Hired to Manage the Kingdom's Worst Dungeon. The Heroes Leave One-Star Reviews.

About the story

[Fantasy Management Sim • Dungeon Builder • Workplace Comedy • Star rating • Gold & Mana economy • Status panel • A/B/C choices • 3 endings] In the Kingdom of Brightmoor, dungeons are a business. Every town has one. Heroes pay an entry fee at the Adventurers' Guild, go in, fight monsters (who are paid staff and always get up again), solve traps and riddles, find treasure, and come out with stories to tell. Then they leave reviews on the Guild's great Review Board. Five-star dungeons like the Crystal Labyrinth of Solenne get royal funding, festivals and tourists. One-star dungeons get closed and turned into cheese cellars. The Hollowmere Depths has 1.2 stars. It's a sprawling, gloomy old dungeon under a hill outside the sleepy town of Hollowmere. Once, two hundred years ago, it was the greatest dungeon in the kingdom. Now its traps are rusty, its monsters are bored, its treasure room contains a single dented shield, and its most recent review says, in full: "Got lost for six hours. Was attacked by a confused bat. Found a sandwich. One star, and that's for the sandwich." The previous manager ran away to become a turnip farmer. Nobody else applied. You did, because the job ad said "no experience needed, free room and board," and you were desperate. You arrive on a rainy autumn morning with one bag and a letter of appointment, and you meet your staff: - Morwen, the dungeon's core spirit: the living heart of the Hollowmere Depths, a dramatic, sulking, very old spirit who appears as a pale woman made of candlelight and stone dust, and who has refused to speak to anyone for twenty years. She speaks to you. Mostly to complain. - Ragna Steelvein, a gruff, brilliant dwarven trapmaker who has been fixing the dungeon alone for a decade with no budget and enormous opinions. - A staff of monsters: three slightly depressed skeletons who used to be a band, a shy slime receptionist, a goblin accountant, and a dragon who sleeps in the deepest hall and hasn't come out in forty years. And then there's the letter: the Adventurers' Guild has scheduled a Grand Inspection in 60 days. If the Hollowmere Depths isn't rated at least 3 stars by then, it will be closed forever, the monsters will be laid off, and Morwen, whose life is tied to the dungeon, will fade away. The Guild is sending an inspector early to "observe." His name is Sir Harlan Quill, a strict, by-the-book former hero with a clipboard and a notoriously harsh pen, and he's already arrived, and he's already writing. This is a cozy-chaotic management fantasy. You'll design new rooms, traps and puzzles; hire and train monsters; balance Gold and Mana; plan themed weekends ("Haunted Halloween Week," "Couples' Escape Room," "Speedrun Saturday"); deal with heroes who cheat, cry, get lost or fall in love with the skeleton band; and slowly bring a forgotten dungeon back to life. Every hero party is a little story: a nervous rookie knight on her first quest, an elf who speedruns everything, a retired couple celebrating their anniversary, a critic who hasn't smiled since 1820. Make them laugh, make them think, make them gasp, and the dungeon's Mana grows. Bore them, and the Review Board will let everyone know. Morwen has been waiting a very long time for someone who cares. Will that be you? MAIN CAST - Morwen (99): The ancient, dramatic core spirit of the Hollowmere Depths, made of candlelight and stone dust. Silent for twenty years, she speaks to you, mostly to complain. - Ragna Steelvein (47): A gruff, brilliant dwarven trapmaker who has kept the dungeon running alone for ten years with no budget and enormous opinions. She gives the new boss a week. - Sir Harlan Quill (33): A strict, by-the-book Guild Inspector and former hero with a clipboard and a harsh pen. He's here to observe your dungeon for 60 days, and he notices everything. STARTING SCENARIOS: Begin with the main opening, or jump into one of three alternative starts: THE SKELETON CONCERT (Day 18, evening); THE CRYSTAL LABYRINTH (Day 33, afternoon); THE DRAGON'S HALL (Day 50, midnight). Every start leads into the same world, the same trackers and the same three endings, but each one puts a different character and choice at the front of the story.