From the creators of 'Tunnels & Trolls', the world's second fantasy RPG, comes this modern day adventure game. It is derived from the original T&T rules, which were themselves derived from Dungeons & Dragons. It's simple and all game functions are resolved with 6 sided dice. It's decent as such things go, and not expensive, I might add. But I would have liked it better if the PDF were bookmarked. 3/5 stars (average).

It's basically Appendix A from the AD&D 1e Dungeon Master's guide rewritten, possibly with more detail than you actually want. I would encourage you to provide the monster and treasure generation tables from whatever system you're actually using(Labyrinth Lord is the default system and it has you covered there) because what has been provided is rather minimal. Just enough to get you started. I should also say that I dislike the campaign setting but this is not an obstacle. Players will doubtless use their own imaginations so a detailed review of it is unnecessary. But the dungeon generation tables are just fine, although they could have been better arranged (print them and paste them together in a way that makes it easy for you.) Anyway, the price is right. So if a solo or GM-less dungeon crawl is what you want you should be able to get five bucks worth of game play from this product.

The Hack system is generally good, especially for those who lack the time for a fully involved RPG campaign. I was pleased to see "Petal Hack", as "Empire of the Petal Throne" is a sentimental favorite for those who remember gaming in the 70's.

You are what you say you are and you only have one attribute. Begin.

It's a little too minimalist for my taste. If you want a light and fast RPG, try Dungeon Romp.

In general Tombs and Terrors is an entertaining take on the idea of Dungeons and Dragons. It's a kind of 3.5v lite, with some old school flavor. It's incomplete and will require a lot of work from the Gamemaster to make a rich and satisfying game environment, but there's enough here to get you started and beginners can plunge into the action without having to learn great big volumes of rules.

In the main game we see characters rated according to six basic attributes (the ''Classics": Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma). What is interesting is there are six basic character classes that each makes one of these attributes it's Prime Requisite (Strength for Fighters, Intelligence for Wizards, etc.)

With the add-on Book of Classes what we see is eight new classes, some of which are balanced and well thought out approaches to multiclassing. For instance a Spellsword is a kind of Fighter-Magic User; light armor, lotsa weapons, and some spells. Similarly you have classes like the Knave, which is a Thief-Magic User, and the Lorewarden, who's a combination Cleric-Magic User. Again, these multiclasses are balanced and well designed. In addition there are a few new specialty classes such as the Witch/Warlock, a powerful new spell caster; the Marksman, a specialist in ranged weapons; and the Gallowglass, a sort of elite mercenary bodyguard.

On the whole, Tombs and Terrors, although more of a framework than a highly detailed modern RPG, is a good choice from among the many alternative games vying for your attention. If you're already familiar with old time D&D it's no problem to simply add the monsters and magic items from the old game. They'll fit right in. The Book of Classes for Tombs and Terrors adds welcome new flavor to the mix with many new character options. And the whole thing is free, so download them and see what I mean.

It looks and reads like someone's drunk version of a late 1970's fantasy RPG. With Labyrinth Lord, Swords and Wizardry, OSRIC, etc. on the market is there any reason for this? No, there is not.

It's a decent character sheet but a little too cluttered for my taste. Yes, all of your pertinent information can be recorded right there on the front of it, but look at all the area taken up by black ink. Yeah. This forces you to write all your equipment and spells real small. For those of us who don't have great eyesight this is not a plus. And that silly diagram on the bottom right where I guess your supposed to circle your character's alignment...why? On the whole, if I were to make a character sheet that was ideal, it would be a lot like this one.