benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
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Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Mar 14, 2014 15:05:34 GMT -6
Fighting Fire is a generic, systemless fantasy adventure loosely inspired by the events that destroyed Ernie Gygax's home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. It is written by Mark "CMG" Clover, includes a very cool map of "Gamington", and more than a few nods at the Lake Geneva gaming scene, Ernie Gygax, his friends and family. I had the chance to playtest it as "Heidala of the Isles", with Mark as GM, Ernie playing "Ernesto Magnifico", as one could guess. 33% of this adventure's proceeds go to Ernie Gygax's relief fund. More information about the module and its context here: www.creativemountaingames.com/2014/03/ernie-gygax-relief-fund-and-gms-day.html
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Mar 6, 2014 23:31:04 GMT -6
Received this yesterday... *jumps up and down with glee*
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Mar 1, 2014 19:37:08 GMT -6
Has anyone drawn dungeons like the ones in the FFC? I've tried ignoring the gridlines and rotating the entire map 45 degrees, and it looks awful. I'd rather draw from the grid in the normal position (with grid lines intersecting horizontally and vertically) and include elements of orientation (walls, corridors) in the overall structure of the level at a 45 degree angle. Looking at the FFC maps it is more likely what was going on when they came about.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Feb 23, 2014 18:39:16 GMT -6
One of the greatest warriors I've ever known in D&D was named Advil.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Feb 23, 2014 0:13:18 GMT -6
I think he does sometimes, but I get the feeling it's more a matter of him feeling like it than any real need to do it, if you see what I mean. Also, I don't think he checks his email or facebook all the time. It's more sporadic than anything. So a week without receiving a response doesn't mean he won't answer, eventually.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Feb 22, 2014 17:32:49 GMT -6
If Tom wants to answer your request he will, at his own convenience.
Can't tell you if he will, or when. Such is the way of the Wham.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Feb 14, 2014 11:28:00 GMT -6
Added a master list of the posts with direct links in the OP. New post soon.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jan 28, 2014 13:44:49 GMT -6
As I was searching for something else, I was re-reading a big part of the Advice to build a megadungeon setting and campaign thread over on the "Underworld & Wilderness Adventures" category, and I found this quote: (in the ninth post of the thread) Benoist on July 17, 2012: Note that the fact this diagram looks like what a chart showing relationships between factions or NPCs in a game setting might look like, or how the links between various clues or elements in an investigation scenario might be organized prior to play, is no coincidence at all, here. Fundamentally, there is no difference between Melan’s analysis of dungeon layouts and Justin Alexander talking to us about the Three Clue Rule: it’s all about managing the players' choices, not by trying to trap them into a prefabricated suit of rooms or clues or events, but by giving them even more choices and alternative courses which you then manage on an action-reaction basis which forms the core of the game itself, rather than trying to work the group towards a predefined outcome that would need to occur one way or the other for the game to be remotely satisfying once played.This is in the context of his discussing "Jaquaying the Dungeon", it forcibly struck me that a large part of the paragraph above could be used directly in a definition of a "sandbox" dungeon or campaign. I will now try to take all of your excellent comments and form them into a reasonable definition of "sandbox". I'll post it here if anyone is still interested. Fundamentally, you're right. It's about the players, their choices and objectives. It's about the freedom to go left or right, and the GM remaining cool with whatever outcome and developments that produces.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jan 28, 2014 13:40:06 GMT -6
To me, "sandbox" means no right answer. The referee creates a number of adventures. The players may choose some, all, or none. If they choose an adventure, there is no "right" answer. They may escort the caravan, desert it halfway through, ignore it, or attack it themselves. "Here is a world. Explore it." That's about the best definition of "sandbox" I have ever seen. There's a world. The players choose their own objectives, and do stuff. There's no right answer. The world just "is".
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jan 28, 2014 9:39:50 GMT -6
More than welcome! Thank you for your enthusiasm and comments! I'm not sure I'm following this correctly. Will it (the module) be the "preview" that will be available as an exclusive at GaryCon? Or the whole thing? And then the full thing be made available to us poor slobs that can't afford to attend GaryCon? Or will the rest of us forever be pining away for all of this awesome goodness? The preview will be the exclusive for Premium badges at Gary Con, but the whole module will be for sale for everyone at a later date. I wouldn't have it another way, and wouldn't let gamers who can't make it to Gary Con down on this. I know you were joking, but if there's one thing I can't stand in the hobby it's those "professionals" treating gamers like they're "peons" and "unwashed masses". I want to share what it is we find cool about gaming with you guys, and that means that this preview, though available in advance and in a slightly altered form for Gary Con, will be part of the complete module that will be available for everyone to purchase later. Those who've been reading this thread will be familiar with some of the content, since the sample level is this one here, but retooled for the Hobby Shop Dungeon with suggestions from Ernie, more brainstorm on my part, fixes and changes here and there, and so on. Plus the map's been redone, colorized, etc of course. That's the preview I'm talking about here. The full module will include the surface, the other levels of the complex, how that all fits into the big picture, exactly, and so on, so forth.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jan 27, 2014 16:39:05 GMT -6
Thank you, Gonyaulax! Glad you are getting some use out of this advice. No, it is not too late, and yes, I will add the missing parts to this advice some time in the future. Not only discussion of wandering monsters and possible objectives, the but party's base, the hex map around and more! Right now I am hard at work with Ernie Gygax on The Hobby Shop Dungeon project. As a matter of fact, what I am working on right now is a preview of the Haunted Halls of the Beggar King, for The Hobby Shop Dungeon campaign, and it uses the map I came up with here on this thread (albeit redone, all color, etc), with a revised key and elements that plug into the Hobby Shop Dungeon. This will be an exclusive for those gamers with Platinum badge at Gary Con Gaming Convention, in Lake Geneva, this March! In the full module, the map you are seeing here (with its new key) will be but a part of the whole! I am also looking forward to publish this advice in its own dedicated book in its entirety as well.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jan 26, 2014 12:32:41 GMT -6
Yep! I am working at the manuscript of a module preview for Gary Con, and reminiscing at the same time. Seemed fitting, looking both at the past, and looking forward to the future. Reposting this from facebook: "It is likely that today is the anniversary of the reveal of the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game in late January of 1974, the first Sunday when game designer Ernest Gary Gygax invited people to come to his house and play his and Dave Arneson's brand new game. I always was curious and inquisitive as a child growing up between Normandy and the French Ardennes. My parents were very good to me, instilling in me a critical mind, spirit, a will to go out and be myself, answering my questions about all things, or pointing me in the right direction to find them out on my own. It'd be hard for me to say that the Dungeons & Dragons game taught me all those things. But surrounded as I was with the castles of Robert the Devil and Richard the Lionheart, inspired as I was by fantasy as well as the world around me, I think that my discovery of the game on that fateful week-end of November 1988 in Vendresse, France, where my cousin Carlos Sacré ran us through his version of the Village of Hommlet, had the effect of a lightning bolt on me, bringing all these elements into a whole that would define how I would shape both my imagination and personality from then on. I owe it in no small part to Dungeons & Dragons to know what words like "eldritch" or "dweomer" or indeed "marmoreal" actually mean. Heck, I probably wouldn't speak English every day if it wasn't for deciphering the books on my own with an Harrap's dictionary as a young lad. I might not have plugged myself into Ancient History on the internet, might not have met Nerissa Montie at all. I might not have come to live here in Canada, nor met so many wonderful friends and played with them over the years. I wouldn't be where I am today, creating new content for those who love the game as I do, enjoying the partnership and friendship of one Ernest Gary Gygax Jr. Today, I am celebrating, remembering the many games, the many laughs, the dice rolling, the role playing, as I work my way through our latest manuscript. This is a preview of what is to come, intended as an exclusive for those who attend the Gary Con Gaming Convention a few weeks from now, using some of the materials I once came up with in my advice to build the mega-dungeon, but retooled to work in concert with The Hobby Shop Dungeon and campaign, and expended upon in concert with my friend and writing partner. This is a fitting way to celebrate I think, and I can't help thinking about Gary as I do so, typing away at his machine, as Ernie described to me more than once, giving birth to a framework that would soon allow millions to have fun and explore the realms of their own imaginations. So, here's to you, Dungeons & Dragons. Happy birthday, old friend. To the many years of fun games that are now past, and to the future, many bright years yet to come."
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Jan 21, 2014 6:38:20 GMT -6
Yes, I used the Dreamlands as just that - a parallel dimension the PCs could venture through via gates, spells, artefacts etc, and go from point A in the real world to point B through it, basically. I was using the Outdoors Survival map to simulate the terrain of the Dreamlands. It's an idea that actually made its way into The Hobby Shop Dungeon, albeit significantly modified.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Dec 31, 2013 12:54:01 GMT -6
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Dec 19, 2013 14:08:40 GMT -6
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Dec 17, 2013 12:37:04 GMT -6
Personally I cancelled my Amazon order and switched to Noble Knight, because I knew the latter would be infinitely more reliable. YMMV.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Dec 9, 2013 10:37:56 GMT -6
Thanks guys! I appreciate the compliments! I hope you enjoy the module! Let us know what you think, okay?
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Dec 5, 2013 21:22:29 GMT -6
This is the gatefold introduction to the Marmoreal Tomb of Garn Pat'uul. And this is a preview of the map on the other side, in Gygax Magazine #3:
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Dec 1, 2013 13:57:01 GMT -6
I just did an interview with Brendan Davis on the Bedrock Blog yesterday. We talk about the Marmoreal Tomb, module design, the world of The Hobby Shop Dungeon, and what to expect from Ernie and I, and our partners, at GP Adventures. The link to the interview: thebedrockblog.blogspot.ca/2013/11/interview-benoist-poire.html
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Nov 25, 2013 22:29:20 GMT -6
A few weeks ago, friend Alex Kammer was playing The Hobby Shop Dungeon's MARMOREAL TOMB OF GARN PAT'UUL with Ernest Gary Gygax Jr. at the Gamehole Con in Madison, WI. In his own words: "I can tell you from based on personal knowledge that the module is awesome! Ernest Gary Gygax Jr. was nice enough give me one of his two original copies of The Marmoreal Tomb along with his laminated map at the conclusion of Gamehole Con. What an unbelievably nice gesture on the part of Ernie." Gustavo Iglesias, who ran the dungeon with his Brazilian crew, seems to agree: "It's a 'lair' type dungeon, but one that's jam-packed with goodness, and gives both the PCs and the DM some intriguing foreshadowing of what's to come in the Hobby Shop Dungeon. I heartily recommend it." The adventure begins in Gygax Magazine Issue 3.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Nov 21, 2013 11:13:32 GMT -6
I know at this point some issues of Gygax Magazine Issue #3 are in the mail, and I am therefore very excited announce that Ernie Gygax and I are launching the Hobby Shop Dungeon discussed previously on that OD&D Discussion thread with a feature module within it! I will share more information and, time willing, answer any question you might have about HSD0 - THE MARMOREAL TOMB OF GARN PAT'UUL, or anything else related to the Hobby Shop Dungeon. Here goes! To keep up to date with the Hobby Shop Dungeon project, one easy way is to "Like" the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hobbyshopdungeon
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Nov 10, 2013 13:06:31 GMT -6
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Nov 10, 2013 13:03:28 GMT -6
Palladium Fantasy 1E. The one with the black cover.
RuneQuest, either RQ2, Avalon Hill's RQ3, or the current RuneQuest 6.
Dangerous Journeys if you like rules heavy games, the toolbox aspect of AD&D 1E and want a crapload of stuff to include or not include in your game.
Lejendary Adventures if you want something more rules light and free wheeling.
Hackmaster 4e seems to please a lot of old schoolers - that game is on my list to check out.
Harnmaster if you want something really medieval-ish, gritty, with deadly combat.
DCC RPG if you want something really gonzo, like AD&D gone crazy rock and roll screaming to be played.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Nov 5, 2013 16:54:16 GMT -6
I LOL'd at the McDonald's on level 6. Awesome. You do bold with [ b ] type your text [ / b ] without the spaces, like this: type your text.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Nov 5, 2013 14:49:15 GMT -6
Thank you! The plan is indeed to collect everything and edit it, add some cool original illos and stuff and publish it afterwards as PDF and POD at least. It's too early for me to give a time frame or how exactly that's going to happen, but what you see here will remain available as you see it as well, so that everyone can use it to his or her own heart's content.Bold emphasis mine, of course. Benoist, I'd really like to thank you for this outstanding, step-by-step tutorial. I have to shame-facedly admit that I've never taken on such a daunting task as this before. But, your instruction here doesn't just show a strong knowledge of the workings of the game as it's played... It also shows a great patience and teaching ability. Thank you SO much for this! I feel this very thread is one of the better resources currently available online, and really appreciate that you will continue to allow this wonderful effort to remain for the betterment of others. A scholar, and a gentleman! I'm not sure if I'll ever finish it (Or the 'on hiatus' ASS&SH adventure I began to post here in the ASS&SH sub-board, as I hit a hard road-block in that)... But, you have helped me learn how to begin, structure a work flow, and complete piece-by-piece a megadungeon of my own that I am starting up. And, I might add, with such advice that my own efforts might not actually suck I've got a small-ish backstory, and a side-view of the dungeon itself, and am beginning to take some notes on the levels I have named thus far, and am trying to keep things reasonably analogous with the overall arch of the dungeon and it's primary inhabitants and locale. I have yet to draw up any of the level or above ground maps as I'm still doing the note-taking thing; Still formulating it as a whole. And I must emphasize how there is absolutely no way I could have even gotten this ambitious without such an insightful, thorough set of instructions like you have just provided. I really appreciate every, teeny weeny bit of advice that this post is CRAMMED full of. I salute you! Just wish I could exalt you still Have fun, and a pleasure to meet you, Sir. -Tim. Thank you Merctime! It is very cool to see people getting some use out of the advice in this thread, getting enthusiastic at the idea of building their own dungeon, grab a stack of graph paper, and brainstorm ideas of their own. I can't tell you how rewarding that is to see this, and rest assured: this is not the end of this advice series! I will go on with this as my schedule clears up! At the moment, I am working hard on the Hobby Shop Dungeon project which will share Ernie Gygax's Mega-dungeon and Campaign with the masses. There's still quite a way to go to see the Dungeon in all its glory, game the heck out of it, or why not, take it apart and use some of its levels or components along with your own ideas and the advice provided here to customize everything to your heart's content, but we will have some news very, very soon. If you are a fan of Gygaxian gaming and modules, let's just say, you might want to have a look at the next issue of Gygax Magazine. . . Oh, and if you like this advice, be sure to "like" the Hobby Shop Dungeon Facebook page to say up to date with what Ernie and I are doing: www.facebook.com/hobbyshopdungeon
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Aug 13, 2013 15:47:25 GMT -6
You can add the Hobby Shop Dungeon campaign created in 1977/78 by Ernie Gygax, with some early maps of Terry Kuntz, and others his own, run in the Dungeon Hobby Shop of Lake Geneva, WI. It was its own campaign world, dissociated from Greyhawk.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Aug 13, 2013 13:15:39 GMT -6
The Hobby Shop Dungeon now has its own Facebook page, for information, updates, previews, musings, behind-the-scenes stuff and the like. www.facebook.com/hobbyshopdungeon
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Aug 3, 2013 14:10:26 GMT -6
I like your maps a lot, inkmeister!
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Aug 3, 2013 14:07:24 GMT -6
Reformated to include the pics in the body of the message: Anyway, here is my first level: It is what I consider Gygaxian style. As are 2 and 3. I used to do maps on 8 sq/inch paper, but I decided to embrace 5sq/inch, and I like it. I like this very dense style for the options I think it will enable in play. Second level: Third Level: 4th Level: This is the "chasm" level. A giant rift has been formed through the center of the level. 2 Rickety bridges connect the two sides. 5th Level: This is a much older level, drawn last fall. 8sq/inch paper. I now envision this as what lies far below the chasm level; the bottom of the chasm is a river, which flows through this level. In the center is an isle which will contain a spiral stair to lower levels still. I love the organic feel of this level.
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Aug 2, 2013 9:09:34 GMT -6
I think the kind of exercise of the imagination keeps rpgs as close to fantasy fiction as computer games are close to film, the active and somewhat subjective imagination is distinct from the passive and pseudo-real. In a sense yes, though with fiction you are led at another level, the structure/plot level, by someone else who's done your imagining for you. I know that plot structures are popular in certain RPGs, but it doesn't have to be that way. I think the full potential of RPGs from that standpoint is revealed by non-linear structures and "sandbox" play, for lack of a better word. The type of dungeons we are talking about here embody this to me on a manageable scale, where you have an environment to explore that is made of rooms and corridors and caverns and chasms, but where non-linearity can also reign supreme, with proper map flows, inter-connectivity of various levels, teleporters, etc etc.
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