Post by castiglione on Oct 6, 2008 19:54:07 GMT -6
I'm not sure if anyone is interested in this but here it is:
I'm referring to the random dungeon generator published in The Strategic Review and later replicated in the AD&D DMG.
It's cool except for the way it handles traps. It doesn't capture any sense of searching for traps, etc.
However, how does one replicate the process of looking for traps in a solitaire dungeon?
Then...I found it...I'm referring to the flow-chart that was published in Dragon #25 as an alternative to the ones in the Gamma World 1e rules for figuring out how to use artifacts. For those unfamiliar with GW 1e, if you wanted to figure out how to use an artifact, you'd consult a flow-chart which was determined by the type of artifact and you'd roll dice which indicated which pathways you took along the flow-chart with end results ranging from figuring out how to use the artifact to having something terrible happen during the process; this was pretty random with the only real decision making being whether or not your character decides to stop and cut his losses (usually done when the die rolls brought you to a point in the flow-chart which would take you a die-roll away from a potentially disastrous result).
One of the co-writers of GW realized that this was pretty unsatisfactory so he came up with an alternate flow-chart where you began at a particular square (the square depended on how the sophistication and dangerousness of the artifact).
You had a certain number of "decision points" determined by your character's intelligence. You rolled dice to determine which pathway you took from your square. However, instead of accepting the roll, you could expend a certain number of points to take the pathway you want. Eventually, you'd get to a square which indicates that you've figured out how to use the artifact, or that something went wrong during the process. You could also quit during the process and cut your losses.
Anyway, it occurred to me that you could use the same sort of flow-chart to model the process of searching for traps, secret doors, etc. Squares could determine what you've found, i.e. the triggering mechanism, the mechanism which gets triggered, etc. You could also quit and cut your losses.
Of course, this is nothing like actually, searching for a trap or a secret door during a face-to-face game but the use of points that you can expend to counter a bad die roll allows for some kind of decision making and resource management during the process instead of just "rolling to detect trap" and then "rolling to dis-arm trap" which is what you'd normally have to do in a solo game.
I'm referring to the random dungeon generator published in The Strategic Review and later replicated in the AD&D DMG.
It's cool except for the way it handles traps. It doesn't capture any sense of searching for traps, etc.
However, how does one replicate the process of looking for traps in a solitaire dungeon?
Then...I found it...I'm referring to the flow-chart that was published in Dragon #25 as an alternative to the ones in the Gamma World 1e rules for figuring out how to use artifacts. For those unfamiliar with GW 1e, if you wanted to figure out how to use an artifact, you'd consult a flow-chart which was determined by the type of artifact and you'd roll dice which indicated which pathways you took along the flow-chart with end results ranging from figuring out how to use the artifact to having something terrible happen during the process; this was pretty random with the only real decision making being whether or not your character decides to stop and cut his losses (usually done when the die rolls brought you to a point in the flow-chart which would take you a die-roll away from a potentially disastrous result).
One of the co-writers of GW realized that this was pretty unsatisfactory so he came up with an alternate flow-chart where you began at a particular square (the square depended on how the sophistication and dangerousness of the artifact).
You had a certain number of "decision points" determined by your character's intelligence. You rolled dice to determine which pathway you took from your square. However, instead of accepting the roll, you could expend a certain number of points to take the pathway you want. Eventually, you'd get to a square which indicates that you've figured out how to use the artifact, or that something went wrong during the process. You could also quit during the process and cut your losses.
Anyway, it occurred to me that you could use the same sort of flow-chart to model the process of searching for traps, secret doors, etc. Squares could determine what you've found, i.e. the triggering mechanism, the mechanism which gets triggered, etc. You could also quit and cut your losses.
Of course, this is nothing like actually, searching for a trap or a secret door during a face-to-face game but the use of points that you can expend to counter a bad die roll allows for some kind of decision making and resource management during the process instead of just "rolling to detect trap" and then "rolling to dis-arm trap" which is what you'd normally have to do in a solo game.
