Dungeon & Delvers is a fascinating take on the Dungeons & Dragons. Awful Good Games has combined elements from earlier iterations of D&D, creating a system that is: flexible, internally consistent, and user friendly. The rulebook is organized and attractive looking, the art has a stylized art look reminiscent of the Hellboy comics.
There are several major departures from it's predecessors. Vancian magic has been replaced by two new new systems: arcane casters use a mana system, divine casters use divine favors. The mechanics support the flavor of Arcane casters powering their spells from within, and Divine casters calling on a external power to aid them. The typical range of attributes has been changed to just the derived modifier. Hit points are fixed per level and divided into two kinds: one representing fatigue and superficial injuries, the other more serious ones. Armor adds to the characters defense and gives damage reduction. Each of the classes has a list of customized talents that evens the playing field a bit between martial and arcane/ divine casters.
The system has lots of modification potential. I can see elements from FATE melding quite nicely with Dungeons & Delvers. The few things I was not a fan of can be house rules with a minimum of fuss.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |