Runebound lacks dungeon-crawling, Dungeonquest is the answer!!!

By Frog, in Runebound

Runebound does an awesome job of making you feel like you are playing an RPG campaign in a short amount of time.

Now that Dungeonquest is also set Terrinoth, I think it could be linked via a variant to provide dungeoncrawling that Runebound lacks!

Linking the two should be really easy, much easier than linking Runebound to the ultra-lengthy Descent.

I can't wait to see the variants that will spring up for this very idea!!!

I thought that Descent was an answer to the lack of dungeoncrawling in Runebound. After all it takes place in the same world. Although you're right, Descent is a bit gui%C3%B1o.gif lengthy.

I think Frog is suggesting that we could use Dungeonquest with Runebound in the same game session.
Maybe the community will figure out a cool way to add dungeons to Runebound and when you enter one, your Runebound character will move to the Dungeonquest board for a mini game, earn some kind of reward (even if that's just XP or gold) that they can take back with them to the Runebound board.

The idea has some awesome potential. Maybe this integrated dungeon quest could be linked to some new end game senario for Runebound. I think the hardest part would be to make sure the game session of Runebound/Dungeon quest doesn't take too long. I mean, I don't mind a huge long session but many of my gaming group can barely last through one session of Descent!

Now that Frog has got me thinking on this fantastic idea... maybe there could be hidden dugeons for the Hero's to find. And in a dungeon the Hero will find an artifact that they need in order to trigger the end game.
Frozen Wastes already had a cool mechanic to find the princess, maybe we could use that to find a dungeon. Each Hero must find a Dungeon, complete the Dungeon, return to the world (Runebound) and go fight the end boss with the artifact or some such thing.

I think the trickiest bit will be tying death in DQ to death in RB and the specific effects thereof. Based on my experience with the older DQ, heroes only rarely get out alive, and then only if they give up early. If a player insists on delving the depths of a dungeon for quality loot, they probably won't get out alive. Then they can revive in a nearby town on the RB map, but do they still lose all their gold, etc? If so, it doesn't seem there's that much point in going into the dungeon.

Well I play Runebound solo which takes around 2 hours. I hear Dungeonquest only takes around 45 minutes to 1.5 hours so together, they would still take half the time it takes me to solo Descent (6-7 hours)

I was thinking it would be along the lines of you trigger the end event (threat track) and then you have to go through the Dungeon. If you survive the Dungeon you get a bonus item to fight the final boss etc. If you die in the dungeon, it would be like a knockout in Runebound but instead you don't lose your best item (because you have a 90% chance of dying which is unfair to lose your most needed item before the final boss like normal Runebound rules) and you fight the final boss immediately.

Basically you would add an hour or so to the game by having this Maze obstacle before the final boss. If you survive, you get some great weapon/items and maybe a good ally to help you destroy the boss.

Just an idea, but I think it has more potential than linking Descent to Runebound as it takes too long.

Yeah, there's definitely good potential in linking the two games together. However, only time will tell what FFG may do with that idea. Maybe they'll just keep DQ as a separate game and add a new RB expansion for dungeoncrawling purposes. After all, with a slim chance of survival in DQ (original game is 15%, page 3 of rules), it may be simpler to just let the new DQ be a standalone game. Also, if RB gets its own dungeoncrawling expansion, it could be custom-made for the game (perhaps without the high death rate), whereas the new DQ is likely to be its own game to begin with, thus not as easily adapted for RB. Well, let's see what happens.

It's a great idea. Obviously there are plenty of folks who have been asking for this kind of integration as long as I can remember. Descent was the natural fit, but it just takes far too long and the rewards don't necessarily align with the Runebound system. Likewise, there are now 2 overland campaigns for Descent showing that FFG while setting that game in the same world of Terrinoth doesn't intend for the 2 games to crossover in that way.

I'd definitely be up for something akin to a Talisman style expansion for dungeon crawling in Runebound.