Dungeon Roll

Dungeon Roll is a compact push-your-luck dice game for one to four players, designed by Chris Darden. Players take turns as the active Adventurer, delving a dungeon that is nothing more than a bag of dice. Each delve is a run of tempting decisions — press deeper for greater rewards, or retreat before your luck runs out — and after three delves each, the player with the most experience wins.

The dice & how you roll

Two sets of dice do all the work. The party dice are the heroes you recruit; the dungeon dice are the dangers and rewards you uncover as you descend.

Each hero counters certain foes especially well — broadly, Fighters handle Goblins, Clerics banish Skeletons and Mages dissolve Oozes, while Thieves excel with Chests and Champions are versatile all-rounders. A single well-matched hero can wipe out all monsters of its favoured type at once, which is the heart of the game’s efficiency puzzle.

How to play

At the start of your delve you roll seven party dice to form your company for the turn, and one player acts as the Dungeon Lord who rolls the black dice. You also hold a Hero card with special powers and an ultimate ability. Then you descend, one level at a time:

• The Dungeon Lord rolls a number of dungeon dice equal to the current level (one on level 1, two on level 2, and so on).
• You resolve the level — spend party dice to defeat every monster shown, and choose whether to open Chests (with a Thief or Champion) and quaff Potions to recall spent heroes.
• Dragons don’t fight yet. Any Dragon faces are set aside in the Dragon’s Lair. Once three collect there, a dragon attacks and you must pay three different hero types to slay it for a bonus.
• Then decide: go one level deeper for more experience and treasure, or flee and bank your delve safely.

The catch: you must defeat every monster on a level to continue. If you can’t — and you can’t or won’t flee — your Adventurer is defeated and the delve ends with reduced reward. Experience comes from how deep you reached plus treasure collected. After every player has delved three times, the highest experience total wins.

Strategy

• Spend heroes efficiently. One hero of the right type clears every matching monster on the level — save your specialists for the moment several of their foes appear together.
• Value the Champion and Scroll. Champions substitute for any hero (though usually one-for-one against monsters), and Scrolls let you re-roll, smoothing out an ugly opening throw.
• Watch the Dragon’s Lair. Dragons accumulate silently. Keep a spread of different hero types in reserve so you can pay the three-different-type cost when the dragon strikes.
• Know when to flee. Deeper levels roll more dungeon dice, so danger compounds. Bank a strong delve rather than gambling a good score on one more risky level.
• Use Potions well. Potions revive spent party dice, but you choose the face when you do — bring back the hero type you most need next, or grab extra Champions.

Common mistakes

• Over-killing with specialists. Using two Fighters on two Goblins wastes a die — one Fighter defeats all Goblins on the level at once.
• Forgetting the “clear the level” rule. You cannot descend while monsters remain unbeaten; plan your dice before committing to go deeper.
• Ignoring the Dragon’s Lair. Delvers get surprised when the third Dragon lands and they’ve no three distinct heroes left to pay it.
• Pushing one level too far. The classic push-your-luck trap — a defeat can cost most of the experience you’d built up.
• Cashing Chests without a Thief or Champion. Treasure needs the right hero to open it; grabbing Chests you can’t unlock does nothing.

Push-your-luck lives or dies on the odds. See how a fresh throw scatters by rolling a handful of dice in your browser before your next delve.

Keep reading: the dice-bag deck-builder Quarriors!.