How much did the labyrinth of doom cost to dig?

[hcobb]

By ITL 139, a hex of spell effect is 10x4x4 feet.

See Balance the Scales for a dungeon that's mostly natural with some Open Tunnel engineering.

[TimRemp]

Originally Posted by hcobb

By ITL 139, a hex of spell effect is 10x4x4 feet.

See Balance the Scales for a dungeon that's mostly natural with some Open Tunnel engineering.

That is how I envision creating a dungeon. Finding a natural cave system with only minor adjustments needed compared to a fully blown virgin dig.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by TimRemp

That is how I envision creating a dungeon. Finding a natural cave system with only minor adjustments needed compared to a fully blown virgin dig.

I've noticed there are rather a lot of caves in my world. A lot. Probably four under the average house, three of which have well-minded monsters who subsist on adventurers dropping in rather than stepping upstairs and making nuisances of themselves. The fourth has a wizard leading a team of dwarves making a homey subterranean stronghold.

It's all a matter of balance. Cidri is really quite civilized in its way, with an implicit social contract including ogres, trolls and demons, each knowing their place for the most part. And if it weren't for the occasional miscreant who steps over the line, what would a PC do anyway? The campaign can't always be about economic issues, after all, or have we learned nothing from George Lucas?

[hcobb]

The dwarves of Dran dig a Tollenkar's every week to month. (Depending on your assumptions about their economy) They've been doing this for at least two centuries.

You're not going to run low on labyrinths any time soon.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by hcobb

The dwarves of Dran dig a Tollenkar's every week to month. (Depending on your assumptions about their economy) They've been doing this for at least two centuries.

You're not going to run low on labyrinths any time soon.

Sorry, why would they be doing that?

After two centuries, Dwarven population density in the mountains would surely be lower than Wyoming. Unless they breed like rabbits and that just doesn't seem dwarfish to me.

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by phiwum

Sorry, why would they be doing that?

After two centuries, Dwarven population density in the mountains would surely be lower than Wyoming. Unless they breed like rabbits and that just doesn't seem dwarfish to me.

The most interesting note ITL about dwarves is the Rubydelve text at ITL 173. This is a town of 2k dwarves who import food and "services". This gives a population range of 6k to 40k warhammer wielding dwarves in Dran who are exporting something to pay for their groceries.

A Wyoming population density of dwarves gives 12k in the mountains, which is comfortably in the range. Wyoming mines 40 million ITL hexes a year, but they don't have magic or dwarves.

[David Bofinger]

Modern mining is a red queen's race. As we exhaust the ore/oil/coal/whatever in mines we switch to others. But this is only possible because our technology keeps improving so mining that was impossible becomes possible. If our society falls then our successors won't have much to mine (other than our ruins) because they won't have the technology to mine the places that haven't been exhausted.

How does this relate to Cidri?

• Theory 1: Dwarvish mining technology keeps improving just like ours and they'll be able to mine deeper and less accessible places. Well, why not? Our society did.
  • Theory 1A: This will allow them to collect the ore they need and continue their business model. It's possible. If Cidri was assembled from basically normal chunks of planet then this would make sense.
    
  • Theory 1B: But they'll find no ore. If Cidri was built to have deposits of ore that dwarves could mine then this would make sense. Why would the Mnoren have bothered to create ore deposits their dwarven pets couldn't reach?
• Theory 2: Dwarvish mining technology won't progress. I find this easy to believe. Cidri doesn't generally seem to be a progressive place.
  • Theory 2A: They will run out of ore. Dwarvish mining in Cidri is doomed, followed by the entire Cidri metallurgy industry. Depressingly believable.
    
  • Theory 2B: Mnoren machinery will make replacement deposits. The Mnoren would not have wanted their pet dwarves to run out of diggables, so maybe they set machinery in motion that would do this.
    
  • Theory 2C: Theory 2B until the machinery wears out and then Theory 2A. Yeah.

Have I missed any possibilities?

[David Bofinger]

Dungeons are the sites of gates into other worlds. Rock from our world falls through these wandering gates to become rocks rolling out of nowhere in the other world. It leaves voids in our world. Later, wandering monsters from their world blunder through the gates to find themselves underground in ours.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by David Bofinger

Dungeons are the sites of gates into other worlds. Rock from our world falls through these wandering gates to become rocks rolling out of nowhere in the other world. It leaves voids in our world. Later, wandering monsters from their world blunder through the gates to find themselves underground in ours.

Nice. That's quite clever.

[Steve Plambeck]

Originally Posted by David Bofinger

Dungeons are the sites of gates into other worlds. Rock from our world falls through these wandering gates to become rocks rolling out of nowhere in the other world. It leaves voids in our world. Later, wandering monsters from their world blunder through the gates to find themselves underground in ours.

Wow -- you've explained Godzilla!