Any reader of this blog would know of my deep and abiding love for the quirky TTRPG, Tunnels & Trolls, created by the Troll God himself, Ken St. Andre, after he gave Dungeons & Dragons a look and said to himself, “That’s way too complicated. I bet I could make a game just as good that was easier to play.” And thus the original T&T was born, always overshadowed by its more famous cousin, but plugging away nonetheless.
I’ve known that the current holder of the IP, Rebellion Unplugged was redesigning the game, but today was my first look at the extensive changes. Characteristics are now rolled as 1D3+1 each, and are the number of dice available to roll for checks against that stat. Luck has been reworked. Mana is very different. Classes have been done away with entirely, replaced with paths that largely track the six characteristics, each of which can use luck to increase the effect of their action.
The cutesy spell names of old have been replaced with slightly less cutesy names — “Take That, You Fiend” is now known simply as “Blurt”, for instance.
Combat is still a matter of the adventurer rolling a bunch of dice, monster doing the same, and the difference between them is the damage done / received. However, unlike T&T of old, players go individually and not all simultaneously. Those people who loved dropping a massive number of dice each round may be disappointed.
In the quick start guide released today, it’s clear T&T has tried to keep the “roll lots of dice, flying by the seat of your pants”, creativity-rewarding flow over D&D’s “there’s a table for that! and an entire $50 book!” more rules-bound approach. More later once the full rules come out, but my gut reaction is that they have filed off the bits that made it quirky; Dungeon Crawl Classics still wins on that front.
Here’s the full announcement:
Greetings adventurers,
It hardly seems possible to say this, but after nearly seven years, there is finally a brand new version of Tunnels & Trolls on the horizon.
For a long while now, the team at Rebellion Unplugged has been hard at work behind the scenes, quietly toiling away in the tunnels, carefully shaping what comes next. It has been a labour of love, guided by a deep respect for what came before and a genuine excitement for where the game can go. At last, we are ready to share that work with you.
Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age brings back the world’s second fantasy roleplaying game, lovingly redesigned for a whole new generation of adventurers and it launches on Kickstarter on March 17th. While the rules themselves have been thoughtfully rebuilt to reflect how people play and enjoy roleplaying today, the heart and soul of Tunnels & Trolls remains exactly where it belongs. It is still a game of imagination, wits and danger.
If you would like to see what this new age looks like for yourself, you can download the free beta Quickstart Rules now on DriveThruRPG and take your first steps into the adventure. You can find them here:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/555881/tunnels-trolls-a-new-age-beta-quickstart-rules
This new edition marks an exciting new chapter, but we want to reassure you of something equally important. The heritage editions of Tunnels & Trolls are not going anywhere. They will continue to be available on DriveThruRPG just as they always have been.
This is a game with more than fifty years of history behind it. Over those decades, it has been shaped not only by its creators, but by generations of players, GMs, and fans whose adventures, solo quests, house rules, and imagination have built something truly special. That legacy matters. We are committed to keeping those classic editions available, both to honour that history and to ensure that future generations can discover where it all began.
Sadly, not a very good take on the T&T rules, and only slightly better when judged on its own merits. Rather uninspiring overall.
It tries to simplify the combat loop in a different way than old T&T; all special abilities are now “stunts”, and initiative is “fast” or “slow”. But I feel the dropping of buckets of dice to resolve a round of combat all at once was one of the signature innovations of T&T, and sorry to see that one go.