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View Full Version : Dungeoneering as an industry



Attilargh
2007-05-07, 09:22 AM
Some time ago I read Dungeonscape (a very nice book), which presented a metric ton of ideas for all kinds of dungeon-crawls. I especially liked how it reminded the reader how not everything in a dungeon has to be slain and/or looted, and it got me thinking about the classic game Nethack: Sometimes your character would encounter a shop, sometimes a sink, sometimes a hobbit asking about a ring. Thus was born a (not entirely original) idea:


The Forgotten City of Capitalism!

(...Okay, the cheesy title belies the [a bit more] serious intent behind this adventure location.)

Ages ago, a disaster befell a grand city, home to thousands of sentient beings who suddenly faced a decision between perishing and leaving their homes behind. In the end, only ruins remained, and even they were swallowed by nature.

That was then. This is now:

The city is alive again. However, this time its inhabitants are not the commoners and nobles of the past days, but the monsters and adventures of heroic tales. These daring dungeoneers brave the dark depths below the city as well as the airy spires reaching for the heavens. Some perish. Others find riches beyond their wildest imagination...

...And then they have to figure out how to transform it to hard cash. Normally, they'd achieve this by trekking days through the vilest, most dangerous wilderness imaginable to reach the nearest port of "civilization", tempting Fate with each and every step.

This time, however, it is the civilization that has come to the adventurer. As the fame of this great treasure-trove spread, an industrious mind came up with the idea of selling the ever-necessary supplies where they were needed the most, instead of leaving ill-prepared customers to grisly fates just because they forgot to buy some extra rope. This first business was soon followed by other people presenting other necessities of life, such as a relatively safe and warm bed, some proper food, or something to drown the horrors in.

Now, these brave few have pioneered an entire industry, and an entire town has sprung up simply to support adventurers and the ones supporting them. Orcs and goblins rub shoulders with humans and kobolds between tents and reused housing, all looking out for the next big find, and of course the one who makes it. It is a dangerous place with monsters and other dangers often just beyond the wall, and the only law is the law of whatever gang you are on the turf of. Nonetheless, new hopefuls come in every day.


I was thinking about setting my next adventure here. I just have to come up with a proper name for the place and iron out any idiocies. I'd appreciate any help, especially with the latter.

Indon
2007-05-07, 09:32 AM
Oooh, I like. Kind of Gold Rush + Salvaging Operation.

A few supplimentary ideas:
-The logistics side is probably patronized by a powerful Wizards' guild. There is probably an air travel route established for the export of loot (pretty ad hoc at first, but more established as time passes), and perhaps even some kind of teleportation gateway being constructed (of course, they don't finish until the PC's are mid-high level).
-Treasure is probably purchased from adventurers at a fraction the normal price; 1/8'th seems reasonable (as opposed to the standard 1/2). Upside, this allows you to throw piles of treasure at the PC's without worrying about getting them _too_ wealthy.
-There will be opposing adventurers out to stop or hinder your PC's, and there will be 'adventurers' who outright try to kill and rob them, in any order.

I've no good ideas for your name, though.

Jothki
2007-05-07, 10:05 AM
I think there's already a setting like this, though I forget what it's called.

mikeejimbo
2007-05-07, 10:11 AM
El Dorado, the City of Gold!

OK, even less original, but funny.

I like the idea, though. The city is far away from any other civilization? What's outside of it?

JungeonJeff
2007-05-07, 10:22 AM
I think there's already a setting like this, though I forget what it's called.


Mordheim, City of the Damned..... oh wait, wrong game! :smallredface:

But yes the idea is actually really cool, and would give a nice break of pase from the "normal" fantacy setting.

Fhaolan
2007-05-07, 12:46 PM
*laugh* This is like Seattle in the days of the gold rush. Many, many fortunes were made in Seattle as the last place to get supplies before crossing the border north. There were laws in place that you weren't allowed to cross the border without a ton of supplies with you.

Actually, that's an interesting idea as well. You could have a police force that prevents adventurers from going into certain dungeon areas unless they are obviously prepared for it. The police force being funded by the merchants selling the equipment, of course. :smalltongue:

"I'm sorry, this area is off-limits unless you have a 10-foot pole."

"Oh, is there some obstacle you need a 10-foot pole to bypass?"

"Oh, no. This part of the dungeon is being sponsored by Jerry's Jeneral Store! Get your 10-foot poles at Jerry's Jeneral Store! On sale now."

mikeejimbo
2007-05-07, 12:48 PM
Lots of people made money in the gold rush, very few through actual gain of gold, eh?

Attilargh
2007-05-08, 07:57 AM
Mordheim, City of the Damned..... oh wait, wrong game! :smallredface:
Good catch, that. Now that I think of it, didn't the Maztica supplement for Forgotten Realms have a few similar places?


-The logistics side is probably patronized by a powerful Wizards' guild. There is probably an air travel route established for the export of loot (pretty ad hoc at first, but more established as time passes), and perhaps even some kind of teleportation gateway being constructed (of course, they don't finish until the PC's are mid-high level).
I was thinking about having this place be a part of my homebrew campaign setting (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37206), which would mean that initially psions would outnumber mages and thus transport magic would not be common enough to be used in this manner. That'd mean well-protected caravans would handle the logistics, at least to begin with. As time progresses and the Good Stuff is uncovered, mages would probably turn up.

(In my setting psionics are the human way of dealing with the supernatural, arcana the elven. As elves are foreigners, coming from over the seas, the number of mages grows with the elven population. But that's beside the topic.)


-Treasure is probably purchased from adventurers at a fraction the normal price; 1/8'th seems reasonable (as opposed to the standard 1/2). Upside, this allows you to throw piles of treasure at the PC's without worrying about getting them _too_ wealthy.
Well, it's logical, but I'm not sure if I want to calculate four times as much treasure as the "industry standard". I think I'll just hand-wave it away with vague ramblings of "seller's market", "free competition" and such.


-There will be opposing adventurers out to stop or hinder your PC's, and there will be 'adventurers' who outright try to kill and rob them, in any order.
Obviously. Besides being cool, they help keep the PCs out of the outright fatal parts of the city, without being truly deadly themselves.

One thing that really bugs me about stereotypical dungeon crawls is that they present so few opportunities for PC-NPC interaction. Whereas in a "normal" dungeon you kick the door in and probably kill all the ugly creeps inside, here it is completely plausible to find someone already doing it and then have to negotiate how to share the spoils.

Incidentally, having to clean rats out of cellars will not be a very common job for PCs; There is always some other 1st-level wannabe-adventurers doing it for significantly less.


I like the idea, though. The city is far away from any other civilization? What's outside of it?
Wilderness. I was thinking of slapping it down on a coast in the jungle. Neighbours consist mostly of cannibalistic tribes of orcs and goblins, as well as the local fauna. (Snakes, spiders, piranhas, big cats, et cetera.)

Easily adaptable for any sort of terrain, really, as long as it's suitably far away from anything and sufficiently hard to reach. In the middle of a desert, wedged in between some tall mountain peaks or in a big cave, it's all good as long as players can feel thankful for not having to leave every time they run out of potions or rope.

Matthew
2007-05-25, 05:31 PM
I think there's already a setting like this, though I forget what it's called.
Monte Cook's Ptolus Campaign Setting is what you are thinking of, I suspect.

Shas aia Toriia
2007-05-25, 10:05 PM
What if you based the town on one of those floating fortress from Ebberon?

Interesting little idea that just popped into my head.

Inyssius Tor
2007-05-25, 10:14 PM
Wilderness. I was thinking of slapping it down on a coast in the jungle. Neighbours consist mostly of cannibalistic tribes of orcs and goblins, as well as the local fauna. (Snakes, spiders, piranhas, big cats, et cetera.)

This actually describes the entire Eberronian continent of Xen'drik pretty well; the only thing missing is the scorpion-oriented tribal Drow.

Glyphic
2007-05-25, 10:19 PM
Me, I'd call it Delirium. But, given the city's Origin, it's gotta be flashy enough to attract adventurers, and of course give honor to it's founder. Fortune's Maw, Maybe.

I've got to question how Old the new city is, and how much of it has already been plundered. Also, what happens when people aren't finding new nuggets could start an interesting arch.

Fizban
2007-05-25, 11:09 PM
You could have it randomly connect to portions of the great dismal delve on the earth elemental plane. If people randomly disappear into different dungeons while exploring the old city, that gives an excuse to hand wave questions of why it hasn't all been plundered yet, and to keep sending them in for more random dungeons. And that one slaver genie guy could pop out of the delve to grab slaves every once in a while for a diversion from dungeon crawling.

tsuyoshikentsu
2007-05-26, 01:06 AM
Here's a fun thought: if you go far enough down, you hit a portal tothat other really big city.

You know.

Dis.

Attilargh
2007-05-26, 02:10 AM
What if you based the town on one of those floating fortress from Ebberon?
I haven't read Eberron all that well, but I must admit that whole parts of the city taking to the skies would be a pretty awesome sight.


This actually describes the entire Eberronian continent of Xen'drik pretty well; the only thing missing is the scorpion-oriented tribal Drow.
Bugrit. Erm, great minds think alike? And my drow will be desert-dwellers quite a ways from this place.


I've got to question how Old the new city is, and how much of it has already been plundered. Also, what happens when people aren't finding new nuggets could start an interesting arch.
It was abandoned approximately a thousand years ago, give or take few. Enough to have no indigenous zombies, at any rate. Wasn't re-discovered until recently, and fatal encounters with local goblins and other fauna (not to mention traps) keep the plunderer population down. Most of the looters stick to the fringes of the city, because it gets really nasty once you get a bit deeper into the rich areas and they just don't have the levels to survive.

Just remembered the book Stalker by the Strugatsky brothers. I think I might introduce some wild magic areas or something to keep people on their toes. Zones of Reverse Gravity, for example, or illusory terrain above hazards. A bit like the encounter traps in Dungeonscape.

...I really need to write this place down properly. Why it was abandoned, who live there now, why is it so blonking hazardous, etc. I've got great ideas of world-domination plots and aberrations and dragons and whatnot, but don't yet know how they all fit together. Suffice to say, there's something nasty brewing within those ruins.


Here's a fun thought: if you go far enough down, you hit a portal tothat other really big city.

You know.

Dis.
"Dis" as in "the place in Hell"? Now that's an idea... :smallamused:

As an aside, I was thinking of retooling the cosmology by having just an infinite underworld-y place for all the extraplanar beings. Incidentally, it exists below the upper world and can be reached by going down for long enough. But that's neither here nor there.