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[Jim Groovester]

While I was reading and coming up with ideas for this thread, it struck me that a labyrinth type community game might be a pretty fun thing to do. The way it would work is that I, being the dungeon master, would create a cunning and deadly labyrinth. Then, seven unfortunate dwarves would be dropped into it, and the players who claimed those dwarves would then try to guide them to the escape using descriptions and hints that I give out.

The idea is for it to be a sort of adventure game, where you avoid deadly traps, solve devious puzzles, and engage in combat with the resident monsters. Some of the puzzles will have to be abstracted, however, because even though there may be no physical obstacle between the dwarves and the next room, they might need to find and place a specific object somewhere due to the metagame, because I, the arbirtrary labyrinth force, demand it.

This would all be in fortress mode, so that it allows the possibility to create new tools to venture further in the dungeon, or perhaps eke out a labyrinthine existence if the puzzles prove too hard, and other cool things that wouldn't be possible in adventurer mode.

Of course, this would probably be more fun on my end, so I would have to supplement the hints and pictures with vivid accounts of the current happenings in the labyrinth to help you guys have as much fun as I would have. There would be a backstory that would slowly get revealed as the dwarves get closer and closer to their escape.

But I don't want to plan a ten level labyrinth full of pit traps and other obstacles if no one is interested, so I wanted to see about that first. If everybody else thinks this is as much of an awesome idea as I do, then I'll get cracking on building the labyrinth, but I think I'll only start accepting sign-ups once that is completed.

Oh, and there's that business of life getting involved, so I don't want to have people sign up only for me to reject them because of real life commitments.

So, tell me if you like the idea, or tell me that it's a dumb one. Either input is valuable and appreciated.

[Flaede]

not sure I'd want to play, but I totally want to see the map.

[Snuffs]

I think it's a good idea.  I think the most fun part for me would be watching seven other people haplessly blunder their way through the labyrinth, but I'd be up for playing if you need more participants.

[Xonara]

So this would be a community fortress... But not quite, right? Sounds good to me, will participants be able to have their own journals? Are you going to be one of the trapped dwarves or the sadistic freak who's behind the labyrinth?


Hmm, anyone noticing the resemblance to saw here?

[Jim Groovester]

So this would be a community fortress... But not quite, right? Sounds good to me, will participants be able to have their own journals? Are you going to be one of the trapped dwarves or the sadistic freak who's behind the labyrinth?


Hmm, anyone noticing the resemblance to saw here?

Yeah, not quite a community fortress. It will be sort of an adventure game type thing, where I post a picture of the room (edited of course, so as to not spoil the solution and any other potential traps), as well as a detailed description of the room with plenty of hints about how to get past without outright telling.

And yeah, I have no problem with player journals, but the characters will have to come up with a solution for ink and paper, since I intend to very tightly control available resources... just like in adventure games. They could write with mud in their drenched journals, because their will be plenty of water traps, or engrave it on the walls, etc.. I don't think I would be anal about it, since it would add a cool element to the story.

As for the labyrinth itself, I figure a crazed warden dwarf will do for why it's there. He might still be there, or he might be dead, but people are still using the labyrinth to get rid of people they find undesirable for some reason.

Basically, I'm thinking it will be a bit Portal, where you're trapped in mazes with nothing but an insane AI (or in my case, the scratchings of previous prisoners) to keep you company and you learn more and more about where you are and what happened as you get deeper into the game, a bit Lost, which is mostly the same concept with developed characters and themes of redemption and so on, and anything else I feel like throwing in for fun.

I've never seen the saw movies, but I suppose I know what you mean. I don't think the labyrinth will be brutally lethal, i.e., you walk you die, nor will it require killing compatriots to move forward. I'm thinking that the labyrinth would be more the waterworks and magmaworks of a ruined fortress repurposed to trap prisoners forever, and not necessarily to immediately kill them upon arrival. I do it like this because I think it wouldn't be fun for anyone involved to have all the characters killed by a cheap deathtrap. However, that doesn't mean I'm against sweeping them into previous portions of the labyrinth. Getting past that location will be a puzzle, too, I think. If it gets annoying, though, the arbitrary force of the labyrinth may dictate that they move on, or something.

So yeah, it will be a lot of fun. For me anyway. I can't say the same for the people who want to get involved. Although designing the labyrinth will probably be the biggest challenge, since I'll basically be designing a game within a game, and being the Dungeon Master of that game, and making it all interesting, and... and... and....

[Xonara]

The mastermind behind the labyrinth could be an insane hermit eking out an existence in an abandoned fort. If you have any abandoned forts on your world you could set the place up there and tie the story in with that

[Jim Groovester]

The labyrinth will probably be too big for any abandoned fortresses I have. And I don't have any, so I'll have to make a fortress with the express purpose of building the labyrinth, since I'll need a smorgasbord of features to make all the cool puzzles I want to do.

The mastermind behind the labyrinth could be an insane hermit eking out an existence in an abandoned fort.

I'm thinking whoever built the labyrinth would be one of its victims. If he's still alive.... Well, he did design it, so he should be able to escape it, right? Mwahahahaha!!!

[OneMoreNameless]

This sounds epic. It would take quite a while to set the fortress (/mechanics, caged monsters, loot ) up and 95% of it would have to be abstract rather than DF mechanics ("My dwarf designates a ten up/down staircases.") but still I think it would be great fun to join, and probably play around with the actual savefile afterwards.

[Jim Groovester]

It's funny that you mention mining. The dwarves won't start out with a pick, as doing so would ruin the whole point of the labyrinth, obviously. I won't rule out getting one as the dwarves progress further, but I'd have to set up constructed walls to block them or something like that.

Also, I'd have to ban deconstructions, because then the dwarves would just take all the arbitrarily locked doors off their hinges, and disassemble all my devious traps.

So yes, a lot of it would have to be abstracted, but I hope not too much of it. But still, after a certain point, citizen activated pressure plates can only go so far, and finding arbitrary quest items should be involved, too, I think.

Besides those things, though, I think all labors would be allowed. That way, they could have a chance to eat and drink by farming, or even replace items they need to pass but were destroyed somehow.

[Flaede]

pressureplages and bar/grate cages ARE awesome, though.

[Jim Groovester]

pressureplages and bar/grate cages ARE awesome, though.

Yes, they are, but after a few of them, you come to expect them, and they get old. That doesn't mean there won't be a lot of them, however, filled with all sorts of nasty critters I have on the map.

Speaking of the map, I've found the perfect one. There are two bottomless pits, magma, sand, underground river, other fun stuff, and fifty-eight levels to work with in a five by five area. And the best part is that it's mostly empty of features in the center of the map, so I'll have plenty of room to make all the cool traps and rooms that I want.

It will be glooorious as soon as I figure out a reasonable way to construct the damn thing.

[Flaede]

Spea two bottomless pits, magma, sand, underground river, other fun stuff, and fifty-eight levels to work with in a five by five area.

WOW. can I have the seed for that? it sounds glorious! and Fun!
I wish the site finder had Sand included like Flux is.

[Jim Groovester]

Sure.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[WORLD_GEN]
   [TITLE:MEDIUM]
   [SEED:4028584192]
   [HISTORY_SEED:2336440789]
   [NAME_SEED:3655481093]
   [DIM:129:129]
   [END_YEAR:1050]
   [BEAST_END_YEAR:200:80]
   [REVEAL_ALL_HISTORY:1]
   [CULL_HISTORICAL_FIGURES:0]
   [ELEVATION:1:400:401:401]
   [RAINFALL:0:100:200:200]
   [TEMPERATURE:25:75:200:200]
   [DRAINAGE:0:100:200:200]
   [VOLCANISM:0:100:200:200]
   [SAVAGERY:0:100:200:200]
   [ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [RAIN_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
   [GOOD_SQ_COUNTS:25:251:503]
   [EVIL_SQ_COUNTS:25:251:503]
   [PEAK_NUMBER_MIN:12]
   [OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:1]
   [VOLCANO_MIN:3]
   [REGION_COUNTS:SWAMP:260:1:1]
   [REGION_COUNTS:DESERT:260:1:1]
   [REGION_COUNTS:FOREST:1040:3:3]
   [REGION_COUNTS:MOUNTAINS:2080:2:2]
   [REGION_COUNTS:OCEAN:2080:1:1]
   [REGION_COUNTS:GLACIER:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:TUNDRA:0:0:0]
   [REGION_COUNTS:GRASSLAND:2080:3:3]
   [REGION_COUNTS:HILLS:2080:3:3]
   [EROSION_CYCLE_COUNT:250]
   [RIVER_MINS:100:100]
   [PERIODICALLY_ERODE_EXTREMES:1]
   [OROGRAPHIC_PRECIPITATION:1]
   [SUBREGION_MAX:2750]
   [CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]
   [CAVE_MAX_SIZE:25]
   [MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:25]
   [NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:50]
   [ALL_CAVES_VISIBLE:0]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_RIVER:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_POOL:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_M_POOL:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_M_PIPE:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_CHASM:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_PIT:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_OTHER:2]
   [SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:2]
   [TOTAL_CIV_NUMBER:20]
   [TOTAL_CIV_POPULATION:20000]
   [PLAYABLE_CIVILIZATION_REQUIRED:1]
   [ELEVATION_RANGES:2080:4160:2080]
   [RAIN_RANGES:2080:4160:2080]
   [DRAINAGE_RANGES:2080:4160:2080]
   [SAVAGERY_RANGES:2080:4160:2080]
   [VOLCANISM_RANGES:2080:4160:2080]

A standard "Create a New World Now!" world, with no edits to the raws. I found the site by doing a search for an underground river, a bottomless pit, a magma pipe, and other features, in a 4x4 size grid. It's on a named volcano called the Thrifty Flames, surrounded by grasslands and savanas. I expanded it to 5x5 to include the one-tile chasm, which shows up as another bottomless pit on the map itself, and the brook.

There's no flux to speak of, and it looks like iron is pretty rare, too. But hopefully, that problem can be solved by importing tons and tons of meltable material.

Also, there's some other neat stuff, but not much that I haven't said already, and if I actually go through with this thing, I'd like for it to remain a surprise.