Four Against Darkness: A solitaire dungeon-delving pen-and-paper game

by Andrea Sfiligoi

Four Against Darkness is a solitaire dungeon-delving game that may also be played cooperatively. No miniatures are needed. All you need is this book, a pencil, two dice, and grid paper. Choose four characters from a list of classic types (warrior, wizard, rogue, halfling, dwarf, barbarian, cleric, elf), equip them, and venture into dungeons created by dice rolls and your own choices. You will fight monsters, manage resources, grab treasure, dodge traps, find clues, and even accept quests from the monsters themselves. Your characters will level up, becoming more powerful with each game... IF THEY SURVIVE.

Genres: Fantasy, Role Playing Games, Gamebooks, Gaming, Games, Fiction

212 pages, Paperback

Published September 13, 2017

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m essentially rating a rule book to a game I’ve not yet played, though I fully intend to. A game that is encouraging me to sit alone at a table with a pencil, two dice, some graph paper and my imagination, to create and map out my own story as I go. That alone, in the age we now live in, is worth every one of these five stars.

[Erik Indigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The greatest solo dungeon-delving RPG I've ever read and played so far. Even after 2 years, it remains a passion, because it's so easy to add things and tweak it. Satisfies the roleplaying itch of parents with less time and energy to play games than in their youth...

[Greg Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first foray into RPGs - let alone single-player! Just completed my first campaign and am left with many questions to which I'm unable to find answers within the book, but there are several communities that I'm able to reach out to.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

There comes a time in every gamer's life when they realize that most tabletop role playing games require other people.  As my friends will attest to, I have found myself playing a wide variety of games in social situations, ranging from my childhood where I developed a love for role playing games as a way of mentally imagining myself in different places and as a different role, developing a habit of playing against type that I have continued to this day.  That said, as someone who spends a fair amount of time alone, the idea of solitaire games that allow for a similar experience without requiring the marshaling of a large group of people together is appealing.  If you are fond of solitiare pen and paper games and want to add role playing games to your solitaire repertoire, this book is certainly a worthwhile one, even if it does not get everything right to the level I would wish for myself.  It certainly does provide for an interesting playing experience, that's for sure, and is part of a larger series of books so it allows for some extensive gameplay if you look at it from a larger perspective.

This book is a short one at less than 100 pages and is organized in a rather rudimentary manner.  The first few pages discuss the basic rules and simplifications made to this game from the sorts of games that the reader is likely more familiar with such as having monsters roll no dice to speed up the gameplay and in drastically simplifying the class system in strange ways--where Elves, Dwarves, and Haflings count as classes rather than races.  A great deal of time is spent in dealing with tables involving various enemies, including minions and bosses, and dealing with leveling up and marching and fighting order.  There are discussions about loot and clues as well, and a few pages that deal with traps and their consequences.  The book even allows for complications with hidden treasure and the ability for monsters to give quests to the party themselves.  And when you are done with this book and have a suitably advanced party of four where everyone is at level 5, this book even promises sequel bait for later books that deal with more advanced parties that one can play by oneself.

If this is a simplified game, it does at least point the way forward where someone with some grid paper, some dice, a pencil, and more free time than they know how to deal with effectively can wind their way through a fun adventure without having to gather a few friends.  Basically, this game is a somewhat simple role playing game that one could play on a computer but instead one chooses to play on a Wendy's table or one's own dining room table.  There are a great many responses that one can have to this sort of book and the realization that there are solo tabletop role playing games.  One can feel overjoyed that one does not have to rustle up a lot of busy people from far flung areas to enjoy a game, or one can feel a bit sad that some of the few social activities that fantasy nerds regularly engage in can be done almost as well in familiar solitude.  This isn't the sort of work to make fun of, though, as it is written from what is likely a real need perceived by the author (and perhaps by others as well) in making the best of one's interests even if one has no one else to share them with.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful little rules-lite pen-and-paper old-school tabletop role-playing game! I will likely modify this later, after a few solo sessions, to play with my kids, because it is simple enough and I feel like it could be a fun storytelling and imaginative activity.

That being said, I’m pretty excited to use this as a solo gaming tool. I’m not terribly stoked about having to manage a party of four characters, but the system seems easy enough that this shouldn’t be too much of an issue. I like the design space of this game and the scope, and I love the fact that there are about a bazillion supplemental rulebooks to modify the game experience to my liking. Overall, I can’t wait to jump in. I’m not sure the base game would totally be my cup of tea, as it is a bit too sparse in what it offers at its core, but the small, cheap paperbacks I picked up on Amazon should add sufficient variety to my playthroughs, and I think it’ll offer precisely the game experience over the amount of time I have quite well.

[Matthew J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw a couple videos about this on YouTube and figured I'd check it out. Looks like a fun start. I know later books add in some various complications and expand on options, but this looks like it'll be fun to fiddle around with. It's very basic; sort of like a randomly generated game of Gauntlet, but as Pen & Paper RPG. That captures a bit of that early D&D vibe, but this is still simple and easy to play. I've seen complaints that the organization isn't as good as it could be, where you might have to skim through the whole book to track down what to do in X situation, or how Y monster can effect something. I can see that. Though the rules seem pretty simple, they're still spread over 90 pages. The charts in the back look helpful, but I don't know if they're going to cut it during game play. Still, things are simple enough that I suspect a few dungeon delves and it'll be mostly second nature.

[Dave Glorioso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible first book in a series of books to help you adventure and role play in dungeons. Just need these books, graph paper and a pencil to draw dungeons and maps and several dice to determine outcomes, threats etc.It is easy to modify and now can take your adventurers into multiple scenarios that are incredibly fun and exciting with new books or your own modification. Treasure hunt, destroy the dragon, rescue prisoners from orcs, stop the undead, fight in Asgard etcetcetcetc.
Would rate it 5 but requires some effort to organize the rules etc.
I have enjoyed this more than dungeon and dragons. Have played it solo many times.
I am now building an adventure for others to experience. Thank you! This is what I have been looking for. Basically DandD lite that can be played solo or in a group with all the fun and no limits.

[Criss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pen & paper solitaire 'old school' dungeon crawler. Huge fun and replayability using only two dice, paper and pencil. The rules generates great looking dungeons. I like drawing the maps and I like that the characters sheets are very simple, minimalist, although the game is sufficiently deep.

Maybe too much dice rolling.

A lot of expansions (printed books or cheap PDF) are available, adding stories or more content for level-up characters.

It's the kind of game where you can easily create new scenarios, non-random dungeons, stories or add more content or changes.

I own the softcover book.

[Gabriele D'Amato · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'idea è geniale: hanno preso la tabellina presente nel manuale del dungeon master di D&D scatola rossa (che ho usato tantissimo per giocare da solo quando ero piccolo) per stabilire casualmente il contenuto della stanza di un dungeon, anch'esso creato casualmente. Poche regole per affrontare trappole, mostri o incontri speciali. Si preparano i 4 eroi e si è pronti per affrontare i pericoli delle tenebre. Si può giocare da soli o in più giocatori; può essere presente un game master o meno; sono disponibili supplementi e avventure, ma in questo piccolo manuale c'è già tutto quanto serve per vivere mille avventure e fare crescere i propri personaggi.

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5

Tu nie ma fabuły XD Trochę taka instrukcja do RPG. Szkoda, że nie ma drugiej części z mięsem fabularnym, zamiast tych kilku tabelek na końcu, bo mi w kółko losowały się sługusy. Widać potencjał, bo krótkie fabularne akapity, które stanowią wstęp do kolejnych rozdziałów, są napisane naprawdę dobrze - charyzmatycznie, z humorem i dynamiką. Ja miałam pecha i w kółko losowałam sługusy i trochę mnie to zniechęciło + nie byłam gotowa, że samemu trzeba stworzyć sobie historię, bo inaczej, to godzina turlania kością bez sensu. Tak czy inaczej, mechanika mi się bardzo podoba i ma fajny potencjał do wykorzystania podczas sesji gier fabularnych.

[Harrison Ripps · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of a single-player RPG. Brought this on a long flight thinking I would be able to run a game for myself. However, I found the rules to be very complex. I had a hard time making sense of them and eventually gave up. I am a long-time gamer of D&D (all versions) plus some d100 systems and other one-off systems, so I was surprised that this was so hard for me to figure out. That said, I still love the idea and would love to see an updated edition that simplified some of the rules.

[Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and interesting game book. I'm new to RPG pen and paper game books.

This one feels little bit hard for me to understand of how to play and read. But I like the book and is entertaining to read and play.

Hope to learn more about pen and paper game books of RPG and other genres in the future. Also they make more books to this series or universe.

🤔👍🏽😯📝📚🎲

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great game design slightly let down by layout. Definitely a good starting point for dungeon crawling. It's definitely roll play over role play, although add in an oracle like mythic and you can create a dynamic narrative.

[Kai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating is solely based on how the rulebook was written. And it is bad. How concepts are arranged doesn't make sense. Needs an editor. The character sheet and player reference sheets from BGG teaches you more about the game than this.

One of the worst rulebooks I've ever read.

[Katrina Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've not actually gotten a proper chance to play this out--but it looks very promising as a solitaire game system

I will need to update this review after I've gotten a chance to play a few game sessions

Looks really promising though

[Huy Tran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tight gameplay created to mimic B/X D&D while still allowing solo-management of a party and exploration. Good expansion of generating a dungeon to gain excitement in play with tables to increase odds of good things happening when secret rooms are found.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only read all the rules etc but this looks like an excellent game with loads of playability and through this I have brought some Expansions and minatures.
As it seems way better than Fighting Fantasy which is boring compared to this.

[Mountainroot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Έξυπνη και απλή ιδέα για solitaire PnP game.
Με πολύ ζάρι βέβαια αλλά βρίσκω οτι αρκετά τίμιο σε αυτό που μου δίνει.

[Flosse07 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Die Regeln hab ich jetzt gelesen und nun geht es in Kürze ans erste Spiel. Ich bin gespannt

[Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Playing with yourself never felt so good.

[david crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, this is my favorite solitaire dungeon crawl.

[Carl Grider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Might be 5 stars once I actually play the game. From what I read I have to give it at least 4 stars.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid book, explaining a solid game system

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to playing, seems easy enough, but for my sanity I am going to find some one-sheet references to download to save flipping back and forth through the rules while playing.

[Alexander Lenz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it. Played a few sessions. Did not like it. Does what it says very well, but little beyond.

[Morgan Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take it from someone new to tabletop games, let alone solo games - this is a great one to start with! I was a bit scared I would flounder with the sheer amount of rules, but it turned out to be a non-issue. If you have any issues with it, I would recommend looking on Youtube for a playthrough or two. I find that visual learning is a bit easier, so watching people play a round or two really built my confidence. All in all, I would reccommend this game to any first time solo player, or anyone new to dnd-like games that wants to dip their toes in!

[Ian Burrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grab a paper, pencil and dice; adventure awaits. A random programmed dungeon awaits. The book includes the basic Four Against Darkness rules and a generic random dungeon. Subsequent books develop new and bespoke settings.

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un dungeon crawler efficace et sympa. Les règles sont facilement assimilables, mais là navigation dans le livre pourrait être revue. Envisageable je pense en coopération.