Tabletop Tower Defense
A downloadable game
Tabletop Tower Defense is a set of rules for running physical tower defense games. This can be a minigame in an ongoing campaign, or a one-shot standalone game. The rules here are complete, yet flexible enough to be implemented in any system or setting. The game is played in phases with gameplay happening in rounds. The base is ideally represented by a physical tower of blocks, otherwise base damage can be tracked on paper.
You can use these rules as published, or use them as a system reference document (SRD) to create something new. The rules are purposefully stripped of any narrative elements so you can play this in any setting or context.
You're welcome to use and adapt these rules in any project of your own, even commercial ones. If you do, please provide attribution to Ten Acre Games with the following text:
Tabletop Tower Defense rules by Ten Acre Games - tenacregames.com
If you comment on here with a link to your game, I'll add it to this page as a reference.
Tabletop Tower Defense is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyright © Hugh Lashbrooke and Ten Acre Games. You may use, copy, share, and modify for any use, so long as you provide attribution to Ten Acre Games.
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how many players is this game for?
You can play with as many players as you like! The waves of opponents come on their own and can be managed by a GM, neutral player, or just anyone else. Each round starts with the players taking their turns - each player can do something during their turn as outlines in the rules. If I’m playing this within a larger game, I like to let the players use their existing character’s skill in some way - casting spells, using items, etc.
The more players you have, the easier it is to defend the tower, so it might help to increase the number or strength of opponents if you have a lot of players. With the rules as written, I find it works well with 2-4 players.