Mazes: Fantasy Roleplaying (HC)

Introduction to Mazes video and PDF.

MAZES - Fantasy Roleplaying REFORGED.

A modern take on the classic fantasy dungeon RPG. With a single polyhedral die and the power of your imagination can you defeat the Maze Controller with swords, sorcery and shadow?

Lightning fast and easy to master, Mazes returns us to the dungeons where we first battled dragons with an award-winning, unique approach to fantasy roleplaying.

Open the door to adventure - if you're brave enough.

Will you dare dangerous and deadly delving in dark dungeons?

MAZES is a return to the classic sword and sorcery dungeon crawler with award-winning, yet delightfully simple modern rules that put you right into the action. A thoroughly modern take on the original RPG of dragons, dice, and dungeons!

Mazes is a fresh take on the classic dungeon RPG. Choose a die, pick a class, and open the door to adventure. Mazes is elegant, simple, and fast, with rules designed to create fun, dangerous adventures. Characters are well defined, with edges that make them feel and play differently. The MC (the Maze Controller) has tools that make it easy to set up and run games without a lot of prep. Plus, there are plenty of published adventures for Mazes, and rules that make it easy to use any OSR compatible modules.

Mazes captures the original feel of fantasy roleplaying; and translates it into a vibrant, easy to understand, modern rules system. In Mazes, you pick a die, pick a class, answer a few questions – and you’re ready to play. Like an old school game, Mazes is focused on creativity and “rulings over rules”. As a modern game, the rules are consistent, extendable, and focused on the narrative. Together, this means that the rules are fast to learn, logical, and adjudicable without having to consult a rule book every five minutes.

Easy to learn, and easy to teach - Mazes is the perfect introduction to roleplaying, while still having enough teeth for even the gnarliest grognards. It's time to get back in the dungeon!

At its core, Mazes works like this. You select a polyhedral die – a d4, d6, d8, or d10 – this die represents your character. Whenever you need to roll dice – you only ever ROLL this DIE. This die determines your “ROLE” within the group. The d4 is there to think and talk, resolve social and mental puzzles, and provide powerful spells and effects. The d6 is all about fast movement and physical reactions, providing action, agility, and speed. The d8 dishes out the damage, and the d10 is the shield and tank.

Like most RPGs, on your turn you explain what you want to do. The Maze Controller (the player running the game) may ask you to roll against one of the “outcomes” in the game: BOOKS are your smarts, BOOTS your movement, BLADES your damage potential, and BONES your strength and endurance. So, if you are rolling to smash a troll in the face with your hammer, that’s a BLADES roll; but if instead you wanted to run away, that would be BOOTS. When you are trying to do something you want to roll one of the numbers listed – so for a BLADES roll, it’s a success if you roll a 4, a 5, a 6, or a 7.

There are two other outcomes as well – a KEY (when you roll a 1) or a CROWN (when you roll the top of the die, a 4, 6, 8, or 10 depending on your chosen role). The Key is like a “critical” – it’s always a success if you are doing something that your character can do – and the CROWN is a success or a failure based on the current DARKNESS – an abstracted level of danger based on the actions of the party. Taking actions that are dangerous, loud, and aggressive (like say, splitting the party) add Darkness; as does encountering monsters and hazards. When the DARKNESS is low, CROWNS are successes, but when the DARKNESS is HIGH, they are failures.

Mazes is powered by polymorph – which is a compact yet comprehensive rules framework for roleplaying. It’s designed to provide the full experience of a crunchy RPG, but with minimal setup and prep – all without giving up the fun, mechanical depth of an exciting roleplaying system. Sorry, there isn’t any math – we did all that work for you! In a polymorph game, each player only ever uses a specific polyhedral die – a d4, a d6, a d8, or a d10. Each die represents a different “way to play” or a different “role” that they have in the group. Whenever a player asks “can I do something”, they roll their die and with a quick glance at their character sheet to know if they succeed.

There is NEVER any math involved (no modifiers, no masters). Depending on the game world and what kind of character that you are playing – you may roll with advantage or disadvantage (or not need to roll at all); and the MC (the person running the game) never rolls dice. The MC has tools to control the flow of game, and resources like the players to ensure that game play is fast, fair, and fun - without needing to memorize a million rules.

Mazes started out as a set of zines for ZINEQUEST 1 in 2019. This was the first time the polymorph system had been shown to the world. Fans and RPG industry leaders saw the elegant simplicity of the rule set and nominated Mazes for an ENnie for Best Rules ENNIE and an IGDN Indie Groundbreaker Award for Best Rules. Mazes won the IGDN Indie Groundbreaker Award for Best Rules!

Features:
* 6x9 inch cloth-bound hardcover with copper embossing and ivory pages
* Over 250 pages of awesome content
* Carefully crafted "gold edition" of the rules - 25% new content, 25% updated, 50% collated and collected from the previous 9 zines
* A stand-alone core book, with everything to make characters and run games of Mazes
* Glorious full color end-paper art by JUSTINE JONES
* Amazing interior line art by A. Shipwright

viivakoodi 9781940621098