Monday, April 18, 2016

Ganesha Games: New Four Against Darkness - Solitaire Dungeon-Delving Game


Just found this interesting Ganesha Games' Four Against Darkness - solitaire dungeon-delving game on the Wargame Vault which looked promising for some solo play dungeon exporation. No miniatures are needed. All you need is the book, a pencil, two six sided dice, and grid paper.

You choose four character types from the classic classes (warrior, wizard, rogue, halfling, dwarf, barbarian, cleric, elf), equip them, and start adventuring in dungeons created by dice rolls and by your choices. When you enter a room, you generate its content on a series of random tables. You will meet monsters, fight them, hopefully defeat them (or decide that discretion is the better part of valor!), you'll manage your resources (healing, spells, life points, equipment), grab treasure, dodge traps, find clues, and even accept quests from the monsters you meet. Your characters can level up and become better at what they do, but it will not be easy.

What the game is not:

It is not a miniature game. You may use miniatures to remember your characters' marching order if you wish, but that's it. It is not a roleplaying game. You may run it as a simple cooperative, GM-less game if you want.

It is not a game-book or a choose-your-own-adventure book. There is no prose to read or numbered sections to go to, even if we could do something like that in a supplement. Everybody at Ganesha is having great fun with 4AD. A couple of supplements are almost ready and will be available soon.

The PDF is 72 pages with plenty of black and white illustrations, plus a color cover and a flowchart. The download also includes mini-booklets for those who want to print the charts and other essential info in pocket-size. The main pdf is indexed so you can click on a rule in the table of contents and the link will lead you to the rule. There is also a small competition valid until May 24th, 2016, in a text file inside the zip file. Make sure you do not miss it!



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