Check out the complete Twisted Tunnels playtest PDF to learn more and try it out.

I published a new draft of Twisted Tunnels last night with 3 surgical changes. 2 of the changes focused on removing unnecessary complexity.

Dexterity and Spellcasting

I dropped the Dexterity requirement for learning more Elder spells.

This game has spells that consume Strength when you cast them, like classic Tunnels & Trolls. One feature of T&T I tried to emulate was the fact that higher level spells required higher levels of Intelligence, and Dexterity (though at a slower rate).

I love the idea of more advanced spells requiring more and more elaborate hand movements and precision coordination, and that’s what T&T offers. In T&T, this parallels the weapon and armor lists, which are also classed so that using the items is gated behind minimum Dexterity and Strength requirements.

But I already removed spell levels from my game, using their raw Strength cost as THE principle differentiator of higher powered spells. Spell levels seemed like an unnecessary vestige of OD&D, serving little purpose compared to casting cost (in D&D, a spell’s level IS its casting cost). I kept Intelligence and Dexterity requirements, but linked them to expanding your repertoire instead of unlocking higher levels of magic; that is, unlocking more powerful classes of spells.

The truth is, having spells gated, one by one, behind both Intelligence AND Dexterity was a detail I have routinely overlooked in play.

The parallel requirements for weapons and armor were already not part of this game, so there was no symmetry to maintain.

Does that make Dexterity irrelevant to spellcasting? No! Many spells require a caster to throw them, which requires a Dexterity Saving Roll. And using a wand as your wizard’s brand allows you to throw even more spells from the list!

Berserk: Going Bananas Has Never Been Simpler

I simplified the procedure for berserk fighting significantly!—by linking it to the terror check and terror pool. I’m eager to playtest this new procedure today.

The gist is, going berserk used to have 4 separate triggers, and now it has 2. Before delvers probably got berserk more than we noticed, because it could be triggered by your dice running hot in combat or by getting wounded.

Now, players can choose to go berserk by spending a style point, or have it happen to them, if a terror check during combat is higher than their INT.

The effect of going berserk is likewise linked to the terror pool. Basically, the player gets to add the terror pool to their combat rolls, but they ADD a die to the pool every time they return dice to the referee. Going berserk creates growing dread!

The Pit of Ultimate Darkness as a Ponzi Scheme

On Saturday, one of our Magic-Users chose to forgo the proletarian work of casting spells with his Strength and instead invoked the Unseen Awful Powers for EVERYTHING! Without gathering ingredients or staging rituals on the appropriate dungeon level.

The resulting shenanigans were epic, and now the character is no longer even kind-of human, and confined eternally to the dungeon. No worries! He has a plan to roll his current troubles into his next petition to the Unseen Awful Powers, using them like a Ponzi scheme.

This is where the malefic referee merely smiles, and says, “Why go right ahead! Be my guest. Help yourself to more! Would you like a drink with that?”

Still, with these petitions requiring nothing more than calling upon the Darkness out loud, a Magic-User might fall into the delusion that they have ample breathing room. And the referee might become reactive and fail to keep up.

The fix is simple: When invoking the Unseen Awful Powers on credit, as it were—that is, without a ritual that meets the requirements—the referee smiles while adding a number of dice to the terror pool equal to the dungeon level required by the ritual.

Sound fun? Download Twisted Tunnels playtest PDF here.