Published by Flying Buffalo Inc, it was developed to be an alternative to Dungeons and Dragons which was aimed particularly at solitaire and play-by-mail gameplay. In the early 1980s a computer version (Crusaders of Khazan) was put out which embodied many of the favorite old solo modules, but which (in a fore-shadowing of modern computer RPG production) was buggy and somewhat difficult to play.
It is a simple game that is rich in detail, easy to play and with a sense of humour.
The only polyhedral dice you need to play Tunnels and Trolls are six-sided dice, however you can need quite a lot of them. The phrase buckets of dice has often been used to describe how many a high-level campaign requires. Monsters are usually measured in dice, which also determine the amount of damage they can do as well as how tough they are, so they have one statistic.