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General Tabletop Discussion
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Dungeon layout, map flow and old school game design
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<blockquote data-quote="T. Foster" data-source="post: 2956896" data-attributes="member: 16574"><p>What if the dungeon contains double the wealth that is appropriate for the level but hides two thirds of it, so that a careless party that doesn't find any of the hidden treasure comes out poorer than what's appropriate, a reasonably thorough party (that recovers 1/4 of the hidden treasure) comes out even, and a very thorough (or just lucky) party that recovers half the hidden treasure comes out a bit ahead of what's appropriate? That seems pretty reasonable to me -- punishing careless play and rewarding careful play. </p><p></p><p>As for the theoretical party that is so thorough that they discover <em>all</em> of the hidden treasure, there are already correcting mechanisms within the rules (the OD&D and 1E rules (which are the only ones I know) at least) for this -- more time spent searching equals more wandering monster checks; encumbrance means you can only carry so much treasure now matter how much you find; experience caps mean if you get too many XP (more than enough to go up 1 level) the extra amount is wasted; the measure of challenge system means if you dawdle facing opponents that aren't your equal you get reduced XP awards. Combining all of these factors, skillful players will recognize that trying to recover every last bit of hidden treasure has a poor cost:benefit ratio and they're better off recovering just enough treasure to get to the next level and then moving on to bigger challenges (with corresponding richer rewards).</p><p></p><p>Plus, the fact that the dungeon isn't stripped totally bare makes it reusable -- unrecovered treasures remaining on the first dungeon level while the main party is busy exploring dungeon level 4 means a second group of players (or a second set of characters for the original players) can explore dungeon level 1 and find the treasure that the first party missed without the DM having to turn back the clock or "magically" restock the place. The fact that as the second group explores they'll see evidence of the first group's passage helps create the atmosphere of the "living dungeon" that is so vital to the ongoing mega-dungeon style campaign.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="T. Foster, post: 2956896, member: 16574"] What if the dungeon contains double the wealth that is appropriate for the level but hides two thirds of it, so that a careless party that doesn't find any of the hidden treasure comes out poorer than what's appropriate, a reasonably thorough party (that recovers 1/4 of the hidden treasure) comes out even, and a very thorough (or just lucky) party that recovers half the hidden treasure comes out a bit ahead of what's appropriate? That seems pretty reasonable to me -- punishing careless play and rewarding careful play. As for the theoretical party that is so thorough that they discover [i]all[/i] of the hidden treasure, there are already correcting mechanisms within the rules (the OD&D and 1E rules (which are the only ones I know) at least) for this -- more time spent searching equals more wandering monster checks; encumbrance means you can only carry so much treasure now matter how much you find; experience caps mean if you get too many XP (more than enough to go up 1 level) the extra amount is wasted; the measure of challenge system means if you dawdle facing opponents that aren't your equal you get reduced XP awards. Combining all of these factors, skillful players will recognize that trying to recover every last bit of hidden treasure has a poor cost:benefit ratio and they're better off recovering just enough treasure to get to the next level and then moving on to bigger challenges (with corresponding richer rewards). Plus, the fact that the dungeon isn't stripped totally bare makes it reusable -- unrecovered treasures remaining on the first dungeon level while the main party is busy exploring dungeon level 4 means a second group of players (or a second set of characters for the original players) can explore dungeon level 1 and find the treasure that the first party missed without the DM having to turn back the clock or "magically" restock the place. The fact that as the second group explores they'll see evidence of the first group's passage helps create the atmosphere of the "living dungeon" that is so vital to the ongoing mega-dungeon style campaign. [/QUOTE]
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