More Assumptions about the Map A Day Dungeon Project Dungeon Environment.
As you will no doubt see there are a bunch of maps posted now and the first map’s encounters. Before I go posting more encounters I want to explain a little more about how the full dungeon is put together and how some of the encounters are going to seem a little odd at first.
A little while ago I posted a list of Assumptions about the Map a Day Dungeon Project Dungeon – Level 1 (In this Post).
I just want to add a few extra bits to that and explain why I have decided to do things in this particular way. These new assumptions will actually be applied to the whole dungeon and not just Level 1.
New Assumptions
- Risk Vs Reward
- New and Old Areas
- Magic is Abundant
- Magic is stronger the deeper you get
- The Dungeon is a Superdungeon
Risk Vs Reward Not CR Vs Level
It’s a Dungeon, it’s inhabited by several types of creatures, creatures that have been placed there by someone, monsters who have found somewhere to live, monsters who just happen to be passing by and thought they would pop in and say hello.
To give it a more natural, if not logical feel I have made the decision to create the dungeon on a Risk Vs Reward basis not a strict Level equivalent basis.
This means that there will be some areas on the map that are harder for the PC’s to overcome and some that would be easier for them.
It also means that some of the encounters will be set up to give the Monsters a distinct advantage over the PC’s, after all if you where a group of goblins living in a dungeon, wouldn’t you set up traps and ambush sites in case you where attacked by the nastier beasts in the area?
To even it out, the Harder levels will have increased rewards for the PC’s to make it worth them tackling the area, of course they can always retreat and come back later when they feel more confident that their skills.
New and Old Areas
Although this might be obvious to some of you, I thought I would put it down anyway. Some areas of the dungeon have been explored before, pillaged by other adventurers, had several different types of monsters live there, and are generally high traffic high use areas. These areas will have little treasure, and probably, although not always, less risk than the older areas.
Older areas, for some reason or another have not been accessed recently if at all. It could be there is a complicated puzzle lock, or secret door, or really nasty monster that lives in the area. Whatever the reason these areas have not been explored, you can almost guarantee that the reward in these areas are greater than elsewhere in the dungeon, but the risk will also be greater.
Magic is Abundant
Again it’s a dungeon in a fantasy world, this should be a given, but I want to reiterate it. Magic is abundant and everywhere.
This means that there will be magical traps, magical zones, magical treasure, magical monsters, summoning circles, magical dead zones and pretty much any other magical effect I can think of to put in the dungeon.
Magic is Stronger the Deeper you get.
This is one of the classic dungeon building unwritten rules. The deeper in to the dungeon you get the more magical things become. So as we get further and further in to the dungeon this will marry up with the Magic is abundant assumption above.
The Dungeon is a SuperDungeon
There are several differences between this dungeon and a regular dungeon. This dungeon is not clearable. It is more like several dungeons linked together. A “Normal” Dungeon is 10 – 30 rooms. This dungeon is way beyond that scale. Its hundreds of rooms. Kill of a set of monsters that live there, more will move in to take their place, maybe not today, perhaps not even tomorrow, but someday soon and for the rest of your life….. Anyway as I was saying its massive, and it’s also not fully written down.
Some sections are not included on the Map a Day Project. This allows for you to add extra rooms if you like, but it also accounts for the special rooms and hidden rooms that will only be available to people who buy the 3D scenery when it is released.
Andy @ ROTDOG
© 2010, ROTDOG Games Blog. ROTDOG Industries. All rights reserved.
