Creatures & Caverns


In 1982 a 13-year old who’d just seen some neighborhood kids play Dungeons & Dragons decided to create his own game in which knights and wizards explored underground catacombs, defeated monsters, and took their treasure. This book represents a refined version of those rules appropriate for kids interested in transitioning from traditional board games to a more imaginative form of structured play.

Creatures & Caverns is a very basic “roleplaying” game in which players explore subterranean labyrinths, using imaginary heroes to defeat monsters they encounter and collect their treasure. Although it uses a map like a board in a traditional game, it also enables players to assume the roles of knights and wizards exploring underground. These heroes use an arsenal of weapons and spells to slay monsters; die rolls often decide their fate, determining whether they strike their foes and fend off attacks.

Creatures & Caverns includes all the rules needed to play, character sheets for knights and wizards, a bestiary of monsters to fight, guidelines for creating new foes, notes on traps and treasures, experience rules for improving characters, and two ready-to-play scenarios.

Praise for Creatures & Caverns:

“This is an invaluable transition from simple child boardgames into the more complex RPGs.”
Breandon O.

“What I really like about Creatures & Caverns is that it’s exceptionally easy to play, making it a great gateway game for small children.... Creatures & Caverns is a wonderfully done, simply little boardgame/RPG mash-up that I think kids of ANY age could have a lot of fun with.”
Alexander L.