Book Club December 2025*
In Ruins: A Dungeon Building Game by M. Allen Hall
What you need to play:
- The In Ruins: A Dungeon Building Game source material
- A deck of playing cards
- Three d6 dice
- A token
- Pen/pencil and grid paper
-
Colored pencil/markers
This review of In Ruins continues the book club review catch-up project I'm working through. In Ruins was our December 2025 book club pick, and it is the only dungeon builder we have run. This was a really fun adventure and is a bit of a meta book. For the adventure, you build a dungeon, ruin it, populate it with monsters, and when you are done, you have a fully mapped out dungeon that you can use for a campaign setting. In addition to having a solo play setting, In Ruins can be played as a GM-less one-shot with up to six players. There is an additional accessory pack that you can purchase from M. Allen Hall that adds to a multiplayer game. This little book packs a punch and costs less than a dinner out.
The source book is colorful and full of excellent descriptions, the Introduction gives you helpful notes about spark tables, namings and conventions, and how to modify the game for solo and multiplayer scenarios. The game play is split into three sections, The Castle, The Ruin, and The Dungeon. In each section, there is a nice introduction and an overview of the playthrough loop, plus any of the extras you need to pay attention to, like setting up your castle name, lore, and all the denizens that live there. The text shows you how to roll to build your rooms and find what is contained in them, and they all have examples of what a playthrough loop looks like. I enjoyed the process of creating my castle and figuring out various colors and objects to add to my map. I haven't used my finished map in a different campaign, but I have it saved for future reference.
The suggested playing time for this game is 2-3 hours, I had a lot of fun drawing my dungeon map and I spent closer to three hours on my session. I can see breaking the play into three sessions (one for each section of the book) and spending an hour and a half on each session. That would be extensive, but would really allow you to delve into the world and really express yourself. I can also see a multiplayer session taking a few hours and being very satisfying.
I asked my book club members (BKMs) to bring their finished maps to book club and I was not disappointed. One of our BKMs drew their map on VELLUM. It was beautiful and I was very impressed. The rest of us had a mix of graph paper and plain drawn maps, but they were all fun. I haven't asked if anyone used their maps for other sessions, but we all agreed that it would be easy to do and a good exercise in map making. A lot of us chose goblins as our faction, no surprise there. We all agreed that this is an excellent meta game, and had a lot of applications for a gaming library.
Final thoughts: This is a great purchase for the price. You essentially get three games in one, plus a bonus finished map at the end. The rules are simple, the game is colorful and engaging, and it has both solo and multiplayer play-loops. The additional spark tables and lore setup could be used for any number of other games or for inspiration writing your own games. I really enjoyed this as both a game and a resource for gaming. I think it is an excellent addition to any personal library. If you are looking for a dungeon builder, this is the game for you.
Will your dungeon end in ruins?
* This review was published well after the book club event. I'm playing a little catchup.