Dungeon Fantasy: Delvers to Grow

https://gamingballistic.com/product/delvers-to-grow-core-book-print/

First off, if you play Dungeon Fantasy, get this book. Just go, get it, right now like.

Got it? Great! What is it?

The one thing I always wanted from Dungeon Fantasy, is a way to NOT start with a 250-point juggernaut and just start out with a basic, level 1, B/X power level novice. The gamer offers three power levels to start a character at:

• Novice (62 points)
• Journeyman (125 points)
• Master (187 points)

And we can assume Dungeon Fantasy's default 250-point templates are a "Hero" level. The best part about this book is it gives you quick build options for all three character archetypes:

• Strong Delvers
• Fast Delvers
• Smart Delvers

And gives you a menu-style of modules where all you do is pick a couple and you can get going fast. A Novice Fast Delver gets a base set of ability scores, two disadvantage modules, a basic module, and an upgrade module. Then they give you a few points for skills and suggest skills for that build, such as 12 points for weapon skills.

Write down your stats, add every module's selections to your character sheet, pick those skills and you are done character creation. And they provide a number of quick-pick basic equipment packages so you don't have to sort through the equipment lists and ask the GM, "Does my character need this?" Also, the game gives basic starting spell lists for every power level.

If you are introducing players to Dungeon Fantasy and want to start them out with that basic 'level zero" experience, this is definitely the way to go. Your new players are not getting overwhelmed with writing down 250 points of skills and abilities. You are not sorting through lists of equipment and spells.

You make a few easy and guided module picks, and you are ready to go.

Best of all, these starting characters are simple in complexity, they only have a few advantages and disadvantages, so new players aren't sitting there blankly staring at a character sheet and asking if an advantage would help them or not, or glazed over and missing something they could have done or used.

The only issue I see is one that is a legacy problem with Dungeon Fantasy and that is selecting a race other than human. You have to start dropping modules and putting the excess points into slush funds. It is a minor quibble and one that comes with the point-design nature of Dungeon Fantasy. GURPS is at its core a point-buy superhero game, so everything that gives your character a bonus or penalty must be accounted for in your character point total.

Could you do this yourself? Yes, if you tweaked and did a heck of a lot of work building these standard module choices. Could you do it as nicely and cleanly as this? Maybe. But this book saves you a whole lot of work, and you can hand it to a new player and have them working on their character and ready within 15-30 minutes of sitting down.

The book is priceless for new players and even those just learning the system who want to create simple heroes to learn the rules with. There is a reason a lot of the D&D games start with level one heroes, the game is a lot easier to learn at that level of play. Dungeon Fantasy starts you off with a capable 250-point hero with a ton of options, and that can be like starting with a level 8 character in D&D - not everyone can start with that level of complexity and feel like they are learning much.

There is a point in everyone's minds where we see a certain level of complexity and we give up - and that is where I was with Dungeon Fantasy. I liked the game and thought it was cool, but the starting complexity felt way too high to dive in and learn easily.

Other than that, the art in this book is incredible and it feels like a modern-style game. It very much has that 5E feel to it with pictures of all sorts of non-standard races and professions. You can get this in print too, with a few add-on books with sample characters (not needed but nice to have).

An absolute must-buy for introducing the game to new players and those just getting started.