Reverse Dungeon Ideas!

[ErichDragon]

Hello All,

I am getting together with some friends this next weekend and want to run a "reverse dungeon". My basic idea is that each player has one character who is a chief or warleader of a pack of evil humanoids. I will predraw a cave complex that they live in and give them a number of canon fodder who are part of their tribe. Then I will give them a certain number of CR to buy traps with. They can have a few big ones that are deadly or try and win by attrition.
After they are all set up I will unleash a band of pre-made adventurers who are there to clear them out and see what shakes loose!
My questions are these: What relative power level should I place the PC's and the NPC adventurers? Does anyone have any other ideas that would make this scenario even more interesting?

Thanks in advance.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Cool concept!

I'd like to see a D&D video game based on this, kinda like Dungeon Keeper but with D&D rules, and more Sim-like than real-time strategy.

 

[Forrester]

Hello All,

I am getting together with some friends this next weekend and want to run a "reverse dungeon". My basic idea is that each player has one character who is a chief or warleader of a pack of evil humanoids. I will predraw a cave complex that they live in and give them a number of canon fodder who are part of their tribe. Then I will give them a certain number of CR to buy traps with. They can have a few big ones that are deadly or try and win by attrition.
After they are all set up I will unleash a band of pre-made adventurers who are there to clear them out and see what shakes loose!
My questions are these: What relative power level should I place the PC's and the NPC adventurers? Does anyone have any other ideas that would make this scenario even more interesting?

Thanks in advance.

I've done this, and it's amazing how many PCs think that the solution to the problem of the battle against the cheaty adventurers is "Build More Pits".

On that note, make sure that the power level of the PCs is high, as far as being extremely munched out (at least PC-level of magic items, if not a little more, and at least 32-point buy, if not more). Wouldn't be a bad idea to have 1st or 2nd level PCs, with a bunch of traps and mooks at their disposal, up against a party of 3rd level Cheaty Adventurers.

 

[Quickbeam]

Sounds very cool indeed! And I'd go with Forrester on making the PC's solid in terms of stats, and well-equipped with appropriate magic items and gear.

 

[ErichDragon]

I was bouncing around something like Level 5 PCs. That way they can take a higher EL creature if they want, or just have a skilled goblin or kobold. The "tribe" will be standard evil humanoids.

If I do this I figure the "Adventurers" will have to be a party of 5 or 6 around level 7 with full magic items and pretty min/maxed? Any thoughts on this ratio?

 

[Quickbeam]

Is the party of adventurers going to have any means of resting, recuperating, and replenishing their spells? That makes a world of difference!

 

[Mistwell]

Why not try this product:

http://www.fierydragon.com/Products/prod-tgs.htm

Or you could check out this thread here:

http://pub58.ezboard.com/fokayyourturnfrm2.showMessage?topicID=393.topic

There was an old 2nd edition version of the Reverse Dungeon, seen here:

http://www.wizards.com/catalog/product.asp?tsr11392

I think it was converted somewhere for 3rd edition.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Three ideas

1. Give the PCs a goal besides "Survive a PC assault".

Meaning, let the PCs (playing as monsters) try to accomplish some Evil plot. The actions of the PCs draw the attention of the adventuring group.

Note that the goal may be "Attract the attention of adventuring groups, so that these groups go into your dungeon where you can kill them and get their treasure."

2. Send waves of adventuring groups at the PCs. Let the PCs recover and distrribute the items of the fallen adventurers. Give them some time to repopulate, re-trap, and refortify then send in another wave of tougher adventurers. Repeat until the PCs are slain or they manage to attract the attention of a powerful evil being who moves in and takes control of the entire operation.

In between waves, allow the PCs to level up themselves and a couple select minions. Maybe they can use the loot and money from the adventurers (or from their raids on the nearby town of Haplessville) to hire or tame tougher monsters.

3. Run the adventurers as smart adventurers. If the PCs are trolls, and these trolls let themselves be seen, then arm the adventurers with fire. If the adventurers defeat a monster raiding party and interrogate a prisoner, assume the adventurers have some knowledge of the dungeon's traps and denizens. Clever PCs should be careful with how much information they reveal to their minions...

-z

 

[MerakSpielman]

If your group is large enough, you could split them so that some of them create and defend the caves while the others assault them. You could take turns and make it a sort of competition.

 

[Shapermc]

This sounds exactly like an old PlayStation game that I have. It was about this girl that had these trap abilites instead of magic. If she knew how to place a trap she could do it from a distance on the wall, floor or ceiling. You were alowed to look into a room by sneaking in and see what the enemies were and then you set traps from the doorway. After the traps are set then you try to make your enemy trigger them. The only problem is that you are really weak and like 1 - 3 hits from a guard or monster you were done for. You could also make things make noise from a distance (kind of like telekenisis) so that guards/enimes go to investigate. You had very weak weapons in the game and it was made by TECMO. I think that it was called . . . . something 3. . . Disception . . . ? I can't remember. I thought about making a PC class out of the concept, because it was really cool Idea, but the game was horrible