Lantern — A Solo Descent

Nine hours of light. A mine nobody has opened since the pumps stopped. One question: when do you turn around?

Lantern is a solo push-your-luck game in a single HTML file. Every room costs light. Every room might give you something. The deeper you go the more there is, and the worse it goes when the dice turn.

Why this one

• One decision, repeated, and it never gets easy. Go deeper, or climb out with what you are carrying. Everything else is 2d6.
• About five minutes a run. Short enough to play three times in a row chasing a better haul.
• The risk is visible. A ladder under the room shows exactly how dangerous each depth is, so every loss is your own call, not a surprise.
• One file, no install, no internet. Double-click index.html. That is the whole setup.

How it plays

1. You start with 9 light (capacity 12) and an empty haul.
2. Entering a room costs 1 light. You roll 2d6 against that room's danger.
3. Beat it and you take the room's worth. Beat it by 3 or more and you find oil — one light back.
4. Miss it and it costs you another light, and you get nothing.
5. You can climb out at any point and keep the haul. If the light reaches zero first, you keep nothing.

Danger runs from 6 at the top of the ladder to 11 at the bottom. The payout runs the other way. The game does not tell you where to stop — that is the game.

What you get

• 24 hand-written rooms, drawn without repeats
• A twelve-rung danger ladder, visible at all times, so the next step is never a surprise
• Two endings: you climb out, or the light goes out
• A best-haul record that survives between runs
• Full run log of every roll

Technical

• One HTML file. No dependencies, no build step, no network requests.
• Works in any modern browser on Windows, macOS and Linux.
• Your best haul is saved in your browser's local storage. Clearing browser data clears it.

What it is not

• Not a roguelike. No map to explore, no inventory, no combat system.
• Not a story game. There is flavour text, but the game is the decision and the dice.
• Not a campaign. One run is one descent; then you go again.

FAQ

Do I need a rulebook?
No. The five steps above are the whole game.

Is it random?
Partly. The dice are random; when you stop is not. That is the part you are being scored on.

How long is a run?
Two to five minutes. Most runs end somewhere between depth 4 and depth 8.

Does it work offline?
Yes. It makes no network requests.

Will there be updates?
Yes — buy once, updates are free.

Also in the Solo Toolkit. This game is one of four in the Solo Toolkit — four complete solo games for $12.99, less than half what they cost separately.