Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition by Alan Bahr is a role playing game supplement published by Gallant Knight Games. This is the core rulebook for the system.
The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a PDF for $17.99, as a softcover print on demand book for $24.99, as a hardcover print on demand book for $24.99, as softcover and PDF for $29.99 or as hardcover and PDF for $39.99. The supplement can also be bought in hardcopy from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed, although it was purchased at a greatly reduced price as part of a special bundle. The PDF has 209 pages with two being the front and rear covers, one the front matter and two the Table of Contents. There are two additional single page PDFs, one showing the zones for combat and the other being a character sheet.
The Introduction explains that this is a minimalistic RPG that lacks classes, levels and experience points. Characters grow through role playing. Familiarity with RPGs is assumed but the basic mechanics should be easy to understand by anyone.
Getting Started explains what is needed to play; at least two people, three d6 (the only dice used in the system; the overall system is called Tiny d6) and writing materials. An index card is large enough to fit all the information on. Maps and miniatures are not required but may be helpful.
How to Play explains the rules. The fundamental mechanic is the Test. 2d6 are rolled and success is usually if a 5 or a 6 shows on either dice. Certain Traits can give advantage, which means 3d6 can be rolled, and other situations give Disadvantage, reducing it to 1d6. Only certain magical items allow more than 1d6 to be rolled when at Disadvantage; other benefits do not apply. Obstacles and Save Tests are situations where Tests are rolled.
Combat is done by rolling Initiative, with the highest number going first and so on. Creatures have two Actions and can move or attack, each of which uses an Action. Attacking is another type of Test and there are several combat actions. There are three types of weapons, which have different ranges when using optional Zones rules. These rules have three different Zones; certain weapons can only attack from certain Zones.
Hit Points are how easy a creature is to kill. They are determined by Heritage and every successful hit deals 1 damage. Lost Hit Points can be regained by sleeping and at 0 a creature starts to die. Hiding and sneaking are again tests.
Magic is handled through various Traits. There are two primary ones, and several lesser. Spell Readers use scrolls to do magic; Spell-Touched do not. It is possible for a creature to have both Traits. There are no specific spells, just general guidelines.
More optional rules follow, this time on Experience & Character Growth. The minimalist advancement has characters gaining new Traits every three sessions, to a maximum of seven. Experience is slightly more complex and can be exchanged for more HP, a new weapon skill or a new Trait. 1-3 experience should be awarded per session. It’s stated that this is a minimalist system and that the Game Master provides a ruling on any situation that isn’t covered.
Adventurer Creation is on how to create a character. Characters have different Heritages, each of which has different abilities. They then select three Traits, a weapon group to be proficient with, a family trade and a belief. The different Heritages are described, and there’s a fair range, then the Traits. Weapons are covered in basic detail and items and equipment are not covered much deeper than what’s in an Adventurer’s Kit.
Another optional rule is Item Tracking. Characters can have six inventory spaces, each with three slots, and different items take up different numbers of slots. Once full, there is no room to carry any more items. This is stated as being inspired by old computer RPGs and MMOs. There is also an optional rule on depleting items through use.
For the Game Master starts with rules on running adventures, with an example. Enemies are next, which has basic rules on such followed by examples; dinosaurs have their own section for some reason.
Next is a new section purely on Optional Riles. There are Prestige Traits, which require a qualifying Trait, and these are essentially the closest the system comes to classes. Animal Companions has rules for such. Magical Disciplines has different types of magic used by one of the Prestige Traits, the Archmage. Martial Disciplines has martial arts Techniques used by another Prestige Trait, the Grandmaster. There are optional combat rules, with critical hits and misses, variable weapon damage, armour and damage reduction, new Traits for armour and rules for ships and mounts.
The Adventure Generator is a set of five tables; Verb, Subject, Place, Hindrance and Antagonist, each of which contains six columns and six rows that can be rolled on to create adventure ideas.
Microsettings takes up the rest of the supplement and this has 20 briefly described settings of a variety of types. These have been done by different authors and there is no common layout to them. They can include new monsters and new Traits or perhaps just be setting background.
Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition in Review
The PDF is decently bookmarked with major sections linked, although depth could be greater. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of detail and is also hyperlinked. Navigation is decent but it could be better. The text maintains a single column format and some minor errors were noticed. There is a fair amount of black and white artwork, including for each heritage and monster, all of which looks to be custom. Presentation is good.
The supplement looks bigger than it really is. The pages are digest sized and there isn’t a huge amount of text on them, so it really is a minimalist system. Approximately 120 pages, more than half, of the supplement is taken up by the microsettings. A good chunk of the rest is taken up by optional rules. The truly core rules do not take up much space and the fundamental mechanic – roll 2d6, altered to 3d6 or 1d6 sometimes – is definitely easy to grasp. This truly is an easy system to learn. It might be harder to play for anyone more familiar with modern systems that tend to have a rule for anything, because this very definitely does not. Lots of things are down to the GM; even whether or not a magic effect is possible is up to them.
Similarly, none of the settings are covered in any great detail; there are the bare bones of settings but not much more, although there are some supplements in the Tiny Trove that expand existing microsettings. This system is definitely minimalist, but it definitely puts more work on the GM. Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition is a minimalist d6 system and it can be found by clicking here.
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