Each action has a 1/3 chance of being Bad, Normal, or Good. For numerical actions, which is most of them, these descriptors translate to half, normal, or double normal effect, respectively.
Additionally, you may occasionally Crit. Crits are rerolled for their quality, then applied as unique effects influenced by but unattached to the intended item. For instance, combat crits tend to be maiming or disabling attacks and defenses; crafting crits tend to produce special items; exploration crits tend to find special things you weren't looking for; and so on. Crits are always special, but they are in no way guaranteed to be useful or desirable.
Creatures usually need to eat and sleep, and typically have other needs and wants as well. In addition to inspiring dedicated service or resentful treason, mood extremes may produce mechanical benefits. Most creatures are easy to keep happy enough for normal service, but require truly impressive conditions to perform unique or unusually talented functions.
Creatures have a variety of skills, which are increased through use. Note that most NPC creatures have very limited interests, and are thus unlikely to gain more than a handful of skills beyond combat.
Unless ordered otherwise, most creatures have a handful of activities they default to. Usually these activities are at least marginally productive, but many overlords have different ideas as to what their servants should be doing at a given moment.
Creatures typically come from Portals. Creatures will emerge from Portals when conditions seem favorable to them, and may leave by the same means should things prove especially inhospitable. Spawning, raising, constructing, or converting creatures locally is also possible.
Dungeons are composed of rooms. Rooms are defined by the items or features in them. The best rooms are imbued with the subtle power of their overlord, turning them into an extension of their domain.
Otherwise, room quality and function affects the type and quality of actions that can be performed in that room. This is most obvious with crafting, where room type and quality determines what type and how powerful or fancy manufactured items can be. Room size can also have an impact, especially if multiple creatures are trying to use it at once.
Remember that room availability affects what creatures will enter an overlord's service.
This is a game about serving a malignant subterranean sorcerer-lord with little to no respect for peace, life, limits, dimensional boundaries, or you. You'll have to serve their whims to earn your keep, but may also influence their decisions and the direction their empire takes. Research and craft, enhance your abilities, advance your station, perhaps even become a master in your own right... or just come when you're called on to fight and then amass a lot of booze and whores.
But before we get to who you are, we need to know who our benevolent overlord is, don't we?
Most likely, you're a monster or misfit who's come through a Portal to serve their new master. Do well, and they might have further use for you and your kind. Do poorly, and they'll probably write you off as another of those fools they're inevitably surrounded by. Of course, do very poorly, and they might make an example of you, sacrifice you to dark gods, or just kick you back through the Portal.
Starting characters will be able to be just about anything vaguely fantasy-ish that might serve a dark lord. Bear in mind that existing is no guarantee of your boss liking you, however.
Character creation consists of two parts. The first part is describing your creature type- your species, tribe, profession, or other meaningful grouping. Creatures should be fairly homogeneous- they may vary from one to another, but should still be describable in generalizing terms. Beast-headed humanoids who like sweets, each with a different beast head and favored treat, would probably be acceptable. Color-coded mages, each with a different elementally-inspired power set, color-inspired personality, and reference-based tastes in music would probably not be.
The second part is describing your actual character. Characters are unusually powerful individuals of their kind, and this should reflect in their abilities and other traits.
You may skip the initial portion of character creation to join as a unique creature if you wish, but bear in mind that this may reduce your political clout, as most creatures are more likely to listen to and associate with powerful examples of their own kind.
Creature
Name: What your kind are called, what they call themselves, or both.
Appearance: What your kind look like.
Personality: What your kind are like on the inside.
Preferences: What your kind like.
Default Actions: What actions your creatures tend to enjoy and perform when not otherwise occupied. Creatures who are not allowed to perform their default actions for long periods of time tend to become discontent.
Requirements: What your kind require to consider a dungeon a viable home. Creatures whose requirements are not met will tend to leave or sulk about it, even if conditions are otherwise favorable. Requirements are usually defined by required rooms, but some creatures require other accommodations as well. Stronger creatures require higher requirements.
Abilities: Any special abilities, traits, or other unique features. Things like fire breathing or cold immunity would go here, as does starting talent in noncombat actions that make use of skills.
Stats Stats are listed as Stat (+/-Mod). A stat mod is a modifier to the stat that does not affect its experience costs; this makes mods far more meaningful in the long run than current stats. By default, all creatures start at 3/3/3 in starting stats; unusually experienced or inexperienced creatures may have higher or lower starting stats. Stat mods are harder to quantify, especially as each stat has a somewhat different scale. As a general rule, +0 net stat mods would be considered fairly weak; +2 would be lower/normal, and +4 would be fairly strong. There are no hard limits on creature power, but remember that more powerful creatures will have more stringent requirements to keep happy.
Attack: The easiest, but not quickest, stat to raise. Attack is raised by and used for hitting things.
Defense: The slowest and most difficult stat to raise. Defense is raised by being hit.
HP: The quickest, but not easiest, stat to raise. HP is raised by taking damage. Note that unlike Attack and Defense, modifiers to HP come in the form of multipliers, not additive bonuses or maluses.
Character
Name: What you call yourself.
Appearance: What you look like.
Personality: What you're like on the inside.
Preferences: What you like.
Default Actions:
Requirements: What you personally require to consider a dungeon a viable home. This might be the same as all your kind, slightly different to account for different tastes or goals, or covering entirely different metrics.
Abilities: Any special abilities, traits, or other unique features. Your abilities might be different than normal for your kind, but you should still be recognizable as an upgraded version.
Stats You may have stronger or slightly different stats than normal for your kind. Bear in mind that you are likely to accumulate far more power naturally than most NPC versions of yourself, so even without mechanical benefits you're likely to exceed your brethren.
Attack: The easiest, but not quickest, stat to raise. Attack is raised by and used for hitting things.
Defense: The slowest and most difficult stat to raise. Defense is raised by being hit.
HP: The quickest, but not easiest, stat to raise. HP is raised by taking damage.
An overlord has been decided upon. Below was the prompt for creating one.
Your boss has some secrets, but you should know the basics. A final overlord will be assembled out of the most popular and, if necessary, workable suggestions.
Name: What does this dark master of all evil call themselves?
Appearance: What form does this sinister lord take when appearing before mortals?
Specialties: What strengths and weaknesses does this would-be conqueror employ?
Preferences: Surely, even an immortal sorcerer-lord must have a favorite type of tea or minion they can't stand to command?
Agenda: Though no one can truly know what goes on in the blackened heart and twisted mind of a being of this power and evil, there do tend to be some obvious clues.
Author
Topic: Servants of Duke Kraven [Imps and Review] (Read 9386 times)