Dungeon Dig Site

What is an archaeologist? Someone whose career is in ruins.

The city is abuzz with the news. A new dungeon has been discovered! There’s only one appropriate response: launch a scientific expedition!

As researchers, your aim is to plumb the dungeon’s depths, discover its mysteries, record everything in meticulous detail, and preserve the site for future generations.

After all, a dangerous trap-filled underground vault like this is a precious archaeological site. We must make sure it isn't looted, smashed up, or tampered with. Nobody wants to see a ruin ruined!

About the game

Dungeon Dig Site is a tabletop role-playing game where you'll take a dungeon, send in a team of researchers treating it as an archaeological site, and develop a story of exploration through your gameplay!

• Treasure hoards are artefacts to be carefully uncovered and studied
• The dungeon's glowing mushrooms, gigantic toothed lizards, etc are part of a breathtaking ecosystem we'll be careful not to upset
• Curses are phenomena that can inform and test our theories of magic
• The habits of the undead might tell us a lot about ancient peoples
• Traps are architectural features that must be made safe or cordoned off while operational
• Dungeon denizens are local peoples who might be willing to give oral histories

Your crew of experts, scholars, and professional staff aim to catalogue the dungeon's contents and preserve it as a heritage site for future generations. Dungeon Dig Site takes this goal seriously, but is otherwise a lighthearted game.

It's a quick, flexible, rules-light game where you'll weave the story solo, collaboratively, or with a referee. Gameplay is structured around seven koans or principles, rooted in actual archaeological principles. Pick up these rules, play with them as you like, and discard them as needed.

The game's focus is on exploration, discovery, and thinking deeply about problem-solving and preservation.

Bonus ideas

As well as walking you through procedures for turning a normal fantasy dungeon into an important archaeological legacy, Dungeon Dig Site is full of bonus ideas. This extra content is meant to spark creativity or for you to add to your dungeon as-is.

That means lots of tightly-focused fantasy archaeology inspirations, like artefacts...

and possible dilemmas...

and more:

• Specialists. From the cryptozooarchaeologist (who studies undocumented monsters and their remains) to the xenoremnologist (who studies clues left by the powerful ancients as to where they went)
• Perils and tribulations of the trip. From "boiling the drinking water" to "36 hours left until funding runs out"
• Fantasy notions. A cache of mistakenly hoarded mimic eggs. The potentially hazardous palimpsest of a reused grimoire page. A pixie preserved in amber. Dire coprolite. Elf-arrows (the other kind).

About the campaign

Dungeon Dig Site is already written and tested, and deep into editing and layout work! With this crowdfunding campaign I hope to pay the costs of design and print production.

With this in mind, I'm keeping the campaign tightly focused on book production, rather than having expansive stretch goals. This way, I can be confident in meeting the projected delivery dates.

What you get

Dungeon Dig Site will be an approximately 60-page, 6.14×9.21" book. I'm producing it as a digital edition and a physical print-on-demand volume.

Backer level

At every tier of support you'll get a PDF copy of the book.

The main tier is Archaeologist, and if you'd like to get a copy of the game in print, you'll have the option to do so. Print-on-demand access is at your own expense. Backers can choose whether or not they want to get any physical copies. See the FAQs for estimates of printing and shipping costs!

If times are tough for you, I'm making some digital copies available at a reduced price via the Community copy tier.

And if you'd like to help out, you can back as an Expedition leader to make another community copy available while the campaign runs, or as a Super supporter to make ten community copies available! 💛 As a token of appreciation, I'll add your name to the Special Thanks in the digital edition.

Dungeon Dig Site is a game that you play using any dungeon you already have. If you'd like a new one, you can pick up an early copy of my upcoming Diepole Dungeon as an add-on. This is a system-neutral novelty dungeon that can be solved using a magnet. Suitable for Dungeon Dig Site or to run as a normal module for your fantasy game!

Fulfillment

If the project is funded, Dungeon Dig Site backer rewards will be fulfilled through DriveThruRPG.

For the digital edition of the game, you can just sit back and wait to receive a code.

Print and shipping costs are not included in the Kickstarter pledge, and if you're interested in getting a physical copy, you'll need to pay them separately. I'll be sending you a code for print-on-demand access. See the FAQs for estimates.

About the creator

I'm Ben Meadows, founder of Periapt Games. I'm designing, writing, editing, and laying out Dungeon Dig Site. I've crowdfunded TTRPG books like Steps to a Hero and zines like Wiki Articles Are Wizards here on Kickstarter.

You can find me on Bluesky (@periaptgames.bsky.social) or on Mastodon (@periaptgames@dice.camp), or hanging around tumblr dot com or sometimes even blogging! Check out some of my work on DriveThruRPG here or some smaller free games on itch.io here.

The art for Dungeon Dig Site comes from several great artists, including Alderdoodle, Zed Nope, Perplexing Ruins, and Fernando Salvaterra. Images used with permission.

Artist notices

Map by Perplexing Ruins (used with permission). Some artworks by Zed Nope (used with permission). Some illustrations by Fernando Salvaterra - used with permission. Human Made logo by Hinokodo; used with permission. Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art © Rick Hershey / Publisher’s Choice Stock Art.

TODO