Dungeon Horror: The natural spawn of DF and MH

b-dog · 06-01-2011, 06:58 PM

I have seen the sales figures of the Monster Hunters series and it seems to be doing very well. Dungeon Fantasy also seems to be doing well too. So I just think that there should be some crossover stuff. I always feel that horror usually adds a lot of fun to DF campaigns so I would like a Dungeon Horror type supplement. Imagine ruins where treasure is supposed to be found. This ruins could have been a temple to demon lords, a stronghold of an evil wizard or the castle of a greedy king. Most people avoid this ruin so some of the standard monsters have moved into the ruin to use it as a hiding place. So you have you basic monsters like goblin-kin, ogres, minotaurs, trolls and so forth residing in the ruin and the PCs must face and defeat them before they can find the treasure hidden deep in the ruin. Then the dungeon takes on a more eerie tone which dark and mysterious goings on in the ruin. Maybe the temple still functions and a cult still worships demons there, or maybe the evil wizard transformed himself into a lich and now sleeps until anyone disturbs his lair or maybe the king will arise as a draugr or wight if anyone tries to take his treasure.

I think that good adventures have a lot of action which the general dungeon part does a good job at providing and then there is some sort of riddle or puzzle to be solved about who or what lived in the ruins before. The second part fits very well with the Monster Hunters series and I think that it would make the dungeon more interesting. Maybe the undead in the dungeon can make several attacks on the adventurers and when weakend the undead monster retreats leaving his goblin-kin and other nasties to keep the PCs busy. This way the PCs will get to have an adversary that they know and when they are able to finally defeat him or her it will add to the experience. Just my 2 cts.

Not another shrubbery · 06-02-2011, 10:58 AM

Lessee... 325 point starting characters, with the enemies bumped up to match, and the name should be an amalgam of the two series titles: Dungeon Hunters doesn't do enough to differentiate it from the normal DF goings-on, so Monster Fantasy looks like the better choice.

As befits the theme of the books ;)

Adina · 06-02-2011, 03:59 PM

Shouldn't that be unnatural spawn?

Anthony · 06-02-2011, 05:16 PM

I'm missing how this is significantly different from 'normal' DF.

sir_pudding · 06-02-2011, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony

I'm missing how this is significantly different from 'normal' DF.

A focus on investigation instead of exploration?

OldSam · 06-02-2011, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthony

I'm missing how this is significantly different from 'normal' DF.

If the PCs use the templates from MH the difference is basically about 150 CP more in general ability plus they have guns with a lot of firepower... =)

Faolyn · 06-02-2011, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
I'm missing how this is significantly different from 'normal' DF.

A focus on investigation instead of exploration?

Also more monsters that mimic humans/elves/what have you, instead of ravenous beasties.

Crakkerjakk · 06-02-2011, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faolyn

Also more monsters that mimic humans/elves/what have you, instead of ravenous beasties.

Might be a good "urban DF" game. Find the cult of the Elder Things before the next full moon, etc.

Piperdog · 06-03-2011, 04:08 AM

I think the best way to differentiate it from "normal" DFt would be to mimic other dark fantasy genres, like Warhammer for instance. Dungeon Horror/Dark Fantasy means, to me at least, that characters can go insane or become corrupted (or both). With the new rules for fear checks, expanded rules on Insanity (Stress, Derangement, and Corruption), players have to fear more than physical damage. Magic items may now cause Corruption, slowly taking away "good" qualities, like Honesty, Sense of Duty, etc and replace them with other qualities, like Sadism, Bully, Bloodlust, etc. The new Fright Check overlays, coupled with Stress and Derangement scores, now lead players down a path to madness. Pretty dark stuff!

starslayer · 06-04-2011, 09:45 AM

In a DF/horror crossover I think the unfazeable and indomitable advantages SHOULD come into play (being completely unavilable in horror for obvious reasons)- though perhaps carry a genre-specific UB cost due to the prevalence of fright and horror checks (perhaps kicking each of those up to 50 points total).

Consider how a wizard would have to change if magic comes from dark eldrich sources and so much as READING a book on spell lore might drive you insane, a specific 'dark wizard' template may still be lilly white (well mostly), but posses the insurmountable courage to stare down the horrid text, learn the secrets within, and then deploy those secrets against the mind-warping beast threatening the villiage- dungeon fantasy is, ultimately, about killing things; if you can only get into (satistically) ~100 encounters before.

While having the Barbairan slowly change from being honest to sadist is fine, any part where disadvantages CONTINUE to accrue might be an issue, making prolonged use of magical items- so being able to pick up indomidable so that your super-fancy +3 sword of tentacle slicing does not end up killing your character faster then the tentacles it is means to slice.

Of course another option is to actually make the fright checks and disadvantage shifts/growth FASTER, but make cure madness a relatively cheap thing you can buy in town (like healing, resurrection, and item recharge); thus turning the PC sanity into another resource that must be carefully managed (which is pretty standard with the dungeon fantasy genre).

06-01-2011, 06:58 PM	#1
b-dog Join Date: Nov 2006	Dungeon Horror: The natural spawn of DF and MH I have seen the sales figures of the Monster Hunters series and it seems to be doing very well. Dungeon Fantasy also seems to be doing well too. So I just think that there should be some crossover stuff. I always feel that horror usually adds a lot of fun to DF campaigns so I would like a Dungeon Horror type supplement. Imagine ruins where treasure is supposed to be found. This ruins could have been a temple to demon lords, a stronghold of an evil wizard or the castle of a greedy king. Most people avoid this ruin so some of the standard monsters have moved into the ruin to use it as a hiding place. So you have you basic monsters like goblin-kin, ogres, minotaurs, trolls and so forth residing in the ruin and the PCs must face and defeat them before they can find the treasure hidden deep in the ruin. Then the dungeon takes on a more eerie tone which dark and mysterious goings on in the ruin. Maybe the temple still functions and a cult still worships demons there, or maybe the evil wizard transformed himself into a lich and now sleeps until anyone disturbs his lair or maybe the king will arise as a draugr or wight if anyone tries to take his treasure. I think that good adventures have a lot of action which the general dungeon part does a good job at providing and then there is some sort of riddle or puzzle to be solved about who or what lived in the ruins before. The second part fits very well with the Monster Hunters series and I think that it would make the dungeon more interesting. Maybe the undead in the dungeon can make several attacks on the adventurers and when weakend the undead monster retreats leaving his goblin-kin and other nasties to keep the PCs busy. This way the PCs will get to have an adversary that they know and when they are able to finally defeat him or her it will add to the experience. Just my 2 cts.

06-02-2011, 10:58 AM	#2
Not another shrubbery Join Date: Aug 2004	Re: Dungeon Horror: The natural spawn of DF and MH Lessee... 325 point starting characters, with the enemies bumped up to match, and the name should be an amalgam of the two series titles: Dungeon Hunters doesn't do enough to differentiate it from the normal DF goings-on, so Monster Fantasy looks like the better choice. As befits the theme of the books ;)

06-02-2011, 03:59 PM	#3
Adina Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Louisville, Ky	Re: Dungeon Horror: The natural spawn of DF and MH Shouldn't that be unnatural spawn?

06-02-2011, 05:16 PM	#4
Anthony Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Berkeley, CA	Re: Dungeon Horror: The natural spawn of DF and MH I'm missing how this is significantly different from 'normal' DF.

06-03-2011, 04:08 AM	#9
Piperdog Join Date: Aug 2008	Re: Dungeon Horror: The natural spawn of DF and MH I think the best way to differentiate it from "normal" DFt would be to mimic other dark fantasy genres, like Warhammer for instance. Dungeon Horror/Dark Fantasy means, to me at least, that characters can go insane or become corrupted (or both). With the new rules for fear checks, expanded rules on Insanity (Stress, Derangement, and Corruption), players have to fear more than physical damage. Magic items may now cause Corruption, slowly taking away "good" qualities, like Honesty, Sense of Duty, etc and replace them with other qualities, like Sadism, Bully, Bloodlust, etc. The new Fright Check overlays, coupled with Stress and Derangement scores, now lead players down a path to madness. Pretty dark stuff!

06-04-2011, 09:45 AM	#10
starslayer Join Date: Dec 2006	Re: Dungeon Horror: The natural spawn of DF and MH In a DF/horror crossover I think the unfazeable and indomitable advantages SHOULD come into play (being completely unavilable in horror for obvious reasons)- though perhaps carry a genre-specific UB cost due to the prevalence of fright and horror checks (perhaps kicking each of those up to 50 points total). Consider how a wizard would have to change if magic comes from dark eldrich sources and so much as READING a book on spell lore might drive you insane, a specific 'dark wizard' template may still be lilly white (well mostly), but posses the insurmountable courage to stare down the horrid text, learn the secrets within, and then deploy those secrets against the mind-warping beast threatening the villiage- dungeon fantasy is, ultimately, about killing things; if you can only get into (satistically) ~100 encounters before. While having the Barbairan slowly change from being honest to sadist is fine, any part where disadvantages CONTINUE to accrue might be an issue, making prolonged use of magical items- so being able to pick up indomidable so that your super-fancy +3 sword of tentacle slicing does not end up killing your character faster then the tentacles it is means to slice. Of course another option is to actually make the fright checks and disadvantage shifts/growth FASTER, but make cure madness a relatively cheap thing you can buy in town (like healing, resurrection, and item recharge); thus turning the PC sanity into another resource that must be carefully managed (which is pretty standard with the dungeon fantasy genre).