RPG Review Runaway Hirelings, a zero prep, high improv, dungeon crawling RPG with a unique twist.
Channel: Tabletop Bellhop
Date: 2020-08-28

It's the end of the dungeon, the adventurers' big boss is dead but so are the adventurers. In this no-prep, single session, roleplaying game the players are playing the adventurers' hirelings who now have to escape the dungeon.  Runaway Hirelings is a rather short, high improv, zero-prep fantasy RPG that started off as a one-page RPG by Thomas Novosel.

Please note that multiple times in this video I say Halflings when I mean Hirelings. I don't know why but I can't seem to get those two straight when talking about this game.

This review is one segment from The Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast Episode 104: Inaugural Reviewapalooza. You can catch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/mTP08K6nVcQ

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Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from Thomas Novosel. No other compensation was provided. 

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From the publisher:

“Here you are, your bosses lie dead on the floor, blood pooling under their cloaks and mighty swords. A shattered wand is spread like used toothpicks all around the big bad guy. They led you in, they defeated great monsters and solved complex puzzles to reach this, the treasure room. The den, the throne, the place where the monster sleeps, surrounded by its hoard…
The rumored fortune!

Gold, jewels and the most magnificent fabrics. But your heroes could not have been prepared for what would wait here, protecting such delicious riches. They fought valiantly while you cowered near the door. They were hit with mighty fists and claws as you cheered them on. You ogled at the magnificent gemstones that lay about. They suffered the blasts of explosive magics! And they died just as the monster fell, but you survived.

But what now? The heroes have perished, beaten to a pulp. Your defenders lie in their tattered armor, broken bones, and blood. There is no time to give them a proper burial, you must run! Escape this wretched place, each with a bag of gold to pay for your efforts thus far. If you can bumble and flail your way out of here, this entire ordeal may have been worth the effort!”

Runaway Hirelings is a tabletop role-playing game about hirelings escaping a dungeon, where the dungeon is created as they are escaping it by all the players and the dungeon architect (aka Dunarch, but gamemaster works as well). These hirelings have specific skills which are useful in specific instances, but fighting isn't even an option they are so bad at it. So the trap-poker may just have to set off some traps as they go rolling down the staircase if they want to stop an ogre from pursuing them into the next room.

This is a zero prep game, the dunarch needs to read the rulebook before play, and while it is prefered that the players taking on the roles of the hirelings read the rules text before play, they don't need to because of how the character sheets are setup. Just print out a bunch of the hireling types, and a couple copies of the rules sheet (in the Handouts pdf).

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Links:

Head over to the Tabletop Bellhop blog where you'll find more tabletop gaming content, including game and game night advice, reviews, and more: https://tabletopbellhop.com 

Detailed Written Review of Runaway Hirelings: https://tabletopbellhop.com/game-reviews/runaway-hirelings/

Runaway Hirelings Unboxing Video: https://youtu.be/hmOCqIE8F1Y

Get a print or PDF copy of Runaway Hirelings here:  https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/230545/Runaway-Hirelings-2018?affiliate_id=164999 (affiliate)

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