Dungeon Runners almost didn't make it out the door. Originally shelved, NCSoft brought on a team of developers—the fourth to work on the title—to massage the existing assets into a game that would support the payment model NCSoft had decided was worth giving a try: give the game away for free, but charge a modest five-dollar fee for additional functionality like stackable items and the most powerful weapons.

It might not work so well if Dungeon Runners took itself seriously, but a quick glance over the item names and descriptions makes it clear the ten-person team was more interested in parodying standard fantasy MMO tropes—especially those from World of Warcraft—than they were in creating their own mythos. It totally works, because Runners is a game designed around instant action. "We're going for 15 minute experiences," says the lead developer.

We were shown a few new features that will be released over the coming
months: PVP; new weapon and armor sets; new dungeons. A new class of axes may look familiar: they're all inverted guitars, with names that reference Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles.