The Players Guide to Dungeon Crawling

by Matthew Phillion

For six lifelong friends, it was supposed to just be a simple game night. But when they break out a new, classic high-fantasy style game—half tabletop RPG, half dungeon-crawling board game, simultaneously familiar and unexplored—for a test run, they find themselves transported into the game’s setting, living the lives of their made-up characters, where the dangers, and the monsters, are deadly serious. Left with little choice but to jump headlong into their roles, Cordelia, Morgan, Jack, Eriko, Tamsin, and Tobias will have to become the heroes they were just pretending to be to stop a nightmare creature’s reign of terror… or find out if life and death in this fictional setting is as real as it seems. Ranger and cleric, barbarian and thief, bard and they'll have to combine all of their new-found abilities to stop a creeping evil and to survive in this strange new world.

80 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 25, 2018

About the author

Matthew Phillion is a writer, actor, and film director based in Salem, Massachusetts and author of the Indestructibles, Echo and the Sea, and Dungeon Crawlers series. An award-winning journalist by trade, he has also appeared in feature films including the sci-fi romance Harvest Moon and the independent horror flick Livestock. His screenwriting and directing debut, the romantic comedy Certainly Never, premiered in 2013 at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival, where it was nominated for five awards including best screenplay and best New England film.

Reviews

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with Mr Phillion's other books and stories, this was thoroughly enjoyable. Now, this concept, of players falling into a game and the game becoming their reality, has definitely been done elsewhere, however, Mr Phillion does a nice job of having at once a light tone combined with the horrifying implications of what such an experience might entail. The characters in this story are lightly sketched and come off as sort of everyman gamer's, and minus a couple areas where the trope seemed a touch cliché', it was really a fun read that I certainly wouldn't mind visiting again if he plans to write sequels on this in-between writing The Indestructibles and his other projects. I think a non-gamer might not enjoy this story as much as I did, but if you like fantasy or have ever sat down for a bit of roleplaying, come enjoy this relatively short but enjoyable story.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book falls somewhere in between Jumanji and the 80s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. In practically no time at all, six friends who are gathered to play D&D or some similar game are introduced to a bargain bin game one of the members picked up. As soon as they all pick figures to play they're teleported to a medieval world and transformed into the adventurers they normally role play.
The story wastes no time getting into the thick of the real life adventuring, though there's no explanation what happened or how, very little background on the characters, and they almost seamlessly fall into becoming a real life cast of Lord of the Rings. The tale is lighthearted and whimsical, though more of a set up for a "world" in which further stories will take place.

[Pablo García · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is organized and thought out. It is super-short at less than 100 pages, and it feels more like a script/novella/manga adaptation than it does a fantasy/adventure isekai-ed to a game-like-story-another-world.
No maps, no real world-building (descriptions of the economic, social, political, religious, structures in place in this "other-world"). No inside illustrations. Most of the usual game-geek-rpg-character-chosen-tropes. Because the action and pace of the story are lightning-fast, most descriptions are lacking. Game-System-characteristics are missing or not yet introduced (leveling up, game display, experience points, stats).
Reads like a short manga. One can finish it in less than a half-hour. Better than most other stuck in a jumanji-like RPG-Isekai-game story series.

[Saundra Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gamer or not, LitRPG is great fantasy and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. So if you are new to the genre, this is a good place to dive in, with this adventure and its ode to Jumanji.

Cordelia, Morgan, Jack and Eriko have been gaming together for years. This Friday night is different. They have invited twins, Tamsin, and Tobias, newbies to gaming. Plus they are trying out a new game, a combination of board game and RPG. But as soon as they pick their characters, something extraordinary happens. It will take all their wits and years of gaming skill to survive this game!

[Stand Woodall]

An interesting tale

The book started pretty slow as far as drawing my interest goes, and some of the writing seemed very amateurish but at its core it was a pretty good story to wile the time away

[Brett Whitnable · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it,

It was the book I had been looking for, for years. A group of friends pulled into a fantasy world that is real. No artificial, video game interfaces. This is more like old school ttrpg. The story went by quickly. I hope there are a lot more books in the series.

[Jil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining story, especially for gamers. The editing needs quite a bit of work, lots of typos, but overall an engaging read.

[Lunan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, fun story, not much more to say.

[Tim Ludy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The word I'd use to describe all of Matthew Phillion's books is "fun." While the Indestructibles has fun with the superhero genre, Dungeon Crawlers dives into roleplaying games and fantasy stories. The idea of people being sucked into a game or thrown into a fantasy world has been done before but this book has a great tone and dives right into the action. The 6 characters are all really cool and they come together to form a pretty bad ass party. I've never played D&D before, so knowledge of RPGs isn't required to enjoy this, but this story has me really wanting to try out a game. As more of a novella, I only wish this had been longer. But, since it is setting up a series, I can understand. As the quests get more complex hopefully the books will get longer.

[Brad Theado · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun quick read