The Door Locks Behind You is a roleplaying game inspired by The Legend of Zelda

Enter a dungeon with a toolbox of useful items in The Door Locks Behind You, an upcoming roleplaying game that takes inspiration from The Legend of Zelda video game series.

The Door locks Behind You seeks to adapt the gameplay of The Legend of Zelda franchise into a tabletop roleplaying game by providing dungeons that require players’ wits and inventories to complete. The RPG enables players to equip themselves with a wide selection of tools and weapons that they can use to overcome various puzzles and combat situations they might encounter in a series of labyrinths.

Player characters can only carry a select number of items - which players can print off reference cards for - that can be used in whatever situation the player decides they’re best suited for. Whenever a player uses an item, they must roll a d6 to determine whether their chosen piece of equipment has degraded at all - with a four in six chance of the player needing to mark off a usage. Once a piece of equipment has run out of uses, it is broken and the player must replace it with a new item.

Should a player character ever find themselves being accosted by monsters, then they can choose to use whatever item is in their hands to block the attack and brush off the damage. However, doing this increases the likelihood that they’ll lose that item. If a player character takes too much damage, then they’re knocked down and relinquish the opportunity to hold a certain number of items. Players complete a dungeon when they vanquish its boss - collecting a powerful relic in the process - but are defeated if all their items break or all active player characters are knocked out at once.

The GM will be able to create their own worlds using a system that makes procedurally generated dungeons - which is when random layouts and elements are combined together to form a location. The Door Locks Behind You also comes with a default world and campaign for players to experience, with advice for both the GM and players for to create and navigate their own stories in the game.

Deldon is the creator of The Door Locks Behind You, with the roleplaying game being the designer’s debut title. The artwork for the RPG was created by Ben Fox and Cenza, with a soundtrack for the game being composed by Jesse Myers.

The Door Locks Behind You is part of the Zinequest 3 event currently taking place on Kickstarter, with a number of independently created roleplaying games - or Zines - getting campaigns launched on the fundraising website. Other notable Zinequest 3 games include Bucket of Bolts - a sci-fi hack of the Artefact RPG from its original creator, Low Stakes, a roleplaying game inspired by What We Do In The Shadows, and a solo RPG from the maker of Star Crossed called Precious Little Animals.

The Kickstarter campaign for The Door Locks Behind You is live until March 1st, with a pledge of $20 (£15) getting backers a copy of the RPG - as well as a digital PDF version - that’s set to arrive in December.