Delve!

What is Delve!?

Delve! is a solo role-playing dungeon crawl with a tabletop feel and a compact browser footprint. The setup is direct: pick one of four ready-made heroes, roll into a dungeon that is generated fresh for each trip, and see how far the hero can go before the risks outweigh the reward. The roster includes Brannoc the Fighter and Maelis the Grey, a Magic-User, alongside Quill the Thief and Sister Wyn the Cleric. Each keeps separate gold, experience, and gear, and each can grow from level 1 to level 10.

The crawl spans ten dungeon levels. Every level is a newly arranged maze: winding passages and rooms, plus monsters, traps, treasure hoards, and stairs to the next depth. Danger and treasure both rise with depth. Low-level threats include giant rats and goblins; trolls, vampires, hydras, giants, and dragons are among the greater dangers. Each monster has a painted portrait.

The ruleset uses armour class and saving throws, with morale, surprise, and reaction checks, level drain, and gold that becomes experience once it is banked. Heroes, trips, and the adventure log are saved in the browser. The game runs fully offline in the browser.

How to play

Start by tapping DELVE! and choosing a hero. Each hero begins at level 1, but the game lets you start at any level up to 10. A portrait opens the hero sheet with hit points, armour class, attack bonus, saving throw, weapons, and special abilities.

Town is the base before a trip. Set the starting dungeon level, up to the deepest reached, and choose how large each level is. Pick a referee: Board puts monster rolls, hit points, and spells in the game's hands, while You turns fights into a solo tabletop session with your own dice and paper. The Temple sells potions of Healing and Extra Healing, the Enchanter adds +1, +2, or +3 to a weapon, and the Log keeps the story of each trip.

Tap ENTER THE DUNGEON to begin. A room shows its size, doors, and contents. Use N, E, S, and W to walk through a door. Passages can wind, so a door may lead to a different wall than expected. Take picks up treasure. The Down control uses discovered stairs to descend. Leave, in the entrance room, returns to town; carried treasure is banked and gold counts as experience. Falling in the dungeon sends the hero to the temple and loses everything carried. Knowing when to turn back matters.

Controls

The interface accepts mouse and touch input, and the game is built for desktop and phone play. Movement uses the N, E, S, and W controls to pass through a door. The map draws itself as rooms are explored; drag it to look around, and tap it to close. The entrance room's Leave control returns the party to town, and Down uses stairs when they are found.

Dice are physical in feel even when handled on screen. Tap ROLL, or shake the phone, then beat the number shown. The target number matters in fights and in old-school procedures such as surprise. A separate dice roller covers d4 through d100, and the Dice button in a room opens it during a You-referee session.

Exploration has read-aloud support. Tap Narrate for a room description, and tap Speak to hear it again. During Board-referee fights, a first tap selects a foe; a second tap opens that foe's portrait. The room header has an HP control for resting, casting healing spells, or drinking potions between fights. When using You as referee, tap Defeated after a win to collect experience. Other on-screen choices cover Spell, Potion, Turn for Clerics, and Flee.

Tips for your first run

A first trip is best treated as a learning run. The dungeon rewards a hero who returns with gold, not one who stays until a bad fight removes everything carried. Set a goal, clear what can be cleared safely, and leave through the entrance room while the purse is still full.

Use town services before the descent. Potions are cheap insurance, and the Enchanter is not optional once certain foes appear, because some monsters can only be hurt by magic weapons. Magic-Users have a clear early-and-late pattern: Sleep wins most early fights, while Fireball wins most later ones. Clerics can heal, bless, and turn the undead. Thieves do best when a target is surprised; backstab then doubles damage, with a larger payoff at higher levels.

• Bank often; a full purse can vanish in one bad fight.
• Carry potions of Healing and Extra Healing before going deep.
• Finish trolls and vampires quickly because they regenerate.
• Fight basilisks and medusas with eyes averted, which gives -4 to hit.
• Read monster abilities; poison, paralysis, level drain, and petrification are live threats.

Content and replayability

Replay value comes from the combination of four heroes and ten dungeon levels. Each hero keeps separate gold, experience, and gear, so a switch changes the state of the campaign rather than just the portrait. Heroes advance from level 1 to level 10. The starting-level option allows a higher-level beginning, up to the deepest level reached.

Every trip rolls a fresh dungeon. Each level is a maze with winding passages and rooms, along with monsters, traps, treasure caches, and downward stairs. The deeper the level, the deadlier the opposition and the richer the treasure. More than 100 monsters populate the tables, with giant rats and goblins near the low end and trolls, vampires, hydras, giants, and dragons among the greater threats. Each monster has its own painted portrait.

Two referee modes extend the same crawl in different directions. Board handles monster rolls, hit points, and spells, which suits a fast solo session. You leaves fights in the player's hands with real dice, paper tracking, and a Defeated button for experience after a win. The adventure log records each trip, and the separate dice roller covers d4 to d100. Town upgrades, potions, and the Enchanter give banked gold a clear use.

Presentation and performance

Delve! presents the crawl in a compact old-school style. The map draws itself as exploration proceeds, using the classic blue graph-paper look. Rooms show size, doors, and contents, and a Narrate control supplies an atmospheric description spoken by a narrator. Tap Speak to hear the description again. Monster portraits give every entry in the large bestiary a face, including the lowly giant rat and the far more dangerous dragon.

Sound effects support the tabletop mood. The layout is designed for desktop and phone screens, with mouse and touch input. The game runs in the browser and is fully offline.

The ruleset and monster statistics are covered by the Open Game License v1.0a. The separate dice roller and adventure log sit alongside the self-drawing map, so the presentation keeps attention on play rather than decoration. A small-scale crawl with a clear tabletop lineage is the result.

Who should play it

Delve! is aimed at a solo player who likes old-school fantasy and wants a dungeon crawl that can be finished in short sessions. The four ready-made heroes, real dice rolls, and ten descending levels suit someone who enjoys tabletop procedure: armour class and saving throws, with morale, surprise, and reaction checks. The game does not hide those rules; it builds the fight sequence around them.

A player who prefers to referee rather than be refereed has a second path. The You mode turns the game into a solo tabletop session with real dice, pencil, and paper, while the game rolls up the dungeon and its contents. Board mode is the recommended route for anyone who wants the game to run monsters, hit points, and spells.

The browser format and touchscreen support make it a natural fit for desktop and phone play, including offline sessions. Players who want to bank gold, buy potions, enchant a weapon up to +3, and watch a hero advance from level 1 to level 10 have a clear loop. The painted monster portraits, narrated rooms, and blue graph-paper map add atmosphere without changing the old-school focus.