Another one that I know is coming out with an expansion, but let’s talk about Paper Dungeons. This is a roll and write game that promises a dungeon crawler, well dungeon scrawler, and a campaign in the box. It is the first part. The second part, there is a little bit of story that you can read. And you can see me play Paper Dungeons to get a better idea of how the game works.

Paper Dungeons

The Issue

My “issue” with this game is that it talks about the campaign of the game. It says that it’s a campaign with the story that you play, but it doesn’t really feel like that. There is story on cards, but it doesn’t matter. You play whatever setup you want and go with it.

But the bigger element that doesn’t make it feel like a campaign is that you don’t get better. In a legacy game you’d mark stuff down that you have at the start of the game. You don’t get that. There is no level up element to Paper Dungeons. Besides that little bit of campaign story, nothing feels like a campaign.

The Expansion

So how do you “fix” that, the easiest way is just reprint the game and remove the campaign pretense from the box. But that isn’t fun, nor is it part of this exercise. So how do you create an expansion that gives you a campaign and leveling for a roll and write game?

The Monsters

Firstly, I think that you redo the monsters and how they are used in solo. And then provide an additional sheet. So the story doesn’t need to change much. The big thing is that extra sheet. What is that going to provide, that is going to provide a few things for you.

To redo the monsters you would be looking at adding in additional monsters. But rebalancing the other monsters, making some of them easier. The whole idea is around that you can level up your heroes. And to do that, you might need to level down some monsters specifically for the campaign. But give rewards to players who can defeat them, or you might just chase them away. So it isn’t like a monster is always easy to beat.

Extra Sheet

Then it would allow you to fill in some spots ahead of time. It wouldn’t be much, but it would let you feel like you got better. Your wizard doesn’t go back down to level 1 each time. You get to pick what you want to spend it on in hopes of being better. It might even be limited to where you can spend it. Partially craft an item or get more potions to start the game.

It also might be a situation where it replaces part of the sheet or adds in more. The levelling track, while still giving your bonuses is longer, or there is a new spot where you need to use dice to level up characters in a longer format making it harder to get there, and not harder to defeat the monsters, they were redone to better work in a campaign.

Rewards

I think that one time rewards is also a thing to consider. You defeat a monster and you get a potion of strength. You pick what scenario you want to use that on. There might even be dungeon bosses that you want to save it for to see if you can beat it. But it’d be another way to create that progression without changing the game as much.

And it is a way that you can randomize the game. So when I play there are a number of things that make me unique for that specific time. In fact, this might be the better solution than giving your permanent upgrades you start with. Or that you can make them go slowly. You get one time use rewards or you craft a sword, it’s harder now, but you get to keep it unless something happens to it.

Does it Fulfill My Desire for Paper Dungeons?

I think that it does. Paper Dungeons is a wonderful gaming experience. And like I said, you could just remove the campaign element from it. I would just want more an expansion then. But because it does same campaign, please give me a campaign. Give me character leveling, getting new things, whatever it might be.

Instead, right now, we get a little loose story and then the same gaming experience over and over again. What I don’t think needs to change is the map. They do a good job of reusing that. Sure, it is something to change, but it isn’t going to be what makes the game feel more like a campaign. If they wanted to, create different maps in different shapes and let’s go from there. But I’d prefer to level up.

I don’t expect that is what I’m going to get. I expect it will be more monsters and more of the same. Maybe a side board to add in more that you can do. And that will make me happy. It is just an opportunity for the new expansion to make that campaign claim true.

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