Jim Henson’s Labyrinth
The Adventure Game

Jim Hensons' Labyrinth The Adventure Game by River Horse

Labyrinth: The Adventure Game is available for preorder now, so we at River Horse thought that it would be a good idea to talk a little bit about exactly what you will find inside.

The book itself is a lovingly recreated copy of the classic Labyrinth book Sarah owns in the movie, though it is a little bigger as we had a lot of adventure to fit inside! The book contains everything you need to play, including dice right there in the book!

The rules of the game are designed to help new players create characters and get started in the world of storytelling games, but the adventure is designed to be playable in any RPG system with new and veteran players in mind.

The Labyrinth is not a game in which you charge forward, sword raised, and slay all which stands before you. It is a game of cunning, of puzzles and trickery, it is a game where a forthright conversation can get you just as far as brute strength.

With 100 scenes with modular elements the game boasts an impressive replayability, with no scene ever being quite the same on each run through.

The Checkpoint a scenario from Jim Henson's Labyrinth the Adventure Game by River Horse

Each scene consists of its own creatures and challenges. If the players are able to get past the challenge or gain useful information they are rewarded with progress which allows them to advance further into the book. If the players leave a scene without completing it they will wander the labyrinth until they find another, but be careful, you only have 13 hours to complete the Labyrinth or you will become lost forever!

What is an adventure game?

The book is an adventure game. Adventure games (or role playing games) can be played by two or more players. One player is the Goblin King (or Queen!), and all other players are characters.

Once you and your friends are gathered around a table, the Goblin King will help each of the players to create a character to play the game as. This is great fun, as you and your friends have to answer the question: “Imagine you were in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. What would your character be like?

For example, you could say: “I am going to be a goblin called Flozzle, who is sneaky and is always trying to get the better end of a deal!”
With the help of the Goblin King, you will fill a character sheet for your new character, which records his or her traits and flaws, as explained later in this book.

Once all characters have been created, the Goblin King will start telling a story, set in the Labyrinth and the players will play as the main characters in that story!

So, for example, the Goblin King could say something like: “You and your friends are making your way through a walled maze section of the Labyrinth when you come across a goblin stumbling around with his helmet on backwards. Nearby you can hear faint but nasty laughter. What would you like to do?”

Then it’s up to the group to discuss which way to go and, once you agreed, they will tell the Goblin King and he or she will continue the story, telling the group what happens in the direction they have taken. This way the story of the adventure you are on will develop and you can meet other characters, weird creatures, explore new and familiar parts of the Labyrinth, face challenges and solve riddles on your way to accomplish your mission.

Mock up of Jim Henson's Labyrinth the Adventure Game by River Horse
Custom Dice for Jim Henson's Labyrinth the Adventure Game by River Horse

How it works

The game can be played with any RPG rules system you are already familiar with, but the rules contained within the book have everything required to play the game. The rules of the labyrinth are simple, yet allow players to create many varied characters and handle all sorts of situations. At the core of the labyrinth system are the tests, which are resolved by rolling one or two dice:

Tests

When your character tries something that has a chance of failure, you must roll a test. The Goblin King (the player running the game) decides how difficult the test is by choosing a number between 2 and 6.

2 – Easy as pie!

3 – Not quite as easy as pie

4 – Moderately difficult

5 – Fairly tricky

6 – It’s not fair!

The next thing to do is roll some dice! Usually a test will require you to roll one die and check the number, if it is higher or equal to the difficulty number, you succeeded at the test, otherwise you have failed. If you have a trait that improves your test, say if you were jumping over a chasm and you were talented at running and jumping, you would roll two dice then look at the higher number. If you have a flaw that hinders you, you would roll two dice then look at the lower number.

Brian Froud Illustrations will feature in Jim Henson's Labyrinth the Board Game
Brian Froud Illustrations will feature in Jim Henson's Labyrinth the Board Game