Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Even Crazier

Okay, I must be getting delirious.

Let's say, for the present, no money (what the hell, I don't need to be poorer).

Let's suppose you submit a character, very simple, along the lines of the stats produced on this post.

Every other round, one new player starts at the beginning of this map:


Orange = Level 1; Green = Level 2; Red (left side) = Level 3;
Purple = Level 4; Red (right side) = Level 5; Blue = Level 6

You get a two round head start.  You can run, you can wait for the next person ... or you can enter one of the rooms.

Everyone is first level, so ... a die is rolled on the 1st level monster table from the DMG, and whatever appears, that number of monsters is in that room.  If I roll orcs and you're on the second level, you get 2 orcs.  If on the fourth level, 4 orcs.  All combat in the rooms is straight rolling - enter, roll surprise, attack goes to whoever is not surprised, then roll initiative, then fight until you're stunned (still my general combat system) or killed.  Others can run in and help you.  Others can run in and try to kill you (they can try to kill you in the halls, too).  If you want to leave a room where the monster isn't dead, you make a wisdom check and if you succeed, you leave.

Rooms have 250 g.p. treasure per level; I'll make up a % chance for magic items.  You heal 5 hp per round in the Kitchen and Laboratory; you can buy armor (Player's handbook prices x5) in the Armory.  All rooms, including the Start room, are safe non-combat zones.  I'll take other ideas for other zones.

Pretty much as many who want can play.

How stupid is this?



8 comments:

  1. Alternately, bigger monsters for lower rooms, treasure increasing geometrically.

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  2. I wonder what happened to my copy of dungeon. Might be amusing to have a full board with all the PCs over the internet as little paper figs...

    I can see all kinds of interactions that could play out. I don't really want to broadcast my predictions, because that would effect the experiment I'm sure...

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  3. This is great stuff. Shame it's not getting more attention.

    I'm not interested in net games (offline play is riffing with a jazz quartet, online play is sitting alone in front of a screen), but since you asked, I have a couple of ideas...

    Some of these rooms would be tough to take on alone, but players might not want potential backstabbers in their party. Solution? The guard room: a perfect spot to hire shell shocked henchmen, possibly with lower morale than normal, as if they barricaded themselves inside when the complex was overrun...

    The torture chamber has a hilarious giant grub-like illustration below it. Maybe this thing is trapped with it's head sticking from the wall. Players could poison their weapons by running them over the grub's poisonous tongue.

    Most importantly, I see what may be a flaw in the map. The King's treasure room, Wizard's treasure room, Queen's treasure room, and Queen's treasure annex can all be hit in quick order with relative safety. You might consider walling off the southern entrance of the King's library to balance the map. It doesn't unduly clog the layout, but separates the two northern treasure rooms (King and Wizard) from the two southern ones (Queen's.

    But why are you doing this? Out of the goodness of that withered lump of coal you call a heart? I doubt it. Fess up. What are these guinea pigs testing?

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  4. All right, I'll confess.

    There's a rumour around that I like to RUN DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS.

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  5. Why?

    This isn't the game we like to play...

    Perhaps you could run a schizophrenic campaign, where a queue of players alternately controls the characters. That could be fun, but is it worth the investment? Not for me.

    You know, one thing I'd really like to see is what it's like to be in your regular campaign. Have you ever broached the subject of recording your players?

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  6. This would definitely be more practical to run, but deliver a lot of the same interest, if not more.

    I like having built-in player-player interactions - with the last system you talked about, player-player interactions seemed more like an afterthought or bolt-on.

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  7. This sounds like it would be just about as fun as the other experiment.

    Question: After rolling up a legal character according to your rules on the campaign blog, is there any limitation on what equipment the character gets? Such as a Fighter gets heaviest armour he can wear, and his choice of basic weapon from the PHB?

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  8. Kyle,

    Check the new post for the question on pre-made characters.

    There's no sense in starting fighters with the best possible armor - there needs room for people to improve their situations, to have something to buy. If you start fighters fully equipped, that just increases their edge over the lower level thieves and mages.

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