Today, I'm going into detail about how "Lewd Dungeon Adventures" is played. This guide is intended for those who have never played the game before.
In "Lewd Dungeon Adventures," you will assume one of two roles: the Deity, akin to the game master in standard tabletop role-playing games, or the Hero, who is the player. If there are multiple players, one person will become the Deity, and everyone else will be Heroes.
I will start by explaining what the Deity is and what their role entails. Then, I'll move on to describe the Hero's role, including how to create a character.
I like to think of the Deity as a little invisible fairy that follows the Hero around on their adventure, similar to Navi in "The Legend of Zelda." In fact, in "Rise of the Cummancer," the novel series I'm currently writing based on "Lewd Dungeon Adventures," the Deity appears to the Hero as a winged penis and only takes human form when sex magic is present, which requires the Deity to participate in an intimate act with the Hero. The Deity's job is to inform the Hero when sex magic is present, interact with the Hero to perform sex magic, and generally assist the Hero if they become lost or confused. However, the Deity cannot fight, solve puzzles, or directly instruct the Hero on what to do next unless it's specified in the campaign book. You can think of the Deity as a low-functioning NPC that appears when needed and isn't generally around otherwise.
In the real world, the Deity runs the adventure. This involves preparing for the game, reading the boxed text in the campaign books to the Hero as indicated, and guiding them through each adventure by providing descriptions of their surroundings and role-playing the various characters and monsters in "Lewd Dungeon Adventures."
I recommend that the Deity read the entire adventure before the game session begins. This preparation will allow the game to run much more smoothly than if it were taken piece by piece. As a Deity myself, I always allocate an hour before a game session to review all the material.
While many of the NPCs and monsters in the adventures have their own assigned genders—as written in the book—if sexual roleplay with that character is involved, such as in a Special Scenario or monster seduction, the Deity will roleplay that monster or NPC according to their own gender. Everything in "Lewd Dungeon Adventures" can be modified to suit your gender pairing with your Hero. In lesbian pairings, a toy such as a Feeldoe may be necessary to perform the various positions.
When playing through "Lewd Dungeon Adventures," your Hero will frequently encounter situations where they must roll a die to determine the outcome. We refer to these as Proficiency Skills. They are rolled with a d6 and follow this difficulty scale:
- Very Easy - Roll 2 or higher for success – This level is for tasks you want the Hero to easily accomplish, such as obtaining an item necessary to advance the story.
- Easy - Roll 3 or higher for success – This roll would be for tasks you'd like the Hero to accomplish, like finding a cool piece of loot, but aren't critical for story progression.
- Normal – Roll 4 or higher for success – This difficulty is assigned if you want the Hero to have an average chance of success, typically for tasks that most people would have a 50/50 chance of completing.
- Hard – Roll 5 or higher for success – This difficulty is for challenging tasks, such as jumping across a wide fissure or scaling a wall with few handholds.
- Very Hard – Roll a 6 – This level is for tasks you mostly want the Hero to fail at, like finding a path hidden by foliage. It would take considerable luck to succeed at this roll.
Most of the time, the adventures specify when proficiency rolls are required. However, as players become accustomed to making these rolls, they might preemptively ask to make a roll, such as to search a room, or they may devise a creative solution to a problem not listed in the adventure. As a general rule, ALWAYS let them roll if they wish to, and assign the difficulty level you believe is most appropriate for the action they are attempting.
I've endeavored to make "Lewd Dungeon Adventures" easy for the Deity to run by including monster stat blocks where they appear. Running monsters in the game is quite straightforward. For combat, the monster must first make a d6 roll to determine if they hit the Hero with their chosen weapon or spell. The default Roll to Hit for all Heroes is 4, so the monster must roll a 4 or higher to hit the Hero. If the attack lands, the monster will then Roll for Damage. Each weapon and spell in "Lewd Dungeon Adventures" has a specific damage amount, which typically involves rolling a d4, d6, or d8. Very few monsters roll higher dice, but they do appear occasionally.
When running a boss creature, combat is typically detailed in the adventure—that is, when and with what you should attack, and how many times the creature can use its spells and in what order. For regular monsters, there’s less direction, but as a general rule of thumb, if the Hero is fighting an enemy with a sword or another melee weapon, that creature should use a close-ranged attack. If the Hero is fighting at range, the creature should use ranged attacks.
Some enemies can only be attacked with magic or certain weapon types. The Hero may sacrifice any item in their inventory for 1d10 damage (of the type needed) to an enemy. They do not need to Roll to Hit. The hit is guaranteed. Alternatively, they can perform a sex act of the Deity's choosing in exchange for temporary power. For the remainder of combat, they will roll 1d6 damage (of the type needed) against the enemy. They will still need to Roll to Hit every time. This effect remains until combat ends with that enemy, whether by success or death. The Hero can make this trade with their Deity for as long as it takes to defeat the enemy.
There are three main situations in which the Deity will need to engage with the Hero in intimate actions. The most common of these is Hero deaths. Lewd Dungeon Adventures is designed to be challenging, with the Hero's death occurring regularly. In a typical game, the Hero will die between 3 to 5 times. However, I have played through some adventures where the Hero has died much more frequently or maybe just once, but I've never played an adventure where the Hero hasn't died at all. Heroes in Lewd Dungeon Adventures are immortal. When they die, the Deity flips to the back of the book, and the Hero will roll a d6 and match the number with a chart called Sex Acts for Hero Deaths. Whatever number they roll will correspond to the act that must be performed to revive them. This can be a variety of different things, but the act will be carried out between the Deity and the Hero, typically to the Deity's satisfaction unless specified otherwise. Once the act is complete, the Hero revives with full health.
The second situation where the Deity and Hero engage in intimacy is during Special Scenarios. These typically occur when a Hero encounters a locked door or chest, or they need to gain an item or information from an NPC. These acts have their own set of rules and can range from something as innocent as giving a sensual massage to as kinky as BDSM, depending on the adventure.
The third situation is NPC seduction. This game mechanic is optional and was added for those who want more erotic content in their game session. Each NPC that can be seduced has its own sex style, detailed on its stat card. Unlike Special Scenarios, which require specific sex acts to be performed, sex styles are guidelines for roleplaying each NPC and monster through a sexual encounter. Sex with an NPC should be carried out according to their matching sex style. Heroes will never be able to force an NPC to do something they don’t want. Unless a different negative consequence is assigned to an enemy for being seduced, as outlined in the campaign, seducing an enemy creates an effect called Exhaustion. Exhaustion reduces the enemy’s Health Points by 1 and causes them to inflict only half damage, rounded up, on their first attack that hits and would cause the Hero to lose Health.
All of the rules covered above are for the XXX version of the game. If you are playing the drinking version of the game, every time a Hero dies, they will revive by taking three sips of an alcoholic beverage or a one-ounce shot of liquor or a liqueur. For the BASE version of the game, they will roll a d6 from a chart at the back of the adventure called Base Acts for Hero Deaths.
In the BASE game, erotic Special Scenarios are typically replaced with simple die rolls akin to most tabletop role-playing games. In the drinking version, the Hero will usually be required to either play a drinking game or consume a certain amount or type of alcohol. Many of the adventures include recipes for mixed drinks. If you do not have the correct type of alcohol on hand, whatever is available can be substituted. Do not let the absence of the correct type of alcohol prevent you from playing.
And that is pretty much all you need to know to run Lewd Dungeon Adventures as a Deity.
If you are playing the game as a Hero, you will start by creating your character. You can download a free fillable character sheet here: https://lewddungeonadventures.com/collections/character-sheet. Creating a character takes about 10 minutes and requires little imagination. You begin by picking your race and can be anything, but there are no advantages for specific attributes. For instance, if you choose to be a winged creature, you do not have the ability to fly. Wings are purely aesthetic. If you choose to be a small race, such as a gnome, you don't receive bonuses for sneaking, nor do you get advantages for jumping over things if you're a tall race.
It is up to you whether or not to create a detailed backstory for your character, but it is not necessary. Some people even choose to play as themselves.
All Heroes start with 10 Health Points and the following inventory items:
- A 50-foot rope - useful for climbing, it can sometimes reduce the difficulty of rolls.
- A firestarter – essential for lighting torches in dark places.
- A flask of alcohol – a must-have for playing the drinking version of the game. If you're not playing the drinking version, it can be used as a tradable item.
- Lockpicks – these never break and are primarily used with the base version of the game.
For languages, you begin the game knowing only Common. You can learn other languages along the way by being taught by NPCs or by earning language books as loot.
All heroes start the game with their choice of one melee weapon and one ranged weapon, selected from a short list. You also start with one Limited Spell and two Unlimited Spells. Unlimited Spells are like Cantrips in Dungeons & Dragons, meaning you can cast them an unlimited number of times. Limited Spells can only be cast a limited number of times. In the beginning, you can only cast one Limited Spell per life. To cast a spell, you will usually have to Roll to Hit, which involves rolling a d6 to determine if the spell hits the target. If you miss, the spell is not expended. It is only expended when it hits. For Limited Spells, once the spell hits, you cannot cast it again until you die and respawn.
Heroes begin the game with one available Limited Spell slot and two Unlimited Spell slots. Every time you die and respawn, you must choose which spells to take with you. Even if you know five Limited Spells, you can only pick one to use during that lifetime, so choose wisely. The same goes for Unlimited Spells; if you know five, you can only pick two. As you play the game, you can acquire items that expand the number of spells you can carry.
This brings me to my next point: there is no leveling up in Lewd Dungeon Adventures. You grow stronger by acquiring loot, spells, and equipment.
Playing the game as a Hero is pretty straightforward. The Deity will tell you what you see, and you will tell them how you react to it, where you want to go, and what you want to do. Oftentimes, they will require you to make rolls to determine if you can find certain loot or overcome a specific obstacle. As a general rule of thumb, it's always a good idea to ask if you can search rooms. Many traps and treasures lie hidden and could be missed without proper investigation.
Should the Hero encounter a Special Scenario they aren't comfortable performing, they can switch to the DRINK or BASE version of that Special Scenario. The same goes for the Deity. As the Deity, if you read something you're not comfortable with, switch to the version of the Special Scenario that you are comfortable with. The various options are provided to help you create a game experience that you and your partner will enjoy.
Combat for the Hero plays out similarly to how it does for enemies. When a Hero encounters an enemy, if there is no precursory conversation needed, combat will typically ensue. To determine who goes first in combat, you will roll for Turn Order. Both the Hero and the enemy or enemies will roll a d6. Whoever rolls the highest goes first, and so on. If the Hero and the enemy tie, the Hero will automatically go first. If two monsters tie, the Deity can put them in whatever order they see fit. I typically do it in alphabetical order. However, if it's the same type of monster, then it doesn't really matter.
On the Hero's turn, they will choose the enemy they wish to target, then Roll to Hit it with a d6. Different monsters have different levels of difficulty to be hit. If the Hero misses, it will then be the enemy's turn. If the Hero's attack hits, they will then roll for damage.
The Hero can also do the following things for their combat action:
- Use an item
- Give someone an item
- Hide
- Interact with objects
- Escape
Hiding behind a sturdy object such as a tree will grant a Hero absolute cover, meaning nothing will be able to attack them. As soon as the Hero chooses to attack, they are no longer hidden until they use Hide as their action again. The same applies to monsters and enemies. Hiding allows characters to stop and rethink their tactics. Unless stated otherwise, hiding is essentially a pause in the game.
If a Hero wants to escape from a room that an enemy is in, they are allowed to do so as their action. However, as a result, the last enemy they were engaged with will have one last chance to attack the Hero, regardless of Turn Order. If the enemy fails their Roll to Hit, the Hero escapes without injury. If they do not, the Hero takes any damage dealt. Unless specified otherwise, enemies cannot chase Heroes outside of a room or Area once they have successfully escaped. Should a monster try to escape, the same rules apply.
As far as loot in the game goes, items on enemies are typically soulbound. That means the Hero can't simply take a club from a goblin they just defeated. Only items designated as loot in the adventures can be claimed. There is no monetary system in Lewd Dungeon Adventures; everything is based on a barter system. So, if the Hero sees something they want, they will usually have to negotiate for it by trading sexual acts or items.
Typically, the best loot is acquired at the end of an adventure when the Hero will usually get to select a reward from a short list of items for completing the main quest of that adventure.
That’s pretty much it for how to play the game. If you are playing with multiple Heroes, the 'Multiple Heroes Modifications' sections throughout each adventure will tell you how to run Special Scenarios for polycules, how to modify the various drinking games for larger groups, and how to handle obstacles for more than one hero.
Overall, the game is fairly well-balanced, no matter what you try to throw at it. As always, the most important thing is to have fun. I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide on how to play Lewd Dungeon Adventures. If you’re interested in the game, it can be purchased on DriveThruRPG or here on our website.