Post by erf_beto on Jan 13, 2012 14:30:48 GMT -5
Hello everyone.
I was browsing through my DP files and found something I had worked on before, but never playtested. They are partly inspired by the new D&D boardgames (ravenloft, ashardalon, drizzt).
It's an alternative to rolling dice when checking for door/chests locks and traps that uses "tokens" drawn from a bag, or from a pile (like cards).
But I intend to print them on adhesive labels and stick them under the door and chest's base.
Basically, you'd add a chest or door to the dungeon without looking under its base - you only do that when the heroes interact with them.
Doors may be open, locked or trapped. Locked doors can be opened with a DEX check, as normal, but note I haven't included a way to dodge the traps. That's intentional: for simplicity' sake, I'm assuming that if you opened it, then you probably thought it was safe to do so, right?
And these traps don't have any flavor text because they are not the highlight of the adventure: you take some damage, and you move on. Big bad traps, like enclosing walls or a flooding room, should be special room or a random event.
The chests are a bit tricky, but bear with me.
Generally speaking, what can happen when you open a treasure chest?
-You find gold coins;
-You find a consumable item (like potions); or
-You find the "real" treasure, which may be an item or a piece of equipment (either magical or not).
Gold can't be used for anything until you leave the dungeon. Potions are quickily quaffed and discarded. But Gold and Potions are present in 99% of all quests.
The only thing that changes betwen quests is the other kind of treasure you get, which are particular to that adventure's theme and difficulty. These are the ones you're after, it's where all the excitement is.
And that's why they are always locked.
You only roll on the treasure table after you open a locked (or trapped) chest. When you flip over to find a gold or potion token, you just put it next to your character sheet and keep going. But when you find a locked chest you may attempt to open it knowing that you will definetly get something (either a roll on the treasure table or draw a treasure card - which is another project of mine).
Another point that needs clarification is the numbers I've chosen. I haven't playtested anything, though I think they will work. But you can tell they'll be too low once the heroes level up and explore level 10 dungeons.
To remedy this, I'm thinking about patching the Quest rules with something like:
- "The kobolds are incredibly crafty, and their trapmaking skills are notorious. Every door or chest trap in this dungeon will deal 1 extra damage, and get a +1 increase in the difficulty to search/open them."
- "Dragons usually hoard vast treasures and coins, and TinkerBell is no different. Multiply the gold you find on chests by 3."
And you can even tune the difficulty (or feel) of a particular dungeon by adjusting the ratio of open-lock-trap.
...
Dear God, why can't I write a shorter post? >_<'
Anyway, what do you think?
I was browsing through my DP files and found something I had worked on before, but never playtested. They are partly inspired by the new D&D boardgames (ravenloft, ashardalon, drizzt).
It's an alternative to rolling dice when checking for door/chests locks and traps that uses "tokens" drawn from a bag, or from a pile (like cards).
But I intend to print them on adhesive labels and stick them under the door and chest's base.
Basically, you'd add a chest or door to the dungeon without looking under its base - you only do that when the heroes interact with them.
Doors may be open, locked or trapped. Locked doors can be opened with a DEX check, as normal, but note I haven't included a way to dodge the traps. That's intentional: for simplicity' sake, I'm assuming that if you opened it, then you probably thought it was safe to do so, right?
And these traps don't have any flavor text because they are not the highlight of the adventure: you take some damage, and you move on. Big bad traps, like enclosing walls or a flooding room, should be special room or a random event.
The chests are a bit tricky, but bear with me.
Generally speaking, what can happen when you open a treasure chest?
-You find gold coins;
-You find a consumable item (like potions); or
-You find the "real" treasure, which may be an item or a piece of equipment (either magical or not).
Gold can't be used for anything until you leave the dungeon. Potions are quickily quaffed and discarded. But Gold and Potions are present in 99% of all quests.
The only thing that changes betwen quests is the other kind of treasure you get, which are particular to that adventure's theme and difficulty. These are the ones you're after, it's where all the excitement is.
And that's why they are always locked.
You only roll on the treasure table after you open a locked (or trapped) chest. When you flip over to find a gold or potion token, you just put it next to your character sheet and keep going. But when you find a locked chest you may attempt to open it knowing that you will definetly get something (either a roll on the treasure table or draw a treasure card - which is another project of mine).
Another point that needs clarification is the numbers I've chosen. I haven't playtested anything, though I think they will work. But you can tell they'll be too low once the heroes level up and explore level 10 dungeons.
To remedy this, I'm thinking about patching the Quest rules with something like:
- "The kobolds are incredibly crafty, and their trapmaking skills are notorious. Every door or chest trap in this dungeon will deal 1 extra damage, and get a +1 increase in the difficulty to search/open them."
- "Dragons usually hoard vast treasures and coins, and TinkerBell is no different. Multiply the gold you find on chests by 3."
And you can even tune the difficulty (or feel) of a particular dungeon by adjusting the ratio of open-lock-trap.
...
Dear God, why can't I write a shorter post? >_<'
Anyway, what do you think?