Welcome back to the weekly Tabletop Games thread! This thread is where we can talk about all kinds of RPGs, card games, board games, etc. Whether you gather around a physical table in the real world, or use a virtual space to play with friends who may live far away from you, this is where you can discuss your favorites, ask for and/or receive recommendations, recap your recent adventures, or even find some people to play games with!

This week’s prompt: Handsome Young Dugong brings us another game overview!

Hey everybody, it’s time for another TTRPG system write-up, this time with a fantasy dungeon crawler for all ages, Tiny Dungeon.

What is it?
Tiny Dungeon is a lightweight rpg with simple mechanics, forgiving odds, and all your favorite fantasy tropes. Character creation is quick and easy, there are a bunch of micro-settings in the manual, and you can fight and/or befriend a dinosaur. What’s not to like, really?

What are the mechanics?
The main mechanic of the game is a 2d6 roll with success occurring when you roll a five or six on any die. This covers skill checks, attacks, and initiative rolls, endurance rolls, anything that could have a major impact on success or failure. Traits or abilities can give characters an extra die on certain rolls, and more or less replace traditional classes for a character.

What does the gameplay look like?
Bergar the Karhu (bear person) and his human sidekick Kip are traveling through the woods when they discover an overturned caravan cart. Inspecting the cart, they hear a weak voice from beneath it. Bergar prepares to lift the cart, rolling 3d6 because he has the “Strong” trait. He rolls 1, 2, and 5, a success, so he is able to heft the cart up enough for Kip to pull the merchant from underneath it. Kip has the “Healer” trait, so he rolls to treat the merchant’s wounds. Unfortunately, Kip only rolls a 3 and a 4. The merchant rallies all his strength to utter the words “it’s….a….trap.” The GM instructs the players to roll initiative as they notice glowing eyes in the woods around them.

Niche
This is a great roleplaying game to play with people who aren’t…roleplaying game people. I taught my (then) four-year-old to play, and he’s been able to build on that experience.

Pluses
-The artwork is appealing and the T-Rexes have feathers.
-The character creation and mechanics make for a quick start to the game.

Minuses
-The single dice roll mechanic may get a little tedious after a while, so you might want to call for rolls only when the stakes are particularly high.
-The base magic system is reasonable enough, but there isn’t a list of specific spells for the scroll-reading ability.

Dugong’s advice
-There is an actual play of the game’s designer playing on YouTube.
-My son and I have gotten a lot of mileage out of looking through the bestiary and just picking a monster as a character. They tend to use similar abilities to PCs, so it works just fine.

Where can I find it?
You can buy print books or pdfs at either DriveThruRPG or the Gallant Knight Games online shop.

Thanks again to Handsome Young Dugong for providing this write-up! If you would like to suggest a prompt or contribute a write-up or discussion topic of your own, let me know in the comments!