Compiled list of ideas for additional hidden fun stuff, non-hidden fun stuff, and delicious biomes -
GHOST TOWN -
These would be, for lack of a better way to put it, abandoned cities. They can be dwarven, elven, human, or goblinoid in origin, and would resemble pre-generated cities of various sizes that have simply failed for one reason or another. Ghost towns could have a high probability of being populated by kobolds and highway men as well as having a higher than usual concentration wild animals and hyphen-men. However, due to being heavily picked over by years of looters, it's easy to assume little of value is left behind.
FORSAKEN CITY -
A ghost town in an evil zone, abandoned for obvious reasons. Instead of being abandoned, the inhabitants of the city are now undead, and all too eager to invite you into their community should they discover you. Along with possible kobold hideouts, you may happen upon the fortified den of militant and possibly berzerk survivors.
FIENDISH RUIN -
Remember what used to happen when you found Adamantine?
Remember what your adventurer would find?
In the very least, you're ensured Adamantine, but good luck getting it from the demons that now call the ruins their home. Still, it'd be interesting building a fortress somewhere far from the demons' den, preparing for the day you'll claim it as your own along with all the treasures buried beneath it...
RUINED PLACES OF IMPORTANCE -
These would be isolated buildings, sometimes located buried beneath the earth, that would serve as simple curiosities. They may or may not contain valuable artifacts. Imagine finding a huge catacomb, a beautiful forgotten statue garden, a buried temple, or the throne room of some ancient king, though. It'd be a pleasant if odd surprise. If you find one of these places, maybe the game could spit out some lore that would explain what it is to you, along with an appropriate message. (Bonus points for finding something important to dwarven culture, like an ancestral distillery or something.)
PLACES OF IMPORTANCE THAT WERE RUINED FOR A REASON -
A zombie infested catacomb is fine too, as is a throne room claimed by a lich or some other kind of ageless dark lord. What about a statue garden where the statues came to life? Those Iron Men do leave behind lovely figurines, don't they?
THE TREASURES OF NATURE -
Naturally occurring peculiarities would be interesting to see, both above and below ground. They'd also add a certain level of uncertainty to the game, especially of some of them proved hazardous or beneficial. For example:
- MASSIVE-ASS GEODES - Small chambers occurring in appropriate rock, lined with appropriate forms of ornamental stone. The walls, floors, and ceilings inside these chambers could have a naturally high value, making them a great place for statue gardens or a particularly ornate dining hall.
- MASSIVE-ASS BEEHIVES - Filled with massive-ass bees. Linley's Dungeon Crawl had these, and they were oodles of fun. Could be a possible source of wax, honey, chitin, bee venom, and bees. Capturing a queen in a cage and somehow taming it could allow you to make the hive and subsequent bees friendly, leading to the introduction of industrial honey and wax production, as well as war bees. The taming and training of bees may require a special noble, possibly a Master Beekeeper, Grand Apiarist, or The Pain.
- MASSIVE-ASS METEORITE CRATERS - Round depressions in the ground containing chunks of out-of-place native metal. Understandably rare. These may cause passers-by to begin thinking about what happened to their evolutionary predecessors, which would be particularly interesting or disturbing to dragons, who will either stubbornly avoid or feverishly obsess over craters wherever they happen to be present.
- MASSIVE-ASS TREES - Also known as an ancient wood, which does not in fact refer to your grandfather. Unusually large and possibly named trees that take up a three-by-three space and are several Z-slices tall. Standing in their presence could induce particular thoughts in passers-by, such as, "... was awestruck by a gigantic tree lately," or, "... stood in the shade of an ancient larch lately." The trees themselves could be revered by the elves, who understandably may become very upset if they're destroyed. When destroyed - which would take a very long time, even for a highly skilled wood cutter - they could leave behind very large quantities of wood. You could then celebrate with a bed-making extravaganza before your fortress is laid to waste by a game-crashingly large elven siege.
Included could be large natural features such as caverns, which will be explained in greater detail below.
GEYSERS -
These have been suggested before. In a zone with a magma vent and an aquifer, regions of the aquifer could extend underground in deep columns. In the center of these columns would be chasm tiles, which periodically release blasts of steam that then shoot upward over several Z-slices. This event is thought provoking to those nearby and also creates a cloud of steam. ("... witnessed the eruption of a mighty geyser lately.") Structures hit by the geyser blast could be damaged, though. (Which would apply exclusively to bridges and above-ground floors.) An alternate method of implementing this could be the introduction of a special chasm-like tile - a fumarole tile, maybe - that doesn't contain chasm baddies and releases steam columns whenever a geyser eruption event occurs.
SULFUROUS FUMAROLE -
A smoldering hole in the ground that releases clouds of miasma instead of steam. Needless to say, you wouldn't want to build near one of these, unless your dwarves like the reek of ass and rotten eggs.
VERY LARGE CAVERNS -
Also known as the cavern biome mentioned previously in the thread. These would be large, open spaces underground usually located in places where aquifers or underground rivers are present that could contain large numbers of subterranean plants and animals, including those all-important tower caps. A variant of caverns could be underground forests, which of course would be filled with tower caps and possibly a Massive-Ass Tree or two. I'd imagine they may also contain underground baddies, however.
"Hey, cool, a cavern! What's with all these giant webs?"
And then his fortress was destroyed.
AS THOUGH THE UNDEAD WEREN'T ENOUGH -
Evil biomes seem to just contain dead trees and foliage. That's silly. I propose a different approach - evil trees and dangerous plants.
- MURKWOOD TREE - A psychotic mangrove tree. These would indiscriminately attack nearby creatures and undead with their lethal swinging limbs, bashing their foes into fertilizer. They would essentially be immobile creatures that leave behind murkwood logs when killed. (A Massive-Ass Murkwood, also known as an Ancient Murkwood, could count as a fearsome megabeast.)
- IRON MAIDEN - Another term for a giant Venus fly trap. They move very, very slowly, and spend most of their time preparing to ambush, after which point they latch onto their foes and try to kill them by crushing them.
- TOWERING STINKHORN - An above-ground tower cap that generates puffs of miasma. Unpleasant, but otherwise harmless. These may not necessarily be confined to evil zones, and could alternately be moved underground where miasma is much bigger problem.
- ELFBANE - A shrub-like ground cover that almost immediately begins to grow over inanimate dead bodies and body parts in evil zones. It's spores contain a mind-warping mycotoxin, and when the plant fully matures it releases a puff of these hazardous spores. Those exposed to the spores will begin acting rather strangely, with effects ranging from mere confusion and stunning to full-blown insanity. Named elfbane because the elves are lightweights and can't take much of the stuff anyway. If the plant itself is a shrub and can be harvested, it could perhaps be turned into a valuable extract or some kind of dwarven analog of absinthe.
SARGASSO SEA -
It'd just be neat to see messes of seaweed floating around in the water. It wouldn't even have to do anything, unless it washes up on-shore as gulfweed. Maybe then it could be collected or something, though for what I don't know. Food? Dyes? Extracts? Who knows. Probably the most useless idea in this list.
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Topic: More underground features and biomes (Read 3269 times)