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DUNGEON DEGENERATES - HAND OF DOOM Fantasy Board Game

Created by Sean Äaberg

RETRO ROLE PLAYING GAME FEEL IN A COOPERATIVE DARK FANTASY BOARD GAME! DUNGEON DEGENERATES - HAND OF DOOM is a fantasy adventure board game from GOBLINKO. Blending a Dark & Dirty Old School role playing game aesthetic with an easy to learn, fast-moving & engaging board game system, DUNGEON DEGENERATES delivers the dark fantasy adventure you want, when you want it. Players choose between four adventuring Degenerates who have been imprisoned for various crimes of survival. As they make their way out of Brüttelberg into the decaying Eastern provinces of the Würstreich they must take on strange & dangerous adventures & fighting against the corruption & decadence that have set into the land. Monsters, cultists, witches, demons & wizards have taken advantage of the rot & are encroaching on civilization. As if that wasn’t enough, the Necromancer’s Hand of Doom points down on the land & disrupts the natural order with Hellish resolve.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

CASTLE COCKENBALLS
about 7 years ago – Thu, Feb 23, 2017 at 11:51:11 PM

DUNGEON DEGENERATES PROGRESS UPDATE

OUR WEEKLY DEMO GAMES AT PORTLAND'S GUARDIAN GAMES HAVE BEEN GOING VERY WELL! GAMEPLAY HAS BEEN VERY SMOOTH, THE OPENING UP OF ADVENTURES HAS BEEN VERY SATISFYING & THE GAME HAS BEEN DYNAMIC, ENGAGING, SURPRISING & HIGHLY ADDICTIVE. EVEN HAVING DRAWN ALL OF THE ART FOR DUNGEON DEGENERATES & BRAINSTORMED LOTS OF THE IDEAS WITH ERIC - TO SEE HOW THE GAME UNFOLDS HAS BEEN TOTALLY NOVEL & HAS KEPT ME ON MY TOES. THIS GAME RULES.

I AM WORKING ON FINISHING UP THE REMAINING ART FOR DUNGEON DEGENERATES - I'M GETTING CLOSE TO HAVING ALL OF THE CARD ART DONE. ERIC HAS A VERY TIGHTENED-UP PROTOTYPE FINISHED & NOW WE'RE PLAY-TESTING ALL OF THE ADVENTURES TO MAKE SURE THEY WORK CORRECTLY. IT WILL BE VERY COOL TO SEE HOW THESE STORIES UNFOLD! ALSO - DIG THIS!

A NEW DUNGEON DEGENERATES POSTER! DISCOVER YOURSELF IN THE MYSTERY OF CASTLE COCKENBALLS! FOUND WANDERING AROUND THE WASTELANDS OF THE WURSTREICH - CASTLE COCKENBALLS COMES HOPPING OUT OF THE MISTS - CANNONS AIMED AT THE HORIZON. WHAT MYSTERIES LURK WITHIN? FOLDED 11"X17" POSTER FOR YOUR DUNGEON, LOCKER, BATHROOM STALL, PRACTICE SPACE, STUDIO OR REFRIGERATOR! ART BY SEAN ÄABERG FOR THE GOBLINKO MEGAMALL!!!

ALRIGHT! THAT'S ABOUT IT FOR NOW - BEST - SEAN

DUNGEON DEGENERATES Play Along Adventure - BATTLE AT BLACK TREE
about 7 years ago – Wed, Feb 15, 2017 at 09:44:19 PM

TURN 15 CONT.

Pulling yourself up from the swamp with all your strength, the fog in your head fades & gives way to bloody rage. There’s no time to flee - you stand before the towering, stinking trolls looming before you in the mist, clenching your fists & ready to die.

The Conjurer falls back & gives the trolls a wide berth, then suddenly springs into action & races towards the witch, brandishing his staff! Still observing from her perch on a black & twisted branch, the swamp witch is taken by surprise. The massive hairy spider creeping along the branch tries to come to her aid, but the Conjurer’s wild flailing keeps it at bay.

You lose track of them in the swirling fog as you dance around the trolls, keeping just out of their reach. Thanks to your years in the fighting pits & endless melee over the blood-slick corpses of fellow slaves & fallen beasts, you keep your footing as you weave between the trolls, striking back when you have an opening.

Using the weight of your attacker against it, you wait for the larger troll to swing at you, then duck below its arm & slash your gauntlet across its belly. The stench knocks you backward as its guts spill from the wound. The thing clutches at its innards & slumps to its knees when you hear the swamp hag’s death shriek echo out of the mist, cut short as the Conjurer’s staff crushes her head. You smile, hearing the sound of gunfire drowning the other noises of battle... the Alchemist is back & the battle has turned in your favor!

Your smile fades quickly when you see the troll stuff its guts back into its stomach wound & rejoin the battle... you rush to press your advantage & finish the wounded monster, but the second troll catches hold of you with one massive hand! The other hand swings in a wide arc, coming down like a sledgehammer across your forehead! You see a flash of color & then only darkness...

TURN 16

You open your eyes to the sight of the Black Tree’s limbs writhing in the wind above you, tattered scrolls hanging from every branch. Suddenly remembering where you are, you jolt upright in a rush of panic, but you’re relieved to see your comrades nearby, busily attempting to butcher the corpse of the gigantic spider & stuff it into a sack. Your head aches like the worst hangover you’ve ever had, but otherwise you seem none the worse for wear. You help finish cutting the various insects into manageable chunks, but leave the bullet-ridden troll corpses to rot in the swamp. You don’t see the swamp hag’s body anywhere but you decide not to ask.

TURN 17

Your salt sacks heavy with fresh meat, you pack up & get on the trail as soon as possible. The Conjurer warns against trying to go to Tomb Lake, so you turn Northwest towards the Witchwood which lays between the vast Rotting Swamp & the Foothills around Pigskin Port. Along your winding path through the swamp, you find fresh tracks in the mud - webbed & numerous. The Conjurer, following instructions from his mangy squawking crow, leads the party off the trail, circumventing the huge fishoid war party camping nearby. Just as well, judging by the tracks there are more than you can handle -- & you are laden down with enough meat as it is. You must reach Pigskin Port in one piece!

TURN 18

It’s dusk by the time you reach the edge of the wood & you find yourself travelling by moonlight & the light of glow-bugs swarming over the swamp. Behind you, marsh gas colors the darkening sky sickly green, but ahead, you spot bonfires beyond the treeline & smell cooking meat! You’ve heard of this place before - the Hunt Lodge - a walled compound at the edge of the wood, a meeting place for the Würstreich’s nobility. Your stomach rumbles as you smell the cookfires & your mood lifts in anticipation of a decent meal & dry place to spend the night. Glancing at your comrades, neither seems to share your excitement & you soon learn why - entering the woodline, you’re greeted by a finely-dressed noble backed by a wiry soldier kitted out for battle. With a blunderbuss aimed at your heads, the nobleman demands your surrender!

Think fast - will you try to (A) talk your way out of this with a bribe, (B) surrender yourself to the mercy of the law, (C) run for it, or (D) fight to the death?

Click here to vote in the poll: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Once you escape from a fight, if your allies don’t follow you or if they get stuck in the fight, you can rejoin them at the start of any subsequent round. In this case, the Alchemist rejoined the fight on the second round, since the other two didn’t follow him.

If your comrades survive & win a fight, they can revive you if you’ve been knocked out. The Alchemist saved the Brawler with some insanely good shooting, killing just about everything & collecting enough experience to purchase the Mend Wounds skill.

At the start of a game turn, each party chooses a Party Stance - Bold or Cautious. Certain actions can only be done while in Bold stance: exploring, forced marching, port travel, trading in town, etc. all require that the party be in Bold stance. If you are in Cautious stance, you can use Stealth to attempt to avoid an encounter if your danger card’s value matches the danger level in your space. In this case, the party would have been attacked by a sizeable force, but they all managed to pass PER Tests & therefore avoided the attack. In Bold stance, you can Hunt to track down monsters that would otherwise slip past you.

When you’re in a town that’s patrolled by the Law (such as the Hunt Lodge), you will be attacked by the Law if your Danger card value is equal to or less than the Bounty Level. Remember when the party plundered that shrine? This sort of rampant lawlessness has consequences & can make travelling in the Lowlands a dangerous venture! However, if an adventurer can pass a MRL Test - in this case the Brawler would do the talking - you can bribe Law enemies out of attacking you. The bribe costs GP equal to the Bounty Level plus the total XP Value (VAL) of the Law enemies in the area. In this case the cost would be 7 Gold Pieces (Bounty Level 4 + Huntsman VAL 2 + Man-at-arms VAL 1 = 7). Not cheap, but you can afford it. Alternately, you can save your money to Invest at the town. You can raise the Town Level & lower the Bounty Level for 20 GP (spent amongst the party). Fighting against the Law only raises the Bounty Level if one of them gets away!

WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE DUNGEONS OF THE WURSTREICH!?!
about 7 years ago – Fri, Jan 20, 2017 at 08:03:03 PM

DUNGEON DEGENERATES UPDATE!

HELLO DUNGEON DEGENERATES! We decided to not immediately do this limited run of 100 Kickstarter Project right now after all - Sean is working on the new PORK magazine - out in a few weeks! That said, we did actually put together a project, we're just not running it yet. So we'll see how that goes. Meanwhile - Eric is working on the most final version of the map right now, we changed some of the art, fixed some things & messed about with the type & iconography. Pictures of that coming as soon as we have them!

Meanwhile - Sean has been drawing lots of weapons & items for the cards & Eric has been getting that art cleaned up, colored & laid into the cards! Eric has also been working on the ADVENTURE BOOK for the game - which has just gotten bigger & more involved as he has worked on it. Eric has made the adventures interconnect with each other so the stories become more involved & with more options! It is fantastic! 

 Some hand-drawn icons for youse to feast your eyes on.

We had to cancel our weekly Demo Game at Guardian Games in Portland this week due to icy roads but we'll be back this coming Tuesday.

That's about it for now! Remember to peruse the GOBLINKO MEGAMALL for new DUNGEON DEGENERATES STUFF & we'll see you in the DUNGEONS!

THE 100!
about 7 years ago – Wed, Jan 04, 2017 at 11:10:54 PM

KICKSTARTER IS RUNNING A 100 LIMITED OBJECT CAMPAIGN FOR JANUARY

Hello Dungeon Degenerates - Kickstarter is running a 100 object limited campaign project for January where we propose a project limited to 100 items/backers & we're interested in doing this. We recognize that we won't be delivering our first kickstarter project Dungeon Degenerates until August this year, so we don't want to step on anyone's toes & commit a faux pas of running another Kickstarter without delivering our first one. So we're asking - we'd like to give this a go - what do you guys think?

best.

Sean

DUNGEON DEGENERATES Play Along Adventure - Turn 14 continued and Turn 15
about 7 years ago – Tue, Jan 03, 2017 at 09:57:36 PM

TURN 14 CONTINUED  

The Conjurer’s warning saved you from the terrifying dagger-teeth of the false hut. The walls of bone packed together with earth & moss that make up the thing’s flesh crumble under your relentless counterattack. You cave in a wall, but whatever unholy life force drives the thing gives it strength to sink its teeth into your skin before you destroy it utterly. Furious from the pain, you whirl around to meet the harpy’s assault.

Behind you, the Conjurer makes for a comical sight, swinging his staff around his head blindly in hopes of warding off the raptor woman winging through the fog above. Fortunately the Alchemist keeps his wits about him & anticipates the harpy’s death lunge - shooting her from the sky just before her talons reach you!  

Your stinging wounds fuel your disappointment as the rage subsides & the Alchemist glumly points out that neither of your foes has any worthwhile meat on them. The Conjurer’s bird perches safely on his shoulder once more & the pair seem to share some private joke as you curse at your luck. With his staff extended, the Conjurer points to the branches of a tall swamp tree in the nearby thicket. The raptor’s nest!

After a treacherous climb, you recover several massive eggs. The Conjurer assures you they are a delicacy to the people of the Rotting Swamp, though you’re not sure if he uses the word ‘people’ in the same way you do. In any case, the Alchemist is confident he can sell them back in Pigskin Port. But first - you must travel past the dreaded Black Tree on your way out of the Rotting Swamp!

TURN 15  

You feel your stomach sink & a vague feeling of dread creeping in at the edges of your mind as you trudge along the muddy path winding its way through the swamp to the ancient malignant Black Tree. The stench of rotting vegetation intensifies along with your sour mood as the titanic Tree’s leafless black limbs pierce the gloom above you.  

You stand in awe of the size of the massive black branches snaking through the fog, rough strips of leather hide draped from every limb. Something on a branch nearby moves suddenly, making you jump! An old crone sits there, dangling her bare feet from a branch above your head. Bundled in hides & tattered blankets, she rocks slowly on the branch & sings words you can’t make out or understand. As you approach, she looks you in the eye & grins, showing a sparse row of sharp, stained teeth. She closes an eye & raises a hand, pointing down at you with a quivering gnarled ring finger.  

Beside you, the Conjurer & Alchemist make their signs & say their words to ward the evil eye, but before you realize what they are doing you are caught & transfixed by the swamp witch’s gaze. Your head whirls & you fall under her dark spell. Your limbs shake & refuse to respond, as if held down by some crushing weight. The mud seems to pull you into it as you fall to your knees helpless just as the hag’s minions come shambling & creeping from out of the fog!  

Two massive trolls tower over you, coated & dripping with rot & slime, insects crawling across their stinking flesh. Larger insects creep through the mud around their legs & a spider nearly your size with quivering venomous fangs scrambles along the branches above your heads.

The Alchemist, unhindered by the hag’s curse, produces a bomb from one of the dozens of hidden pockets sewn into his jacket & hurls it into the midst of the advancing throng of horrors. The noise & light of the blast forces your foes to recoil momentarily, stunned by the blinding flash. The sound knocks you back to your senses & you rise from the mud with ringing in your ears, but as you open your eyes the Alchemist is nowhere to be found - he has vanished into the fog!  

The Conjurer looks at you, ready to follow your lead, sheer terror on his face. 

WILL YOU STAND & FIGHT OR RUN FOR YOUR LIFE?! 

(Answer in the comments below!)