Welcome! These forums will be deactivated by the end of this year. The conversation continues in a new morph over on Discord! Please join us there for a more active conversation and the occasional opportunity to ask developers questions directly! Go to the PS+ Discord Server.

Dungeon Crawl

7 posts / 0 new
Last post
tasuret tasuret's picture
Dungeon Crawl
My group and I enjoy the setting and such, but what most of them would prefer is something more akin to D&D or Diablo. Basically, I'm looking for ideas on loot to put in dungeons. What sort of upgrades might I put on weapons, armor, and items they might find? How could I justify something like enchantment in a hard sci-fi setting?
Tachi Tachi's picture
Re: Dungeon Crawl
Well, there are the upgrades for weapons and armor in the core rulebook. There are also some, rather minor, weapon accessories in Issue 1 of The Eye Fanzine (link to the PDF download page in my sig). But, honestly, due to the easy come easy go philosophy of gear acquisition used in EP, loot for dungeon crawl style adventures should, in my opinion, be mostly of the digital variety. This doesn't mean they can't find the abandoned habitat's fully stocked armory, or a stack/bag of credit tokens, or prototype weapons or armor, just that it might be better if they find the nanofabricator blueprints for the item in question. Besides making it possible for them to build the item anytime they want (if a fabber is accessible), it also lets you give them really cool stuff that they can't use, yet. Which is always fun, players tend to get really annoyed with that sort of thing.;) State of the art (or Titan) hacking programs, specialized nanotech, corporate/government secrets (blackmail material), Titan artifacts (pre or post exsurgent infection), alien tech found during gatecrashing missions, etc. also make good finds, if they don't kill or infect you. There's an article on alien force fields (personal shields) in Issue 1 of The Eye also. As for "enchantments", well, I don't know. If you just want to give them a normal weapon with damage bonuses over the standard weapons in the books, or armor that's better than the stock models, just make them up. Larger caliber rifles, or custom armor shouldn't really be all [i]that[/i] rare. Ammo types can also improve the ability to hit enemies and cause more damage. Talking sword or rifle, put an ecto in the grip. There is an article in Issue 2 of The Eye (due out within the week) that covers heavy and crew-served weapons, if your PCs are tough enough... But, real enchantments? I dunno. If there is an asynch in the party, you might could give them a "neural amplifier" headband or crown or helmet or whatever, though that easily could become way to powerful and unbalancing. I'm not sure I would want to bring that complication into my game, plus it's not really "hard sci-fi" (come to think of it, neither are asynchs though)... but hey, whatever. [u]Psi Amp[/u] This two centimeter wide band, worn around the temples, amplifies its wearer’s Psi abilities. While worn, it grants access to Psi slights one level higher than are normally available (Level 1 asynchs can learn and use Psi-gamma sleights, Level 2 asynchs can learn and use exsurgent Psi-gamma and Psi-epsilon slights, EP p. 371), Level 2 Psi-Defense (+20 bonus to resist Psi-attacks), the Psi-Chameleon trait (-10 modifier to attempts to locate the wearer via Psi slights), grants touch range slights a range of 5 meters, quadruples their normal Psi Range (to 20 meters), decreases Strain by 5 (minimum of 0 ), and gives a +20 bonus to Psi Skills. Its benefits stack with any other bonuses. [Unavailable] There you go, a "magical" item. If you use it, I would not suggest using it quite as written, tone it down a bit, it's a game breaker ... On the other hand, I can easily think up some "cursed" items: A gun that fires exsurgent nanohives as bullets, but which the PCs just think is really cool cuz it puts 'em down fast (yeah, because the hive is rewriting their brain). Hell, the people you shoot might even get up and defend the PCs after being shot, you know, since they're helping to expand the hive by shooting more people and happen to be carrying the "hive queen(s)". Just imagine all the fun that rifle could have with the PCs ... :evil: (I really didn't mean for this post to turn into a comercial for The Eye, it just kinda turned out that way.)

[IMG]http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg205/tachistarfire/ult_userbar.jpg[/...
[IMG]http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg205/tachistarfire/remade_userbar.pn...
I don't shoot a man for being incompetent in the Devil's work. I shoot him for being c

nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture
Re: Dungeon Crawl
I'm not huge on turning EP into a 'dungeon crawl', however, it's certainly feasible. Enemies range from Triad thugs to Ex-human monsters to alien predators to abandoned TITAN machines. The primary pay will be rep and rez. Power-ups fall into a few categories: 1) Short-term repairs, heals and power-ups. Things like medkits, armor without holes all through it, more ammunition and so on. Use frequently. 2) Long-term blueprints and devices. You get blueprints for the new Zgiegny-Bohr coil gun assault rifle, which adds a +10 to your assault rifle tests (because it's so well made). You can fabricate a new one where-ever you go, so it now is considered 'permanent' equipment. Use infrequently. 3) Artifacts. These are devices which perhaps can be carried out, but can't be (quickly) nano-fabricated, so may or may not be useable again. This includes alien devices, prototype equipment, anti-matter bombs and morphs. It tends to be pretty powerful. Use very rarely. Be especially careful about #3 - it's easy for that to turn into a Monty Haul campaign.
Arenamontanus Arenamontanus's picture
Re: Dungeon Crawl
I think the dungeon crawl needs to be somewhat contrived to fit into EP - or it is a real dungeon crawl! After all, in simspaces or entertainment sections of a habitat people might actually set up real dungeons with robot/biotech monsters run by GM forks, and all sorts of fun/nasty traps for the entertainment of players, viewers and betting people. Imagine the Running Man as an AD&D scenario. In my games I have had a few crawl-like situations when players explore an abandoned environment. Usually no deliberate traps, but perhaps risky environmental circumstances (sharp spikes that can pierce a spacesuit) and tricky limits to access (how to get through a bulkhead somebody sealed with a cubic meter of diamond?). And of course unfriendly locals (transhuman, AI or others) can make things more dungeonish - blocking things, actually setting traps, attacking at inopportune moments from unexpected directions.
Extropian
Jay Dugger Jay Dugger's picture
Re: Dungeon Crawl
In my campaign, the players will eventually explore a Memory Palace to recover edited memories and reconcile two forks. This psychodrama advances the plot, tells back story, but it doesn't give them any typical loot. They can, however, return to it again and again, exploring different parts each time.
Sometimes the delete key serves best.
The Green Slime The Green Slime's picture
Re: Dungeon Crawl
Earth could be a good setting for a classic dungeon crawl. I imagine the average day in the life of a survivor contains pretty much nothing but scavenging loot, evading traps and fighting myriad horrors.
Octomorph Octomorph's picture
Re: Dungeon Crawl
The classic 'abandoned station' scenario works as a dungeon crawl/haunted house investigation - you could take a look at the 'Death Station' scenario from Classic Traveller or Orbital Decay from Gurps: Transhuman Space for inspiration. Loot could be salvage, original Earth relics, TITAN artifacts, etc.