Friday 1 January 2021

More megadungeon mechanisms

Happy New Year!

After yesterday's post on the last lantern-bearer (the one who always gets away), I've been thinking of a few more mechanisms for the episodic megadungeon campaign I plan to run this year. These are mostly fairly arbitrary-seeming rules that will - I hope - add tension, excitement and a bit of grit to the game.

I'll probably use some variant of the original D&D rules for this (possibly Whitehack). I want to strip things right back, so that hit points are low and deadliness is high. In our regular D&D campaign, I use STR in the Into the Odd style: with characters losing STR points after their hit points are gone and having to make a STR save each time they take STR losses. That works really well - but for this campaign, I might go for maximum deadliness, so that starting PCs may well just have 1 or 2 hit points each. That should amp up the risks nicely.

So here are some of these mechanisms.

1. Adventuring parties are always accompanied by an equal number of non-combatant porters/lantern-bearers and the same number of pack animals. There's no point going on a treasure-seeking expedition to the Underworld if you don't have the means of carrying off the loot. And - in meta-game terms - that gives us the pool of reserve PCs, the encumbrance and lighting solution, and the continuity mechanism that I outlined yesterday. The pack animals also carry plenty of food, water and fuel.

2. Party casualties are always replaced from the lantern-bearer pool, with a new character rolled up on the spot. Such replacements can be of any class (hitherto hidden talents) and are equipped from what can be salvaged from the dead or provided by the rest of the party. The pack animals are likely to carry a few spare spears and bow. I'll probably have hand-to-hand weapons do damage by class rather than type (fighters d8 or d10 for two-handed; clerics, elves, dwarves and thieves d6 or d8; magic-users d4 or d6), to avoid any class restrictions on weapons.

3. Expeditions always end when the session ends. This isn't an original idea, of course, but I think it'll provide a nice rhythm and aid continuity, especially as the players aren't likely to be exactly the same each time. I might provide some narrative cover for this ("You need to get out by nightfall - the place is crawling with monsters after dark"), or I might just leave it entirely arbitrary.

4. Escaping lantern-bearers don't bring party treasures or equipment with them. They are assumed to have fled as fast as their legs can carry them. But they do know where the loot was last seen - and are able to guide a new party back to that point. It's unlikely, of course, that the loot will still be lying around. But if Baldros the Bold and his men met their end at the hands of the Iron Hand hobgoblins, it's a fair bet that the hobgoblins now have the golden idol that Baldros stole from the troglodyte tribe.

5. Gold provides XP - but only when it's spent (on training, better equipment, magical research, etc.) Living costs are included in this it's assumed that the PCs pay for their upkeep during the course of their training or studies. I'll probably seriously revise whatever armour and weapon list I use so that better weapons (two-handed swords, etc.) and - especially - better armour is seriously expensive. That way, there should be a nice dilemma for expedition survivors: better gear or character advancement? And of course, this mechanism keeps the focus squarely on loot - which incentivises dungeon-crawling.

6. All parties have a nominal leader - the PC with the highest CHA. This is largely for "historical" atmosphere in the dungeon: "That's where they got Captain Juras and his lot. That's him there - turned to stone!" or "See the tarred head on the spike up there? That's Chardro. 'Prince of Thieves,' he called himself. But the orcs are no respecters of royalty". The leader also has total control of the lantern-bearers/porters and pack animals, however. They go where he tells them to (except when they flee, of course), which should help to keep the party together - especially in light of the following.

7. There is safety in numbers. In the dungeon, large groups are much safer than small ones. You might think that a couple of thieves could sneak off on their own, relying on stealth and guile to get in and out with choice items of loot. But the dungeon ecology is against you. Wandering monsters - dangerous vermin of all sorts, including kobolds (or equivalent) - are always ready to pick off the isolated. And these creatures can see in the dark and are ever watchful from the safety of their burrows. Stragglers or break-off groups incite regular wandering-monster checks - and those monsters are numerous and emboldened. This makes plenty of sense: small creatures like kobolds are unlikely to risk frontal attacks on large, well-equipped groups (the kobolds don't know that the lantern-bearers won't fight). But ambushing a couple of thieves in the darkness? It's a near certainty. 

The point of all of this is to create a game in which the dungeon, rather than the party, is the focus, and in which 'victories' over the dungeon are to be prized. A total-party kill should come as an exhilarating last stand - and a successful expedition should feel like a real achievement. So too should taking a character up to second or third level - gaining the chance of surviving a hit or two in combat.

I'll be running this with 1/72 miniatures, which offers more space for all those pack animals and lantern-bearers on the table - and especially over Zoom. That scale is also somewhat "depersonalised", with the miniatures being more generic and interchangeable - which I see as a good thing for RPGs. 

The key, though, will be creating a megadungeon with plenty of interesting features and perils beside its inhabitants. I started work on this last year, and I hope to make it a major focus in 2021.



15 comments:

  1. A lot of this resonates with me - I'm first and foremost a GAME player - second a roleplayer - so this (especially the continuity provided with the "Last Torchbearer") fits my conception of the Megadungeon. It feels like a game unto itself - kind of a more complicated Dungeon! board game - which I really like. All of the stuff I roll my eyes at about D&D (character backstories, six page monologues by NPCs giving you "motivation" for the adventure, etc.) are completely unnecessary. I haven't checked it out, but I wonder if something like the Torchbearer system might work - since (IIRC) it is designed specifically for dungeon delves (and the logistics thereof). Cool concept. I hope you develop it more.

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    1. So I did a little more looking - Torchbearer is Burning Wheel based and self describes as complicated... Something based off the Black Hack (you propose the White Hack) does sound promising, since the emphasis is on exploration, combat and treasure plundering...

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    2. Thanks! I do have Torchbearer in PDF somewhere. I can't remember much about it, except that it looked a bit complex. I didn't get anywhere near playing it, but I should probably give it another glance.

      The Black Hack is great; I've run it quite a bit. I probably prefer it to Whitehack for one-offs (especially with first-time players), but I think Whitehack has the edge for campaigns (it's a bit more freeform, and I really like the magic system).

      I know exactly what you mean about the GAME aspect. What I'm looking for here is something where the backstory emerges from play - and is likely to feature the history of the dungeon (marked in awful deaths and narrow escapes!) more than the history of individual PCs.

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  2. Happy New Year, JC. I like your ideas, especially the use of lantern-bearers to provide replacement characters, rolled up on the spot. I can see why there is strength in numbers, but to me, a bunch of flunkies makes a bunch of targets in the event of an attack, and they can get in the way of the maneuvering of combatants. Also, it must get very noisy with large groups of people like that.

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    1. Thanks - and to you!

      The strength in numbers is a slightly artificial conceit - but perhaps less so if you think of the kobolds in the walls as a bit like the creatures in Neil Marshall's The Descent. They're unlikely to bother a large, well-armed party - just think of the casualties the half-hit-die kobolds would take. But picking off a pair of thieves in the darkness is going to be easy enough.

      I must post something I wrote a few months back in response to the blogs from you and noisms about wandering monsters. I set out my 'theory of kobolds' in that: basically, nasty things that lurk in tunnels too small for any PCs but halflings and much too nasty for those. So they can appear from more or less anywhere, ignoring the limitations of human-sized routes.

      I agree that the party plus flunkies makes for an obvious target. I fully expect the PCs to hire henchmen as well as lantern-bearers. The latter will be 'in the price' of setting out on an expedition, with costs rationalised as part of the gold/XP exchange; the former will be a player choice - but a wise one. That way, the players have decisions to make about spending any loot: hired fighters, better gear or XP?

      And yes, you can't walk a mule train through the Underworld without making plenty of noise. Also, your lanterns are bound to attract more than moths. But you're better going in well armed and mob-handed than sneaking into the darkness where even the merest monsters can see - and shoot - better than you can.

      As to manoeuvre, I'm envisaging this megadungeon as more Moria than real-world ruins - so plenty of huge, empty halls and lots of loot in the form of large artefacts that aren't easily - or safely - transported. That should mean that there's generally plenty of space for the porters to cower at the back - and of course, the PCs will want to prevent the recapture of their loot.

      That's also one reason I'm switching to 1/72 scale for this project; it facilitates much bigger spaces and much less cramped combats. I'm visualising situations in which the party might comprise a dozen fighters (maybe six PCs and six hired henchmen) plus another dozen porters and lantern-bearers AND a dozen mules. In 1/72 scale, I can get that all on the table comfortably and cheaply.

      I'll also be using morale rules for monsters, so that there will be plenty of retreats. The hobgoblins will know when they've been beaten - but they'll be bound to return with reinforcements.

      With starting PCs and lower-level monsters on a hit die or so apiece, I expect combats to be swift and bloody. So if our 12-fighter-strong party clashes with a 10-strong hobgoblin patrol, we'd expect casualties on both sides before the surviving hobgoblins make off to raise the alarm - and a crucial decision for the players as to whether to get out now.

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    2. Actually, it should probably be *six* mules in the example above - one mule per PC rather than that plus one for each henchman.

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    3. For the style of play you have envisioned, all this makes perfect sense.

      The concept of kobolds as burrowers who have their own paths is great fun. I ran a game for a large group not long ago that had a similar kind of creature (we did not call them kobolds) and the players became much more nervous. (These ones, though, had poison dart blow-guns.) Please do write it up more fully, if you wish, for general enjoyment.

      My current campaign, using the Barrowmaze megadungeon, has featured skyrocketing expenses between sessions. The nearby run-down hamlet that serves as the base of operations for the party has been flooded with treasure and, now, competing parties. To keep their rooms when they head out for a day's expedition, the PCs are paying extortionate fees to the lone inn proprietor. Another "good use" for treasure! The same goes for suppliers of goods, who know that the PCs have (relative) loads of cash.

      If one added to that expenses for your mules, muleteers, and feed, lantern-bearers' food and common room sleep... it would really add up! The PCs could go broke between sessions, ha ha.

      Your game sounds like terrific fun. I envy your players! I wonder how many there will be.

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    4. Those campaign economics sound tremendous! I'm thinking about something like Into the Odd's "starter packages", with other equipment to be had only at high prices.

      And yes - desperate treasure-hunters with unthinkable bar tabs is kind of what I'm going for here.

      Our regular party is seven-strong, occasionally rising to eight. I suspect I'll be running this game when only four are available - but I'll also run it sometimes as a family game night with a three-strong party (plus hired muscle, of course).

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  3. This sounds like an interesting and ambitious project! I guess you will tell us how it turns from time to time...
    Happy New Year!

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    1. And to you!

      Many thanks - and yes, I'll be posting updates on sessions as they occur. I hope to get started with this project within the month (with plenty of 'regular' daily D&D in the meantime!).

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  4. Happy new year! I read this and the last post with interest as I have often wanted to run a megadungeon but never felt that confident in how!

    Particularly liking points 3, 5, and 6 for building a meta-rules framework.

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    1. And to you! Thank - and hope it all proves helpful! I'll be posting much more about it as we get things going.

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    2. Thanks JC. I think it will. I've just picked up The Black Hack and fancied trying out a megadungeon or a hex crawl or similar ... so I think I have decided there!

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  5. This sounds great. I am looking forward to seeing how it all turns out, I wish you the best in your endeavors.

    I've recently jumped into 1/72 plastic figures myself for my LoTR wargaming. Where do you source all your 1/72 figures from?

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  6. Thanks!

    I generally get mine from Hannants (very fast delivery), Drum & Flag or eBay. Also, a lot of model shops carry 1/72. I managed to pick up gladiators and Dark Alliance nomads when on holiday in Italy last February (though I won't be doing that for a while, I suspect ...).

    Lots of historical ranges are great for RPGs and - of course - Middle Earth. It's well worth looking through the almost hypnotic write-ups on plasticsoldierreview.com and then cross-referencing with eBay or Hannants.

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