A Dungeon Delve with Dungeon Scum Rules

I set up an encounter to test out Nordic Weasel Games Dungeon Scum rules, which looks like it might make a good Tabletop/Rpg hybrid game.

In this encounter, a team of adventurers is following a crude map in order to find a hidden trove of treasure.  The map leads them to an underground cavern system, where they traverse narrow passageways that twist and turn, until finally opening up into a large, partially flooded chamber.  Here they encounter a group of Orcs entering the chamber from another passageway.

 The Heroes enter the cavern from the left, whilst the Orcs enter from the right.

The Orcs grunt and spit, yelling curses in their harsh language as they shake their spears and gnash their teeth.

The Adventuring Party (L to R):  Lady Lena Sodermeyer, Ranger Trina of the Glade, Rens (a hired minion), Rose Glenguard the party leader, Listra (minion), Scholar Monica Wellspring (in back), Estelle (minion) and Halfdan (minion).

Rose takes the initiative and steps forward with her bow and fires before the Orcs can react.

Her shot takes down one of the Orc archers before he gets a chance to draw his bow.

The other 2 Orc archers get their shots off, however, and graze Estelle, temporarily stunning her.

Both the Orcs and Adventurers rush forward, ending turn one.

Rose pulls out another arrow and sends it flying......

And yet another Orc archer falls.

The remaining Orc archer steps on a rise and shoots at Listra, stunning her.

An Orc warrior takes advantage of the distraction and tries to skewer Listra with his spear, but the nimble thief side steps the blow.

Lady Lena rushes the Orc while he is off balance, and cuts him down with her blade.

At the end of the second turn, 3 Orcs are down, but that only makes them angry as they make their morale roll and elect to continue the fight.

The Orcs take the initiative, and their leader rushes Trina of the Glade, confident that his magic armor will protect him from her hefty boar spear.

Lady Lena and the thief Listra team up to take down another Orc warrior.

The end of the third turn.  Rose failed to injure the last Orc archer with her shot, so Estelle rushes over to engage the brute.  Monica the Scholar is locked in combat with an Orc.  She did not have time before engaging to cast a magical cantrip that would help her dodge incoming blows.  Halfdan works his way over the slippery rocks in order to aid her.  Elsewhere, Rens goes after an Orc straggler.

The Heroes are looking confident in their battle against the Orcs.

 As Monica stuns the Orc with the butt end of her spear, Halfdan maneuvers behind it and brings it down.

Rens makes a clumsy attack that missed and left his defenses open.  Savagely, the Orc jabs Rens with a spear taking him down.

The Orc Leader is surrounded by the Heroes, but his magic armor protects him from their frenzied attack.

At the end of turn four the Orcs remain firm in their morale, despite having taken heavy losses.

Monica, Halfdan and Estelle surround the remaining Orc archer and take him down.

Meanwhile, even the magic armor of the Orc leader could not protect him from the onslaught of attacks by the surrounding Heroes.

The remaining Orc flees the chamber after seeing his leader cut down by the Heroes.


Over all I feel like the rules played out very well.  It provided the feel of an Rpg dungeon crawl, but also played well as a miniatures battle.  It played very quickly, even though I was taking my time to look things up as needed.  The game mechanics do a good job of balancing the power level of the various characters, though the Orcs really needed to get lucky to hurt any of the main heroes in the group.  Not so much with hired thugs like Rens, however.  The party had to use their healing salve on him or he would have not survived his injuries in the combat aftermath.  The characters have a bit of diversity, which will hopefully grow as play progresses and they gain new traits.  The delve that I generated using the rules has 2 more encounters prior to the party facing the boss monster of the dungeon.  I will definitely be trying the game out again in the near future.