I RELEASED Trapdoor - rules for tabletop dungeon crawling penned by yours truly - back in December, but aside from some rather insipid plugs haven't really done much else on DitD in the way of purposeful promotion/support. I decided to remedy this shortcoming by posting a series of tutorials which should provide readers with a vague idea of what Trapdoor is all about and perhaps, if they like what they see, persuade some to pick up a copy (the pdf is a mere £5/$8, see link at end). Before ploughing ahead, first I shall attempt a quick synopsis of the systems' intentions and concepts.
- Trapdoor is a miniature-centric dungeon crawl game with a dusting of rpg-elements. It has been designed with fun and playability in mind.
- Predictably the game pits a GM against a group of hero players (2-6 is recommended); the GM controls the world and creatures that the players interact with.
- Each gaming session is focused upon a quest designed by the GM, which generally involves the exploration and looting of a subterranean area punctuated by not infrequent fights with disgruntled occupants.
- There are four races and six classes from which players can choose to create their heroes. Starting heroes have predetermined characteristics, traits and equipment, but there is plenty of scope for advancement using a simple system of 'advancement points'. Provided they don't die it takes literally dozens of quests before heroes 'max-out'.
- All models have six characteristics - Speed (SPE), Bravery (BRA), Accuracy (ACC), Melee (MEL), Fortitude (FOR) and Vitality (VIT) - plus traits and equipment.
- The rules include a large bestiary and lists for weapons, armour, equipment et cetera.
- It uses d10 and users need to provide their own modular dungeon tiles, miniatures et cetera.
That would seem to provide a sufficiently casual overview and hopefully any incognizant readers will now be possessed of at least an inkling of what I'm on about.
The first tutorial will introduce the reader to the two games phases: Exploration and Encounter and a few of the basic concepts/mechanics relating to these. Right, here we go...
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| The beginning of a quest! Ardkill (Dwarf Barbarian) and Sir Pubert (an improbably attired Human Knight) descend a stairwell to be confronted by a dank corridor. Unbeknownst to them here is a junction ahead, but as it can't be seen by the heroes the GM hasn't placed it yet. Trapdoor is split into alternating Exploration and Encounter phases. As there are no enemies on the uncovered quest area it is currently an Exploration phase. During Explorations a strict marching order must be set and adhered to throughout the quest. In both phases models may move and perform an action (or vice-versa). Some actions are specific to particular phases or are restricted depending in which phase they are attempted. |
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| Sir Pubert leads the marching order. He moves forward five squares (his SPE characteristic) and then decides to use his action to Search the corridor, which if successful will turn up any hidden features (traps, secret doors and so forth). Searching requires an Observation (OBS) Roll on 1d10, with a result of 6+ signifying success. Pubert rolls an '8'! The GM looks over his quest map and tell the player that there are no hidden features in the corridor, but that there is a left-leading corridor up ahead. Ardkill moves four squares (his SPE characteristic) and the turn is over. |
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| Turn two. Sir Pubert moves forward and the GM stops him in order to reveal the next portion of the quest map: another corridor; this time punctuated by a doorway! |
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| The Knight continues his movement and reaches the doorway, which the GM informs him is unlocked. He decides to Search this new corridor, but rolls a '2': failure. |
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| Ardkill moves and also elects to Search the area. Alas, the Barbarian's OBS Roll is a '4' and he too fails to find anything. An area may only be searched twice, so whether-or-not there are hidden features here the heroes must press on. |
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| Turn three. Sir Pubert uses his action to open the door, praying that it isn't trapped. It isn't and the room beyond is empty. The two enter the room and Arkill successfully Searches it, turning up 7 gold schillings amongst a lot of moth-eaten fur coats in the old wardrobe. |
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| Turn four. The heroes assemble at the doorway and Ardkill uses his action to ease it open. The room beyond is inhabited: the current Exploration phase immediately ends and an Encounter phase begins. GMinions (as monsters are styled in Trapdoor) should be marked on the GM's quest map as being either 'relaxed' or 'alert'. If relaxed the heroes automatically take the first turn; if alert then the discovering hero must make an OBS Roll to see who surprises who! In this instance the Orc Warriors are alert. Ardkill makes an OBS Roll and scores '9': a success. The heroes may go first! |
Well, if that hasn't put you into a deep coma then my heartiest congratulations! The next instalment will see our intrepid heroes doing battle with the orcs, introducing the reader to Trapdoor's moron-friendly melee mechanics (how's that for an alliteration!). On a more serious note, I do hope that the above made some manner of sense and if you have any queries please comment below or message me at the address provided in my profile-thing (top right). Obviously I'm not giving the entire game away through these tutorials, but rather providing a general overview of the system.
If you wish to take the plunge and order a copy of Trapdoor then please click on the image below, where both digital and print formats are available:
