Rogue Like Roguelike

Introduction
This game is a hand-drawn roguelike. It is meant to be a solo campaign, run with one player plus a Dungeon Master. It may also be played single-player with but a few changes. For more than two players, extra players must share the Rogue or Dungeon Master roles, switching out with each new dungeon room.

In play, the Rogue player will draw out a map of each level according to the Dungeon Master’s descriptions. The Dungeon Master will also keep a separate copy of the each map with secret doors and notes for the level pencilled in.

At its core, it’s a dungeon-delving game. The rogue will walk around a level created by the Dungeon Master, and will learn through death. 

Player’s Guide

Character Creation
The hero of the story will always be a rogue. Your character has d6 dice pools assigned to various skills. You start play with two skills at 2d6, chosen from the following list. The rest of your skills all start at 1d6. You will also start with 6 Hit Points.

Stab
Throw
Archery
Jump
Climb
Run
Steal
Lockpick
Disable Trap
Stealth
Hack
Magic
Search

Setting Up
The Dungeon Master should set up each new level as follows: Take a single sheet of paper, and draw a room 2d6 squares in area in one corner. Add 1d6-3 (minimum 1) doors along the walls facing inward, and a staircase going up inside the room. In the opposite corner of the paper diagonally, draw another staircase going down 2 squares from the corner edge. One of the other corners will contain a computer terminal (marked with a T two squares from the corner), and the other will contain a shop (marked with an S and the current level number).

The Game
The goal of the game is to traverse the 10 levels of the subterranean dungeon to find the Amulet of Yendor. The GM should read the following introduction to the Rogue before play begins:

You’ve nothing to your name but the legacy of a rogue, but at long last you’ve found the Dungeon of Chaos, home to the Amulet of Yendor. Its alluring power calls to you, drawing your very soul into the depths. You tremble with excitement, for you shall be the first rogue to conquer the ten levels of this constantly shifting dungeon, and then Yendor will be yours!

When attempting any action, roll the number of dice you have for that skill, plus any bonus dice you may have for items or special abilities. Dice that roll 5 or 6 are considered “successes”. All actions require a number of successes to pass equal to the current dungeon level’s Difficulty:

Dungeon		
Level		Difficulty
1-3		1
4-6		2
7-9		3
10			4

Your objective on every level is simply to descend further, until you find the amulet you seek. Every time you successfully descend a level, you also gain a level! Therefore, if you reach level 3 of the dungeon, you will be a level 3 rogue.

Your Hit Points will drop when you get hurt. They do not rise naturally. You may find or purchase healing potions to bring your HP back up, or you may try eating some of the creatures you find down in the dungeons. Eating a creature marked as “edible” in the monster guide will restore 1 HP, or 2 HP if cooked over a fire. Be careful though, if you become diseased, you will suffer −1 HP every five minutes of play until you drink a Cureall potion.

If you reach a computer terminal, you may attempt to hack the level. A successful hack will reveal all secret doors for the level, but only for areas already discovered.

Leveling Up

When you gain a level, choose two of your skills to increase by +1d6 or one of your skills to increase by +2d6. The maximum skill level you can attain is 6d6. In addition, gain +1d6 HP and your choice of one of the following special abilities:

	Sneak Attack: +2d6 bonus damage when you catch your enemy unawares

	Hamstring: +2d6 bonus damage vs humanoid foes

	Bullseye: +2d6 bonus damage OR attack roll on ranged attacks (choose first)

	Animal Friendship: Roll 1d6 to try befriending a creature. It will fight for you if you succeed. You can only have one pet at a time.

	Magic Item Affinity: +2d6 when using offensive magic items

	Lockpick Mastery: lock picks don’t break unless you failed AND rolled a 1

	Master Barterer: in shops, roll 1d6, 10% discount on a success

	Sneak: +2d6 when sneaking past enemies without attacking

	Luck: Reroll the dice once per level

	Iron Stomach: you never contract diseases when eating edible creatures

	Cannibal: all humanoid creatures are edible for you

	Hackmaster: when hacking, you can reveal the complete map for a previously explored upper level of your choice

	etc...

Dungeon Master Guide

When the Rogue tries to open a new door, the Dungeon Master should throw a die. A result of 5 or 6 indicates the door is locked. (Failed lockpick checks break the Rogue’s lockpicks.) If opened, the door leads into a corridor 2d6 squares long. The Dungeon Master should try his hardest to NOT lead corridors toward the down staircase, unless impossible to avoid. The corridor ends in a new door. (When drawing further corridors, they may be made to intersect as you see fit.)

When entering a new room, the Dungeon Master should do the following:
	1.	Roll 2d6 to determine how many squares make up the room’s total area. Draw the room in any shape, so long as it has the exact number of squares rolled.
	2.	Roll 1d6 to determine how many exits the room has. Draw them anywhere along the room’s walls. The first exit will always connect to the corridor the Rogue entered through. Doors opening onto the edge of the paper or impossible to connect locations are false doors.
	3.	Roll 1d6 for secret doors and consult the following table:
	⁃	1-3	No secret doors
	⁃	4-5	One secret door
	⁃	6	Two secret doors
	⁃	
	4.	Roll 2d6 for special features:
	⁃	2	Monster HQ (roll twice for encounters)
	⁃	3	Chasm (may be jumped with a roll, falling causes 3d6 damage and requires climbing out)
	⁃	4	Antimagic field (all magic items are temporarily nulled in this room)
	⁃	5	Cliff (must be climbed up or down, falling causes 2d6 damage)
	⁃	6-8	Otherwise empty
	⁃	9	Cookstove (+1 bonus HP when eating here)
	⁃	10	Cells with key (can rest or safely store items here)
	⁃	11	Altar (praying removes all curses)
	⁃	12	Fountain (drink for +1D to all actions for rest of level, usable once only)

	5.	Roll 1d6+level for encounters and consult the following table:
	⁃	2	E Level monster
	⁃	3	E Level trap
	⁃	4	Loot
	⁃	5	E Level monster & loot
	⁃	6	Two E Level monsters
	⁃	7	D Level trap
	⁃	8	D Level monster & loot
	⁃	9	Three D Level monsters
	⁃	10	C Level trap & loot
	⁃	11	C Level monster & loot
	⁃	12	One C Level & three D Level monsters
	⁃	13	B Level monster & loot
	⁃	14	Three B Level monsters
	⁃	15	B Level trap
	⁃	16	A level monster & loot

Then for each encounter, roll on the following lists for the specific type of encounter, determined by level. When taking any kind of action, monsters always roll a number of dice equal to the current level’s Difficulty.

E Level Encounters

Monsters
Roll
1-2	Lichen: 		damage 1d-3, edible, 2 hp
3-4	Sewer Rat:	damage 1d-2, edible (diseased), 4 hp
5	Fox:			damage 1d-2, edible, trainable, 6 hp
6	Grid Bug:		damage 1d, edible, 8 hp

Traps
Roll
1-3	Dart Trap:	attack 1d, damage 1d-2
4-6	Fire Trap:		autohit, damage 1d

D Level Encounters

Monsters
Roll
1-2	Wererat: 		damage 1d+1, diseased (lycanthropy), trainable, 5 hp
3-4	Gray Ooze:	damage 1d, edible (diseased), 8 hp
5	Imp:			damage 1d+2, kleptomaniac, speedy getaway 3d, 11 hp
6	Woodchuck:	damage 1d+2, edible, ranged attack (logs), trainable, 14 hp

Traps
Roll
1-3	Bear Trap:	attack 1d, damage 1d+4
4-6	Squeaky Board: autohit, next monster encounter leveled up

C Level Encounters

Monsters
Roll
1-2	Unicorn: 		damage 2d, trainable, 10 hp
3-4	Werewolf:	damage 2d+3, bite inflicts disease (lycanthropy), 13 hp
5	Piranha Snail:	damage 2d+6, edible (diseased), trainable, 16 hp
6	Dwarf Lord:	damage 2d+3, relentless, 20 hp

Traps
Roll
1-2	Rust Trap:	attack 2d, rusts carried metal items
3-5	Teleportation Trap:	autohit, teleport to another room in same level
6	Forgetfulness Trap:	auto hit, immediately forget one random dungeon level—rip and toss the map

B Level Encounters

Monsters
Roll
1-2	Tiger: 		damage 3d, edible, trainable, 20 hp
3-4	Air Elemental:	damage 3d-4, flying, 25 hp
5	Rock Troll:	damage 3d+4, ranged attack (rocks), 30 hp
6	Elevenking:	damage 2d+6, uses two magic items, 35 hp

Traps
Roll
1-3	Land Mine:	attack 3d, damage 3d+6
4-6	Level teleporter: autohit, teleports to another room 1d6 levels up

A Level Encounters

Monsters
Roll
1-2	Cyclops: 		damage 4d+4, 30 hp
3-4	Medusa:		attacks petrify, 40 hp
5	Pit Fiend:		damage 3d, +1d fire damage, 50 hp
6	Dragon:		damage 4d, +1d fire damage, flies, edible, trainable, 60 hp

Loot

All magical loot will be unidentified when discovered. The Dungeon Master should introduce magic items by the color listed and let the Rogue find the effects out for himself. (On repeated playthroughs, the Dungeon Master should swap the item colors!) Furthermore, there is also a chance found items may be cursed or blessed.

Status
Roll
1	Cursed: −1d to item’s effects, can not unequip until Remove Curse is cast.
2-5	Uncursed: no additional modifiers
6	Blessed: +1d to item’s effects

E Level
Roll
1	1d gold
2-3	Potion of healing: +1d HP, yellow
4	Dagger: 1d damage, ranged or melee
5	Helmet: −1 damage
6	Wand of magic missile: 1d damage, 1d charges, silver

D Level
Roll
1	1d gold
2	Spear (2d damage, melee or ranged)
3	Potion of Poison: 1d damage, blue
4	Bow and 1d6 arrows (1d damage)
5	Cureall potion: cures diseases, teal
6	Shield: −3 damage

C Level
Roll
1	2d gold
2	Potion of major healing: +2d HP, orange
3	Regular cloak or boots (choice)
4	Sword: 3d damage
5	Speed boots: +1d to outrun
6	Elven cloak: +1d hide

B Level
Roll
1-2	2d gold
3	Potion of Confusion: −1d to all actions for 1 minute, aquamarine
4	Wand of Luck: +1d to all actions for 1 minute, usable once, Pink
5	Wand of invisibility (can’t attack), purple
6	Potion of Full Healing: Regenerates all HP, dark brown

A Level
Roll (+1 on roll per A level monster encountered)
1	3d gold
2-3	Potion of Greater Poison: 3d damage, white
4	Bag of Tricks: can pull out 5 random items, one of each loot level (in order)
5	Wand of fireball: 4d damage, 1d charges, black
6	The Amulet of Yendor

Shops

Roll 1d times on the following table for shop stock. All shop stock is of regular uncursed status.

Roll 3d		
3		Roll once for C level loot, 30 gp
4		Roll once for D level loot, 20 gp
5		Roll once for E level loot, 10 gp
6-8		Scroll (roll on the spell table), 10 gp	
9		Leather armor (-2 damage), 20 gp
10		1d6 Torches, 2 gp
11		1d6 Rations, 3 gp each
12		1d6 Lockpicks, 2 gp each
13		Rope (+1d climbing), 10 gp
14-15	Spellbook (roll on the spell table), 30 gp
16		Roll once for E level loot, 10 gp
17		Roll once for B level loot, 40 gp
18		Roll once for A level loot, 50 gp

All shops also stock 1d3 Identify scrolls (10 gp each), and will always purchase items from the Rogue for 1/10th of the selling price.

If the Amulet of Yendor is rolled for an A level shop item, it’s a fake. Furthermore, if you ever roll for leveled shop items and then roll a result that indicates gold, the stock is instead a mimic that attacks when touched!

Mimic:		attack 2d, damage 2d, relentless, 20 hp

If attacked, the shopkeeper is a fearsome opponent to behold: attack 4d, damage 4d, 50 hp.

Spells
While not traditionally schooled in magic, Rogues have a knack for learning how tricks work. Rogues can read magic scrolls, and can also learn magic spells if they can find a spellbook to study.

Scrolls can be used to cast magic spells, but once used the magic dissipates from the scroll. All scrolls are one-shot items.

Spellbooks are more permanent, but require constant study to remember how to cast spells. Whenever you enter a new level, you may prepare spells from your spellbooks. Your repertoire might be very large, but the total level of your prepared spells cannot exceed the level you are on. Once cast, a spell disappears from your memory. You may prepare the same spell multiple times if you wish.

Spell List
Light
Cure Disease
Charm Monster
Slow Monster
Jumping
Identify
Detect Food
Lifedrain
Sleep
Protection
Etc….. (Plus descriptions)

Returning to Previous Levels

The Rogue may, through the course of his adventure, decide or have to return to a previous level for various reasons (shop, heal, trap, item storage, etc). When re-exploring old levels, the Dungeon Master should roll for encounters for each room again, but ignore all odd-numbered rolls and any results of trap or loot.