New Boss Monster and Dungeon Keeper-esque RPG is about building your own lair
Kobolds on Craigslist.
Re-build a lair after the adventurers have up and gone in Dungeon Local 001, a Boss Monster and Dungeon Keeper-esque tabletop roleplaying game.
Described as a “reverse-dungeon crawling RPG”, Dungeon Local 001 has players becoming the residents of a newly cleared out lair with big dreams of dungeon ownership. The fantasy roleplaying game – which is compatible with Dungeon & Dragons 5E – takes place after the lair has already been accosted by an adventuring party, with its boss now lying defeated and its hallways sat empty. This is the perfect time for the player characters to move in and make the space their own, remapping its layout and shaping it to their liking.
In the upcoming RPG, each player creates a character from a selection of classic fantasy minion species such as kobolds, goblins and more, before selecting a role for them to perform as part of the renovations. A character’s job represents what they used to do under the now dead overlord, with players able to choose from roles like an assistant – who helped with the boss scheme and keep track of their treasure horde – to an engineer in charge of designing traps to just being a big ol’ monster guarding the lair’s various rooms. Player characters will get a special ability depending on their chosen profession, alongside unique memories of their time working for the boss.
However, with the boss now gone, the player characters have the opportunity to explore their real passions, the ones they kept under-wraps during their employment. These passions will drive characters’ motivations and help shape their ideas for reforming the dungeon, which may cause them to clash with the other members of the renovation group. As they explore the dungeon, the party may come across various dangers left behind by the boss or adventurers, such as still active traps, aggressive creatures or even heroes that might have gotten lost inside its bowels. Whenever they encounter these dangers, the players will have to be prepared to take action against them.
As a GM-less roleplaying game, Dungeon Local 001 takes inspiration from the Forged in the Dark gameplay system created by John Harper – and used for their RPG, Blades in the Dark – with players having to roll several d6 dice whenever their character attempts to overcome an obstacle. Should anyone in the group ever fail their rolls and suffer too much stress, then the group can agree to make camp and share their stories of the boss.
Dungeon Local 001 was created by Michael Elliott, a games designer who has previously worked on titles such as the graffiti inspired RPG for two players Sense and Stencibility, a roleplaying game about the consequences of revolution called Nasty, Brutish & Long and Neon Black, a cyberpunk-style RPG. The illustration and graphic design for Dungeon Local 001 was created by Daniel Salcido, who has also created artwork for the RPG Inspiria: Fantasy Roleplay.
The Kickstarter campaign for Dungeon Local 001 is live until March 2nd, with a pledge of CA$ 18 (£11/$14) getting backers a copy of the physical book in May. Alternatively, a digital PDF version of the game is available for a pledge of CA$ 8 (£5/$6).