This is not an easy game. I keep getting defeated. But, that’s sort of the point.
Guild Of Dungeoneering places players in charge of a guild which they expand to attract new adventurers. Those adventurers get sent out to various dungeons which the player winds up building using their deck of cards as they are dealt out as well as controlling the adventurer. It sounds a bit convoluted, but it winds up being very fun, despite being rather difficult.
Players start out by using some gold to expand their guild to attract a new adventurer. Some new rooms will attract a different type of adventurer. Different types of adventurers will have different types of skills represented in different sets of cards.
These adventurers are then set out to various dungeons to do battle and accomplish various tasks. Each dungeon has a deck of cards, players draw five each round and use up to three to place corridors, rooms, monsters, or treasure. When the adventurer comes across a monster, they each have their deck of cards to draw from to do battle.
Successfully negotiating a battle will reward the adventurer with a bonus item which will come with some cards to incorporate into the adventurer’s deck. This will aid in further battles in the dungeon.
Two things that I don’t like about the game. First, the bonus items gained within the dungeon are gone at the end of the dungeon and the adventurer reverts back to their basic deck of abilities for the next dungeon. Secondly, and more frustratingly, players are unable to control the path the adventurer goes on. When faced with two directions to travel in a dungeon, the adventurer picks its own path, which can lead to some problems.
Fortunately whenever an adventurer dies a new one takes its place. The guild players build will never be out of adventurers, though they may be stuck in a particular dungeon for a while. Going through a dungeon will reward players with some gold in order to further expand their guild. There are things other than rooms the guild will allow players to spend money on, all of which will end up helping in each dungeon.
Starting out in a typical fantasy setting Guild Of Dungeoneering isn’t pegged into one genre. There is even a pirate themed expansion now available.
Guild Of Dungeoneering offers a nice take on the typical dungeon crawl that will offer up a nice challenge to experienced players but also is appropriate for kids – well, as least older ones (like 5th grade on).