Re: Re: Dungeon Bashing with HQ2?

From: Manuel MOLINIER <manuel.molinier_at_...>
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:01:46 +0100

Very interesting and with a lot of insight. And this is no wonder that the Lord of the ring was directed by a master in horror movies.

Manuel

On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 12:46 PM, ian_hammond_cooper < ian_hammond_cooper_at_yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>
>
> --- In HeroQuest-RPG_at_yahoogroups.com <HeroQuest-RPG%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "Jeff" <richaje_at_...> wrote:
> > Funny this should be coming up - we are working on a dungeon crawl for
> HQ2 in the Sartar Companion.<
>
> Some things we have been talking about to help you.
>
> The pass/fail cycle is definitely one way to handle this. have a bandolier
> filled with encounters of varying types (obviously that make sense for the
> story) and then throw new 'encounters' of appropriate difficulty at the
> players as the pass/fail cycle prompts. A map is not really important, what
> is important is using the setting during those encounters i.e. narrow
> squeezes, the dusty ancient tomb, chasms, crumbling bridges. Those
> 'features' provide credibility test obstacles for abilities or 'furniture'
> for narration during contests.
>
> Second, look to horror over action movies for better story here. We have
> been too influenced by D&D and first person shooters, to think of dungeons
> in terms of ebbing hit points, lowering magic points, and balancing that
> power ups, magical items etc. Going back to the source it is usually a lot
> more about penetrating an 'alien' realm where you are not in charge, but
> desperately trying to stat alive long enough to rescue the hostages before
> they are sacrificed, find the magic item that will save the village etc. In
> many cases the dungeon is seen as overwhelming - there is no hope of beating
> it, only surviving it.
>
> So you definitely want to throw Hard and Very Hard encounters at the heroes
> to keep them on the back foot, and their objectives should be more about
> 'finding a path' than 'clearing out the dungeon'.
>
> One thing I'm intrigued by here is to what extent the pass/fail cycle is
> different for horror over action i.e. in the rising action on you get a lot
> more tough encounters but in the climax you get easier encounters.
>
>
>

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