits and extra little encounters to supplement all of the stuff I've already got on hand.

Again, lots more on game mechanics, game play photos, etc. at Scrum in Miniature: https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2017/11/ballads-of-dungeon-delving.html

[bazookajoe]

The new Wizkids dungeon decor stuff is just outstanding and very affordable.  I have 6 of their flaming braziers!  Some of those pillars are on my desk waiting for some paint.

[MachinaMandala]

Yeah, the Wizkids dungeon stuff is really good.

This all looks amazing, I love your cards.

I have to ask, though, who the hell is the dude with the bat wings coming out of his head(helmet?).

EDIT: Nevermind, zoomed in and realised he was some sort of Star Spawn.

[The Bibliophile]

I have to ask, though, who the hell is the dude with the bat wings coming out of his head(helmet?).

The impish guys are Reaper Bones "Hordlings"...wish I'd bought a second pack now. Here's what all three in the pack look like on the paint bench.