The game contains a number of decks of cards, each with their own specific mechanics, it also features two sets of rules. The Rulebook, which has a fairly concise set of the overall game rules (which apply to every game played). The Adventure Book contains a variety of different scenarios for players to choose from, each one having a different story & usually a unique set of additional rules which are only present in that single scenario.

This is the scenario I played, it features a goal to slay a certain boss monster and the tile generation for this mission has a method of ensuring a goal tile is between a fixed number of tiles away from the start of the stack. This is accomplished by taking away the goal tile from the total stack, then shuffling it into a separate pile of 4 tiles, then placing that new stack (now containing 5 tiles) into the main pile again 8 tiles down. This creates a situation where the goal tile is between 9-13 tiles away from the top of the stack. This is an effective method of creating random chance within pre-determined confines. It can never be too quick or too slow to complete. I found this a compelling mechanic for controlling a random element.

The heroes will choose a character, and they have certain abilities they can perform each turn, which are detailed on cards. The use of cards to explain each ability means that the core rulebook is rarely referred to, which helps to maintain the flow of the game. However, the game does quickly become bogged down in many cards of different varieties as the game goes on. There is certainly something to take away from this (particularly the fact that each character has unique abilities, which helps to make each player stand out).

The players are represented by 28mm scale figures, and move around the board using movement squares (the character sheets state how many squares a character may move in a turn). When a character ends their turn next to a blank tile edge (as the character in the lower part of the board, above), he/she may take a tile from the stack and 'explore'.

The dungeon tile stack. This contains further dungeon elements and usually contains a goal tile to reach (which will in turn produce a goal monster to defeat).

When a tile is drawn, some information on the tile will tell the players what should happen next. The white triangle above indicates the direction the tile should be placed (towards the hero figure that explored it) as well as telling the players that a monster card should be drawn. The arrow used for tile direction is a way of ensuring that a player never draws a tile with wall in the way of the hero's path, which could block the players in and create an unwinnable scenario.

The monster cards show a picture of the monster, which accurately represents the model used for it, as well as it's name and creature AI. I found the AI mechanics to be very effective, and will be taking some elements from them in my game, as it creates a form of opponent which reacts to game situations with no need for an opposing player. The creature AI follows a simple set of IF/THEN conditions (rudimentary computer code, in a sense) and this allows the creatures to move around and attack the player based on pre-existing conditions.

The game also features some random events which can occur based on the colour of triangle symbol drawn on the dungeon tiles, or through the act of not exploring on a turn. The events are usually negative effects, but they almost always contain a small amount of descriptive story text, which helps to set the scene. They never present a coherent narrative (each is simply a random isolated event), which I think is unfortunate.

When a player defeats a monster, they will be rewarded with XP from the monster itself (used to make the hero more powerful). And additionally a treasure card as well, which have unique powers, and usually make the hero more powerful too. This is a good incentive for dealing with the monsters running around the dungeon, which isn't present in another game I've been looking into this week: Descent. However, I will go into Descent in another post. Having lots of little rewards is quite an effective way of spurring a player to accomplish a goal, so this is definitely something for me to take away.

As each turn passes and more of the dungeon is explored the game area is built up. Seeing the location expand like this in what is essentially an infinite set of permutations is quite satisfying, and is something I will consider for my own variation on this type of game.

I've learnt a lot of interesting mechanics from this game, and I think a few in particular will definitely make their way into my own project. Of particular note is the way the opposing force (the dungeon & its denizens) controls itself and feels like it's actively working against the players. The creature AI is a very compelling component of the game, and I would like to expand upon this in some manner. The event cards had potential for creating a narrative, but unfortunately there was no coherent story which resulted from their isolated incidents. Perhaps with some tweaking, and maybe the inclusion of mechanics from one of the other games I am investigating (such as Mansions of Madness, which is detailed in another blog post), I could work the event cards into a strong narrative tool.