r/DRPG

Twitter post: https://twitter.com/r_rdein/status/2106792696647926219

Here is the link to the blog post in case you can't open twitter: https://www.bombservice.com/post/record-of-dorathia

I've been building a first-person, grid-based party crawler in the Bard's Tale mold (the gameplay, not the story). It runs in a browser with nothing to install, and Chapter 1 is open for playtesting: 

https://dungeoncrawler.app

Needs a keyboard: desktop, laptop, or a tablet with one. No account or email. Start a new game, name your party, and you're in. 

Up front because some of you may care: the art is AI-generated and edited by me; the code was written with AI assistance. The rules system, the maps, the quest and the dialog are my own, based on my experience playing and DM’ing various tabletop RPGs back in the day.

I have lots of fond memories playing Bard's Tale on my PCjr, and I enjoyed replaying the remastered trilogy a couple years ago. I always wanted to take a stab at creating that style of game. I'm not an artist and never will be, but I have a background in web development and recently found myself with some extra time, so I decided to use that time to see if I could build something playable. 

What might interest this sub

• The journal sketches the dungeon walls as you walk. If you get lost, you end up with separate map pieces and have to fit them together yourself. I tried to recreate the process of building your own maps…  Graph paper, minus the paper.  You decide what is important to record and put your own notes in the journal.
• No reloading for a mulligan. Your game state lives on the server, so there's no power switch to reach for.  If your party dies in the dungeon, you wake up in town, with less silver in the party’s purse.
• Turn-based combat. Give everyone their orders, then the round plays out. Stamina buys harder hits, mana buys and scales spells.  Each PC can advance or retreat on their own, mobs close the distance, and reach decides who can hit whom.
• Mana comes back with rest.  Camp in the dungeon (requires rations) or head back to town. 
• Five races, attributes and skills, no classes. Use the pre-rolled party or build your own. Progression is slow on purpose: characters are meant to carry across campaigns, not turn into demigods by the end of Chapter 1.
• There's a town on top, and you have to find the dungeon. The overworld is mostly vignettes and NPCs; the real crawling is in the dungeon.

What I'm asking for 

Chapter 1, Whispers Beneath Caerwyn, is a complete quest. My guess is ~4 hours, but I'd like a real number so please tell me how long it takes you. Let me know where you got stuck, where you got bored, whether the fights felt fair, and what broke. Reply here or DM me.

One thing I'd especially like opinions on: Is this style of game worth building today?  My wife and kids think I’m crazy and that no one will play it. This is the style of game I enjoy the most – am I alone in that feeling in today’s world?

Worth knowing before you click

Dungeon movement is keyboard only. Menus work with a keyboard, mouse or a finger.

Online only, by design.

It's a playtest. Expect rough edges and a balance pass or two. Chapter 1's monsters and puzzles are beginner level on purpose.

What's next

Chapter 1 will always be free. The rest of the Ashes of the Forgotten campaign is still being built (I expect 20+ hours playtime when complete), along with more spells, uncommon gear and crafting. The first ten people who finish Chapter 1 and send feedback get a Founder code that unlocks every later chapter. Include your party name so I can confirm the finish.

Everything in the game was made with the engine's own browser-based editors (maps, NPCs, dialog, encounters). If there's interest, I'd like to release those so other people can build campaigns.

I'm making Dragon's Tear, the idle dungeon crawler I shared here recently. Someone read Wren as a class abbreviation in my last video, which made me realise I should explain the party more clearly. Wren was a character name.

The current build has four classes: Knight, Barbarian, Black Mage and Ranger. Three heroes go on an expedition, and I’m planning 10 classes in total. The Knight can draw attacks and protect allies. The Black Mage has spells and curses, while the Ranger can mark and poison enemies. The Barbarian has attacks for groups and weakened targets.

This clip takes a closer look at the party and skill screens before a fight. You choose the skills and orders, then the party explores and fights automatically. Each hero can also equip one Tear carrying a monster's power.

Which Etrian classes do you enjoy building a party around, and what makes them work for you? I'd also like to hear what kind of class you'd want in a three-person party like this.

The game is still in development for Windows, with release planned for Q1 2027. Steam page.

I'm working on a new retro-style game inspired by the Ultima series that includes standard DRPG first-person dungeon crawling combined with overhead map traversal.

It's called Contract Terminated, and is a scifi-themed game where you need to survive on a hostile planet.

It's here on Steam if you'd like to take a look:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4889010/Contract_Terminated/

I really don't know whether the Ultima-type games count as DRPGs since they're half first-person dungeon crawling and half overhead map traversal. I guess that makes them half-DRPG? Is there a category/name for hybrids like that?

Lathmar: The Fallen Depths is a dark fantasy Dungeon Roleplaying Game focused on exploration, dangerous multi-dungeon delves, and a near-roguelite sense of risk and discovery.

Lathmar is a direct descendant and reimagining of Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol, an old-school Windows classic from the 90ies.

It has a rich historical foundation and backstory, from which we're also developing free role-playing material.
https://lathmar.de/