(TFT) Review: In my quest to find the perfect dungeon crawler... i have UNCOVERED a gem.

[Joel BoardgameRpger <joel.siragher@gmail.com>]

Before i say anything else, I'll have to tell you that I have no financial
interest in this game. Its a glowing review. I really liked the game. Im
quite biased at this point :)


In my quest to find the perfect dungeon crawler... i have UNCOVERED a gem.
of course I made a character sheet for it, because its one of my
compulsions.

Dungeon crawl written by Alex Bermudez of Smackwell Games.

This game is a squad based dungeon crawl. It can be played cooperatively
with a round robin dungeon lord, GM or what have you. Or, it can be played
as with a dungeon lord.  Each squad member/character is defined at game
start by the players. It is a strategy game and a roleplaying game.

Like Fantasy trip and Gurps it is a 4 stat game.
You have a choice of 4 races: Human, Dwarf, Halfling, Elf,  and   5
classes: Warrior, barbarian, rogue, cleric, sorcerer

You create your hero by picking a race and then  a class and combine the
stats from both.

Heres a human Barbarian

BEEF (str): 1 +1= 2
ZIP:            1 +1 = 2
SMARTS:    5 - 1 = 4
HEALTH:     5 +3= 8

Life points = health
Adrenaline is beef plus zip plus 3. You use adrenaline to modify your
attack dice or defence dice or movement or revive from death. There is a
really neat chart of adrenaline maneuvers. You need  at least 3 adrenaline
points to revive from death. Or a life potion. That brings you back from
death.

Attack dice is Beef + weapons damage.  Roll # of attack dice. Count
successes (4 thru 6). Damage is what gets thru your opponents Defense dice
successes.
Defense dice is calculated by Zip + armor

At every even level you also get a skill from your race or your class. The
skill are well thought out and you dont have to take them in any order.

At every level I think you get a new spell to use for sorcerers and
clerics.
On top of the Races and Classes, your character can join an adventurers
guild which have deed or money requirements. It adds a lot of flavor to the
game.

Your equipment piece has a level requirement attached to it. Artifacts are
found during the scenarios and they are once found and kept artifacts.

Character and Squad advancement

You know I might say that this game has a lot of potential, but that phrase
is often loaded with weird intent. The game is GREAT and it is complete.
Currently it is sold by the Author and artist himself Alex Bermudez. So
what do you get for fifteen measly bucks?

The main book is 145 pages.  it covers Character Creation, Combat rules and
options for the players and monsters. It comes with optional rules. A
campaign section and a role play section.

In addition you will receive a separate full color campaign book with 35
adventures in it.  You also get a 90+ page game component book with about
160 print and play cards, Dungeon components (tables chests tokes standups)
and a professionally developed tile set. I mounted mine using chip board
and laser labels. There are close to thirty 8 by 8 inch times. The work
that went into the tiles is quite impressive.    Finally there is another
file containing play aids. I went to the authors forum boards and found a
Tileset expansion for the tileset app. I dont have that program. Ill have
to get back to you on that.

This game could be easily adapted to run the darkcity.com games solo
quests/group quests.

The game has a lot of heart, and  smarts. Its obvious that this is a true
labor of love, and I feel that it has to be lifted out of the shadows so
that its can sparkle in all its humorous glory.

Content: 5 out of 5. No kidding. There is nothing missing. I hope he
kickstarts. This game rivals the pros (Descent and warhammer quest)

Art: 5 out of 5. Professional quality components. Nuff said.

Quality: Very professional.

Gamplay: This is a very well thought out game. I ran through the solo and I
cant see any problems

Over all: I hope to be running this for a group soon.

I cant say enough good things here. I probably need to edit this review. I
didnt look it over yet.

Ill do that later, Cheers.

=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"