Good Old Dungeon Crawl-Interest check

Started by Verasaille, August 07, 2015, 05:14:14 PM

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Verasaille

Deep down in the depths...the air is warm...what there is of it. There is no sunlight here...in fact you do not know where you are. You went to bed in your home, safe and snug. You awoke here. The floor is stone, what you can feel of it, grainy and hard. There is a coating of dust on nearby surfaces. You listen carefully and may hear a dripping sound in the distance or merely an echo of one, cave sounds can be misleading.

There is a faint source of light nearby, just enough for you to make out that you are in a cave, actually an alcove in a larger cave. The place where you are is marginally protected with a few rocks. You are not harmed, in fact you seem to be well physically. Though if you had any magic in you it seems to be dormant. It is there inside of you, you just cannot cast. You are in the clothing you went to bed in, if any. You have no weapon to use and no armor.

How you got here is something you may wonder, but no answers are to be found laying here in the relative darkness. As you rise to your sitting position, you look over the rocks that are screening you from view of anything or anyone else in the large cavern. It would be wise to be cautious, you are not alone. There are two torches burning in the large room. one on either end. There is also a slab of rock in the center of the room, it appears to be about twenty feet long. There is one lit candle on it.

The sensation of being deep below the surface of the earth is suffocating. The air is not fresh, it is stale and musty. The torches burn with a  snap and crackle. Whoever set you here is testing you. How you react and how you manage to survive is up to you. Look around the small space you have found yourself in.  Your primary concern is survival. Cooperation might be  necessary.

Finding a weapon and armor is just as important as finding food and water. Whatever training you might have had in your life to survive might come in handy. Who knows how  long you will be stuck here, wherever here is.  Anything useful is certain to be found only by exploring the cave. Water seems to be dripping somewhere, perhaps it is clean, perhaps not, but only one way to find out.

The air is a combination of musty and a slight hint of decay. Where you lay is a hard surface with a slight layer of dust and sand covering it. As you search with your eyes in the gloom you realize you are without any of the normal things you take for granted in the way of armor and weaponry. If you went to bed with any sort of clothing you still have that on. If you sleep in the buff...well...then you are still in the buff.

The air is warm if not a bit stuffy, though the torches seems to be burning all right. The alcove you find yourself in may have something hidden in it or it may not. Look around you, about a twelve foot area of room, uneven walls appear to be free from moisture, and yet you seem to hear a trickle of water somewhere near.

There is room enough for you to stand unless you are over twelve feet tall. The opening to your little alcove is not blocked and you can leave anytime you choose. As you move around a slight noise attracts your attention. Peering out beyond the rocks you can see a very large cave with many alcoves like the one you are in. You look up and see dark shapes in the ceiling. The top of the cave is well over a hundred feet. The light does not illuminate much up there. Is it your imagination or did something up there move?

The room might be fifty feet in diameter and the east end of the slight oblong seems to have a shiny surface on the wall. There is darkness below that wall, and the torchlight seems to be reflected there. One thing is for certain, you are not alone here. There are others waking up just as you are.

The only memory you have is whatever you were doing before you went to sleep.Your memories of the past seem to be fuzzy.  What happens next is up to you. To survive and get home might seem a daunting task. Unarmored and without a weapon, and no idea in the world where you are!

Most of the cave floor seems to be sandy and very dusty. Stalagmites rise from the floor in front of the alcoves, some hang from the ceiling, far above. As your eyes scan the area you see darker areas in the walls above, alcoves up there too? But they are about thirty feet up from the floor of the cavern.

A slight noise attracts your attention and you glance towards the sound. A rat scurries across the floor, stops to glare at you then disappears in a hole in the uneven floor. Might be a good idea to watch where you step. The rat is rather large, maybe the size of a housecat. It has red glowing eyes and sharp teeth and can squeeze into small spaces with ease. If only you had something to hit it with! Roasted rat is edible.

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I have tried this before with mixed results. I want people who will actually stick around and make this fun. I have a set of rules and will be using the dice bot for results. I have a chart and set locations. Treasures to be found and creatures to vanquish. Cooperation will be necessary, but you may discuss OOC ways of any rivalry or conflict.

Pairing up is encouraged.  This is basically a survival game. I am not using a system or a complicated rules book. I will be the GM and my word is final. You may suggest a direction for plot, but for all intents I will be driving the story forward with twists and turns.

I will ask for a simple sign up, a character you want to play. I have no restrictions as to race or gender. A picture you can put in the corner of each post is nice. You will be assigned a certain number of hit points. Actions that cause you damage will be tallied. Once you lose that number of hit points you die. But it is not the end of the game!

I have an idea for this that will make it a bit more unique. If something happens to your character and you die, the GM will have a shadowy figure hover over your corpse and offer to raise you into a new life. This will happen after others have walked away from your body. It will be private and we will use PM's to discuss your new shape and identity. From this point on you will be under the will of the Shadowy figure and it's identity will be revealed only to you, and subsequent other deceased members of the party. What the Shadowy figure wants you to do from that point will be hidden from the rest.

I don't want to give too much away at the start. I want interested people to post here. Ask questions, let me know what you would like to see happen. I may or may not use it.

I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

MissFire

"There are five possible operations for any army. If you can fight, fight; if you cannot fight, defend; if you cannot defend, flee; if you cannot flee, surrender; if you cannot surrender, die."
    - Sima Yi

Verasaille

Thanks, MissFire! I want to ask people to give me some idea of what setting to put this in. Should it be a general Dark Ages theme, or a modern setting? I am open to whatever you all wish, to a certain extent.

I will limit the number of people to six. I think a smaller party has more chance of success. I also ask that you be willing to post several times a week. Otherwise the faster posters seem to lose interest.
I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

TheHangedOne

Hey hey Vera. I remember playing this before... if you'll have me, I'd like to give it another shot. I also prefer more of the Dark Ages feel.
A&A's and O&O's *Status: Here and there | Games: Aiming for punctuality*
"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
"In the ocean of knowledge, only those who want to learn will see the land."
"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."
Check out my poet tree!

Verasaille

Welcome back THM! I hope it goes better this time. It will be a general fantasy theme. Characters can be magic users, warriors, rogues, archers, or healers. I am going to ask you to stick to a pretty basic character and do not get to overly powered or Mary Sue. If you don't know what that is, best to look it up in Google.

Still open to suggestion!
I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

Thorne

Dark Ages-style fantasy would make it slightly more interesting to me...
My only concern at this point is the rules, and how much information is available on them. ^^;
Writer of horrors, artist of mayhem.

Currently available, frequently lurking.
Ons and Offs
Absences and Apologies
Ideas and inspirations: small groups

Verasaille

Hello Thorne. This is basically a freeform dungeon crawl. I have few rules and will set them out as I get some feedback.

A good character sheet, a willingness to post several times a week, courtesy to fellow posters, agreement to accepting the GM's word as final. I can go into more, but do I need to?

The dungeon is a survival exercise, the mystery of how you got here and who is directing the creatures who attack you is something you will have to puzzle out.

I would love to hear opinions on my twist of resurrecting dead players as mobs. Does that appeal at all?
I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

TheHangedOne

I think that would be fascinating, Vera. Or have them show up in other ways, like "You find the corpse of a long-dead adventurer. Looks like he's still got a few things on him."
A&A's and O&O's *Status: Here and there | Games: Aiming for punctuality*
"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
"In the ocean of knowledge, only those who want to learn will see the land."
"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."
Check out my poet tree!

Verasaille

I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

BladeDancer

Hello! I like this idea. My main concern is post length. I just came back after years of being unable to roleplay. I'd like to improve, but I am unsure if I will even be able to compare to everyone else.

Verasaille

@Bladedancer, Are you willing to post often? Like every day to two or three days at least? We lost a lot of people last time because some wanted to go fast and others were only once a week or more.

The content of your posts is up to you. If you develop a good character and deal well with the problems then that should not be a problem.
I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

BladeDancer

Yeah, I can do that. When would we be starting? Also, do you have a character sheet set up yet?

Verasaille

I will be starting as soon as I get at least 6 people willing to commit to it and ready with characters.
I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

Thorne

Quote from: Verasaille on August 09, 2015, 03:17:16 AM
Hello Thorne. This is basically a freeform dungeon crawl. I have few rules and will set them out as I get some feedback.

I would love to hear opinions on my twist of resurrecting dead players as mobs. Does that appeal at all?

... It's an interesting idea, but you mean dead player /characters/, yes? I'm not really sure I'm comfortable with that, to be honest.
Some bad experiences kind of soured me on that kind of thing.

How about the setting? You say magic exists - how about allowed races? This a complete homebrew, or are you cribbing from something?
General power levels? It sounds like a group that is starting from ground level, so to speak - the bare basics. How would you be handling gaining new abilities/skills?
Writer of horrors, artist of mayhem.

Currently available, frequently lurking.
Ons and Offs
Absences and Apologies
Ideas and inspirations: small groups

Verasaille

If anything makes you uncomfortable we won't be doing it. I never want to force anyone into anything. It will be more of a second chance to continue in the thread. Tell me what bad experience you had and I will make sure it does not happen. Above all I want everyone to have fun.

This is totally my idea of a dungeon. There is no rulebook I am using or complicated stats or even anything resembling leveling up or down. I hate a system approach, mainly because the players will get stuck on playing a game instead of rping.

I want people interacting. Helping each other or doing things to undermine the other characters. You will find things to help you, like armor, weapons and food and water. The physical strength of your character will remain the same, unless they get injured or cursed, or whatever crazed thing I come up with to do to your characters. That is something that can be restored. So if you are injured I will make sure you have a way to restore your strength. If you die, the second chance option will be offered. You don't have to take it.

As far as races, I would prefer things that would be at least nominally humanoid. I would accept humans, elves, dwarves and possibly orcs and trolls. Let's try to keep it simple. Everyone will be about the same in power or skill. What you gain as you go would be friendship with others (or enemies!) You will find weapons and armor, you will be given an opportunity to cooperate, some puzzles to figure out, some critters to kill and some treasure to find.

What more would you like?
I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

Thorne

I've never had a problem - in a play-by-post game - with getting stuck roll-playing, rather than role-playing. Might just be me, I'unno.
If you really want to hear some of the horror stories that have soured me on freeform and dead characters being recycled by the GM, send me a pm.


Anyway. that answers most of my questions, but doesn't tell me much about the setting.
Dark Ages fantasy covers a lot of ground, after all. Would a prospective player be making things up - and that is acceptable - or did you have a clot of placenames/dieties/standard practices that said player would need to bear in mind?
Writer of horrors, artist of mayhem.

Currently available, frequently lurking.
Ons and Offs
Absences and Apologies
Ideas and inspirations: small groups

Verasaille

There will be no zombies or anything undead. The GM will simply transform you into something else. For an example just off the top of my head:

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Ralph battled the basilisk along with all the others, but it took a special delight into turning its fearsome gaze directly at Ralph, turning him into stone. Unfortunately no one had a way to counter act the stone form so they left him there as they beat a hasty retreat out of the disturbed basilisk's lair.

Much later a floating blue form descended on the basilisk and patted it on the head. "Good job, I needed another stone golem guardian." the blue glow of the figure's hand enveloped the hard stone frozen shape of Ralph.

"Would you like to continue your adventure as a stone golem? It's ever so much fun, and you get to chase your former companions around in whatever way you see fit. Help them, harass them or kill them, the choice is yours. Or I will simply leave you here to sit lifelessly forever."

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I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

Sorrow Singer

Id definitely like to express interest in this. It sounds like a great concept for a campaign. Still trying to decide what sort of character I'd like to roll for it.

Thorne

I'm out, I think.
It sounds interesting, but not like the kind of game I'd be comfortable in.
Writer of horrors, artist of mayhem.

Currently available, frequently lurking.
Ons and Offs
Absences and Apologies
Ideas and inspirations: small groups

Autocad

Interested!

So while we're waiting for more details about the character sheet, here's a concept to get started.

Name: Lisse d'Aramot
Race: Human
Sex: Female
Class: Paladin
Proficiencies:
Martial prowess
Holy magic: basic spells of protection and healing (dormant)
Smite evil: nullifies all protections of creatures of darkness (dormant)
Personality: cynical and jaded
Background: Trained in a convent as a paladin from a young age, already a veteran of multiple battles by the end of her twentieth birthday. Sixth in the line of succession for the duchy of Aramot, and also a veteran of multiple rejections of suitors.

BladeDancer


Verasaille

Feel free to list a character you might like to use. And remember, this is an adventure. We don't need to have smut. If it happens it is up to you. But I am going to have fun making sure you keep too busy to worry about it.  >:)

I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.

TheHangedOne

I'm thinking about playing some sort of martial artist; possibly a half-elf, or another 'bastard' race.
A&A's and O&O's *Status: Here and there | Games: Aiming for punctuality*
"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
"In the ocean of knowledge, only those who want to learn will see the land."
"Before you roar, please take a deep breath."
Check out my poet tree!

Verasaille

Looks good THM. I need to know if everyone is still on board before I make an OOC thread and ask for characters.
I have gone off in search of myself. If I should get back before I return, please keep me here.