Lonesome Dungeon Diving
And a look at Marching Order: Curse and Coin Edition | The Lone Toad Newsletter October 2024
Welcome to the October 2024 Lone Toad Newsletter!
The seasons are changing, leaves are starting to turn colours, days get shorter, the temperatures get lower… Because those of us living in the bottom half of the world are stealing your warmth and sunlight!
But no matter the weather outside, there is always one truth, stomping through a dungeon is a hell of a fun activity (How is that for a transition?). I’d like to venture out on a limb and say every fantasy property contains some sort of dungeon crawl. The Fellowship of the Ring traversed Moria. Ged gets stuck into an epic dungeon in The Tombs of Atuan. Conan (of Barbarian fame) always ends up doing some dungeon stuff.
We love a dungeon. And look, we know there are probably a thousand RPGs that have dungeons in them, I mean it’s even in the name of one of the most popular RPGs ever made, Dungeon Boyfriend Dungeons and Dragons.
But the Lone Toad is out there looking for that unusual stuff. I aim to expose you all to the types of games that you might not see otherwise. So in today’s Lone Toad, we are looking at Solo RPGs Dungeon Delver games that straddle the definition between TTRPG and board games.
Marching Order: Curse and Coin Edition
What happens when you take Darkest Dungeon, cross it with Dungeons and Dragons, and then spill ale and blood on it? You get Marching Order: Curse and Coin Edition.
If Lord of the Rings is the preppy student with the fancy uniform and straight A’s, Marching Order is the kid who dropped out of school at 13, which is also when they started smoking cigarettes and drinking and robbing people.
In Marching Order you don’t play heroes looking to save the world from an unspeakable horror. You play rogues, just doing a shitty job of making enough coin to get blind drunk that night. The core gameplay mechanic of Marching Order is the uhh… marching order. You’ll face enemies in a line. The idea is you’ll have your big brusiers up front, and your squishy archers and spellcasters in the back. Sounds simple, but things get challenging in a hurry.
Marching Order: Curse and Coin Edition is their second go at Marching Order and contains a ton of tweaks and improvements from the first version. But on top of that, there is a ton of new content! The three-book core set contains the rules, a narrative campaign and rules for randomly generating a dungeon on the go.
So go check out Marching Order: Curse and Coin Edition, kickstart it if it strikes your fancy, and then good luck in the shit-filled sewers.
Disclosure: I was provided with a review copy of Neck Deep, the dungeon creation book, but I’m not benefiting in any way from this product, except maybe with some good vibes.
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
What is an RPG? No seriously. What is it? Is Gloomhaven, the wildly popular dungeon-crawling adventuring board game you can play solo, an RPG? I don’t know. I do know I had a lot of fun playing through the Jaws of the Lion campaign, advancing my mercenaries, killing epic baddies and saving the city of Gloomhaven.
Gloomhaven is a card-based tactical dungeon adventure game. The majority of the game is tactical battles where you use your mercenary’s skills and your wits to defeat hordes of enemies. It’s highly tactical, highly thematic, kinda stressful, and a whole lot of fun. Between battles, you’ll hear more about the city and receive random events that benefit or hurt your chances.
Built for cooperative play, I had a great time playing two mercenaries at once.
Jaws of the Lion is their introductory game, but they have recently released a mini-game called Bugs and Buttons which is a purely built-for-solo game that is tiny and adorable. I haven’t played yet but it is on the ‘list’.
2D6 Dungeon
2D6 Dungeon is a print-and-play roll-and-write dungeon crawler, in the same vein has D100 Dungeon or 4Against Darkness.
What is a roll-and-write game? I’ll defer to the expert, .
We’ll define roll-and-write somewhat broadly here. A roll-and-write uses a randomizing element, typically dice, the results of which will dictate some action you can take on a board, which is typically either a paper sheet or an erasable board. (That’s the “write.” Otherwise, you’re just playing a normal board game.)
In 2D6 Dungeon you’ll create an adventurer and send them deep in the darkness for glory and treasure. The cool thing about 2D6 dungeon is you can get that dungeon diving experience with nothing more than what you have at home and your work home printer.
What dungeon crawler board game / RPGs are you interested in? Leave a comment!
1,000 Toadies!
I want to take a very brief break to say The Lone Toad has reached 1,000 subscribers. Thank you so much, to the person who just subbed, to those who were with me when this was the Shadow Prince Newsletter. I write because you read my mad rambles and I love you for it!
Croaker RPGs WIP
I’m always hoping busy here at Croaker RPGs!
Identity (FREE GAME) is released!
Friend of the newsletter (and all-around great guy)
has been playing with me in a play-by-post style Identity game. Check out his super creepy post here and follow him for more of this stuff. Don’t read it before bed is my only suggestion.You can download Identity here!
If anyone else does an actual play of Identity, let me know! You’ll be featured prominetly in a future Lone Toad Newsetter!
The Lost City of Cargoth (FREE GAME)
The Lost City of Cargoth will be free for a bit longer as I add more content and prepare it for a full release!
Please don’t share these links, instead share this Lone Toad post which will help grow the community!
Be sure to check out my other games here!
Other RPG Stuff
Free League talks about its updated Alien 2nd Edition (well not a second edition…) with an included solo mode. Of course, they are in discussions with Shawn Tomkin, so you know it will be great!
Not RPG-related but I thought Thig’s story about his lifelong ambition to become an illustrator at Disney was fascinating. While he never has worked for Disney, he still achieved a hell of a lot. Plus his art is awesome.
Friend of the Toad,
has started a new solo game based on ODND. The Hexmap alone is worth checking this out.
- announced a kickass new Jam for Liminal Horror, Horros of the Americas Jam. Create a terrible scenario, monster or faction that takes place somewhere in North or South America and submit it to the jam. You may even get into the anthology.
Another friend of the Toad,
, recently released a new solo-friendly game, Wastewalkers! I’ll be taking a look at it later this month!
- takes a deep look at AD&D Greyhawk Adventures.
- has thoughts on why the D&D 2024 has been released with little buzz. “The lack of buzz perhaps makes sense when you look at the series of mostly unforced and mostly stupid errors Wizards of the Coast have made of late.”
- is crowdfunding a new fantasy RPG. Ever want to bring family and friends into the hobby but felt all these games with hundreds of pages would be too much? Then back Everspark!
Die-hard Toadie
nerds out hardcore on Sabacc (the Star Wars in universe card game) including a version you can use in your RPGs.What RPG or solo RPG news do you think we should all be talking about?
Up Next for The Lone Toad
Strap on your apocalyptic leathers because in the mid-October issue of Ribbiting Adventures, we are taking a deep look at Wastewalkers, from
! Get your blood bags ready, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride!As always I write this because you all read it. Please like this newsletter and share it with others who may be interested.
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Thanks for the shout out :)