Dungeon Reave

Medieval (fantasy)
New Realms Publishing
2016
Complexity: 4

I came across Dungeon Reave while browsing games and initially thought it didn’t warrant my interest. But then I caught a very important sentence in the description, “Dungeon Reave is closely compatible with Xtraor.” Yes, that Xtraor, the worst game I’ve reviewed and notably one that claims to be “revised” while looking like it hasn’t even been proofread. Well obviously at this point I knew I had to review Dungeon Reave—which also claims to be revised. What mysteries does Dungeon Reave hold, does it bring redemption or further condemnation for the mysterious “J?” Join me and find out. Or not.

Setting: 0/3 [−][−]
There’s elves and magic and stuff, so I presume it’s a fantasy setting.

Character Creation: 2/5
Characters have four attributes generated with 3d6 rolls. Players then have a choice of four races—I bet you can guess which ones—and three character “types.” The available types—burglar, warrior, and wizard—are basically like classes, except that they each have their own class—thief, fighter, and magic-user respectively—that might not make sense now, but it will later. Basically it’s just stock fantasy races and classes adapted to the game’s system.

Mechanics: 2/5
Most of the mechanics are taken directly from Xtraor with only minor changes and additions. I don’t really feel like trying to explain this system again, so I’m just going to take this part of the review directly from my review of Xtraor with only minor changes and additions.

The mechanics in [Dungeon Reave] are completely diceless and, well, complicated. Basically, at the beginning of each turn all characters must decide how many of their [Might], Move, and [Magic] points—total equal to ability score—will be assigned to actions for that turn. Assigned [Might] points are used for [melee and thrown] attacks, while unassigned ones are the character's defense against melee attacks for that turn. Similarly, assigned Move points are available movement and defense against ranged attacks while unassigned points are initiative and Alertness—[used to perception and ranged attacks]. Assigned [Magic] points can be used to [cast spells], but [are spent whether a spell is been cast or not]. So essentially, each round requires a kind of resource management based on what you think the character may need to do.
As the game is diceless, combat is resolved by comparing the attacker’s [Might or Alertness] points to the target's defense, if the attacker’s points are higher the attack succeeds, if not the target’s defense is lowered by a number of points equal to the attacker’s [Might or Alertness] points [±weapon and armor bonuses].
While the who system is novel and replaces randomization with a little extra bit of strategy, it just seems way too cumbersome to really be fun, or tolerable.

Really the most notable difference is that the Combat attribute was replaced with Might—which is actually used now—or Alertness, and the crippling fatigue system was removed, but you’re still just as likely to die in two hits. There’s also an advancement system that’s, let’s just say “less than elegant.” And just like Xtraor, there is little-to-no mention of how to do anything other than combat.

Writing and Presentation: 1/5
Overall everything is understandable, still laid out in an amateurish fashion, but nothing particularly egregious.

As stated, the layout is very basic. Aside from some headings, bolded text, and some tables, there seems to be nothing in the way of intentional formatting beyond leaving a blank line between paragraphs. This more or less has the effect of making all the sections kinda run together into a big indistinct mass of text. As unbelievable as this may seem, it’s actually a little bit of a step down in quality from Xtraor. The art… well here’s the thing about the art, it’s of suspiciously high quality, suspiciously low resolution, and suspiciously lacking attribution. I don’t have any proof of anything, so I’m not going to make any accusations, but it all just feels very suspicious.

Content: 1/3 [−]
There is a fair bit of content, but a lot of it seems to be lifted from other sources and adjusted to the system. There are actually weapons this time, but the table lacks ranges for ranged weapons—along with any indication of which weapons can be thrown. There’s also twenty-four spells, but some have no actual function—such as Dispel Charm, Dispel Curse, and Remove Fear, which are included despite having no rules for charm, curse or fear effects.

Final Remarks
This game suffers, to a lesser degree, from the same problem of Xtraor. The game wasn’t published because it was done, it was published because the creator didn’t feel like working on it anymore. It’s more complete than Xtraor but not as complete as it could be, or was planned to be. And how do I know it was planned to be more complete? Remember how I said that each type having a class would make sense? Well the multiclassing section specifies that a character cannot have more than one type from the same class. Indicating that there was supposed to be a grouped class system like in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition.
I honestly don’t know what to make of these games, of J, and of New Realms Publishing. Yeah, this was better than Xtraor, second drafts usually are better, the issue is most people don’t publish every unfinished idea they come up with. Is J just completely oblivious to how bad these products are? Does he think he’s a slick con artist making a quick buck off of some nerds? Does he think “revised” is just a meaningless buzzword like “super,” ultra,” or “DX?” These are questions I don’t have answers to. And probably never will because I doubt my curiosity is so morbid as to get me to review a third one of these.

Base Points: 5
Character Creation: 2/5, Mechanics: 2/5, Presentation: 1/5
Adjustments: −3
Setting: −2, Writing: 0, Content: −1

Overall Score 13% (2/15 Points)
Pretty good for a second draft.