Recent years have brought a glut of games intended to entice more novices, of whatever age, to the wonders of RPGs. As others have already commented about "Dungeonteller" here though, this is one of the standout products among that crowd, and which, from my limited reconnaissance through the rules and a few try-outs so far, also seems to do what it promises, as an easy-to-pick-up system you can get playing quickly.

The rules are beautifully and colourfully illustrated throughout, using an attractive, mildly cartoon-like style, that often works to draw your eye to key text-passages, thus finding things quickly for the GM (the eponymous "Dungeonteller" here) is made a little easier. Despite the cost and effort involved, it's tempting to think of preparing a fully laminated copy of the rules for general use, and certainly, the character sheets would work particularly well that way, robust and usable with erasable markers of some sort. If so, you'll also need to do a photo-quality printout on good matt photo paper if using a home inkjet machine, as a "normal" printout came out too pale for me.

More could - indeed perhaps should - have been added to this package, not simply greater sets of character options, monsters, treasures, play examples and game-creation advice, but providing things like the tokens and cards suggested as useful for play, for extra equipment, gold, gems and other treasure items. It's noted on page 22 that players should make their own using index cards for these, clearly acknowledging a need the game currently fails to fulfill by the designer. Even providing a series of suitable .jpg or .png images with the rulebook would have helped people construct their own printable cards, perhaps including some for the various have-to-look-that-one-up skills ("cool powers" here). In a print-and-play PDF product, there's little excuse for such essentials to have been left out. Marker tokens for the player-characters could have been given as well (some, though oddly using different illustrations, are available, if rather unannouncedly, only in the separate "Iso Battle Counters" set from Blue Boxer Rebellion). Plus it's strange the dice-roll character generation mechanism, an optional extra not noted in the rules, is available just on the designer's blog, rather than adding maybe one more page with it here.

There are helpful extra items provided in the book though, including the complete annotated "Quibble Marches" map from Blue Boxer's "Big Hexyland" world set, from which the major city of Stormgate is featured in detail, with map-drawings and five pages of place descriptions and history, plus another three pages with a cutaway drawing and descriptive notes on the Tides Inn, likely to be the player-characters' first stopping-place in the city. Plus there are one-page tables to help GMs create plots, villains and dungeons, without resorting to random rolls.

Overall, this is a good, basic RPG rules-set, splendidly presented, if one that could be still better with a few additional tweaks and printable components.

I'm kind of torn about how to review this.

First, I should say that based on what's already here, this is one of the best kid's RPGs I've ever seen, and even as an adult I'm finding this a lot friendlier and more casual than a lot of games on the market. The same kind of rules set that works great for teaching kids works equally well for low-stress games between friends who aren't looking for a tactical challenge but just want to have the fun of an old-school dungeon crawl without all the math. With a group of adults you can be playing a satisfying game inside two minutes of starting time.

So why only four stars instead of five?

Like I said, what's here is fantastic ... and it's worth it at the price point (even keeping in mind that you NEED one of the accompanying books of monsters). But it feels like there should be more. Not in the sense of more complexity -- the amount that any one player has to think about it just about exactly right.

But there need to be more characters to choose from, a longer list of monsters, a longer list of treasures, an extended example of play, more information on dungeon creation, and ... well, just more of everything in general. This could be handled with supplements, but I'd kind of rather see more of a "boxed set" approach with a player book, a monster book, and individual character sheets.

I can also note that the game does seem to assume that an adult will be running the game. That's not necessarily true (and I say that as someone who DM'd her first red box D&D game at around Dungeonteller's target age). But, again, this falls into the same category of "I want more."

Finally, the usual small comments. Individual PDFs for the characters from the same book would be a good addition. The monster counters are a good idea ... but using an isometric view instead of overhead makes it harder to make them work visually when used alongside actual miniatures. The version of the pixie included in the bundle seems to be incomplete; you can get the full pixie by downloading the pixie add-on separately. Also, using pixel or "cartoony" paper miniatures (Octopus Apocalypse, Battle Studios, Darkfast, etc.) gives a REALLY nice friendly visual to go with the friendly rules.

I like this game...alot. I purchased to play it with my family. I like the simple rules and way it is explained. Very well done. The presentation is not dark or dreary but vibrant illustrations. It's kinda nice to have a cheery feeling to a rpg. You play pre-made character types BUT the author on his site does supply a way of randomly generating your stat numbers. The way the character pages are setup is great. Easy to read and understand. The character abilities are quite nifty and there are some new ideas. For new players...very little setup. Pick a character and adventure. Some may not like that.

For what it is meant to be...it is quite good. If you want more control over your character then it may not be for you. A die hard gamer may not like not having tons of character creation options. It's perfect for my games with my family. Younger players in particular. I know I will end up making my own character types for the game. :D

I enjoy this game and wish I had developed this one myself. I'm rating it 5 based on my expectations and who I play it with. My young family. Others may disagree due to it's simplicity. Not enough options etc. The last thing I want to do is deter anyone from this game. Do your research and see if it is right for your type of gaming. For my purposes it is a very fun game.

I see an adventure is available for it and I will pick that up soon. Good job.