Lone Delver Games, $3.00
Fantasy, 2011

Greetings, hero! Oops, a more accurate title for your character will be a tomb-looter, because that’s what you are. You’ve heard of the Crypt of the Wolf Prince, in a place called Cheapham.

Yes, Cheapham.

You brave the indignities of pillaging the dead in a place with such a name, because there are rumors of treasures galore in that place. So, there you are, and there you go.

This one is as what it says on the label: it’s a dungeon crawl. However, this one isn’t a straightforward gamebook as much as it is a solo adventure based on the vintage Tunnels & Trolls system. Yes, kids, contrary to what Critical Role and Hasbro want you to believe, there are other tabletop games aside from Dungeons & Dragons.

In other words, when you can’t find a group to play a tabletop session and you’re itching to level up your character and give them some extra gear in anticipation of the next session, you can give your character a go at this campaign alone.

If you’re new to the system, therefore, some work is needed to get your solo campaign going. You’ll need to understand the combat system or, if your character is a magic-user, the types of spells available and how to use them. Newbie magic-users can do some reverse engineering as the list of spells available are listed on entry 111, while those relying on brute strength can of course always cheat by automatically winning every roll and combat encounter. The latter will rob this campaign of much of its fun, however, as it’s composed primarily of such encounters!

Also, some mapping is required unless you have photogenic memory or something, as you start out completely blind, so you’ll be making random turns here and there. You have the option of backtracking to various rooms you have bumped into, so a map will come in handy so that you can make educated choices to return to a room instead of guessing which way to turn and end up getting lost and frustrated.

The whole thing is a passable kind of fun, as there is nothing too unfair here. There are, however, some inconsistencies in that you may have say, destroyed something in a combat encounter, only to be given the option to investigate that something later as if you had never already pulverized it into atoms. In a way, you sometimes have to keep a closer track of details here than Dan Hembree!

At any rate, Crypt of the Wolf Prince is exactly what it says on the box. If a relatively quick dungeon delve that involves some background reading (or cheating when it comes to rolls) and proactive mapping and detail-keeping is your thing, then this one may do for an afternoon when there is nothing more interesting to do. Otherwise, well, it’s a good thing that there are many other gamebooks out there that may fit your needs better!