HexenRPG is a generic party-based dungeon crawler system with random encounters and turn-based combat. It is inspired by Wizardry, The Bard's Tale, and Wasteland.

Goals

System

• Allows for fantasy, sci-fi, or post-apocalyptic settings
• Does not pre-define classes, races, abilities, skills, etc.

Game Mechanics

• Should serve the story telling and world building
• Encourage travel, exploration, and interaction with the world
• Encourage party-based gameplay
• Don't waste the players time

Scenarios

• Easy to create with text and image editing software
• Open to modification

Design

• No classes. Characters can learn any skill as long as they meet the requirements and have enough currency to pay for it.
• No experience points. As long as you have currency, you can upgrade and modify your characters.
• No levels. There are no set levels at which characters progress. It is up to you to decide which characters should progress when.
• No base attributes. Everything you do in the game world revolves around your skills. Modifications to your character apply directly to skills, and parameters that are used in combat.
• No inventory. Of course there is an inventory but the system is deliberately designed to reduce inventory management. For instance, you don't carry any weapons or ammo. Instead, you have combat actions and action points.

Features

This is a list of the implemented systems:

• Ask - keyword based dialog system
• Bank - deposit or withdraw currency
• Bestiary - report and view monsters, collect rewards
• Camp - rest (may trigger encounter), craft (with recipe), and identify items
• Chest - open, unlock, lockpick, disarm trap, use password
• Combat - turn-based combat inspired by Wizardry
• Death Pool - abandon and rescue parties
• Door - open, unlock, lockpick, use password
• Encounter - random encounters (events, combat)
• Event - events and dialogs
• Guild - join/leave guild, hire, retire, and train recruits
• Inn - rest
• Inventory - inventory management
• Map - representation of buildings, cities, and lands
• Modder - modify characters through semi-permanent body modifications
• Party - party management
• Quest - simple quest system
• Shop - buy, sell, trade, identify items
• Temple - heal, revive, pray, donate
• Travel - fast travel (may trigger encounter)
• Workbench - assemble, disassemble, and craft items

Scenarios

Scenarios are provided in the form of content PAKs. A content PAK consist of XML files and assets that define the scenario. The download comes with a sandbox content PAK that I use for testing.

The archive comes bundled with a Java 21 Runtime Environment.