Beneath

A TALE OF MISERY and the long way down

Cursed by the Eyes of God, our people have scattered.
A gate has swung open, and the Dungeon beckons.
Something Beneath births misery.
A thing only sated by human endeavor.

The deeper the delve, the longer the reprieve.
To idle is to reap adversity.

The merchants Beneath whisper of the Core.
A ritual to end the suffering.
Can word reach our distant heroes?
Will this nightmare ever end?

Beneath is a print-and-play version of classic roguelikes - a procedurally generated dungeon where you explore deeper and deeper levels; face trials, and perhaps even return alive! You might gain power; be terribly cursed, or be lost Beneath. If things look bleak, return to a persistent camp and delve another day.

Made for small coffee tables, the outdoors, or hotel rooms! All you need is this pdf booklet (print it!), a pencil, sharpener, eraser, a set of dice, and graph paper.

Setup time after reading the rules is a couple of minutes for the base game.

Leave and come back! Picking up an ongoing game is almost instant.

Mechanics to make random chance both a source of replayability as well as a tool for player agency. 

Why play Beneath?

Do you like games like Warhammer Quest, Heroquest, d100 Dungeon or Quest for the lost pixel? Beneath is a tight, 22-page game with maximum content density, aiming to recreate the feeling of great, varied dungeon crawlers in a smaller package.

Simple, quick customization and scaling mechanics makes every foe stand out. One foe might be loud, making sneaking easy, but another of the same type might instead be alert and armed with a poisoned blade!

Knowing when to fight, flee, sneak, interrogate for clues or peer at an unknown foe for details are all part of a successful delve.

Malleable random tables of goodness are provided, giving you options to steer your progress with planning.

Please note!

Beneath is 99% finished, and has been playtested by friends during development, but I would love to have you test the game with fresh eyes! Purchases/donations are more than welcome at this time, but playtesting is equally valuable! Feel free to grab it to check it out and write me a line about your experience.

Fill out this playtest form to make me a happy developer!

What is missing is a nicer layout, page references and an index. When any kinks have been found and ironed out I will release an official version 1.0, which will be provided to all playtesters who fill out the form, above.

When version 1.0 is out, Beneath will be open as a framework for others to use as a creative canvas - free to use for your own expansions - as long as this original and its creator is attributed to by name.