PNP Friday for March 6, 2026 - Behind The Scenes of the Dungeon Pages System plus PNP News
Jason Tagmire looks back at the Dungeon Pages system and the 4 elements used to tie a series of PNP games together.
Welcome to Print & Play Friday! It’s March 6th and we’ve got a fresh batch of print and play news and games for your reading (and playing) pleasure.
Table of Contents
Main Feature: Behind The Scenes of the Dungeon Pages System
Wish It Was PNP: Sky Team
New Games This Week
Community Spotlight: PNP Finder
Crowdfunding News (PNP Previews & Campaigns)
Where Are They Now?
Behind The Scenes of the Dungeon Pages system
JASON TAGMIRE // MARCH 6, 2026
Some of you may know that PNP Arcade publishes our own games that the two of us design. We started with the Dungeon Pages system consisting of Dungeon Pages, Dangerous Space, and Power Creep, then something all new in Battle Pages and Coin Pusher, and then a little nod to the original system in Dungeon Pages: Underboss.
Each game is unique, but the original three have some core similarities and differences and today I wanted to give a little behind the scenes in what makes that a system, and how it all varies. This might be interesting for designers looking to build their own game systems, players of any or all of the games (as one of the most common questions we see is “which should we start with?”), and possibly someone who knows nothing about any of it as we sort of walk our own path with these, taking nods from all types of gaming and trying to work it into hundreds of single page roll and write adventure sheets that are easy to print.
First a quick intro to the games. Each game is a single page roll and write where you take control of a hero, work your way around a map, and try to defeat enemies, and complete other objectives. And every game had a yearlong adventure where we released a new sheet each Friday. Then each sheet had parts that could be cut and combined with previous sheets, for endless play. Dungeon Pages was a fantasy style dungeon crawler. Dangerous Space was a space adventure taking control of an occupied spaceship, and Power Creep was a modern day post apocalyptic rebuilding of the world while fighting the lingering monsters. We collectively call them all “The Dungeon Pages system”.
The Dungeon Pages series games have a bunch of common elements. Here are the main four:
Evil dice
A sequential path
Weekly releases
Modularity
Evil Dice
In every game you start with some amount of good dice (and over the course of the game you might get more of them). You also have a certain amount of evil dice. The evil dice represent bad things.
On each turn you roll all of your dice (good and evil), and check to see if the bad stuff happens. Generally it means enemies will attack you. The evil die values will trigger those attacks, but once the attacks are done, you get to use all of the dice (good and evil) to start marking up the page and doing the fun stuff, like moving your character around, gaining items, and defeating those enemies so that the evil dice don’t continue to trigger them.
Sequential Path
With roll and write games representing movement can be tricky. You want to move your heroes around these maps, but how do you track their current location? We decided to abstract this a bit and say that you don’t really have a current space. You just mark a space adjacent to (or within range) of any previous space that you marked. And all of the markings represent the spaces you have visited on the map. So marking up the page is how you explore, by moving around and collecting things and defeating threats. It’s all very abstracted, but we feel like it’s a neat way, especially for roll and writes.
So what is the sequential path? This is the path from the start of a map(usually a door) to the end (which might be a treasure). As you mark numbers throughout the map, you eventually create a connection from the beginning to end. That path is assessed and if it’s sequential you usually get some good stuff.
We define sequential as each number is equal to or one higher/lower than the adjacent number. 12233222345 for example. It adds a great puzzle element to the games as you work your way through, using certain numbers to collect items, certain numbers to defeat threats, all while trying to make the sequential path. The path isn’t always required, but if you complete it, you’ll get big bonuses.
Weekly releases
When designing these games, we wanted to release a few sheets as what we’re calling a “core set”. Basically enough to get you into it and keep you going for a while. But we also wanted to go all out and explore the limits of the system. If we could come up with different heroes, different monsters, different maps, etc... we could keep them going. So we decided to make Year-long adventures, which were new sheets every Friday for a year. This was quite the undertaking, but really made these games shine in their variety and constant new content.
Finding design space for a full year is tough, as you can get like 20 weeks in and start to feel like you’ve explored all options. But we’ve pushed through it. One of the most helpful things we did was when we broke the enemies into two parts: adjective and noun. The noun would provide the trigger (for example Rats would look to see if Evil Dice values exceed Good Dice values) and the adjective would provide the result (for example Berserk would deal +1 damage). We’ve used some variation of that in each game and it let us build so many monsters in much less time, and really opened up the design space to get through a full year.
Modularity
The final thing that ties them all together is the modularity. On each game, the top third is your hero. The bottom is the map and the threats. You can cut off any top and use it with any bottom. There’s a lot of content, as all these games are released weekly. But the modularity lets you go even further, or just customize things as you’d like.
So if you have two sheets you can play them as is.
- hero A with map A
- hero B with map B
Or you can cut them underneath the hero and also play
- hero A with map B
- hero B with map A
If you have the core set with like 6 sheets, your possibilities open up a lot. But if you have the yearlong adventure with 52 sheets, you now have an entirely customizable collection with more variations than days in the year. What I love the most about this is that you can find a hero that you really like, and stick with them throughout different maps and enemies, and really go deep into the system.
So that’s what makes this system a system! If you all like this, I can come back some time and explain how we made each of them different, while sticking to these 4 core rules. Thanks for reading!
The entire Dungeon Pages system of games is available at PNP Arcade Publishing’s itch.io page at https://pnparcade.itch.io
Every once in awhile we’ll bring this segment on games that we wish were available in print and play format (and have the the right types of components that maybe someday they will be!).
This week we’re taking a look at Sky Team (Designer Luc Rémond)
From the Publisher:
Prepare for landing!
Sky Team is a cooperative game, exclusively for 2 players, where you play a pilot and co-pilot at the controls of an airliner. Your goal is to work together as a team to land your airplane in different airports around the world. Silently assign your dice to the correct spaces in your cockpit to balance the axis of your plane, control its speed, deploy the flaps, extend the landing gear, contact the control tower to clear your path, and even have a little coffee to improve your concentration enough to change the value of your dice.
From Montreal to Tokyo, discover 11 airports and 21 exciting scenarios inspired by real landing conditions. Wind, kerosene, leaks, traffic, ice... Each airport comes with its own set of challenges! Watch out for the turbulence, it could end up being bumpy ride!
While the physical game has a beautiful graphic design and double layer gameboard it wouldn’t be hard to modify that slightly to accommodate print and play friendliness.
Sky Team uses standard d6 dice, and a handful of tokens. Even the player shields are easy enough to cut and fold.
Probably the the biggest item to replace is the flight axis disk, but that really could be cardstock that slide-rotates as needed (or a re-purposed spinner!)
Hopefully the conversation sparks interest on the part of the publisher and we get to sit in the pilot seat. There are already pnp expansions for the game! so they do seem pnp-aware already :)
Each week we share the new releases in the world of Print and Play. Here’s what’s new this week.
Weeds: A simple 5 minute solo card game from Dan Panke that is now available for free! The goal is to finish with your garden clear of as many weeds as possible.Finish with your garden clear of as many weeds as possible. Link.
A Dragon’s Gift: Beacons and Exotic Transports: The Dragon’s Gift expansions from Scott Almes and Button Shy have arrived on PNP, bringing beacons that you need to light to avoid losing points and new transports that give you alternate ways to get around. Only $1 each! Beacons Link. Exotic Transports Link.
Dungeon Pages: Underboss - Faz Dinder, Goldfoot: The year-long set has been updated with the newest boss and dungeon. If you’re a fan of Attack on Titan’s giant monstrosities, then you might want to try filling shoes of the latest Underboss—Faz Dinder. This giant delights in strange and deadly sports with his ultimate prize being the defeated opponent’s skull being added to his gold plated boots! Link.
Battle Pages - Kingdom of Hespyr Marching Order 2: The last kingdom in the Battle Pages year-long series has arrived! Each month introduces a new sheet, but each week changes up the enemy’s marching order to push you to try out new strategies. Link.
Publishers / designers submit your new PNP releases here: PNP Arcade Submission Form.
PNP Finder (Print and Play Database by Martin Gonzalvez)
One of the many amazing contributions from PNP enthusiast, Martin Gonzalvez is the searchable database called PNP Finder. This excellent community resource is free to use (although you can buy Martin a coffee to say thank you) and allows anyone to submit new games. The site supports filtering and categories (dice placement games, in-hand games, etc)so its easy to find the type of game you are seeking.
https://pnpfinder-lite.pages.dev/
Here are a few PNP-related crowdfunding campaigns that we thought you might find interesting:
Stitchery Faire
Tell your story one stitch at a time as you meet patrons, create garments, and find your place in the community of Threadwyke. Link.
Beastward: Monster Hunt RPG Boardgame
When all heroes fall, the King calls for the Beastward Hunters. Slay the monsters that infest the land and reclaim the cursed ground. Link.
Submit your PNP crowdfunding projects here:
PNP Arcade Submission Form.
Are you looking for your favorite publishers from PNP Arcade? Check out this list.
Alexander Shen: If you’ve never played Quests Over Coffee or any of Alexander’s other fun games, be sure to check out his stuff on Itch.io. Link.
Button Shy Games: With hundreds of games on PNP Button Shy started uploading games on Itch.io and The Game Crafter. Expect regular releases of the older library of games as well as new content to come. Itch.io Link. The Game Crafter Link.
Cezar Capacle: Brazilian game designer, graphic designer, architect and musician. He’s been creating unique games for the past five years, on a variety of genres. Link
Clearly Sharp: Home page for Daniel Young, the designer of Gem Getter and Forest Floor. Link
Daws of Darkness: The Lost Village and its mini-expansion are now available at itch.io. The thick line art style of these co-op games really makes them stand out. Link
Epic Endeavor Games (Jason Greeno): The independent games by JG can be found on his Patreon page. Link.
Grimscribe: If you are looking for the year-long Grimlore series, you can find those here. Link.
Jack Neal Games: Jack’s games about power, value, and systems (Rust and Revenue and Charters: Profit Through Public Works) are now available at JackNealGames.com. Link.
Kealf Games: The new location for all things from Kelvin Soong of Kealf Games. PNP Stash Link.
Mark Tuck: Mark has brought his collection of PNPs (from the beloved Orchard to Pocket Aquarium, and many more) to the Game Crafter. Link.
PNP Arcade Publishing: For everything Dungeon Pages (and more to come) check out the PNP Arcade page at Itch.io. Link
Shiny Pigeon Games: PNP Arcade previously hosted Around The World In 15 Minutes, but at their site you can pick up Starfront Scouting Academy and the Packing Party series of games. Link.
We Heart Games: The Itch store for Mike Berg’s games (Crownfell, Exobase, Exoship) has the entire catalog of games. Link.
Would you like to submit a PNP Game?
With the help of publishers, designers and the community we will continue to share PNPs with all of you.
Click this link to submit information about a game
Games featured in these posts are not sponsored.
I like your “wish it was PnP” idea. I own a copy of ST and have printed and laminated the official PnP landing tracks. In my view, the circular disc could easily be replaced by a seven-step marker (no need to lean sideways while throwing dice).
My concern is the fiddliness caused by the many on/off markers for the landing gear and wing flaps. The printed sheet would then hold up to 14 markers + 8 dice, which seems quite prone to shifting from small movements or table bumps.