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Caves & Catacombs is a solo dungeon crawling game based on Advanced Aventuras Heróicas (Solo), my expanded version of Aventuras Heróicas, a game published in Brazil in 1991 and heavily inspired by HeroQuest.

Though derived from a board game, Caves & Catacombs is meant to be played with just pencil, paper and some dice. In fact, the main reason it exists is to make the experience of those old dungeon crawler games portable and playable solo.


Supplements (already bundled with the game)


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Updated 1 day ago
StatusReleased
CategoryPhysical game
Rating
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
(8 total ratings)
AuthorGustavo Coelho
TagsDungeon Crawler, GM-Less, heroquest, OSR, rpglatam, rules-lite, Solo RPG, Tabletop, Tabletop role-playing game

Purchase

Buy Now$7.50 USD or more

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $7.50 USD. You will get access to the following files:

caves_catacombs_remastered_edition_en_final.pdf 10 MB
caves_catacombs_ranged_combat.pdf 78 kB
character-sheet.pdf 846 kB
dotted-grid.pdf 283 kB
encounters_remasterd_edtion.pdf 15 MB
encounters_emulating_cards_with_dice.pdf 105 kB
into_the_wild_revised.pdf 16 MB
hexgrid.pdf 93 kB

Download demo

Download
caves-catacombs-preview.pdf 8.7 MB

Development log

Comments

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Hello, just figuring it all out. One question about the combat. If you are in a fight with 1 PC and, let's say, 5 enemies, do all the enemies you don't attack in a round, wait their turn? And what about if you drink a potion if only 1 enemy attacks, wich one attacks? And when you have a party of PC's, and everybody does a non-combat action, wich enemy does attack wich PC?
Really enjoying the manual random dungeon creation by the way!

Hi there!

Glad to hear you're enjoying the dungeon generation :-)

To answer your questions:

1. When outnumbered, if a PC is hit by one Enemy, they take extra damage equal to the number of additional Enemies engaged in combat. So to answer your first question, your character takes damage from the Enemy they (partially) failed to attack, plus one extra damage for each of the other Enemies also engaged in combat.

2. If you're fighting multiple Enemies and choose to drink a potion instead of attacking, one Enemy will deal full damage, while the remaining Enemies will deal one extra damage, as explained above. It is up to you to choose (or randomize) which Enemy will deal full damage.

3. With a group of PCs fighting multiple Enemies, it is up to you to choose (or randomize) which Enemy targets which PC that is not attacking.

I hope that helps clarify things! Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thank you for your support!

Just found out about this but I want to be able to get physical copy, a professional looking one. If I were to buy this, would there be any issues with me having an online service print me a physical copy with proper binding and stuff?

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There are no issues, as long as you're doing this for your personal use ;-)

Sweet, thanks.

Ola Gustavo tudo bom? Estou com problemas para comprar o jogo pq a plataforma não está aceitando meu cartão que é internacional, existe algum outro meio que eu possa comprar o bundle? 

Opa! Me manda um e-mail. O endereço você encontra no meu perfil do linktr.ee: qualquercola.

really nice game! Just i have some questions: 

How the spells that the enemies have works? and what about ranged attak? For example if i have a dagger in my inventory with a fighter 

Anyway thank you for the effort on creating this

Let me try to clarify:

Spellcaster enemies prioritize using their magical abilities first; once they've run out of spells, they switch to standard attacks. When an enemy has multiple spells, you can either pick a spell for them to cast or randomize the choice. Although the game offers the option to test whether enemies successfully cast their spells using the same mechanic as PCs, this is optional. Skipping the roll simplifies gameplay but may make encounters harder, as enemies will always succeed in casting their spells in this case.

Regarding attacks at a distance, there is no distinction between ranged and close combat, as there is no character positioning. Therefore, if your character has a dagger, nothing prevents them from throwing it at an enemy. However, you might consider the following rule: enemies hit by ranged weapons/attacks must close the distance to their attacker before counterattacking, whereas enemies hit by melee weapons/attacks can counterattack immediately. If you're looking for a way to manage distance for ranged attacks, you can find an alternative here: https://rpggeek.com/thread/3322501/questions-about-ranged-attacks-defense-healing-etc

Thank you for your support!

thank you for the answer and beeing in contact with the players. Thats the way!, after a couple of days playing i already understand better the rules. Is really fun and immersive. I love the minimalist art evolved on been able to play a fantastic adventure just with dice, paper and our imagination. Keep like this!

I'm glad to hear you're liking the game. Thank you for the kind words and feedback!

(1 edit)

I bought this after seeing recent revisions and I'm loving it! Do you plan to update even more? I'd like to print all of this on a nice set, but if you're going to update something else I prefer to wait and just print it poorly.

I just read a comment below from you. I'm going to print!

I'm really glad you're enjoying the game! There are no plans to update the core rulebook and supplements anytime soon, so feel free to print them out. Thanks so much for your support!

Hey! I've done a few runs so far and had a lot of fun but there are a couple things I was unsure about that maybe you could shed some light on:

  • Should there be a limit to how much you can carry? My first run I just picked up everything but it felt a bit broken because I always had backup armor and plenty of things to sell. Subsequent runs I tried to keep it logical, so basically two weapons and one armor whatever else seemed reasonable. Either way has a pretty big impact on the gameplay so I'm wondering what the intention is.
  • How do class defense modifiers work (e.g. thief)? From what I can tell, the thief should have 3 defense when equipped with fresh leather armor. But defense damage is also permanent, so does that just mean each armor has an extra hit point before it gets destroyed, or do you always get the extra defense, even without armor, and the armor is still destroyed after 2 hits?
Not sure if I just misinterpreted some of the rules, but would love to hear your input. Thanks!

Hi!

Glad to hear you’re enjoying the game. Let me try to clarify these points:

  • Class Defense Modifiers: The defense bonus for Thieves is permanent and counts even if their armor is destroyed. So, even without armor, a Thief still benefits from the defense bonus as a baseline.

I hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions or need further clarification.

Thank you for your support!

Thanks! That thread has some good suggestions and addresses a couple other things I wasn't sure about. I actually haven't tried Into the Wild yet, but looking forward to expanding the game a bit now that I have the basics down.

Hello Gustavo! I want to print out the booklets, but before investing in that, just want to confirm all the updates are complete? thanks!

Hello!

The Encounters supplement is being completely rewritten, which will have some impact on the Into the Wild supplement as well. So for now, I recommend printing just the core rulebook.

Thanks for reaching out!

I guess they are all updated now, aren't they?

Yes. They are all updated now ;-)

hello I just started playing this and its the first time for me playing anything like this and its been very easy to understand and learn as I go, I have a question regarding death, What would you do in case your only character dies ?

Hello!

I'm glad to hear you're finding it easy to understand and learn as you go. Regarding your question: If your only character dies, you can create a new one to continue exploring the same dungeon. This new character could be, for instance, a relative of the first one, seeking revenge. Alternatively, you can start an entirely new quest.

If you want to continue exploring the same dungeon, whenever you enter a mapped segment (room or corridor), roll 1d6: on a 1 or 2, roll an encounter. After reaching the room where your first character died, the dungeon generation will follow the standard procedure.

I hope this clears things up ;-)

Thank you for your support!

Thank you that is really helpful I appreciate it !

Loving the feel of the game!

After playing a couple games and reading through both the main book and the into the wild supplement, I’m still uncertain how ranged attacks work.

  • Are ranged attacks treated like regular attacks in the “Engaging in Combat Procedure”, or
  • do they count as an action taken before combat when the “Enemy” is not “alert”?

If ranged attacks are alerting the “Enemy”, as per the rules found in the last sentence of “Sneaking Past Enemies”, I would assume that would mean the PCs can make a maximum of one ranged attack per encounter.

Into the wild does not use the term “alert”, however the table for “hiding” provides a situation where the “Enemy” is not aware of the PCs.

Found the answer on the drive through RPG store page

Hi! There is no difference between ranged and close combat, and no specific rule for that, since there is no character positioning. However, you can consider the following rule: enemies hit by ranged weapons/attacks must come closer to their attacker before counterattacking. Enemies hit by melee weapons/attacks can counterattack immediately. -Gustavo

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Complementing the answer found on DTRPG: a ranged attack does not count as an action taken before combat. Instead, it starts the encounter.

As for whether enemies are alert or not in the wild, you can refer to the Yes/No Oracle: if they are not alert, you can try to sneak past them using the distance modifiers on the Skill Test

Thank you for your feedback!

(1 edit)

Thanks for the cool dungeon crawler. I have a few questions. Are all PCs required to take an action during combat, and are there treasure drops for the new enemies in the Encounters supplement?

Thank you for your feedback! In combat, not all PCs are required to take an action each round. As for treasure drops, I’m including some options for some of the enemies in the Encounters supplement, though it's mostly focused on humanoids.

Salve, irmão! Tem alguma versão em português?

Opa! Você encontra a primeira edição no meu antigo blog: https://bit.ly/candccg

How does poisonous bite interact with the character during battle.  Example encounters Greater Zombie has poisonous bite.  

When poisoned, a character loses 1 Vitality for every action performed until healed. This includes attacking, spell casting, and any other action, whether it consumes a combat turn or not.

Ty

Love the atmosphere, exactly what I'm looking for. Does anyone know a way to play with my wife or something that is the same classic dungeon vibe? Thanks!

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Glad to know you're liking the game! To answer your question, you and your wife can each create one or more characters and take turns with dungeon generation rolls. This way, you'll both have a hand in shaping the adventure while also taking part in it.

thank you! love to have the creator's input on something like that, very happy! great illustrations btw

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Hey I’m in love with the game and the instructions are clear and simple.

Though I’m a bit confused about the rule for generating segments. Let’s say I roll a 4 squares corridor size and a U shaped corridor, how I’m supposed to fill the whole “U”? I’d need at least 5 squares for doing the smallest U shaped corridor.

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Hi!

I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying the game!

Regarding your question, the segment size in squares is just a reference, and you don't need to follow it strictly. In cases where the segment size seems insufficient to accommodate a certain shape, you can ignore one (or both) of these rolls to generate the dungeon in the way you find most interesting ;-)

Thank you for your support!

any chance to use paypal? :)

I had some trouble with PayPal, so I disabled it. You can also find the game on DriveThruRPG, but don’t hesitate to contact me through my email, which you can find on my linktr.ee profile.

thx! is there also the remastered version :)?

The current version is the Remastered Edition, and I’m working on a new edition for the Encounters supplement.

<3 purchased <3

Thank you for your support ;-)

this looks neat! will this ever get community copies? thanks so much.

I will take a look into this later on.

Hi. What were the updates on the latest version? I just printed mine two weeks ago and I'm wondering if it's worth reprinting a new copy.

Hi. Nothing new. Just fixing some minor typos ;-)

Excellent! But it looks like I'm going to be reprinting Little Town :)

really awesome! look forward to a delve soon

Thanks! I hope you have fun :-)