Quickstart to Those Under the Mountain

Those Under the Mountain is a tabletop RPG designed to build, manage, and defend a colony of Dwarves who've struck out from their mountain homeland to begin a new life. In this pursuit, the players will take the role of the founding members and council of this new dwarven fortress.

“You will raise mighty citadels and construct immaculate halls. Huge statues of your forefathers will be carved, as well as sprawling passageways for your civilization to call home. Great ancient horrors and armies of darkness may seek to fell your people, but dwarves are stout folk. With industry, tenacity, and creativity, you will outlast them; you will defeat them.”

-Nori Aurenstone, year B535, the age of myth.

Those Under the Mountain, or TUM (pronounced “toom”), is both a base building board game and tabletop role playing game. 

Over the course of in-game weeks, you are granted labor points, Upkeep and Progress, that are used to improve your hold. They can be spent on construction, mining, crafting, etc. Nearly anything can be achieved if the hold works together. 

As intrepid pioneers, you take the roles of dwarves. There are many ancestries and cultures within dwarvenkind, some exotic, some familiar. You might choose to be a humble hill dwarf of The Luddenav Brieg, or you might choose the red feathered Espantekatl. From The Fjallafolk of the mountainhomes or the Duergar of the deep places, a world of dwarvendom is open to you.

In addition to ancestry, TUM covers over 20 unique trades and martial skills, from gemcutting to cooking. You can be a miner, a baker, a mason. Because a large portion of TUM doesn’t rely on combat, non-combat oriented characters are welcome and useful.

Free Use License

The Those Under the Mountain Deluxe Quickstart is free to use, reproduce, and distribute in whole or in part, including for digital platforms and virtual tabletop (VTT) use. Virtual tabletop providers may reproduce rules text, documentation, and included artwork as necessary for play and may use such materials for the promotion and marketing of the Quickstart on their platforms. This license does not permit commercial resale of the Quickstart or its contents. (It's free, c'mon.) All ownership, intellectual property, and all other rights not expressly granted herein are fully reserved by the author.