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PAX South 2017: Nothing Virtual About It: True Dungeon Brings Your Adventure To Reality

Published Sun, 29 Jan 2017 08:45:31 -0600

Last updated Thu, 09 Feb 2017 10:49:15 -0600

Chris Ahrnsbrak writes from PAX South,

Face it. Every role-player from tabletop to PC has, at some point, wondered what it would be like to not just play their character, but to be their character. To strap on a fighter's mail, to step into a rogue's boots. To test their mettle in combat or against the clever traps laid out by the dastardly villain at the heart of the adventure.

At PAX South 2017, True Dungeon allowed gamers that very opportunity.

In the long history of the PAX conventions, not once has True Dungeon—long a staple of tabletop conventions including Gen Con—made their presence known until this year. Sporting a half-sized trial dungeon to test the waters in a console- and PC-native atmosphere, the True Dungeon crew set up on the top floor of the convention center to sate the appetites of gamers looking for a new experience, as well as to whet their appetites for future adventures in a setting too real even for the Oculus to imitate.

The premise and setup is simple. Parties of up to ten, a group size modified in order to give more players a chance to play at the convention, were put together from the various groups in the queue line. "It was interesting trying to corral new people," said Katrina Weir, one of the party who's been a role-player for a while but never in a situation like this. Once together, they were given roughly 20 minutes of character selection time from among the various classes (barbarian, rogue, druid, cleric, monk, and so on). Equipment was convenient to carry; all weapons and gear comes based on tokens the size and weight of poker chips which detail any bonuses, charges, and abilities the items may have. After those selections are made, parties are whisked away for equipment and training on how the systems work from their own coach—memorization for casters, and shuffleboard tables for melee combat—before being turned loose upon the dungeon that awaits.

And the dungeon… that was a sight.

The group in which I was placed consisted of two groups of friends, a group of six and a group of four who were partied up to fill the group out completely in all roles. Once trained, we headed into our first room with our GM, a puzzle consisting of a trapped door, a distraught priestess trying to retrieve a scepter from a molten altar, and a welcome first treat: the floor was, in fact, lava. Though the rogue's attempt to pick open a secret door, tested by using a "don't touch the sides"-style wire box, nearly met with disaster, the puzzle to unbind the door was a relatively quick solve given the clues about the room. From there, we followed the path to the next chamber and to our combat against a lava worm—a great thing that sprang up menacingly from the wall behind us, alight with menace as we used our meager skills together until it was brought down.

A short quest, it served as a clever introduction to the whole True Dungeon concept. John Roach, one of the adventurers in the party, enjoyed himself. "I know puzzle generation is hard," Roach said when discussing the introductory experience afterwards. "It needs to be built so it's not like just holding your hand to get through it." Likewise, he wished he could have experienced more of the combat. "They probably should have let us continue fighting the worm," he said of the time-truncated encounter. "It would have been interesting to see how the monster attacks."

While the PAX South True Dungeon experience of 45 minutes was truncated both to let people experience it faster and due to a lack of ready volunteers, it was explained by our coach and by previous players that the full version can last upwards of two hours or more including prep time and coach time, and is a bit less chaotic than the shortened version in which people just busted through a situation all at once rather than in standard, turn-based initiative fashion.

Christina Haines agreed, adding that it was a fun little intro and that she looked forward to doing more in the future. "All the role-play you have in your head… seeing it in person blew me away."

For more information on True Dungeon, including a listing of tokens for the game—not required, but as enhancements— and for future appearances and events, check out their site at TrueDungeon.com.