~DUNGEON | DELIGHT | DOOM~
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A ᴅᴜɴɢᴇᴏɴ ʙᴜɪʟᴅɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ ᴘᴀʀᴋ ɢᴀᴍᴇ
The ethereal cataclysm of the destruction of another plane has birthed the omen of a Dark Star. Unknown so far to the sages who study it's portents, the ripples of this rendering have caused an exodus of souls to be displaced from their original reality. Unable to be laid to rest and lacking the methods to interact fully with this world, their sheer willpower has done something phantasmagorical. The Spirits of the restless ethereally damned have congregated; and congealed an alien Dungeon Core. The likes of which has not existed before or since, so imparts the harbinger Star.
The spirits tethered to this Dungeon Core are manifold.
You are Legion - separate and distinct from each other, with your own goals and methods.
You are One - you act towards the best interests of the Dungeon Heart as you interpret them to be.
But this Dungeon Core is of unique, terrifying distinction. You see, most Dungeons are born of the tendril whims of demons anchoring to the physical world, or birthed from the death and suffering of the living. The natural bond existing between these native plane-dwellers and reality, strengthens the Dungeon Core, allowing the Dungeon greater influence the stronger this bond is. While useful, it has one deadly weakness - this bond can also be untethered when the Dungeon Core is sundered, and the Dungeons energies dissipated and destroyed.
This Dungeon Core has no such weakness, for it holds one terrifying unknown ability. Should it be sundered, a Spirit among its legion will reform it into reality. In this way, this Core is essentially immortal. This Core has the potential to become the most dangerous Dungeon in all of the continents.
For now though, it is brittle and unassuming, barely a shard. It is weak and pitiful now, in need of great protection, unable to influence reality well. It will need time and care to grow.
For now, though, you are a spirit attached to a shiny shard in a cave. Attract creatures you may absorb and then spawn to defend yourself. Absorb essence to empower your magic, and use it to design Traps or create magical variants of your creatures. Devour rock and stone to create twisting corridors and Chambers. Attract adventurers through finding ore veins, spawning gold and items, or discovering or creating miraculous natural places. What you populate your Dungeon with will change what Adventurers seek you out. But beware - as you grow in power you may grow in notoriety. Balance attracting adventurers you can best, or risk being stuck in respawning cycles that may set you back years.
The Adventurers Guild will exploit Dungeons it can live in harmony with, and cull those that are too deadly or cause problems for local Civilisation. An efficient Dungeon can cause a bit of a Gold Rush in the surrounding region, as fresh faced Adventurers rush to find their fortune. Crafty Dungeons can exploit this delicate balance for a meal ticket, but overzealous Dungeons will be threatened with martial might.
You are a
Spirit who has escaped the destruction of your Plane. Disembodied and unable to interact with the physical world, you found yourself doomed to an endless dark eternity with other Spirit refuges.
But fate clearly has other ideas - the strength of your collective willpower has congealed a
Dungeon Core. Though both you and the Core are weak and underpowered, you finally have an avenue for interacting with the physical reality. You rally with the other lost souls, determined to ensure your salvation from the abyss.
You are Legion - separate and distinct from each other, with your own goals, affinities and methods.
You are One - you act towards the best interests of the Dungeon as you interpret them to be.
It is time to get to work. Collecting essence will nurture both your soul and the Dungeon with magical nutrients that will let you grow in power and ability. In time, you can use this essence to mutate creatures to guard your Core, and build traps to protect your home from danger.
One day soon, your Dungeon will begin to attract Adventurers, and the balancing act begins. They will plumb the dungeon depths for treasure, satisfying themselves with your riches. At the peak of their gluttony they will be ready to harvest for essence, but be warned... Dungeons who are considered too lethal are often crusaded against and culled by mortals.
Please Note So this project hits the unholy trifectta of ambitious, untested and possessed by one scatterbrained DM prone to mistakes
TM. As such it is a work in progress - there will be the occasional patch note as we kick off. I fully expect to be caught off guard from player shenanigans during this game.
What I ask of my players is an enthusiastic and collaborative mindset, which as far as I'm concerned abounds on the forum. Let's have some fun doing dumb stuff y'all.
The essence system in particular has potential for alot of creativity, but you might find some of the connections to be tenuous. As we progress, don't hesitate to attempt to improve the formula you find. I am open to requests and interesting theory crafting.
I'm very excited as I've wanted to play something like this for a few years now. So anyway, here's the Character Sheet:
Character Sheet[Spoiler=Player Name: Character Name the Title]
Influence Colour: (Please pick distinct colours from your fellows. GM will decide exact shades)
Title: (Optional. A descriptive title of what your spirit spends time doing in the dungeon, or is known for. You can change your title any time at will.)
Essence Affinity: (Pick 2: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Celestial, Void. Once picked, locked in place.)
Active Goal: (Pick one goal from the list below. You will be given opportunities to change this throughout as new goals are unlocked.)
Ghost Appearance: (just for fun, only seen by your spiritual companions currently. You can come from different planes if you like.)[/spoiler]Recommended: Gain Fate when you cause absorption of [Pick Basic Essence Type]
Recommended: Gain 1 Fate when using "Influence - Expand Personal Influence"
Recommended: Gain 1 Fate when using "Influence - Expand Dungeon Influence".
Gain 2 Fate when combining basic essences
Gain 1 Fate per tile relinquished from Personal Influence to Dungeon Influence.
Gain 5 Fate when a new Chamber is created
Gain 2 Fate when a new Corridor is created
Adventurer: Someone who comes to explore the Dungeon, usually looking to profit or exploit it in some way.
Adventurer's Guild: Sends Adventurers to explore the Dungeon. Keeps an eye on Dungeon growth worldwide, both to find fresh resources to exploit and curtail possible threats.
Affinity: What essences a creature is predisposed to.
Almanac: The Dungeon is able to mentally store all the knowledge it accumulates. This is called the Almanac, though it is a mental construct.
Beast: An Animal that has condensed enough essence to form a Core. The Core causes a Essence affinity, natural mutations to occur, and usually an increase in intelligence.
Core: A Core is created when sufficiently dense essence condenses into a shard or gem like object. Consider it the "Solid" state of essence, if essence usually behaves like a gas. Highly dense essence has a profound effect on the environment around it. When a core forms, expect the environment to be changed. The Dungeon has a Core, magical creatures known as Beasts have a Core, and all Sentient creatures have Cores. Even forests and mountains can generate Cores.
Essence: The building blocks of the elements. The pure, magically potent version of the elements. E.g. a fire would have fire essence within it. The fire itself exists in the physical realm whereas the magical essence would usually be an unseen part of the fire. Essence is equivalent to life force or vital energy. Wizards and Spirits can see and use essence. Basic essences can be combined into other essences.
Fate: Fate can be used as a substitute for any cost. Say you are short 1 fire and 1 air essence for an ability. You could spend 2 Fate to pay the cost.
Influence: an area that the Dungeon or Spirit can control.
Monster, Mob, Creature: Refers to a creature/monster in the Dungeon.
Motivation: what caused an Adventurer to explore the Dungeon in the first place, and what might lure them deeper. Harvesting an Adventurer with full motivation will grant higher rewards to the Dungeon and Spirit.
Mutation: what happens when a Spirit infused a creature with an essence type. This can lead to a new essence affinity and new abilities. This will wildly change a creature into something new.
Pattern: The combination of a monster and all changes made to the creature by that spirit. Anytime a creature is changed in a distinctly different way, a new pattern - with a new name- is created.
Spirit: usually refers to you, the Player Character. You will be unseen to most Adventurers.
Template: Similar to how Adventurers have Classes, Monsters have Templates. These are a list of modifiers that change a Creature from it's default state. A tank version of a rabbit will have more health then a rabbit specialised into the artillery template, which would have less HP but more damage.
Wild: A creature not stored in the Dungeon's mental Almanac yet.
There are multiple types of Actions you can take in a turn.
Free Actions: Free Actions can be performed as much as you like and do not incur cost.
Once per Turn: Can only be performed once. Often related to essence.
Cost Actions: Cost Actions can be performed as much as you like so long as you can pay the cost. Remember that any Fate you have accumulated in your inventory can be spent as if it was any resource. You may also use the public Dungeon Resources.
