It is elegant, well thought-out and fun... for "low-level" play, at least. The characters can quickly become almost demigods, stronger monsters require you to roll tens of dice (and then sum them all up). The section about monsters overall is pretty lacking, in my honest opinion. It tells you how the monsters work but the "bestiary" is only a few monsters, which completely does not give me the vaguest idea of what is going to be too easy, what is going to be overpowered.

That said, the way of describing monsters (their strength, HP and EXP is just one number) is genious. The three classes are well thought-out, the kindreds all follow the same multiplier mechanic, which makes creating a character a walk in the park. It only uses d6s.

The legendary classic version. So many of the current players grew up on this, as did I. Although now superceeded by Delux, my version is a mix of 5th and Delux. So many years this was the standard, so many adventures and solos based on this. As a game system it is great, though improved in Delux. Always worth having this one.

First off, let me say that I love love LOVE this game. I have multiple copies of this edition. Tunnels & Trolls is a game that was designed to be easy and inexpensive, with a minimum of extra cost & material needed to play. It's fast, fun and flexible. It's loaded with tropes, but not weighted down with lore. Easy to learn, easy to teach and fun to play. Combat is deadly and often unbalanced. Character mortality can be very high. None of this has ever kept me from having an absolute BLAST playing T&T.

T&T uses either a variant of 2d6 vs. target number that is very scaleable, or a simple both sides compare and highest roll wins mechanic. It's simple and intuitive. It works well, and is easily dialed if/as needed.

Some might find T&T a little threadbare, but I find its simplicity refreshing. Easy to play, easy to run, it's a great game whose genius is often overlooked.

If you're looking for a lot of class options, or tactical depth, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a deadly earnest game that takes itself seriously, look elsewhere. If you're looking for old school fun and adventure with a healthy lashing of humor, look no further.

T&T can be played with a group or solo (don't get attached to the characters if you play solo, though lol), and is a hoot either way. There are many great modules for it, so many (including third party) that I doubt anyone could play them all.

T&T is more Lieber than Tolkien (though ot does have some of the latter's elements), and that suits me fine.

Now for the bad: There is one, and only one, spell that has a horribly racist name. I know it costs money to do so, But I'd really like to see Flying Buffalo take the initiative to rename that spell, as they did in later editions. They obviously know it's unacceptable, or they wouldn't have changed it. I know you want to do the right thing, as evidenced by your alteration of art from the City of Terrors module.So, please, FBI, go back and alter this appropriately. It's overdue. This ruleset was ahead of its time (and ahead of its peers) in certain ways, such as not making sex-based distinctions in stats, height or weight, but that spell name has got to go. Slavery isn't funny. I say this as a Massive T&T fan. Do that, and I can happily alter my review.

Bottom Line: one of the best games ever, with one glaring, jarring bit of racism spoiling everyone's fun.

UPDATE: The publisher, FLying Buffalo, Inc., has taken swift and decisive action to remove the offending spell name from previous editions of the PDF! This took less than 3 weeks. Other publishers: there is a lesson here. Also, FBI took care to match the fonts up to the existing books, so the transition is seamless! I love this game, and this publisher!

This game really is complete in 100 pages. That's the reason it was the standard edition of T&T for so long and is still prefered by many. The character stats fit on an index card, and the system is incredibly simple: each side rolls a number of dice based on weopons etc, with magic and ranged combat having slightly different procedures, the highest total wins the round. The difference in the totals is the damage to be spread over the combatants on the loosing side. Armor may soak some damage. Ranged combat, magic, just about everything else are handled through a saving roll system. The most inovative aspect of T&T is the Monster Rating. MR indicates the number of dice monsters roll and acts as their hit points. The book has benchmarks and suggestions for customizing monsters, but like all aspects of this game, it's up to the GM to narrate the details. This is pretty standard Tolkienesque fantasy but could aslo emulate Howard, Leiber, etc. There are four classes and fourty plus kindred, or race, options. The book gives a lot of space to weapon descriptions and includes sections on unarmed combat, breserker combat and firearms. Finding an easier frpg to play with new players would be difficult.

One only need look at the names of the spells to see that T&T does not take itself seriously. The original edition of D&D didn't either, but by '79 D&D was taking itself more and more seriously as it moved into Advanced territory. The art here is arguably better than that in the AD&D books of '78 and '79. By the late '80s systems like D&D, Palladium and Rolemaster got caught in the trap of having to stat everything. Even the new Deluxe Edition of T&T avoids that. If the rule's not in the book, talk it out, or house rule something.

What distinguishes 5th edition Tunnels & Trolls from the new Deluxe Edition, and some would argue makes it a closer representation of Sword & Scorcery and High Fantasy literature is fewer stats. All magic is psionic and costs strength to use. Take a look at how magic is handled in Lord of the Rings, etc, and you'll see that more or less reflected here. The default setting of Trollword is implied but not front and center, like in the Deluxe version.

What you will not find in T&T5 are detailed descriptions of monster races, etc. The assumption was in the '70s that roleplayers would be avid readers of myths, legends and fantasy fiction. This should not deter a new GM. There's always the magic of Google. If the game has one flaw, it's a flaw shared by FRPGs of the time. T&T5 is a bit Eurocentric, but even so, has more references to Asian monsters, etc than D&D did at the time.

I discovered T&T around '87, and it's still one of my favorite FRPGs. Tunnels & Trolls has always been for fans by fans. That shows in the longevity of this edition.