Five Torches Deep
Five Torches Deep is a rules‑lite dungeon‑adventure game that marries 5e familiarity with OSR grit. Encumbrance, light, and supply pressure matter; classes stay simple; combat is quick and decisive. It favors rulings over build math and rewards clever logistics and cautious exploration for fast, low‑prep sessions.
Fantasy • Needs GM • 4/5 complexity • Low prep
Setting is intentionally agnostic, so published modules and homebrew hexes drop in with minimal conversion. FTD sits on a familiar 5e‑style backbone (abilities, saves, advantage/disadvantage) but pares the chassis down and centers procedures: travel clocks, usage and degradation, concise gear and supply, and swift combats that end before analysis‑paralysis sets in.
Theme and Setting
Classes are streamlined, magic is potent but bounded, and the emphasis is on player decision‑making in the fiction—route selection, risk tolerance, scouting, and logistics. Difficulty modulation relies more on fictional positioning and consequences than on stacking modifiers, so tables move briskly.
How Play Feels
The blend is deliberate: FTD is heavier than ultra‑minimal OSR pamphlets but far leaner than mainstream fantasy tomes. It keeps the feel of old‑school pressure—time, light, and inventory—inside a modern, readable layout and a compact rules footprint.
What Makes It Distinct
You want a very light rules load You mainly want short standalone sessions with minimal carryover. You want a very light rules load You mainly want short standalone sessions with minimal carryover.
Where It May Not Fit
You want a very light rules load You mainly want short standalone sessions with minimal carryover.