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One Deck Dungeon: Forest of Shadows

#1580BGG ↗

2017 · 1-2 players · 45min · weight 2.33 · 3,515 ratings

port: first-partydifficulty: Easy
BGGv4 widev4v4 deep5Sources3Rules cardCandidate0.364Deep dive
Bayes
6.40
Users rated
3,515
Owned
11,633
Wishing
776

At a glance — v4 wide

Controlled-vocabulary primitives + 8-axis MDA aesthetic vector. Vocab v1.

Core loop (micro)

Flip a dungeon card as an obstacle, roll dice to meet its stat checks, claim it as XP, item, or skill tucked under your hero.

MDA aesthetic vector (0–3)
Sensation
1
Fantasy
3
Narrative
1
Challenge
2
Fellowship
2
Discovery
3
Expression
2
Submission
1
Mechanic-interaction primitives (4)
  • [3]engine_growth— “When you defeat a card, you claim it as experience, an item, or a skill, tucking it under your character card.
  • [2]dice_mitigation— “Various foes to combat and other perils; defeat requires rolling dice to meet stat checks.
  • [3]escalating_threat— “The longer you take exploring the dungeon, the deeper you'll delve, and the difficulty will scale up quickly.
  • [2]variable_setup_per_game— “A dungeon delve that is different every time, difficult to survive, with a character you build up from scratch.
discovery_score: -0.077

Archetype fits — v4 deep

How well this game shape maps to mobile archetype templates. Composite is a weighted sum of the 10 fit dimensions.

ArchetypeCompositeLTFSessionComboArcShare5inOnboard
Balatro
solo_card_roguelike plus card_as_xp_item_or_skill plus engine_growth IS the Balatro/StS shape — dice-into-challenge-grid is exactly the relic-and-joker compounding loop. 45min sessions land in the Balatro sweet spot; permadeath reroll keeps loss_tolerance high. Strongest archetype fit for this batch.
6.909.0879676
Coop
Cooperative dungeon-crawl with shared encounter resolution and 45min session lands solidly in coop sweet spot — 2-player coop with both deciding simultaneously gives reasonable density. But info-asymmetry isn't load-bearing (open dice rolls), so coop fit is good but not best-in-class.
5.807.0768465
Cozy
Tier check: Solo/Solitaire plus Cooperative triggers Coop-or-Solo tier — no cap, score against tone. escalating_threat plus time_pressure_descent are anti-cozy primitives, so loss_tolerance lands at 7 (permadeath sting but fast restart). Tonal vibe is dungeon-tense, not cozy.
4.807.0456465
Snap
Solo/coop core has no PvP factional opposition — bluff_info_asymmetry is essentially zero. Wrong category for async multiplayer.
4.506.0356464
Wordle
45min runs are 30x Wordle's window and dungeon state can't compress to 6-emoji-row output. A 'daily dungeon' reframe is conceivable but loses the run-build payoff.
4.206.0245464

Translation candidate

Composite fit_score = bayes×0.30 + wish×0.18 + compress×0.17 + difficulty×0.20 + headroom×0.15.

bayes_norm×0.300.120
wish_norm×0.180.070
compress_norm×0.170.500
diff_norm×0.201.000
port_headroom×0.150.200
fit_score (total)0.364= 0.364
Difficulty reasoning

Direct port already exists from Handelabra. Dice-into-grid resolution and short solo runs are ideal for phone.

Closest loop translation
none yet

Sources (3)

Inputs to rules-card synthesis. Click any pill with ↗ to open the original source.