What do you get when you cross someone deciding to work on their arms race and a computer turning into a brick? Why, you get another arms race, but this time something that can be run from a phone! As such, expect shorter updates than I usually put forth as well as a faster turn rate more akin to literally anything that doesn't move at a glacial pace.
You are in a place! And it feels like a Roguelite!This place is definitely a thing! And so are you! But what kind of thing are you?
Will you choose to be a
Dungeonmancer or are you a
Protagonist? Will you be responsible for
creating a dungeon floor-by-floor, including foes big and small, traps, and bosses? Or will you be
creating people who want nothing more than to dungeon dive, as well as their particular specialties, personal equipment, and potential loot for all dungeoneers past and present?
The setting will be...flexible! Any mixture of ideas will be equally viable and balanced to provide
MAXIMUM FUN! An angry space marine and a hyperwizard will both have the same level of issues to overcome when tackling the Den of the Dimensionbeast full of Topiary Golems, so don't worry about your aesthetic being ineffective against whatever the other side may decide to bring!
Expect Protagonists to lose frequently at first! Starting loot tables are
practically nonexistent! But in order to give the Protagonists the chance to catch up,
developments on both sides will add items to the Protagonist loot table. (But MoP you said you wanted to make this playable from your phone, won't loot tables complicate things? No you jackhole, I'll be using an actual notebook)
Turns will be divided into three parts that matter to you: the
Design Phase, where you propose new floors/mobs/loot/heroes/anything; the
Revision Phase, where you alter previous creations; and the
Planning Phase, where you decide who to deploy where with what and how. There is a
super secret fourth phase known as the
Action Phase, where I do some writing and tell you what you did wrong and make you feel bad about your mistakes.
Success or failure of something's creation will depend on a roll of 2d6, with 6, 7, and 8 all counting as Average-level rolls, with 2 being Utter Failures where you get nothing, not even soup, and 12s are Unexpected Boons, where you get the awesomest of results with a little extra awesome for awesome measure. Rolls are modified by up to +/-4 based on the difficulty of creation!
Every turn will consist of
2 Designs and 2 Revisions for
MAXIMUM GAINS!Dungeonmancers and Protagonists have slightly considerations when it comes to deployment during the Planning Phase. Dungeonmancers can only deploy one type of floor for every floor level they have (so if they design two different floors meant to be level 2 they will have to choose one), and each creature/mob you make will have a FLOOR LIMIT which determines how many floors they can be placed on. Some units may also have special rules for deployment, but those will be covered as they crop up. They will also be responsible for assigning bosses, which follow the same general rules as floors. Floors can also come with unique room slots like Trap Rooms or Puzzle Rooms that may need filling with designed traps and puzzles, but do not need to be filled. Which may sometimes be wise, since those sorts of rooms tend to reward those who conquer them.
Protagonists don't have
as much to take into consideration, relying mostly on RNG for their runs to be successful. They do have means to tilt the odds in their favor, though! When creating things to add to loot tables the items will receive a Rarity rating that determines what kind of chests they appear in - Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ultra Rare, and Legendary! Better things
tend to be less common, but are better than worse things! Do not despair however! Each Protagonists brings along their own equipment and traits that are guaranteed to appear, and may even modify the dungeon against the Dungeonmancer's wills!
Chests will appear based on a floor's parameters, with rarity rates at; Common - 40%, Uncommon - 30%, Rare - 20%, Ultra Rare - 8%, Legendary - 2%, barring any external modifying factors, with the loot inside chosen randomly from the appropriate pool. If there are no viable options for a chest's level of rarity then it will default to the level beneath it.
Items will also have potential uses and synergies that won't be explicitly stated, so go nuts!
Finally, here's the starting inventories so that you can get a better idea of how things mesh together! Note that everything is generic and I'll modify things once a general theme emerges from this first turn's actions.
Floors:
Basic General Dungeon Floor (1st Floor): A basic, normal, completely standard dungeon floor. Can house the most basic enemies. Has 2 Chest Rooms. Has 1 Trap Room. Has 1 Exit guarded by a Level 1 Boss.
Rooms:
Novice's Folly: Trap Room. Consists of an empty chest in the middle of a large room. Also, there is a massive pit around the chest. The pet seems to always be juuuust too wide to jump over, resulting in immediate death. Will not fool Protagonists too often.
Creatures:
Rats: Rats, the bane of dungeon keepers everywhere, everywhen. Fortunately you're smart enough to utilize them! A basic, weak unit individually, but can eventually wear down the unprepared adventurer. Deploys on All Floors automatically. Note: Assigning any other low-level creature to a level will replace the rats.
Bosses:
Rat King: Level I Boss. No matter where you go, you can always count on rats. Wherever rats appear in large numbers, you can guarantee their biggest, baddest, most charismatic rat will lead them to victory or defeat. The Rat King is the size of your average Protagonist. Strong, fast, and armed with mean teeth and cute claws.
Heroes:
NPC Who Thinks He's A Protagonist: Sometimes heroes are born under a certain star. Other times people barely manage to stumble their way out of the womb in spite of themselves. NPCWTHAP is definitely one of those. Can't take many hits before succumbing to the dangers of a dungeon. Armed with FISTS OF "FURY". Has Beginner's Unluck Passive Ability (The first chest of a floor is always common). Not very good at anything. Except dying.
Loot Tables:
Common:
FISTS OF "FURY": NPCWTHAP's starter weapon. The incoherent screaming tends to be more effective at keeping opponents away than the fists themselves.
Protective Vest: A piece of protective equipment. The dried blood has hardened enough to reduce incoming damage.
Uncommon:
Torch: A standard torch to illuminate the darkness. Don't worry about what kind of torch it is, all you care about is it produces light.
Rare:
Spikes: Spikes used to modify any weapon. Spikes increase damage on every weapon. Don't worry about how this works.