LostKnightsRPG.org

So with the sacking of the usual plans for this saturday I propose we do a test run of D&D Quest... using 4th Ed's encounter deck and no GM rules... I am working on making the deck but I am not doing maps or plot, I am not siging up to "run" a game, just help do SOME of the work since we cannot buy it like with warhammer quest...

I am gona work on doing a story after summer game for a real Tower 4.0 this winter. For now changeling is running on summer game off nights and will take up my time.

well I am having enough trouble generating variety with the monster manual and DMG as it is... had to steal ideas from other games to help out... but I am almost finished with some skill challenges to bring the total # of encounters to almost 20... only half of which should allow leveling to 2nd... at which point I have more material to work with since the 2nd level table is bigger and now I can use stuff that is below party level to balance those above...

keep in mind you can go up to 5 levels above the party!!!

yeah I know I CAN but will the part have ANY chance at survival if I pick something that high... maybe if they were not a solo monster... like some mere soldier... brute would push it and a skirmisher/lurker would likely kill a couple before the party succeeded... a controller might also be something they could take... but really a solo monster fight with a creature not meant to survive as a solo will not properly represent its challenge in xp... either the level difference will make it capable of one or two shotting PCs or too easy a kill to get a massive xp payoff...

one thing I have not even started yet though is the treasure parcels... they do treasure REALLY WEIRD in this version... supposed to figure out how much treasure they deserve to get in a level and spread it out over the level with some getting heavy treasure and some getting NONE... wtf???... how do I figure that shit out?? in a regular game maybe but in an encounter deck how do I know if you are getting a particular fight before you level... or ever since it will be random for which ones you get... suck

as long as the encounter doesnt generate more than 500xp then they should be able to take it. Jump them with orcs!!!!

so. i have some ideas for a new version of the tower.

characters start at level 1 and climb their way up infinitely.

every level is random. even the tiles if desired. a tile is drawn randomly from a pile, and the challenges the room provides are defeated, then another tile is drawn, until either a save point is rolled, or an objective encounter is rolled.

alternatively, levels could be set, if the person running wants to go to the effort. this would be better, as it would allow for hidden rooms, puzzles that involve multiple rooms, and better monster encounters. but it is more work.

a table should exist with encounters on it. the encounter table should be composed of traps, puzzles, people encounters, and monsters ranging from lvl -3 to lvl +3. a d20 should be used, and pre-made encounters should be generated for each lvl, to be randomly rolled when a matching result comes up. random encounters should be rolled every 5 minutes or so while not in a safe room.

every 3 lvls there should be a town, which should have at least 2 mini-quests, and a preset inventory. every 5 lvls there should be a small world, with some pre-planned dungeon, and a quest objective necessary to unlock the next level.

the goal of this is to provide a real challenge. the standard method of running dd is to balance to a party's capablities and provide no challenge that will be unbeatable or threaten party death. i want a real, gritty challenge that will require luck, smarts, and good building to get through. with no special allowances made.

oh, another good thing about set levels is that you can pre-gen treasure and drop it in appropriate places. actually, the more i think about it, the more i think pre-gen levels should be the norm, with random levels only occassionally. the only random should be in the random encounter dice.

and I guess you are offering to do all this pre-generated design??

Cheyne's design goes really well with what I have in mind. I wouldnt mind doing a lot of the pregen work. The gritty harsh combat is definately something I would like to see.

actually, i don't mind doing maps or something. but i don't know monsters well enough.

though the maps are pretty easy on the maping software of mine... that thael has...

well having worked with the encounter builds already I am pretty sure the mapping would be more difficult unless you had a pool of tiles ready... the monsters are pretty much plug and play... at least at low level... doing non-combats though (traps, challenges, etc) is way more difficult than combats...

well, like i said, after thinking on it, i believe pre-gen would be more fun. and the mapping system can do that, and then the grid map i have can be used. or that jason has. but if random is required i have a big box o' tiles that can be drawn from.

when were you guys thinking about doing this anyway? it sounds like alot of fun. i want desperately to have a challenging, tactical game. without being attached to my characters.

we can even keep score. fewest deaths wins!

jason was talking about doing this after summer, but it could be done earlier as well if you do it thael. my big request, like ive said, is mainly just challenge, and hopefully pre-gen dungeons so there can be puzzle/trap/quest placement.

and challenge. did i mention that? i'm tired of the tacit agreement to balance things... i want things up to at least +3/-3 in relation to our levels, and miserable encounters right after other encounters. oh, and save rooms. i like save rooms. but just for resting and monster free nights. not for actually saving.

i need to get offline. im rambling alot.

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well if you did not have that constant watcher in the ceiling making you self conscious then maybe you could be doing something else instead of posting on here..

there is just so much going on sense i run changeling. Definitely after summer game I will start tower 4.0, and i might even use thaels stuff if he is ok with that. it would be nice to people committed early with classes declared so we can get started designing loot ect