The Dunhurst Custom Dungeon ~ 13 Floors Deep?!: RP Interest / Guide Q&A Thread

[Astral Harmony]

Current Guide Update: 10/14

Alrighty, time for me to become a more disciplined GM! The fans are counting on it! And now that Pokemon Umbral is becoming streamlined and I'm finally over my extreme addiction to video games, I'd like to toss around this other wacky idea that's in my head.

So, how should I put this? Not very long ago, the Kingdom of Herxweicht (I dunno how to pronounce it, either) sprung up from a collection of co-dependant villages into a kingdom powerful enough to rival other global powers. How is that even possible? Through a strange classification of magic called...

Architectury!

Yeah, I guess I'd better explain myself. Architectury is a bizarre form of magic that can construct customized dungeons in a manner of weeks that draw hordes of monsters to them. Architectury has been banned in other nations because there's clearly no desire to have monster-filled dungeons springing up everywhere. But apparently someone found a use for the magic after all. By creating custom dungeons, one can encounter custom monsters, and acquire vast amounts of custom loot. And that's how Julian Herxweicht, the hero who found a use for Architectury, built a kingdom in a mere couple of decades.

But these days Herxweicht, both the man and his kingdom, faces a crisis. Due to the sudden explosion in popularity for custom dungeons due to their benefits now being fully exposed, every superpower is hiring Dungeon Architects. And it wouldn't be a long time before Herxweicht gets swallowed up in this or that power struggle.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

And Julian's as desperate as they come by this point.

Julian Herxweicht: "She's the only Dungeon Architect still operating in my kingdom. And in order for our kingdom to stay on top, she's going to build a Custom Dungeon just southeast of the town of Dunhurst...thirteen floors deep!"

And gasp you should, my friends. There is no Custom Dungeon in the entire world deeper than ten floors at current, simply because things can get pretty...uhh..."volatile" beyond the fifth floor, and they only get worse as you go deeper and deeper. The thirteenth floor might just be the very mouth of hell itself, with artifacts that could decide the fate of entire nations.

Trisharte Ghascleft: "Thirteen floors, huh? The deepest I've ever built a Custom Dungeon is nine floors, but the Guild of Dungeon Architects did say I have a natural talent for this stuff. I can even do Spatial Swapping."

Spatial Swapping? The ability to convert one dungeon space into an entirely different kind? Changing environment and weather? On the fly? Even during combat?!

I'm gonna halt the story there and tell you about how the game plays out.

Each floor takes a week to construct, and on certain days you may need to assist Trisharte with certain aspects of the dungeon construction, like clearing out monsters, or gathering an item, or defeating a powerful monster that appeared suddenly. At the end of the week, Trisharte will have gathered enough power within the floor through constructing the dungeon which will make it possible to start construction of the next floor, but it'll also bring the "Floor Boss" into the dungeon which of course will need to be slain.

You, the players, can come from various races and backgrounds. Maybe you're an honorable elven guardsman hired by the kingdom to protect Trisharte. Maybe you're a centaur opportunist hoping to acquire power of your own by yoinking some artifacts. Maybe you're a fugly halfling trying to win the heart of that cute girl at the inn wearing the blue dress by proving your bravery. But with the dangers that one might encounter in a Custom Dungeon, you should work together.

There'll be various stock RPG classes with statistics and inherent skills 'n' traits, although you'll also be allowed freedom to do some extra customization of your own. I'll also create Racial traits and skills that further upgrade your character. I know I'll also be coming up with weapons that can take advantage of elemental or attribute weaknesses of the various monsters. Most likely armor as well.

If you're familiar with my other RPG, Pokemon Umbral, you can expect combat to flow like that, relying on the fresh and new streamlined system currently being tested and ironed out.

And I guess I should explain Elements and Attributes while I'm at it.

There are quite a few Elements here: Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Light, Darkness, Healing, Poison, and Astral. They have a general Vs relationship going on. Earth & Air, Water & Lightning, Fire & Ice, Light & Darkness, Healing & Poison, with Astral being a rather non-elemental magic that does decent damage regardless of the target's elemental affinity. And don't you worry, mages: you'll be able to customize your magical aptitude as you please.

Attributes are subdivided into Weapon and Physical. Weapon Attributes decide how your weapon does damage: Slashing, Piercing, Blunt, Explosive, yadda-yadda-yadda and these can be effective or ineffective against certain Physical Attributes. Physical Attributes indicate the target's body and include stuff like Human, Dragonic, Aquatic, Skeletal, Spectral, Armored, Mechanical, Floral, Undead, Aerial, Amorphous, and Lightweight. These Attributes can be affected by both Elements and Weapon Attributes, and they'll apply to your characters as well, so pay careful attention to what you decide to create. I'll probably have a bunch of examples of everything up within a week or so, so right now all I'm really looking for is interest. No point constructing a dungeon thirteen floors deep if no one wants to explore the damn thing, amirite?