8-Bit Dungeon Products
8-Bit Dungeon is my love-letter to the old first-person fantasy roleplaying video games of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was an opportunity for me to check-off one of the ideas from my personal projects wishlist: develop, design, and publish a new card game from the ground up.
The card game has been designed to be reminiscent of those old retro video games that were all about exploring mysterious dungeons to slay evil monsters and gather hordes of lost treasure.
Now you can experience that nostalgic thrill of pixelated dungeon delving in a fun card game with solo, cooperative, and competitive modes of play.
The game and related products are all available for free in digital format if you are feeling crafty and would like to construct your own copy. The print versions are all priced at cost of production. My intent with this project wasn’t to make a game to be marketed, but rather to do something fun that would be a creative learning experience.
If you really want to kick in those nostalgic feels, you can always play 8-Bit Dungeon while listening to the retro-style video game music soundtrack I wrote.
Details: For 1-4 players ages 13+. Play time is typically between 1-2 hours for cooperative and competitive modes, and 30-minutes to 1 hour for solo mode.
Needed to play: a pair of six-sided dice (constructable themed dice are included with the game deck, but any pair of dice will do).
First-Person RPG Video Games That Were Inspirations for the Aesthetic and Art of 8-Bit Dungeon…
More About the Game
In 8-Bit Dungeon you take on the role of one of eight different adventurers in search of the mysterious artifacts hidden deep inside the dungeon.
You will face traps and monsters, mini-bosses and bosses as you gain experience, gather gold, and discover powerful magic items. You will have ample opportunities to spend your loot back in town at the merchant where you can upgrade your gear.
There are four professions that are shared between those eight adventurers: cleric, thief, fighter, and wizard (two of each). Each profession grants that adventurer special abilities to help them on their dungeon delve.
As the game continues, adventurers will earn experience for every monster they defeat and gain experience levels making them more powerful and allowing them to remain in the dungeon for longer periods to face mightier foes.
I tried to have the game’s aesthetic capture the often lowbrow-influenced pulp fantasy pixel graphics indicative of the genre during that era. Here are the eight adventurers of 8-Bit Dungeon:
More About Gameplay
Solo Mode – Played with one player using one adventurer, a solo game is won by collecting three (easy mode) or all nine (hard mode) of the mysterious artifacts. Average game play time in solo mode takes 30 easy mode, and 1-1.5 hours for hard mode.
Multiplayer Cooperative Mode – Played with 2-4 players using one adventurer each, the cooperative game is won by the group collecting several* of the mysterious artifacts (*2 multiplied by the number of players). The rules expand on additional options for cooperative play that allow players to help one another. Average game play time in cooperative mode is about 1-hour for 2 players, and an additional 15-minutes for each additional player.
Multiplayer Competitive Mode – Played with 2-4 players using one adventurer each. The race is on! A competitive game is won by the first adventurer to collect three of the mysterious artifacts. Average game play time in competitive mode is about 1 hour.
Monster & Trap Card Gallery
There are a total of 50 different monster cards in 8-Bit Dungeon. 10 are ranked easy (green icon), 25 are ranked normal (yellow icon), 10 are ranked hard (red icon), and there are 3 ranked as mini-bosses and 2 ranked as bosses. Also, there are a total of 5 different deadly trap cards.
Artifact & Treasure Card Gallery
There are a total of 33 treasure cards in 8-Bit Dungeon. 15 consumable one-use magic items, 5 magic weapons, 5 magic armors, 3 magic shields, and 5 miscellaneous magic items that grant powerful effects. These treasures can be obtained either by spending gold at the merchant (for the items in stock), or by finding one of 5 different treasure chest cards. Be careful though! Every chest has a chance to be trapped!
Lastly, there are 9 artifact cards. Collecting these is the objective of them game. How many need to be collected is defined by the various modes of play.
Rules of the Game
Alternatively, you can get a copy of the 8-Bit Dungeon Rulebook & Guide at DriveThruRPG.