Contents

About Lumina
What is a Tabletop RPG?
Why is Lumina better than the vanilla?
Character Sheet

About Lumina

Lumina is a roleplay game of whimsical fantasy and survival horror with genuine stakes. You play as delvers performing high-risk treasure extraction for the Adventurer's Guild. In search of precious and arcane artifacts, you explore the cracks and fissures of the underworld, the dark ruins of old castles and the buried halls of ancient kingdoms. In Lumina, you survive by your wit and guile, except when you don't which is also fun.

Lumina hacks at the bones of Dungeons and Dragons and improves many of its limitations and frustrations using the DNA of other Old School games (Into the Odd, Mausritter, Knave, and Mothership). The goal is to introduce a easy-to-learn, slog-less game that feels just like injecting pure D&D directly into your eye.

What is a Tabletop RPG?

To my dear friends whom I have tricked into playing this game with me (thank you), no matter what specific game you play, there are a few details to remember about the definition of playing a role-play game:

The “PLAYER CHARACTERS” (“PC”) are treasure hunters, brave travelers, bounty hunters, punk knaves, etc. One player is the “GAME MASTER” (“GM”). He sets the scene, acts as the referee, and also controls the enemies.

As a PC ...

  • Ask questions, make notes, explore and map your delves.
  • Work together! Scheme and recruit. It is a cooperative game. Set out and quest; don’t wait for fun to come to you.
  • Fight dirty! Use your wits and tools. Avoid risky plans that require dice rolls. Be clever and work to gain the upper hand.
  • Help your GM. He has spent a lot of time to set up a cool adventure. In return. get some refreshments and buy snacks! Please?

As a GM ...

  • Be Fair and Impartial. Don’t hide or fudge dice rolls: it adds to the tension. As a GM, you can take away or add to the rules, but keep it consistent.
  • Telegraph danger. Give the PCs warning signs of dangers to come. Make hazards obvious (treat as deadly puzzles). Wasting time should have consequences.
  • Reward questions with good info. When players ask a question, tell them the answer as if they could perceive it. Do not ask for a roll to see; either they see it if they search the area or get clues.

Why is Lumina better than the vanilla?

In "Dimbos and Dorks fifth edition", first level characters have already conquered darkness, thirst, hunger and (as of 2024's release) gravity.

Cutting down on the clutter

  1. Simplified stats and skills. In Lumina, PCs have three stats: strength, dexterity and willpower. Inspired by Into the Odd.
  2. Gnarly combat. In D&D 5E, the grind is real. When a combat round takes half an hour, something needs to change. Lumina however has no initiative rolls; you just go! Whichever player is ready to go first, goes first. In the heat and fury of combat, there is also no roll to hit; just roll your weapon's damage dice. Inspired by Into the Odd.
  3. Low HP. No stat modifiers are added to HP. Less HP bloat means quicker, deadlier combats with less doom-scrolling mid-session. No infinite Death Saves either. Your character may die! You better keep a back-up. Inspired by Prof. DM on Dungeoncraft and original D&D.
  4. Simplified classless. Initially planned to go classless, Lumina offers three adventuring archetypes to embody: the Fighter, the Magic-User, and the Specialist. This ruleset also does away with simple passive bonuses of "plus one to Strength", favouring a smaller array but mechanically interesting abilities. Remaining character customizations and role in the party come from gear, loot, bonds, career, and Artifacts. Inspired by the Whitehack.
  5. Simple distances. Close, Near, Far. Inspired by ICRPG.
  6. Always-on initiative — time is easy to track. Inspired by ICRPG and Shadowdark.
  7. Simple intuitive encumbrance (item slots). Inspired by Mausritter.

Delving is Dangerous, not Super-heroic

  1. No "dark-vision." Yes, everyone needs light to see. Dungeon delving should be dangerous from the get go, and a big part of that is the fear of your teeny light lifeline burning out. Inspired by Prof. DM.
  2. Dangerous magic. No cantrips; do not mistake a spellcaster for a "conjurer of cheap tricks!" As a dabbler in the chaotic arcane, your physics-bending imagination is the limit. But beware! When you roll too hard, prepare to avoid miscasts or suffer arcane corruption! Inspired by Prof. DM.
  3. Squashing progression levels. Characters progress from levels 1-6: 1 being equivalent to an average NPC to 6 being a high-ranking adventurer or noble lord commanding troops (see Advancement). Inspired by Into the Odd.

Tastes like mud and whack

  1. Human-centric. For some reason, every RPG has humans suck compared to their pointy-eared counterparts. How did they become the dominant species if not that society is human? Sure, there may be a lone dwarf or fey, but most of their kin shy away from the world and are feared. This is a GM's flavour choice, sukkah! Disagree? Go play World of Warcraft, you Gnome!
  2. Gold is scarce. It is baffling why all the top RPGs out there treats gold coins, fricking gold, as the most common loot item on every guard and empty room. If coin is to be found, its going to be copper, maybe silver. Gold is for dragon's hoards, rare enough that finding it is a huge deal and not just another Wednesday.
  3. Health potions? We got healing wine! Healing potions are kind of lame; you spend an action to recover lost HP just to extend the boring life of an otherwise quick fight.

OSR? New-SR?

  1. Powered by Into the Odd. Thanks to daddy McDowall for the basic rules and inspiration for this rollercoaster ride.
  2. Compatible with decades of materials. Lumina is made to run with the classic 1980s Basic / Expert rules (B/X), the most popular edition of the game among connoisseurs of old-school RPGs.
  3. No need to fight with everything! That makes combat mundane! Monsters roll morale and reaction rolls.

Character Sheet

You can print a copy of the character sheet here.