Dungeon

By TSR

Dungeon (also seen as "Dungeon!") was a board game created by Gary Gygax and Michael Gray. It was sort of an alternative to Dungeons and Dragons for the crowd interested in the fantasy theme, but not wanting to get involved in all the complexities of role playing, and is especially suited to kids.

The game equipment consists of a board, 8 player tokens (2 of each of 4 different colors, each representing a different character class, 6 stacks of color-coded monster cards, 6 stacks of color-coded treasure cards, a stack of spell cards, a bunch of little cardboard gravestone markers, and a series of numbered cardboard tokens, two pieces of each number. The artwork on the board and cards is wonderful, with the board having a nice dungeon-like feel with it's yellowish hallways, color-coded rooms, eerily named chambers, and chaotic layout.

Gameplay is very simple, with the goal to get enough treasure to be worth your set gold piece goal, and get back to the starting chamber. Each player selects one of the player tokens, representing either a hero, elf, superhero, or wizard (only the hero or elf can be chosen in the simpler variant of the game). Each character type has a slightly different method of playing - the elf is slightly weaker in combat, but sees secret doors more easily. The superhero is stronger than either the elf or hero, but has a higher treasure requirement. The wizard is much weaker in combat, but has spells she can use (represented by spell cards) to fight monsters also. The hero and elf need 10,000 gold pieces worth of treasure to win, the superhero 20,000 gold, and the wizard 30,000 gold.

A player moves around simply by going from 1 to five spaces, fighting a monster, or searching for a secret door. Combat is done by entering a room or chamber, and drawing a monster card. Each monster card lists what each character type must roll to defeat it, then the player rolls two dice. If they roll at or above the required value, the monster is defeated - if not, they have to roll for the monster to fight back. Defeating a monster earns the player a treasure card, if the monster was defeated in a room, and a graveyard token is placed in the room to show that room has been cleared - nobody else can fight a monster there. Chambers have three monsters in them, killed one at a time, but no treasure.

Monster counterattacks are done according to a chart - anything above a 9 is safe, but lower numbers can cause you to drop treasure, and retreat spaces - or even go back to start (a roll of two kills your character, and you have to choose another token - if any are still unused - and start again). Dropped treasure is kept in the room, with the monster drawn still guarding it - that's what the number tokens are used for.

Wizard spells are selected before starting combat, choosing either "fireball" or "lightning", then drawing the monster. Some monsters are especially weak to one or the other, and others are completely immune. Spells are replaced after being used only by returning to the start space, the main stairwell.

Treasure for the most part consists of bags of gold, gems, and other various items of value fitting the theme, with a listing of their value in gold pieces at the bottom. The artwork is nicely done, making each treasure - especially the larger ones - seem like a fitting reward. The values vary according to the dungeon "level" (determined by the color coded rooms on the board) - first level treasure may consist of bags of 250 and 500 gold - but on the 6th level, the toughest, wonderful things await such as the Huge Diamond, worth 10,000 gold.

There are also a few special treasures, such as a magic sword that makes it easier to kill monsters, an ESP medallion that lets you peek at the monster in the room before entering, and even a Crystal Ball that lets you see what monster AND treasure await you in a room.

In 1989, TSR released "The New Dungeon", a revised version of the game with a few minor tweaks. The game board is larger, with larger rooms, allowing you to place a monster card in the room, instead of a grave marker. A couple more character classes were added, with new abilities. Players can now trade treasures - or fight each other to attempt to steal their treasure. The ability to be wounded was added, and healing chambers added to allow wounded players to recover. It is almost entirely superior to the original verison, fixing key problems, and making the game more enjoyable. In the mid 90's, it was released again, this time as "The Classic Dungeon" - same as The New Dungeon, with less cartoony artwork.

_{Source: The Board Game Geek Database, http://www.boardgamegeek.com}

A dungeon is a group of rooms connected by corridors. It can be a cave, an abandoned mine, or a crypt. It can be an ancient temple, the basement of a stormy castle, or anything you can imagine - as long as it is filled with monsters and treasure!

(from Dungeons & Dragons Game Rule Book, 1991 TSR Inc.)

The most familiar setting of the role-playing games that focus on hack-and-slash...

The words above from the rule book, and the similar words in the earlier editions of the game, have undoubtedly meant a lot to role-playing games and other fantasy-themed games.

What lies in the room ahead? Is it empty? Does it have some devilish traps? Are there monsters in there? Perhaps even a liar lair of those monsters? Or something completely different? Maybe treasures?

In the flicker of your torch, you look around. You've seen rooms like that many times before. You have placed a heavy treasure chest on your back and you, and your friends, walked home with that box of gold to mourn your dead comrades that perished on your journey. In the same flicker, you have seen strange magic, glitter of priceless jewels, strange scrolls with arcane languages written on them, and strange stuff that was invented by some long-forgotten person in Lake Geneva, WI.

This is your character's life, and it's ending one game turn at a time.
You're not your 2-handed sword.
You're not your plate mail.
You're not your fucking elven cloak...

...

Dungeons & Dragons was set, as the name suggests, in the Dungeons. Or, at least it always started from the dungeons - as the characters gained more experience and fame, they started adventuring also in outdoors, and finally settling down and starting to rule their own little realms of influence. The dungeons - the dark, scary, treasure-filled hellholes somewhere in dangerous places in middle of nowhere - were the springboard to the fame. Every adventurer, early in the career, goes in to the Dungeon to find some gold to buy something to fill stomach with, and some XP to get better stats.

The Dungeon was always an easy way to get the players used to basic game rules, such as combat - and the rest of the part of the rules that did not actually deal with "roleplaying". Learning the actual roleplaying could always wait until the second game... early in game it'd be more important to learn how to create a character and how to fight. You and your friends - the other characters - were just going for a stroll to a forgotten cave and bring back the rumored treasure that is guarded by some mindless monsters. What could be easier than that?

Not surprisingly, the Dungeons became the greatest thing that ever happened in computer RPGs. Since "go to the dungeon and bring back treasure" isn't too complicated to implement without an actual game master, it has always been the big favorite of the CRPG designers. And over the years, these people have done dungeon romps with fairly amazing amount of depth - Nethack still remains my favorite. While the plot can be condensed to "go down there, bring back an amulet and go up to sacrifice it to your god", the game is not too easy and still keeps in its grip. Random dungeons have always been fun. D&D has rules for making randomized dungeons, and some even say that many D&D adventure modules were created this way... many computer games, most notably the Roguelike games like Nethack, also utilise random dungeons. Admittedly, random dungeons are more on their element in computer games that don't even pretend to have a complex plot...

But beyond randomized dungeons, there's the careful design. Once you give more sophisticated goals, add devilish traps, and add unforgettable goals and non-player characters, it no longer feels like a "dungeon", even when it superficially seems like one. With a touch of thought, the Dungeon gets a soul. At first, you was banging heads in some forgettable location. Then, you got to bang heads in a calm and orderly fashion. And now, you suddently need to think which heads you should bang and when in order not to get your own head smashed. Slowly, the dumb barbarians become... talkative. The setting, the dark corridors, didn't change, but suddently, you have to think. First, it was enough to cooperate with other players and their characters, and then, you also needed to cooperate with other characters you met. First steps from the hack and slash to real roleplaying, and you didn't even need to get out of the Dungeon!

So, dear adventurer: Sooner or later, you will end up in the Dungeon of one form or another. You may not choose when, but when you get there, you can expect to return as a hero if you do your job well. It is an experience each of you need to do once. And why not? It's easy money!

Dungeon is an incredibly popular power metal band originating from Broken Hill in Australia. Formed in 1989, they play technical metal akin to Helloween, Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian and Gamma Ray. The line-up has varied over the years and at time of writing is:

• Lord Tim (Tim Grose) - Vocals, Guitars & Keyboards
• Stevo (Steve Moore) - Drums & Backing Vocals
• Dakk (Brendon McDonald) - Bass & Backing Vocals
• Stu (Stuart Marshall) - Guitars & Backing Vocals

Dungeon have toured Japan and Australia extensively and have additionally released their albums in Europe and the US. Their album releases to date are:

• Changing Moods (1995)
• Demolition (1996)
• Resurrection (1999)
• A Rise to Power (2002)

Dun"geon (?), n. [OE. donjoun highest tower of a castle, tower, prison, F. donjon tower or platform in the midst of a castle, turret, or closet on the top of a house, a keep of a castle, LL. domnio, the same word as LL. dominus lord. See Dame, Don, and cf. Dominion, Domain, Demesne, Danger, Donjon.]

A close, dark prison, common, under ground, as if the lower apartments of the donjon or keep of a castle, these being used as prisons.

Down with him even into the deep dungeon. Tyndale.

Year after year he lay patiently in a dungeon. Macaulay.

© Webster 1913.

Dun"geon, v. t.

To shut up in a dungeon.

Bp. Hall.

© Webster 1913.