Four-Sworded Adventuring

Four-Sworded Adventuring is a 2-4 player game where each player takes control of a link (one of four: green, red, blue, and purple) in order to defeat Ganondorf and rescue the princess. The dungeons are generated randomly via dice rolls, and as players progress through the dungeon they obtain items and upgrades.

a game can take between 30 minutes to 2 hours, usually ending due to a total party wipe.

Character Creation

Each player picks a color that their character wears, there's no benefit to a certain color it's just for distinguishing players on the map. Starting characters possess two items: A sword and their clothing. In addition, each player may pick one starting item from the list below. Players may not choose the same item twice.

• Metal Shield - A decently-sized metal shield embroidered with a golden hawk. A link starting with this item only needs a 3 or higher to succeed an evasion check from an attack (as opposed to the usual 4 or higher). The shield does not take up an item slot (the equipped link is able to hold 3 items and the shield). It can'd be used in conjunction with other items, however, and is put away when the player disengages combat. There's a chance that this item will be destroyed should its holder be attacked by a like-like.

• Bomb Bag - A deceivingly small pouch which can store up to 10 bombs. A player who picks this starts with a full bomb bag. In combat, the bombs have a detonation time of 1 full round (everyone goes once, on your next turn it explodes) and have an explosion radius of a 5'/5' square. Bombs can be thrown 10 feet, and other links may pick up bombs and throw them after they've been lit. Bombs deal 2 damage to foes, 1 damage to players caught in the radius. They may be replenished by finding them in jars or tall grass, by being dropped by enemies, or by purchasing more from the traveling merchant.

• Power Bracers - These heavy gauntlets are imbued with a magic enchantment that bestows its user great strength. A link starting with this item is able to roll strength checks to lift or push heavy objects that would normally require all 4 links to do, may lift and throw other players, and can destroy false walls. In addition, the player may use the bracers to do an unarmed attack in combat, which deals 1 damage and knocks the enemy a square back. While the bracers are equipped no other items may be used (including swords or shields, the player has a move speed of 5 feet, and can't jump.

• Bottle - A translucent glass bottle with surprising durability, a small fairy is trapped within. Bottles can store a liquids of any temperature, fairies, hearts, and other special items. A fairy or heart in a bottle may be used at any time freely. If the player that owns the bottle is defeated and possesses a fairy in the bottle, it will automatically trigger and restore his hearts. This will not trigger if another player is defeated. More bottles are able to be found within the dungeon.

• Hero's Bow - A beautifully crafted bow with a quiver of 15 arrows. The bow has a range of 60 feet and can't be fired into combat. Arrows deal 1 damage to monsters and are able to be ignited if the player stands near a source of fire. The bow may be used in puzzles as well, usually hitting the target in switch puzzles or igniting some far off torch. While aiming, the player has a move space of 5 feet and cannot jump. Arrows may be replenished by finding them in jars or tall grass, by being dropped by enemies, or by purchasing more from the traveling merchant.

• Lantern - A durable hooded lantern that emanates a warm light. A link with this item is able to brighten up dark areas, providing light in a range of 30 feet in all directions. In addition, the lantern serves as a portable fire source, usable for igniting arrows or solving puzzles. The lantern may be doused and ignited at will unless wet, at which point it requires another light source to become dry. No lantern oil is required. The lantern may be destroyed should its holder be attacked by a like-like.

Its recommended that at least one player starts with either the bombs or the arrows. Most of these items (not bottles) may also be purchased from the travelling merchant for the prices listed below.

Player characters may carry a total of 3 items on them at a time. Swords, shields, quivers, and bottles do not count towards this limit. Items may be dropped or willingly given to another player. They may also be looted off of a dead player (dead, not defeated). Additional items not listed in the starting materials may be rewarded as loot throughout the dungeon.

Playing the game

Each player starts with 3 hearts. This number may increase by finding/purchasing 4 heart pieces or by defeating a boss (which grants each player an additional heart). Hearts are temporarily taken away when a player fails a dangerous action (for example, a failed jump check over a pit, or a failed evasion check in combat). Lost hearts can be replenished to their original number through using fairies, hearts, or potions.

All checks in the game are made using D6s. When a die is rolled, a 4 or higher is considered a success while a 3 or lower is considered a failure. Checks are performed whenever a fail-able action is attempted. Depending on the difficulty of the action, the player needs to make 1 (routine), 2 (difficult), or 3 (impossible) successes. The number of hearts you have is your dice pool for each action. Obviously you shouldn't be attempting crazy shit when you're heavily wounded.

Dungeon Generation

For the theme of the dungeon, either pick one off the top of your head, or just roll a D6 and check the chart

• on a 1 - Forest
• on a 2 - Fire
• on a 3 - Water
• on a 4 - Ice
• on a 5 - Wind
• on a 6 - Shadow

All players start in a room with 4 exits. This room should be marked in some way to signify that it is the starting room, eventually it will let players jump between dungeons they've discovered. Every time a player enters a new room the GM rolls some dice, listed below

To Determine the Number of Exits the Room has - a D6 is rolled.

• on a 1 - the room has one door, the entrance
• on a 2 - the room has two doors, including the entrance
• on a 3 - the room has three doors, including the entrance
• on a 4 - the room has four doors on all sides
• on a 5 - the room has three doors including the entrance, one is locked
• on a 6 - the room has four doors, two are locked

To Determine the Type of Room - a D6 is rolled

• on a 1 or 2 - Combat Room - the doors are locked until players defeat a number of enemies. Defeating all the enemies may give a reward such rupees or a key.
• on a 3 or 4 - Trap Puzzle Room - the doors are locked until players solve the puzzle. Solving the puzzle also gives some sort of reward, usually rupees or keys.
• on a 5 - Obstacle Course Room - navigation throughout the room relies on jump and climb checks, a switch may be present near the end that disables the obstacles. If the room has 1 door, reroll.
• on a 6 - Reward Puzzle Room - a puzzle or combat of the GM's choosing, should be optional to the party. Rewards for this room to be usable items or heart pieces.

note1- locked doors SHOULD lead to a reward puzzle room of some sort

note2- be stingy on giving out keys

To Determine the Difficulty of the Room/How Good the Reward Is- Roll D6s equal to the total number of rooms currently in the dungeon.

• <10 - Piss easy. A typical monster encounter may be a few Bokoblins, Keese, or Stalchilds. The typical reward is rupees, if any.
• 11-20 - Standard fare. Monsters encountered include Moblins, Stalfos, Special keese, and wallmasters. rewards tend to be keys, rupees, or low tier items.
• 21-30 - Challenging. Monsters encountered in include Re-deads, Darknuts, Gibido, Lizalfos, Like-Likes, and Poes. Rewards are either keys, a large amount of rupees, and mid tier items.
• 31-40 - Difficult. Monsters encountered are usually mobs of challenging monsters, or a single mini-boss. Rewards are upper end items, such as upgrades.
• 41+ Very Difficult. The first room with a rating of 41 or higher automatically gets four doors, one of them leading to a boss. this door is locked and requires a boss key to open. Rewards for these rooms is the boss key, subsequent rewards are either heart pieces or rupees.

note1- should the first 41+ rating room be sandwiched between four other preexisting rooms, place the boss room somewhere else on the dungeon and place a teleport leading to it. the teleport requires the boss key to activate.

note2 -after five 41+ checks, if players have the boss key but have not approached the boss, the boss comes to them. make it as dramatic as possible

Bosses

Deep within the dungeon lurk some of Ganon's strongest monsters, a "boss", if you will. While they don't have to be from a specific zelda game, they should match the theme of the current dungeon (I ran with a horror-themed dungeon that ended with a octopus-headed boss that drove them all insane, good times).

Boss fights are combats that take a while and/or hurt. This is because bosses are usually abnormally tough; generally a boss will requires 3 successes to land a successful hit. However, this toughness can be circumvented using the item loot the players obtain. For example, if the boss is covered in tough armor, a 3 would be needed to actually damage it. However, if the players find some way to destroy the armor using their items or wit, the successes needed lowers down to 2 or 1. Basically, bosses need some sort of weakness. You don't have to make it obvious, but players need some way of damaging the boss if they're lacking items (think Seath the Scaleless in Dark Souls: he's invincible until you destroy the relic in the room).

A boss room is always a dead end (at least temporarily). If there are 3 or more Links in the dungeon, bosses get two combat phases. In these scenarios the boss gets two initiative dice. Bosses have anywhere from 3 to 10 hit points, ten being later on in the game. Some examples of bosses and their potential actions are below:

* Example Boss: Molgera

Setting: Fire Dungeon

Behavior: Partially submerged in lava pit in center of room. may leave to attack enemies. If grapple succeeds,

Initiative bonus: none

Hit points: 5

Armor: 3

If armor is destroyed in some way (i.e. megaton hammer, bombs, rocks falling from the ceiling, etc), armor temporarily goes down to 1.

Action A: Grapple (1 evasion negates. if successful, player is trapped in molgera's mouth, no initial damage. second round player is dragged into lava along with molgera, takes 2 damage. Molgera's armor replenishes)

Action B: Tail swipe (2 evasion negates. If successful, player takes 1 damage and is sent backwards.

Defeating a Boss

Defeating a boss revives every downed player to full health and grants each player one additional heart container. In addition, a warp appears in the room which leads to the next stage of the dungeon. This is a one-way warp: if they go through, they're stuck on the next part. Get a new piece of paper, and place another 4 door room in the middle, and repeat the process of exploring and such. Each successive boss should increase in difficulty.

Whenever a new level of the dungeon is unlocked, the GM does one of three things to the difficulty dice rolled, depending on how fast he wants the game to be.

• For slow games, reset the difficulty counter. Only count the new rooms when rolling the D6s.

• For medium-length games, halve the sum of the number of rooms present, then add dice as you would normally.

• For quick games, do nothing to the total. Keep the difficulty counter where you were at, and add dice as you would normally.

the next level of the dungeon may keep the theme of the last one, or you may roll the thematic d6. After 4 bosses have been defeated, the final dungeon tier must be Ganon's castle. There's no reward loot in the dungeon other than keys, the merchant is always present in the first room, and the actual boss must be Ganon. If you want to give players the master sword, now is the time to do it. have the first room of the dungeon have an altar in middle with X swords in it, X being the number of players. Stats for the master sword are below.

How you actually handle the fight with Ganon is up to the GM; you could go for the epic swordsman showdown ala wind waker, or perhaps a multi-tiered combat where he changes forms like in Twilight Princess. Hell, you could even do a tennis match like in ocarina of time. Just make sure the fight is worth the four bosses they had to clear to get to him.