Roll to explore:You're relaxing at the tavern, and someone bursts into the room. Rather than signal the start of a bar brawl, the newcomer reveals an exciting piece of news. Just a few miles down the road, an enormous dungeon has appeared out of nowhere! A couple of his friends went in and disappeared, but this guy made it out with a handful of gold.
Well, that just about settled it! Every adventurer within a few miles was sure to go after the treasure within, you needed to get there first. And so a ragtag band of explorers set out for the dungeon, poorly equipped, but determined to get in, grab as much gold as possible and get out.
Your goal is to get as much gold as possible and get out. I'll roll up various traps, enemies and treasures for each room. Some you might go after, while others are better avoided. There will be downwards staircases in some rooms, which you can use to go to the next level. The deeper you go, the tougher the challenges... but the better the rewards.
As usual, I'll use a d6 to determine things.
1 = Your wand exploded, blowing you back into the wall... and the weapons rack directly in front of it.
2 = A few sparks come out, burning your hand slightly. Perhaps you need to think harder.
3 = A weak burst of flame comes out, lighting the area briefly. This should save on lanterns.
4 = A fireball shoots out of the wand, nailing the goblin and reducing him to ashes.
5 = A sheet of flame bursts forth, incinerating everything within ten yards of your target.
6 = An enormous blast comes out of your wand... causing you to stagger back, miss the target and shoot it into the ceiling. A loud rumbling is heard as the ceiling completely falls apart, completely burying the goblins, treasure, and whatever else might be in here.
Bonuses will not force overshoots unless you rolled a natural 6, so [5+1] is an epic success of even higher magnitude. As an example...
5+4 = An enormous blast comes out of your wand, completely incinerating the goblins, lighting the torches in the room, and even burning the dust away. Unbelievably, all the treasure is still intact.
On the other hand, if you roll a 6 AND have a bonus, well...
6+4 = An enormous blast comes out of your wand, nailing your target. A sphere of flame explodes from his chest, expanding... and expanding... and expanding...
...
A thousand years from now, the townspeople will talk about the day when the mysterious dungeon was obliterated by a tower of flame.
As a side note, depending on the difficulty of the action attempted, I may apply a bonus/penalty to the roll.
Name: (self explanatory)
Equipment: (This will start out weak, such as a basic dagger and leather armor)
Skills/Spells: (You can have both, but again, you won't start out with much. For instance some elementary stealth tactics, or a basic fireball.)
Bio (optional): (again, self explanatory)
Stats: (Divide 10 points among these. Each 5 points is a 1/2 chance at a +1, having less than 3 points is a -1 for being incompetent.)
Strength: (Affects damage and how much loot you can carry)
Dexterity: (Affects how likely you are to hit or avoid damage)
Magic: (Affects how well you resist spells or can use that flaming broadsword you found. And cast spells for the wizard types)
Endurance: (Affects how well you can take hits, or carry excessive amounts of gold.)
Good example:
Name: Derm
Equipment: Student's robes, Basic Wand
Skills/Spells: Fireball, Ice blast
Bio: A student at the local magic university, Derm wishes to gain amazing power, and the dungeon sounded like an excellent way to do that.
Stats:
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 3
Magic: 5
Endurance: 2
Bad example:
Name: Derm
Equipment: Apocalypse Wand, Robes of the Arch-mage
Skills/Spells: Control Undead, Divine Thunder, Flaming Hailstorm, Destroy the Universe.
Bio: After gaining amazing power, Derm decided to derm things until there was nothing left to derm.
Stats:
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 0
Magic: 9000
Endurance: 0
As I said, the goal of the game is to get as much gold as possible. However, that gold won't do you any good if you die and leave it all in the dungeon, so at some point you'll want to bail out and get back to the surface. This has another benefit, letting you sell off/store any extra gear, as well as buying new stuff for your explorations, or simply storing that gold (which can get pretty heavy), letting your family/etc. claim it should you die.
As far as leveling up goes, that's something you can pay for! When you head back to the surface, you can choose to train at the local warrior's/mage's guild, to level up your stats. This will work on a stat by stat basis, and may be adjusted depending on how things go.
Regarding wounds, there won't be fixed health, but rather a common sense wound system. Let me put it this way, if you have a sword stuck in your leg, there's no hard "You'll die in 5 turns if you don't get this wound treated" deadline, but the longer you leave it in there, the more likely you'll end up with some permanent damage, and if you ignore those minor wounds, you will die from blood loss eventually.
When it comes to PvP, that's entirely up to your choice. Sure, those allies might be valuable for getting you out of a tight scrape... but then again, think of how much more gold you'd have if there were a few less people to claim a share of the treasure. PM me any actions you don't want public (like stealing gold from your supposed allies), and depending on the roll (and action taken), you might fail and be revealed, fail but remain secret, succeed and be revealed, or succeed and retain your secrecy. (Just don't expect to remain secret if you tried to behead your fellow adventurer in front of witnesses.)
Finally, whenever you die, any gold you'd successfully returned to the surface and stored away will be tallied, and I'll keep a high score board of who did the best. If your allies are particularly generous, they could potentially drag your treasure back to the surface and give it to your family (aka: add to your score), or even drag your corpse back and pay for your resurrection... but I wouldn't count on it. Death will happen reasonably often, as a result of bad ideas, attacking monsters a lot tougher than you are, or just plain bad luck.
I'll keep track of the rooms you've already explored, as well as what's known to be inside them. The map itself will be done via a simple coordinate system, so a room at (3,-5,8) would be 3 rooms east from the entrance, 5 rooms south, and 8 stairs down. Certain rooms may be larger in size, which will be noted in the room description. For instance, a dragon's lair might be something like (2-12,8-13, 20). Just be aware, if you rooms are left undisturbed for long enough, evil things may leak back in... and of course, monsters can traverse the various rooms as well.
I'm going to start out small, with 5 players, but I may add more depending on how things go. As far as deadlines go, the sooner you get your actions in, the sooner I'll put up my turn. We'll start with 48 hour deadlines (and I'll try to get the turn up in a couple of days). Missing one isn't a big deal, but if you keep missing deadlines, you'll be replaced or simply die from starvation.
Finally... remember, the goal isn't to kill stuff mindlessly, it's to get as much treasure as possible. If you don't think you can handle that group of Orcs, just go around them and look for something easier. That said, if you do manage to kill them, there's probably some nice gold they're guarding... but there's probably other gold vaults you might be more suited to, and you can always come back later.
Players:Name: Rodney the Completely Reliable
Equipment: Dull iron Knife (2 weight), 2x iron rod omni-tools (1 weight), padded cloth armor (10 weight), faded and torn dark grey cloak with bleach stains. (3 weight), rope (5 weight), flint and steel (1 weight). 65 gold.
Skills: Stealth I, Trapworking I (Plus Lockpicking I if we can take more than two skills.)
Bio: Rodney disavows having grown up as an orphaned gang member. He absolutely did not enjoy extorting protection money from shopkeepers, and certainly did not run away from the nearest coastal trading town after the guards executed most of the members of the Serrated Vipers and narrowly avoided capturing him. He is instead a perfectly normal farmhand who simply prefers the darkness and likes mechanical things.
Stats:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 4
Magic: 0
Endurance: 3
Status:
Healthy
Encumbrance:22/100
Name: Valius Gerdamaine
Equipment: Rusty Scale Cuirass (6 weight), Iron Longsword (5 weight),
wand (1 weight), rope (5 weight), first aid kit (4 weight)
Skills/Spells: Lesser Heal, Dodging
Bio: Valius is an aspiring squire of the Knights of the Silver Chain, a noble and compassionate order of paladins. He's taken this chance to acquire riches for the truly needy, better himself as a knight, and possibly even save lives down in the depths.
Stats:Strength: 3
Dexterity: 0
Magic: 4
Endurance: 3
Status:HealthyEncumbrance:21/100 Name: Kalen Marst
Equipment: Iron Longsword (5 weight), Leather Armor (20 weight), rope (5 weight), health potion (negligible), 30 gold.
Skills/Spells: Disarm, Lightning Bolt
Bio: Kalen was born to a blacksmith. Early on he showed a talent for handling his fathers weapons, and after accidentally shocking and killing a bird, he gained an aptitude for lightning magic as well. His skill with a sword and aptitude with magic has only grown over the years, and now that the dungeon has appeared, he goes in seeking glory for a life beyond his station.
Stats:
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 3
Magic: 3
Endurance: 3
Status:
Healthy
Encumbrance:30/80
Name: Mirien Kirthell
Equipment: Worn Yew Bow (3 weight), Leather Tunic and Belt (10 weight), Cloth purse (negligible), lantern with oil (3 weight), rope (5 weight), 65 gold.
Skills/Spells: Trap-lore I, Archery I
Bio (optional): Mirien was born in a hamlet of little notice, who only provided the usual peasant levies for their lord's request. The only export of the hamlet, were aspiring men and women who hoped to get a better foothold in life.
Gladly, Mira took the opportunity, having learned much from her parents, being a novice hunter and trapper herself. Possibly even to elevate her status among the commoners.
Stats:
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 5
Magic: 0
Endurance: 0
Status:
Healthy
Encumbrance:21/110
Name: Vivit
Equipment: Black Cloak (4 weight), Cursed Bell (1 weight), Dagger (2 weight), Bone Wand (2 weight), spear (10 weight), two torches (6 weight), first aid kit (4 weight), 40 gold.
Skills/Spells: Pain Mirror, Magic Chains
Bio: Unsettling is perhaps the best word to describe her. She looks like a girl of perhaps ten years, but seldom, if ever, speaks, is wrapped entirely in a black cloak, her skin is bone white and her hair gray. Only she herself knows her past, and she is silent like the grave. What is certain, though, is that this ghostly apparition has a strong aptitude for curse magic of all shapes and forms, and that she for whatever reason desires the wealth of the dungeon.
Stats: (Divide 10 points among these. Each 5 points is a 1/2 chance at a +1, having less than 3 points is a -1 for being incompetent.)
Strength: 0
Dexterity: 3
Magic: 6
Endurance: 1
Status:
Healthy
Encumbrance:29/80
Waitlist:
1.
Name: Valkyrie "Valk" Haredius II
Equipment: Antique musket (5 weight), rope-reed tunic with hood (3 weight)
Skills/Spells: Firearms I, Invention I (He can make stuff if he has the time)
Bio: Valk was always an inventive pup. The brightest in his cave, he never liked stealing and preferred to trade with the humans, and knows how to speak human. Eventually, he decided to say goodbye to his cave to live with humans. Overcoming racism, he is now an accepted member of his community. And is looking for more adventure.
Stats
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 4
Magic: 3
Endurance: 1
Status:
Healthy
Encumbrance:8/80
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