Pencils & Powers

About this board game

Pencils & Powers is a 1+ player roll-and-write adventure game system with a listed play time of 45 minutes, playable solo or with up to 8 players.

Each round, everyone plays from the same roll of 3d6, but each player decides individually how to assign those dice. Dice can be directed toward exploring, facing monsters, or discovering treasures as your heroes move through the adventure.

The goal is to defeat monsters, gather treasure, and improve your heroes before time runs out. As the game progresses, heroes gain access to rooms containing increasingly valuable treasure and more powerful monsters, creating a rising challenge throughout the adventure.

• Play solo or with friends
• All players act simultaneously from the same dice roll
• Individually assign dice to exploration, monsters, and treasures
• Develop heroes while the dangers and rewards grow
• Finish with a final score and an ultimate winner

The game ends when time runs out, all of your heroes are dead, or every monster has been defeated. Once the adventure concludes, players tally their final scores and determine the winner.

Pencils & Powers currently offers 12 adventures across several themes. The Ancient Evil Awakens fantasy campaign includes The Dread Knight, The Forgotten King, The Crazed Alchemist, Dragon Castle Challenge, The Motherload Mine, and Maze of the Minotaur.

Additional adventures include the sci-fi Red Alert! scenarios Asteroids! and Alien Overrun, along with All Hallows Eve, The Cult of Cthulhu, Caverns of the Krampus, and The Shadow Spire. Together, these adventures provide a range of settings for roll-and-write exploration, combat, treasure hunting, and hero improvement.