Paper App Dungeon Review

Have you ever sat on a long journey, and thought, I wish I was roleplaying right now? Or gone camping or hiking and not wanted to take a huge board game or tons of RPG books? Lucy Duck Games and Tom Brinton have your back, with Paper App Dungeon, the travel roleplaying, dungeon exploring notebook.

What Do You Get With Paper App Dungeon?

Paper App Dungeon comes with a unique dungeon notebook, which are procedurally generated so that no two notebooks are the same, and a special P6 pencil. The P6 acts as your writing implement, and your dice, with 1 through 6 printed on the sides of it, which you roll to move during the game. The only issue is that the pencil can roll forever, especially if you're traveling. The idea of it is awesome, and it keeps the whole experience simple and portable, but I found myself using my own six-sided dice (D6) so that I didn't have to chase the pencil around.

How Do You Play Paper App Dungeon?

Paper App Dungeon comes with the rules printed on the first three pages of the notebook, but a much more robust and easier-to-understand rulebook is available here. For each map, you find the starting space and roll the P6. If you get 1, 3, or 5, you can move diagonally, 2, 4, or 6 and you move orthogonally. You have to move your complete distance rolled in a straight line, marking on the map as you go, and if you hit a wall, you can change directions.

On your travels, you will come across enemies, who take away your hit points, and treasure in the form of coins and chests. As you take damage or gain coins, you total them at the bottom of the page, and once you reach the exit, you total both up. If you have a negative health number, you start the next page with 10 health and 0 coins, but if you have a positive health number, you carry it over, along with your coins.

Occasionally, you can also come across stores, where you can increase your starting health, and also buy potions to use during maps. The final page in the book has a tally for your deaths and your final HP and Coin total, so you can compare them against your next Paper App Dungeon journey.

The challenge in Paper App Dungeon is predicting the dice rolls, and trying to avoid putting yourself in a position where you will move through enemies regardless of the roll. Sometimes calculated risks pay off, or if you know that between you and the exit are limited enemies (in our Floor 1 image below, you can see we headed straight through the enemy at the top of the map because it was a straight line to the exit after). T

There doesn't feel like a big payoff for taking risks for coins, because if you end up on negative health points at the end, you lose all of your coins, and even putting yourself on low health going into the next map makes that map even harder. You can play however you want, but I found that taking the simple routes, with calculated risks and minimal coins to keep my death tally down was the way I played through the maps.

How Long Is Paper App Dungeon?

Paper App Dungeon includes 45 maps total to play through. Each one can take as little as a few minutes (if you roll well), or much longer if the dice are against you and you end up bouncing around tight rooms on the map. Because each map is procedurally generated, some can be very easy, and some have particularly testing moments, but that's the nature of adventuring, and nothing is fair in the gloom of the dungeon.

What Are Our Final Thoughts On Paper App Dungeon?

Paper App Dungeon is a fun little game and incredible for travel adventures, or for introducing younger players to tabletop games. The P6 while a great concept, isn't great for travel, and can roll forever, so we ended up using a standard 6-sided dice. The rulebook, while well condensed into 3 pages at the front of the notebook, is much easier to understand in the full format we linked to above. Once understood, you won't require it again, but that initial read of the condensed 3 pages can be confusing. It's a fun little package though overall, and I will be picking up another next time I travel.

Should I Buy Paper App Dungeon?

If you want a quick pick-up-and-play game for travel, or to introduce younger players, then Paper App Dungeon is perfect in terms of size, portability, fun, and ease of use (take your own dice with you on travel though). If you're looking for a roleplaying game or dungeon exploring board game with depth or character development, then Paper App Dungeon isn't that.

The copy of Paper App Dungeon used to produce this review was provided by Lucky Duck Games.