Abstract dungeon is a very fast and light system, that is tilted towards a story based system. The book is flavored towards a Fantasy game system with the first 17 pages covering the basic dice mechanics. The system is easily modifiable for other genre's without having to change or modify the rules much if at all. I have played this using the system as is for cyberpunk, including the random character creation system and even used the some times wacky character trait's without having to make any modifications.

When I say fast I mean we finished and ended an adventure that included 4 social conflicts, 3 physical conflicts and a ton of narrative in less than 2 hours, which included character generation.

Want to run a system that lacks everything that creates power-gaming and the “arms war” mentality of gamers? Then Abstract Dungeon is just the ticket. Want to be able to game for a few hours and not end the night still in the middle of the first encounter? Then Abstract Dungeon is for you.

The system is simplistic, but don't confuse this with simple. The mechanic creates a need for strategy and player cooperation. All the players' abilities are represented by dice. These dice create the die pool (resources) that a character draws from during the game. The really interesting aspect off the game is that players roll all of their dice before the adventure begins, allocating them as they go along to overcome monsters and obstacles. Simple right? Not so fast. The real joy of this system is the fact that as players spend dice, they must describe their actions. This alone makes Abstract Dungeon great. No longer are players' actions simply die rolls with results. “I rolled a 35 and did 12 points of damage” is replaced by: “I grit my teeth and rush into the combat sweeping one goblin off its feet and then sinking my battleaxe into the one behind it.”

There is no need for extensive lists of spells, skills, feats, inventories, or armories. Players can do whatever they want, as long as they narrate their actions. They can draw from all of their fantasy experiences—gaming, movies, novels, etc—in order to accomplish this. While this may sound a little to liberal and free, my players created character concepts, and their actions fell nicely into what that character should reasonably do. For example, my fighter player refused to cast any spells.

Adventure writing is easy and free-flowing as well. The GM is aware of the players' resources (amount of dice) and sets the encounters to deplete said resources. If my players have 60 total dice, then I know that the challenges should be around that same number. The encounters last no more than three to four rounds, so more time in the adventure writing was dedicated to story/plot. Helping to create a rich setting and story arc with which players could interact.

This system harkens back to the early days of RPGs where rules were light, creativity was at a premium, and roleplaying was the goal...not an afterthought.

Play Abstract Dungeon. You will not be disappointed.

Abstract Dungeon has an innovative system. The players make all the dice rolls at the start of the game and when they must overcome an obstacle or fight monsters, they must allocate the dice in a way to pass the tests.

Every treasure or ability gives you more dice, so I see here a "small dice-building" system, because you try to collect more dice. There are enough tactical decisions to be made: what dice to use and what to keep for later use. The character creation is very fast and there is an option for a random character creation using random tables. Also there is an interesting adventure at the end of the book. There is a treasure generator and a bestiary. What I'd like to see is: spells, races and classes.

Yes, it is a system I'd like to use for a long campaign, easy for new and veteran gamers and as we read on the cover: it is a fast and easy RPG.