Dungeon Saga

[oldskoolrebel]

I recently purchased the Mantic game Dungeon Saga. I'd heard very mixed things about the game, however having bought the game and played through it twice, I believe that largely this negativity centres around how Mantic have dealt with the associated kickstarter.

I purchased the game as a Hero Quest replacement. I've been looking for a generic dungeon crawler for a while. Dungeon Saga certainly fits the bill albeit with a couple of differences. The most notable is that the Overlord (the name of the DM/GM) is expected to play to win! The other difference is the timing mechanic; the Heroes battle against the clock to defeat the Overlord. It's designed for 2-5 players, however in reality we couldn't imagine playing with anymore than 3 (two heroes and a overlord). It's great fun, we've played through multiple times. While I've ordered the expansions, I don't think that it quite fits the place that I'm looking for- that is a dungeon crawler with RPG elements (think of a RPG lite game).

The dungeon tiles that come with the box are nice; but they're only nice. I far prefer the 'cleaner' version of Warhammer Quest or Hero Quest. The aim is to create a more appealing set of the tiles included in the base set.

I started with some A4 5mm blue foam, and scored a grid pattern on it.


I played around with some of the missized tiles. I'm fairly happy with the quick and dirty mock up.


Next I cut out the floor plans, and started the process of inscribing the tiles. Definitely the easiest but most time consuming part of the project. Still I've got a lot of GoT to catch up with!

[Sir_Theo]

I'll follow this with interest.

I agree wih you about DS. Really good game, a lot of fun.

Do you have any of the expansions? The Abyssal onenon particular  would look great as a more 3d environment.

[oldskoolrebel]

I'll follow this with interest.

I agree wih you about DS. Really good game, a lot of fun.

Do you have any of the expansions? The Abyssal onenon particular  would look great as a more 3d environment.

Cheers! Its probably not going to be a quick project ;-)

The Abyssal expansion is on order, and I already have a few ideas for the tiles.

[fred]

It will be good to see how this progresses, have you seen the foam tiles Harry has done for Heroquest, here on LAF?

There are a lot of tiles in DS, so you will have a lot of work to cut them all out. Are you going to replicate some of the patterns and terrain, or are you going for a simpler stone look?

I've not played much DS, I hoped the kids would be interested but they weren't really. And with my gaming group I'd rather play big wargames when we have the time to get together.

There is also a lot of stuff to DS so it takes a bit of effort to get your head round it all (this is perhaps in part due to me getting pretty much everything from the KS!)

[oldskoolrebel]

It will be good to see how this progresses, have you seen the foam tiles Harry has done for Heroquest, here on LAF?

There are a lot of tiles in DS, so you will have a lot of work to cut them all out. Are you going to replicate some of the patterns and terrain, or are you going for a simpler stone look?

I've not played much DS, I hoped the kids would be interested but they weren't really. And with my gaming group I'd rather play big wargames when we have the time to get together.

There is also a lot of stuff to DS so it takes a bit of effort to get your head round it all (this is perhaps in part due to me getting pretty much everything from the KS!)

I've not seen Harry's thread, I'll look for it just mow.

Yeah, I'm getting an idea of just how many tiles there are! I'm only doing the base set just now. I'm not a massive fan of the art work on the tiles, there are a lot of great idea on them which aren't used. For example the multi levels in certain rooms etc. I will be creating a generic flagstone dungeon which I can use for other games. I may eventually create some of the multi level rooms.

Eh, I suspect that I've won a watch by not purchasing the Kickstarter. Sure it may have been cheaper to buy the Kickstarter, but I suspect I may have been left with a bad taste in my mouth.

[Elbows]

One of my beefs with Dungeon Saga were the tiles (quality was "meh") and the art was too clustered...narrowing the focus of the room too much for separate adventures.

[robh]

Eh, I suspect that I've won a watch by not purchasing the Kickstarter. Sure it may have been cheaper to buy the Kickstarter, but I suspect I may have been left with a bad taste in my mouth.

Very true, Mantic's attitude after the campaign was (and still is) dreadful; disdain bordering on contempt for the backers who funded the project.
Compounded by the fact that the game released is not what was promised and does not live up to the claims made for it.
It is a fairly good game in it's own right and is fun to play occasionally, but it is a long way from the promised rpg lite.

I like what you are doing for the floor pieces, look really good. The tiles from the box are, like a lot of tiles these days, too dark and busy looking. They were also a lot thinner than they should have been.
Are you going to base these? Some of the DS scenarios use very intricate corridor layouts and just foam may prove a bit too easy to displace.

[oldskoolrebel]

Are you going to base these? Some of the DS scenarios use very intricate corridor layouts and just foam may prove a bit too easy to displace.

I've ordered some 3mm MDF to base them on. I think it should make them much more hard wearing. I'm toying with the idea of gluing felt to the bottom of them. Once I'm finished painting of course.

I think the most annoying the about the artwork is that there are some very interesting looking layouts on some tiles and yet they have no in game effect. I'm going to enjoy playing around with this.

[6mmfan]

Nice idea replacing the tiles. I never brought the game and looking at the DS tiles really put me off.