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Tunnel e Troll: il libro delle regole
The World of Tunnels and Trolls is one where you lead your players through dank dungeons, where there are deadly traps and dire monsters at every turn, where death lurks in cobwebbed vaults alongside undreamt-of treasure, where sword clashes with shield, where arcane magic burns the underground air with strange energies.
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
2 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Ken St. Andre
53 books16 followersKenneth Eugene St. Andre is an American fantasy author and game designer, best known for his work with Tunnels & Trolls, the fantasy role-playing game he has authored and curated since 1975, and Wasteland, the 1988 post-apocalyptic computer role playing game. He has been an active member of The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America since 1989 and in June 2018, The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design inducted St. Andre into its Hall of Fame.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 19, 2012
I had the 5th edition rules way-back-when, which according to the great and good of Troll-dom is the one to have, but still, this was a nice little walk down memory lane and is still in my opinion one of the best systems around. It's simple, fun, doesn't take itself too seriously but still manages to a serious enough system to satisfy the die-hards and even now has a very loyal fan base.
I'd like to re-read the 5th edition rules at some point to note the differences, but anyway, a system to be proud of and an enjoyable and all-to-quick read.
Very good.
I'd like to re-read the 5th edition rules at some point to note the differences, but anyway, a system to be proud of and an enjoyable and all-to-quick read.
Very good.
August 1, 2015
Classic sword and sorcery roleplaying in its 1980s manifestation. A readable and amusing set of rules for multi-player games using the Tunnels & Trolls rules, blighted by more than a few grammatical and spelling errors. An eBay bargain bought out of a sense of nostalgia, I'm looking forward to the release of the new Kickstarter edition. A good introduction to the world of roleplaying but not essential.
February 28, 2017
Didn't like the setting, initiative, dice choice, combat, or character classes, so I didn't read about the magic and the monsters. With so many OSR games to choose from, maybe its time for TnT to enter the public domain in the style of Talislanta. Dungeon Crawl Classics or Savage Worlds: Fantasy are better modern choices.
December 24, 2020
I've been playing the DnD Essentials Kit with my girlfriend recently, and her father decided to give me his old Tunnels and Trolls box set that he gets no use out of anymore, from 1983. He has given me an old game or two before (also from Flying Buffalo - Nuclear War) and they were little more than historical curiosities that I haven't even played yet. I was surprised to find how compulsively readable this book was, and how appealing and entertaining its vision of fantasy roleplaying is.
Part of that is simply context - this was the second RPG ever published after DnD, before anyone dared to imagine such thing as a "storygame" - adventure games were for pure sword and sorcery, looting corpses, collecting gold, and so on. Tunnels and Trolls states over and over again that the purpose of the game is to go underground, collect loot, and then you "win" if you make it back to the surface. It references the idea that the GM would want to try and kill the players - a completely passé idea in modern roleplaying best practices. GMs are expected to maintain a single dungeon as their sort of masterpiece, refining it when traps become too obvious or restocking it with new monsters if major ones are killed. "Delvers," as PCs are called, are expected to retry dungeons to get deeper into them than before! This "roguelike" form of play is completely foreign to modern RPGs that obsessively try to avoid ever giving players the same thing over again.
I have a lot of love for those more narrative systems, but I'm also enchanted by the way stories arise naturally and randomly from more stringent, gamey systems. Tunnels and Trolls is a rules-light engine for exactly that. There are a lot of other interesting ideas here - there are no derived modifiers to rolls, instead everything is based on your base stats, and your base stats are constantly in flux. Consitution is chipped at by damage, wizards have to spend their strength to cast spells, and so on.
This doesn't quite get 5 stars because, primarily, it shows its age culturally. There's a spell about making creatures do your bidding named "Yassa Massa" and rules for acquiring slaves. . Those rules include guidelines on how to buy them to your exact stat point specifications, and even how to make them beautiful if you want (normally impossible), with no accounting for if there's a chance slaves revolt or other aspects. Yes, the GM can add this detail, but it often mentions extraneous things the GM could add on their own, but doesn't here. The final of the three "chapters," which contains extra systems and rules meant to be occasionally useful, is also a lot weaker. That they are meant for less frequent use is fine - but these options generally betray the simple nature of the game and get caught up in doing a bunch of math to convert various statistics and dice rolls. More elegant ones probably could have been found.
Part of that is simply context - this was the second RPG ever published after DnD, before anyone dared to imagine such thing as a "storygame" - adventure games were for pure sword and sorcery, looting corpses, collecting gold, and so on. Tunnels and Trolls states over and over again that the purpose of the game is to go underground, collect loot, and then you "win" if you make it back to the surface. It references the idea that the GM would want to try and kill the players - a completely passé idea in modern roleplaying best practices. GMs are expected to maintain a single dungeon as their sort of masterpiece, refining it when traps become too obvious or restocking it with new monsters if major ones are killed. "Delvers," as PCs are called, are expected to retry dungeons to get deeper into them than before! This "roguelike" form of play is completely foreign to modern RPGs that obsessively try to avoid ever giving players the same thing over again.
I have a lot of love for those more narrative systems, but I'm also enchanted by the way stories arise naturally and randomly from more stringent, gamey systems. Tunnels and Trolls is a rules-light engine for exactly that. There are a lot of other interesting ideas here - there are no derived modifiers to rolls, instead everything is based on your base stats, and your base stats are constantly in flux. Consitution is chipped at by damage, wizards have to spend their strength to cast spells, and so on.
This doesn't quite get 5 stars because, primarily, it shows its age culturally. There's a spell about making creatures do your bidding named "Yassa Massa" and rules for acquiring slaves. . Those rules include guidelines on how to buy them to your exact stat point specifications, and even how to make them beautiful if you want (normally impossible), with no accounting for if there's a chance slaves revolt or other aspects. Yes, the GM can add this detail, but it often mentions extraneous things the GM could add on their own, but doesn't here. The final of the three "chapters," which contains extra systems and rules meant to be occasionally useful, is also a lot weaker. That they are meant for less frequent use is fine - but these options generally betray the simple nature of the game and get caught up in doing a bunch of math to convert various statistics and dice rolls. More elegant ones probably could have been found.
July 22, 2016
T&T is simpler, more adaptable, and more fun than D&D. You get a better variety of races for your character, and a vast number of weapons to choose from. You can also play solitaire, thanks to the long line of solo adventures published for T&T over the years. All hail the Trollgod!
October 15, 2017
A very good, mostly simple, and mostly light-hearted, RPG system.
There are more complex systems, and there are simpler systems, so T&T sits in a strange place along the gaming spectrum; I think the most complex part of T&T is the monster rating system, which I still haven't really found a really simple way to remember or internalise. That's its biggest drawback, I think: its combat system feels a little over-complex for in relation to the rest of the rules.
Aside from that, I love how simple the character builds are, and yet how complete the system feels when played. In a way, it's D&D 5e before D&D 5e. Simplification without loss of function. I've never played a T&T game where I get frustrated because some task I want to perform happens to be undefined by the rules and opens the floodgate to an endless debate over whether it would be successful or not. T&T makes it possible to account for pretty much anything, without having to spell everything out.
Its solo-play options are also really appealing. T&T makes for a great lazy afternoon, whether or not you have friends to play with or not. There are heaps of solo adventures out there, so you can DM and play, and it's 99% satisfying (1% reserved for lack of social interaction).
The final drawback, I guess, is that it doesn't use the Open Game License. I think an OGL or OGL-style license would probably give rise to some improved alternative combat systems, which I'd quite like, but there's just not the same community around T&T that there is around games like D&D 5e and Pathfinder (or maybe there is, and I just don't know where to find it).
Still, T&T is a solid "old school" dungeon system, and a lot of fun to play. This, its core rulebook, is light reading, and pretty small compared to other systems, so there's no good reason not to have it on your shelf.
There are more complex systems, and there are simpler systems, so T&T sits in a strange place along the gaming spectrum; I think the most complex part of T&T is the monster rating system, which I still haven't really found a really simple way to remember or internalise. That's its biggest drawback, I think: its combat system feels a little over-complex for in relation to the rest of the rules.
Aside from that, I love how simple the character builds are, and yet how complete the system feels when played. In a way, it's D&D 5e before D&D 5e. Simplification without loss of function. I've never played a T&T game where I get frustrated because some task I want to perform happens to be undefined by the rules and opens the floodgate to an endless debate over whether it would be successful or not. T&T makes it possible to account for pretty much anything, without having to spell everything out.
Its solo-play options are also really appealing. T&T makes for a great lazy afternoon, whether or not you have friends to play with or not. There are heaps of solo adventures out there, so you can DM and play, and it's 99% satisfying (1% reserved for lack of social interaction).
The final drawback, I guess, is that it doesn't use the Open Game License. I think an OGL or OGL-style license would probably give rise to some improved alternative combat systems, which I'd quite like, but there's just not the same community around T&T that there is around games like D&D 5e and Pathfinder (or maybe there is, and I just don't know where to find it).
Still, T&T is a solid "old school" dungeon system, and a lot of fun to play. This, its core rulebook, is light reading, and pretty small compared to other systems, so there's no good reason not to have it on your shelf.
December 4, 2022
Decently-polished version of the first RPG to significantly break from D&D design principles. Good, fun, but suffers from some needlessly racist terminology (corrected in later editions). Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
February 28, 2017
Originally written in the mid-70's and probably a bit past its sell date. Very simple to play, a typical Flying Buffalo beer and pretzels game. Had the best solo dungeons back in the day.
December 11, 2017
good stuff!! I use this as a module for palladium edition 1 and AD&D editon 1
comedy vlaue and idea of levelling mosnter kinda awesome
see a new slant on many things
worth the buy tons fo good ideas and some good art
comedy vlaue and idea of levelling mosnter kinda awesome
see a new slant on many things
worth the buy tons fo good ideas and some good art
Read
August 23, 2008isbn,original
December 18, 2013
Nice melee system.
August 23, 2018
A simple, adaptable and fun game system.
This rule set can provide for endless hours of entertainment, either solo or with friends.
Looking forward to shaking some bones with this!
This rule set can provide for endless hours of entertainment, either solo or with friends.
Looking forward to shaking some bones with this!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews