Fight, Loot, Die, Repeat: Bringing Roguelikes to the Tabletop

 

Inspired by a discussion in the RTFM Discord, I have decided to write up some thoughts on how the properties of a modern "roguelike" video game could be adapted to a tabletop RPG. Of course, there is a whole nomenclature discussion to be had about modern "roguelikes" greatly differ from the original Rogue and its likes Angband, Zangband, etc. and is now essentially just a marketing term. However, I will nevertheless root this in modern "roguelike" conventions, as the originals could essentially be emulated by just playing an OSR dungeon crawl.

Let us first define the specific genre conventions that we wish to emulate:

• Gameplay structured around short-ish "runs". You always start at the beginning of the "generalised dungeon" and make your way deeper until you either die or succeed in vanquishing the final boss. 
• Dying rather than succeeding is the expected outcome for the first many runs.
  
• There is no going back to town to resupply, all supplies are found in the dungeon, as is any respite.
•  The dungeon is randomly generated for each run, so it is never exactly the same. However, there may be general themes, e.g. the first level could always be "The Forest Level".
• You can achieve the full curve of (mechanical) character progression in a single run, you start at level one, and will be around maximum character level by the time you reach the final dungeon level (if you survive that long).

Finally, an optional point that is very common in modern roguelikes, as much as it is antithetical to the originals:

• Metaprogression: While your run-progress and the layout of the dungeon is reset upon character death, some progress may carry over to make you slightly better prepared for your next run.

Much of this can be easily recreated with minimal extra effort from standard Old School materials. Just randomly generate the dungeon as you go, using either a depthcrawl a la The Gardens of Ynn or The Stygian Library, or just rolling the dungeon stocking procedures as you go using whatever set of tables you like. Loot and magic items can also be either randomly generated, or randomly selected from tables. This all has the additional benefit of requiring minimal prep from the GM.

The slightly trickier thing is finding a system that works for this, in terms of supporting the accelerated advancement expected from a roguelike. This probably requires a bespoke system, but could be easily built on some simple old school bones.  With the goal of having most play sessions correspond to a "run", the modifications I would make are:

• Frequent level ups, every level cleared, every ten rooms, or similar, depending how long is spent on each dungeon room, in order to facilitate the quick advancement.
• Alternatively, rather than levelling up, use diegetic advancement, but shower the PCs in magic items, scrolls, and stat boosts, compared to a normal campaign. They should be fully decked out and powerful at the end of a "good" run.
• Simple advancement system with many different (individually simple) options on each level up, making the process very quick (necessary due to how frequent it will be), while allowing for great variation between separate runs.
• A variation on this would randomly select a few available options on each level up, in order to force players to change up their "build" between runs, as is common in modern roguelikes like Hades.
• A shared "life resource" between players. It is no fun to die in the first room and watch the rest of the party clear the rest of the dungeon without you, however, letting players join in with a new PC after character death is against the roguelike spirit: if a new character joins every time someone dies, it becomes too easy to leapfrog your way to the final boss.
• A simple solution could be a shared number of "lives", e.g. party size +1, and every time someone dies and the combat doesn't end in TPK, they are resurrected at the end, however, when it reaches zero and someone dies, all PCs will die and the run will end.
• Alternatively, a fixed number of "backup" PCs that can be found in the Dungeon and join the party, or a way for the "ghost" of a deceased PC to still have an influence on the game.
  

While the average run should correspond to a single session of play, some runs may take longer, and the game should be able to accommodate this. You can of course always stop and continue where you left off, but building an option into the structure of the game can make this smoother. My suggestion here is "safe rooms", like e.g. the bonfires of Dark Souls, spaced regularly, every ten rooms, at the beginning/end of every level etc. These can provide a natural break point, perhaps be combined with levelling up. Additionally, if breaking the run up over multiple sessions, they serve as a neat in-fiction way to handle a rotating group of players: if a player couldn't make that session, their character stays behind at the bonfire to be picked up by another group later. If a new player joins, their character was hanging out at the bonfire waiting for a group to tag along with.

If you want to have a layer of metaprogression, such a safe room could also offer a chance to sent resources back to the town, which would become more prosperous and thus offer better starting gear for the beginning of the run. This would of course be a tradeoff, as sending the resources to the town would mean they cannot be used to increase your survival chances in the current run. Interesting decisions! You can also go even further and "playwall" content: perhaps start the game with only basic character options available, but let accomplishing deeds in the dungeon unlock character options for future runs. Cleanse the shrine: cleric class unlocked, free the orc clan from captivity: you can now play as orcs, etc. 

None of this is playtested, it's just a bunch of ideas straight from my brain, so do with it what you will! I think the most difficult/labour intensive part of bringing this to the table would be mapping out a progression system that feels good and has enough options. Maybe I'll give it a go someday, but if you, the reader, decides to give it a shot, I would love to know!