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T&T alpha review UKGE 2025 Taking a beloved classic of anything and putting your own stamp on it is fraught with peril. Be it novels, TV shows, console games, or RPGs. You desperately want to bring the Old Guard with you, and you want to create something new and shiny to bring in new fans. The play-test: The UKGE this weekend was the first chance to playtest Rebellion Unplugged’s alpha, so first order of the day was to make a bee-line to their stand to sign up and play. We booked a later slot (turned out to be the last one of the entire weekend, so the GM’s voice was at breaking point :) ). After pursuing hundreds of stalls for a few hours we returned to Rebellion’s stand and took a seat. I held my breath, rolled some d6’s, and let out a big sigh of relief - I liked it. Brave Bob, cautious Bobby and angry Bobbin (yes we chose our own names, sorry GM :D) started in the grottiest tavern my little boots ever squelched into, and finished down a beer-swilled well, fighting a possessed rat king and his hordes with naught but a stick and a bow. The game setup was quick, with easy-to-create characters and their quirky traits (we all rolled randomly) and then we got straight into the adventure. The rules were stripped back a bit so everything could fit into an hour of play. My Bob broke his stick, while Bobbin was turning the rat-king into a pincushion and Bobby was being pushed valiantly forward as she was the only one with a shield. The game ended with Bobby being swarmed by rats and on just one point of Stamina, so a nice cliffhanger. We wanted more, but alas our time was up. Keeping with the T&T flavour, Stunts are still there (yeh!), as are kin. There’s a neat Threat mechanic to give bonus dice to attackers if you are the one causing the most trouble, and doubles explode (a nod to DARO). Two things that established players might have the biggest issue with though are dice pools and attributes. Where are the BIG numbers: There’s still a dice pool of sixes that change in size depending on the the situation, but there are less dice on the table than in classic T&T, which I like - there are still plenty to roll, but rolling loads of dice and then adding big Adds looks to be gone. I think this is a good move in the modern gaming sphere - things are expected to be a bit faster and sleeker. My younger (teen) table-top players certainly prefer counting successes to adding up dice and Adds, and for this to work Rebellion needs those new players as well as the high spending adult gamers. There are no target numbers that I could see, you simply need more successes than the challenge before you - sleek and simple, and keeps the game flowing (I’m also a big fan of YZE games, so I like successes as a mechanic). Likewise attributes are gauged using much lower numbers which represent the numbers of dice rolled, so I don’t think you will be seeing 30, 40, 50 Strength. Again, this makes it fun and fast. I won’t go into all of the mechanics we saw, but they are available on the alpha (sign up to the GM’s Guild below). Rebellion have come up with some fun mechanics that feel just right for a T&T game - quirky, fun and survive-by-the-skin-of-your-teeth. Old vs New: The older versions will always be there to play. We all play the games we love and ignore the ones we don’t. For me Deluxe is the best of the original iterations, probably heavily influenced by being the first version I ever played, and I still love it. But with Ken off doing his own thing, a version 7 collaboration with Rebellion was unlikely (assuming we call Deluxe 6th, let’s not get into 7th and 7.5). I like the changes I’m seeing so far for Rebellion’s alpha, and it certainly struck a chord with the younger gamer I brought with me (who’s very first RPG character of any game system was a Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls one). Is it T&T: There are some BIG changes to the game mechanics and the world setting, and for some established gamers these changes might be big barrels of marmite (confession: I love marmite). I think it’s fair to say this is not T&T version 7, so don’t come to the table expecting that and you won’t be disappointed. It’s not the same, it’s different, but it still feels like T&T to me, and so I think it’s fair to call it Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age. Nice job ‪@rebellionunplugged.bsky.social‬ #T&T, #UKGE, #Tunnels & Trolls, #TTRPG