Explore cursed mazes. Build stalactite cities. Get addicted to mushrooms.
Welcome Down.
Downcrawl is a tabletop roleplaying game and toolkit that helps you build and explore a weird, wondrous underworld, so far from the surface that the sun and sky are only legend. Evocative prompts help you improvise stories of dangerous journeys, curious creatures, and strange underground empires. Just-in-time generation rules give you just what you need to continue your story, allowing your world to keep growing step by step as you explore it.
Cheerful skeleton bards sing ballads on fragile lutes. Antlered children race giggling through shell-paved streets. Faceless cultists worship huge red worms, chanting behind obsidian walls. This is the Deep, Deep Down.
Revised and expanded from the original 2017 edition, Downcrawl 2E features new rule options for solo or collaborative play, and an optional deck of prompt cards that makes sparking weird underworld adventures easier than ever.
Bring dangerous journeys and story-based encounters to your campaign, as you explore aweird underworld called the Deep, Deep Down
Compatible with any TTRPG system, orstands alone with a lightweight Fate-inspired TTRPG ruleset (requires only d6 dice to play).
Exploration Moves and Inspiring Tables offer procedures and ideas for everything from story hooks to mushroom names to underground terrain types:
Need inspiration even faster? Use the optional Downcrawl Deck to get a Table result in seconds: simply flip the top card and align the colors for the prompt you need. (More about the Deck further down the page!)
Some prompts generated by the Downcrawl Deck.
Generate places and peoples unique to your underworld, either between sessions or together at the table as you play
A focus on just-in-time generation for zero-prep roleplay: invent your world, adventures, and complications as you go along
Play with a gamemaster, without one, or solo, with rule tweaks to ensure a delightful experience no matter what your play style.
Features incredible original cover art by J.P. Targete (concept artist for Marvel and Pixar)!
Chart your course on a communal map, but keep in mind that routes in the Deep, Deep Down are mercurial: each journey adds and removes connections between the places you've discovered. Gain and lose Tack, an abstract resource representing route knowledge and travel moxie... but don't run out, or risk getting lost.
Downcrawl 2E has been extensively revised and expanded from the bestselling first edition (a DriveThruRPG Platinum title), supercharged from a 60-page supplement to a 140-page full-featured game.
Every rule and mechanic has been revisited and revised based on extensive playtesting to make your underground adventures even better, with highlights including:
new generators for situation-specific story hooks, people and groups, places within a Volume, and more
a revamped Danger system with more focus on narrative and suspense
rules for solo and GMless play
an extensive Session Zerochapter that helps you build a world and learn the game as you go
designed with easy referencing in mind, with both forward references and back references to help you get back to where you just were
much much more!
Praise for the first edition of Downcrawl (taken from reviews on DriveThruRPG):
"Magical. Genius. Inventive." -- Joshua
"One of the most original, inspiring and easily-playable RPG systems I have ever encountered... easily customizable, endlessly inspiring and gives an amount of agency to both GM and players in a way that's rare these days." -- Melissa
"I'm absolutely blown away. 10 pages in I could tell this book was going to be something special. Now I'm in the closing pages and I'm stunned by the sheer creativity on display here. I'm itching to roll on these tables and see what kind of wild and evocative scenarios come out..." -- Jacob
Page spread from the current draft of the new Downcrawl rulebook (all images are work in progress).
Downcrawl is filled with evocative tables, but finding the right page in the book, rolling dice, and looking up the result takes time. The Downcrawl Deck lets you get a result from nearly any table in the book in only seconds, making it much quicker and more spontaneous to get a result.
Here's how it works:
One result from each of 22 tables in the book is printed on each of 36 cards (replicating the d66 roll on each table), for a total of nearly 800 different prompt words and phrases color-coded by category. Draw any card and find the category to get the equivalent of a random table roll.
Even better, commonly combined tables are aligned on opposite card sides, meaning you can just flip over the top card and match the colors: far quicker than rolling and consulting two separate tables.
The Downcrawl Deck in 15 Seconds: a (very short) explainer!
The Deck includes subterranean prompts for everything from story hooks to creature appearance, terrain modifier to reputation, random resources, city locations, area themes, and more. It also features an oracle for Solo play, answering yes or no questions with interesting complications.
The Deck puts Downcrawl's creative prompts right at your fingertips. It's a great aid to creative play, removing the friction of reaching for the dice and cracking open the rulebook to find the right table. It's included at the $45 pledge level and up.
Early Bird Special: Back within the first 48 hours (or be a returning backer from one of my previous crowdfunding campaigns) and get 10 extra bonus cards added to your Downcrawl Deck (if your pledge includes one)! These exclusive cards will ONLY be available as a perk during this crowdfunding campaign... they will NEVER be issued again!
The Downcrawl Deck has proved so fun, it has led to its own standalone worldbuilding game! In the tradition of games like Microscope or A Quiet Year, in Downcrawl Worlds you'll collaboratively build a weird and curious underworld and explore how it changes through time. Players use the cards in their hand to bid completions to a prompt proposed by the current player:
Sure, scorpions are cool, but what if they were ghost scorpions? Singing scorpions?? Amethyst scorpions???
As you play you'll devise Legendary Ages, famous destinations, and the curious peoples who inhabit this world. It is riotously fun.
Playtesters of Downcrawl Worlds
Downcrawl Worlds works just fine as a standalone worldbuilding game, or you can use it to generate a world for your Downcrawl campaign!
If you pledge at a level that includes the Downcrawl Deck, you'll get the Downcrawl Worlds rules for free. (PDF format; includes printable player handouts.)
OK, but what if those prompts were even weirder...
As a special treat for this campaign, I've also created a whole second Deck of cards, the Even Deeper Deck. It's effectively an entirely new set of table results for Downcrawl with results that trend even stranger, if you want to turn the weirdness on your underworld up to 11.
Want your campaign to include scheming squidfolk, a worm-plagued charnelhouse, wuthering ventricles, chrome hills, ruby lodestones, or a silt-choked caldera? The Even Deeper deck provides 800 new (and deliciously extra) prompt words.
Some prompts from the Even Deeper deck, not even picturing the words "spongeland" or "oozefall" or "gyroscope" or "moth-catchers."
The Even Deeper Deck is fully compatible and interchangeable with the core Downcrawl Deck: you can use it instead of the main deck, or shuffle them together. (The same also applies to the Downcrawl Worlds worldbuilding game).
Available at the Even Deeper pledge level or as an add-on to any pledge.
Prototype of the Encounter Deck (art and colors not final)
The optional Encounter Deck handles the only two major tables not included in the main deck (for space reasons): Travel Encounters and Fungal Foraging. Both are given room to shine in this glorious add-on deck that helps you assemble complex encounters in seconds.
The Encounter Deck cards fit together like jigsaw pieces to assemble a strange encounter on the road (or with a magical fungus). Your first draw gives you an encounter type (Challenge, Threat, Opportunity, or Location) which then provides instructions for further draws and how to align them to complete the prompt.
Corpse polyps? Corpse polyps, anyone? (Prototype printing, art and colors not final.)
The Encounter Deck gets more risky as the Danger level of your expedition rises. Certain cards have a red skull with instructions for how to worsen your draw if you're at certain Danger thresholds. Keep the Danger level low, or you'll find your Encounters getting more and more malign...
For the ultimate Downcrawl experience, the Encounter Deck is a super cool way to assemble up a unique and memorable encounter in seconds. It's a great addition to your Downcrawl campaign, and a lot of fun at the table.
Available at the Complete pledge level or as an add-on to any pledge.
Some more cool items to enhance any Downcrawl game. These items will only be available during the crowdfunding campaign since they will be one-off print / manufacturing runs! Pick and choose which you want as add-ons, or get them all in the "Complete" pledge level.
The Delver's Guide
The Delver's Guide is a spiral-bound reference guide that gathers all the Downcrawl Moves and Tables into a 40-page 6"x9" handbook, easy to pass around the table. The layflat binding makes it easy to keep the current Move or Table visible while you play. Works as a quick reference for the GM, to pass between players, or to keep beside you for solo play.
Available at the Even Deeper pledge level or as an add-on to any pledge.
The Index Bookmark
Index Bookmark rough mockup (design TBD)
The Index Bookmark comes with the Delver's Guide. It can mark your place, but it's also a mobile index: it's got page numbers for all the game's Moves and Tables on one side, and indexes major key terms, concepts, and sections in the rulebook on the reverse.
So convenient! Flipping all the way to the back of the book is for suckers! (Although there's an index there too, for "traditionalists.")
The Adventure Zine
A 20-page minicampaign for Downcrawl in zine format. But wait, you might ask, how can you write an adventure for a game where every location and even every fantasy race is unique to each group? The campaign is written in a unique format that allows your own game locations to seamlessly blend in with adventure-specific details.
A great basis for a three-shot-or-so Downcrawl campaign, or just as an extended example of how larger story arcs function, The Hypogean Solution will have you riding lava-powered railways deep underground, investigating a conspiracy of intelligent slime molds, and delving into many odd and curious corners of the Deep, Deep Down...
Available at the Complete pledge level or as an add-on to any pledge.
Blank Volume and Folk Cards
Some partially filled Folk and Volume template cards.
As you play Downcrawl you'll discover many new Volumes (mapworthy places) and Folk (strange peoples and cultures). You can track these on index cards, OR you can snag these pre-printed Folk and Volume template cards, which make it easy to remember all the info you need to record (and look fancy at your table, too).
Each pack comes with 20 blank Volume cards and 20 blank Folk cards (two-sided and printed on sturdy postcard stock), enough for a fairly long Downcrawl campaign. You'll also get a print-and-play PDF if you need to print more in the future.
Available at the Complete pledge level or as an add-on to any pledge.
Tack Coins
Coin design still in progress...
A set of eight triangular metal Tack coins will help you track your knowledge of routes and journeys through the Deep, Deep Down in style.
What is Tack? One of Downcrawl's key stats, Tack is a communal party resource that represents knowledge of forbidden routes and secret geographies. You'll hoard Tack while preparing for a journey, and spend it en route to increase your odds of successful navigation--don't run out, or you might get lost in dark, forgotten places.
The coin design is still in progress, but the plan is for the coins to feature an interconnected cave map motif such that if you line them up, no matter which side and orientation they're facing, all the passages will seem to connect together into one continuous map. The coins will be hefty, roughly 1.5" on a side (compare to a US quarter at 0.98"), with a raised design and antique bronze finish. They'll definitely make earning and spending Tack feel as weighty as it ought to!
More details of individual items below are described elsewhere on this page! Use the left-hand navigation links to jump to the particular section (or the "Add-Ons" category) for more details.
The Digital Edition contains the rulebook in PDF format (making extensive use of forward, back, and definition hyperlinks, table of contents, etc).
The Softcover Edition is the full 140-page Downcrawl rulebook in 6"x9" digest size (color cover and B&W interior). You'll also get immediate access to the current draft of the rules so you can start playing Downcrawl immediately (and an upgrade to the final PDF edition once released).
As with the digital edition, the print version has been designed for easy use at the table, with consistent styles for cross-references (page numbers are always listed after a move or table reference), backlinks to the place you came from, and other great features for readability.
At this pledge level you'll add the Downcrawl Deck, 36 deluxe-printed tarot-sized cards that together contain nearly 800 evocative prompts for your underworld campaign. It's easy to replace nearly any roll on a table in the rulebook with a draw from the deck.
You'll also get the rules for Downcrawl Worlds, a standalone worldbuliding game you can play with the Deck: either on its own or to create a new underworld for your Downcrawl campaign!
At this level you'll get the Expanded Hardcover edition of the Downcrawl rulebook. It's not just a thicker cover: this version includes 30+ pages of bonus material, including a chapter on worldbuliding ideas to steal and remix, an extended example of play, and a collection of ten fully fleshed-out Volumes to explore, including intriguing places like the Buried Library(an ancient archive under sand), Bleakport (a dying town at the edge of a cursed underground sea), and The Eternity Stair (where time runs quicker the deeper you descend).
These were previously released in PDF form as 10 Down, a supplement for the original edition of Downcrawl. They appear here in print for the first time ever! Preview the original version of The Eternity Stair for a taste of what's in store...
You'll also get a choice of two different cover designs for your hardcover rulebook, the Downcrawl Deck, and all digital rewards.
For a more complete Downcrawl experience, this tier includes everything above plus three great extras to take your underworld campaign to the next level.
The Even Deeper Deck, a second set of cards that doubles the size of your inspiration pool: an additional 800 prompts trending even stranger than those in the core deck.
The Delver's Guide, a 40-page spiral bound reference book of all the Moves and Tables in the game, easy to pass around to your players or lay flat on the table for easy consultation.
The Index Bookmark to easily find any move, rule, or table in the rulebook.
For real delving connoisseurs, this deluxe pledge tier contains everything above plus four great add-ons created for the game, at a significant savings over buying them individually:
The Encounter Deck helps you assemble dynamic encounters (or find weird wild fungus) on the fly
The Adventure Zine features an intriguing three-shot campaign to kick off a Downcrawl adventure, featuring sentient slime molds and a lava-powered railway
Blank Folk and Volume Template cards help you track the peoples and places you create along the way
Metal Tack coins help you track the game's most important resource in style
For true collectors, this is the best way to experience everything Downcrawl has to offer! Make sure to check out the "Add-Ons" link in the sidebar for more details on each of these items.
You are a resplendent patron of the roleplaying arts. Everything above PLUS as many extra copies of the Delver's Guide as you need for everyone at your table to have their own (a royal gift!), a set of four beautiful d6 dice, all you need to play*; a nice pouch to hold your dice and Tack coins, special thanks in the rulebook, PLUS you'll get to name an NPC in the core book or Adventure Zine after yourself or a friend. Jeweled crown not included.
Final design of dice still pending; may differ from what's pictured here.
Just want the Downcrawl Deck cards? We've got you covered. This tier does not include the rulebook, but does get you both inspiration decks (great for subterranean-themed idea generation) and the rules for Downcrawl Worlds, the standalone worldbuilding game that uses the cards.
Shipping fees are not included as part of your pledge. Shipping will be calculated and collected after the campaign using the Pledge Manager and the most up-to-date shipping costs once all items are ready to be shipped.
Below are my current best estimates for shipping. Amounts may be slightly higher or lower based on the success of the campaign and changes to shipping rates between now and fulfillment time, but should be within a few dollars of these amounts.
Softcover or Just The Cards tiers:
US: $5 UK/MX/Europe: $10 Canada*: $18 Rest of World: $30
Softcover/Hardcover + Cards tiers:
US: $9 UK/MX/Europe: $22 Canada*: $30 Rest of World: $50
Even Deeper, Complete, and Patron tiers:
US: $12 UK/MX/Europe: $34 Canada*: $42 Rest of World: $60
* Shipping to more remote Canadian provinces may be significantly higher.
Add-Ons: Adding a core rulebook or card deck to an order without one, or most bonus items to a pledge tier below the "Even Deeper" level, will add around $5 US to your shipping cost (proportionally more internationally, similar to the scaling between the first two pledge levels above). Adding items to a pledge tier at the Even Deeper level or higher will not substantially increase your shipping price.
Supported Countries: Unfortunately, due to various circumstances beyond my control, I am unable to ship physical rewards to the following countries: Afghanistan, Belarus, Bhutan, Brazil, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.
Customs and Duties Not Pre-Paid: If you live outside the US, you may be responsible for customs, duties, or VAT tax to receive your shipment. Please keep in mind any potential cost from this before making your pledge.
Hi, I'm Aaron! I'm a writer and game designer: you might know me from projects like 50 Years of Text Games, Blue Lacuna, or Archives of the Sky. I've been playing tabletop roleplaying games since I first discovered they existed at theater camp in 6th grade, and making digital games almost as long. I love finding new ways for people to collaborate together through rules and systems.
You can find out more about me at aaronareed.net, or find links to social media stuff at my LinkTree.
Work in Progress: All product images shown on this page are mock-ups or works in progress. Final designs may vary from what is shown here.
Timeline: The rules are in an advanced stage of playtesting, nearing completion. Core layout of the full book is complete, although art and final tweaks need to be added. The Adventure Zine still needs to be completed and laid out. In short, the project is very close to completion. I expect to ship books and cards in the first few months of 2025, with some supplemental materials possibly shipping 1-3 months later depending on production turnaround times.
Risks and Challenges: This is my fifth crowdfunding campaign, and all earlier ones have been successfully delivered on. I have previously written and self-published TTRPG games; my 2019 title Archives of the Sky was honored with an ENnie Award. Writing and design for the project is mostly complete, so there is a very low risk of the title not shipping. Printing of books and cards will be handled by DriveThruRPG and DriveThruCards, who have a long and proven track record of manufacturing and shipping TTRPG products. In short, this is about as low risk as you can get for a crowdfunding campaign.
Fulfillment: My current plan is for books to be printed and fulfilled by DriveThruRPG (and cards by subsidiary DriveThruCards), an industry leader for print-on-demand TTRPG products. If the campaign is successful enough, I may be able to upgrade this to an offset print run.
Credits: Icons on this page modified from originals by Delapouite and Lorc at game-icons.net, CC-BY-3.0. Most art on the page is taken from an original commission by J.P. Targete for this project.
