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Dungeons and Dune: Gob's Dungeon


Edric O

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About two weeks ago I promised that in two weeks I would be ready to start a FED2k D&D campaign with anyone who is interested. And now I am indeed ready. What I am proposing is a trial run for a longer, potential future campaign. That future campaign would actually have a serious storyline and plot. The one I'm opening now is just supposed to be a FED2k-themed dungeon crawl with lots of references to past and present forum members and events.

So, without further ado, I give you the introduction to Gob's Dungeon.

For many days and nights you have wondered across the desert, your food supplies running low, your water almost spent. Then, at last, as you slowly made your way around a particularly large dune, you saw what may be your salvation. Not an oasis, for there are none in this parched land, but also not a mirage. A large, golden, sand-polished dome, with a marble causeway flanked by majestic statues. You made you way to the structure, walking upon the marble and glancing on the statues bearing silent witness to your passing. There were five pairs of them on the way to the golden dome.

As you passed between the first pair, you saw on your left what seemed to be a humanoid shape, weathered as if by water. You could make out a head, two arms and two legs, but little else. On your right, there was a fierce hunter in tribal clothing staring down at you as the great serpent coiled next to his feet seemed ready to spring into action.

The second pair of statues was even more threatening than the hunter. On your left, something that looked like a vaguely humanoid, upright lizard was brandishing a spear at you. On your right, a doctor was apparently caught in the act of chuckling while holding a knife so large as to be considered a sword. His face was concealed by a surgical mask, but somehow you felt that he possessed a visage of unthinkable horror.

The third pair was the most disconcerting of them all. On your left, a demon of hell was breathing flames. On your right, a gigantic ringed worm was showing off the teeth lining his three-jawed mouth while watching you with distubingly human eyes, and sporting a pair of very human hands. Strangest of all, he also appeared to be wearing a crown.

The fourth pair, by contrast, was more serene. On your left there was a man with the head of a bull sitting upon a high marble throne and using a quill to write on a piece of parchment. His throne was adorned with something that could only be described as alien writing. On your right there was a bald man with a robotic body gazing off into the distance. His right hand was formed into a fist over his heart, while his left hand held a marble flagpole bearing a still, unmoving marble flag.

The fifth and last pair was quite odd. On your left there was no statue at all, but rather a simple transparent square made out of pure crystal. On your right was a statue of someone who looked like a cheerful bearded mountain climber, with an uncovered head, a pickaxe in one hand and a beaver at his feet.

And then you found yourself in front of the tall black stone gates to the golden dome, and you saw for the first time that above the gate there was a statue greater than all others, golden as the dome itself. It was a great yeti with a huge coat of fur, grinning yet unthreatening, arms outstretched in greeting. You turned around to look at the silent rows of statues, and a shiver of fear passed down your spine as you saw your death on the horizon. A tremendous sand storm, crackling with thunder, wide as the desert itself, was coming your way. You had no choice but to open the great doors of the dome and take shelter inside, shutting them safely behind you.

And that was the introduction to Gob's Dungeon. Kudos if you know what all the statues represent (the first two in particular are very hard). Now, this will be a dungeon crawl for 4-6 players starting at level 10. If you're interested, IM me. We are going to play online on yahoo messenger using conference mode. I chose yahoo because it has an application that allows you to draw things that everyone else can see. That might come in handy. We are going to be using D&D 3.5 rules (um, more or less). If you're unsure about something, ask me.

Also, if all the players agree, I want to post our adventures in this topic for everyone else to read.

Battle Navaros! See Shaddam_Corrino fighting tanks! Take sides in the titanic struggle between communism and capitalism! And find Mahdi his hat. All this and much more in Gob's Dungeon! :)

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I've not got enough time to play the game (need to revise for upcoming exams) but is the second pair Dunenewt and Doc Nyar? Are you the bald man? And of course Mahdi at the end. The Crystal cube however is most confusing.

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Ok, I will answer people who try to guess who the statues were, but only if they put their answers in hide tags.

"You could make out a head, two arms and two legs, but little else."

[hide]<Nema's answer was here>[/hide]

Correct!

"On your right, a gigantic ringed worm"

[hide]<Nema's answer was here>[/hide]

Wrong...

But the question is, can you play, Nema? :)

I would perhaps be interested, but using YIM wouldn't be possible.  I don't use anything other than MSN, but that has a drawing ability as well.  You need to have Windows Journal Viewer installed (don't ask me why) but it works just fine.

Do you mean that you personally can't use YIM, or that there's some feature of it that means my plan wouldn't work? In any case, we could use MSN, or the FED2k chatroom for that matter.

I don't know how to play D&D, could you explain?

The rules are a bit complicated, but the basic premise is this: You build a character that has certain stats and abilities. Then you play the role of that character (hence the term "role-playing game") in an interactive story. For combat or challenging tasks, you use your character's stats and some dice rolling to determine what happens. It's basically an interactive story where you play the hero and must abide by certain rules (so that you're not too powerful).

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Ooh, sounds like fun.  I use MSN myself, but I can probably get YIM for this.

While walking home from a friend's tonight, I was wondering why no one has made an online DND3.5 companion (like Apprentice for Magic: The Gathering).  It could include a chat/IM window, a drawing window with grid (and icons for players, NPCs and monsters), and die rollers (visible to the DM as well as the player rolling).  The DM could save and load premade map layouts and just move the PC/monster icons manually.

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The fifth and last pair was quite odd. On your left there was no statue at all, but rather a simple transparent square made out of pure crystal. On your right was a statue of someone who looked like a cheerful bearded mountain climber, with an uncovered head, a pickaxe in one hand and a beaver at his feet.

[hide]Ghostly_Square and Mahdi.[/hide]

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On your right there was a bald man with a robotic body gazing off into the distance. His right hand was formed into a fist over his heart, while his left hand held a marble flagpole bearing a still, unmoving marble flag.

[hide]Edric, is that you?[/hide]

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"I can't figure out the man with the bulls head"

[hide]Hm... I think it might be me.[/hide]

On the Hunter... I got that impression, too, but wasn't sure why. Survivor sounds right, can't remember the details.

"But the question is, can you play, Nema?"

Don't have YIM, and can't begin until the summer unless we're talking very slow start. But I can play.

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Well, it looks like you have correctly identified all but one of the statues!

The fifth and last pair was quite odd. On your left there was no statue at all, but rather a simple transparent square made out of pure crystal. On your right was a statue of someone who looked like a cheerful bearded mountain climber, with an uncovered head, a pickaxe in one hand and a beaver at his feet.

[hide]Ghostly_Square and Mahdi.[/hide]

Correct.

Oh, damnit, I'm being silly. "On your right, a gigantic ringed worm"

[hide]emprworm[/hide]

That's right.

[hide]I thought the crown would be a dead giveaway.[/hide]

On your right there was a bald man with a robotic body gazing off into the distance. His right hand was formed into a fist over his heart, while his left hand held a marble flagpole bearing a still, unmoving marble flag.

[hide]Edric, is that you?[/hide]

Indeed it is.

[the hunter in tribal clothing]

[hide]Ordos45?[/hide]

Yes, that's him. I thought this statue was one of the most difficult to interpret, since it only references a couple of threads (FED2k Survivor) rather than the person't entire posting career, personality, or username. But I did throw in the snake as a hint.

"I can't figure out the man with the bulls head"

[hide]Hm... I think it might be me.[/hide]

Yes it is. Minotaur... you see the reference. Hehe.

"But the question is, can you play, Nema?"

Don't have YIM, and can't begin until the summer unless we're talking very slow start. But I can play.

It's not intended as a particularly long campaign, and it looks like we might switch to MSN. But, hmmm, define "summer."

Ooh, sounds like fun.  I use MSN myself, but I can probably get YIM for this.

While walking home from a friend's tonight, I was wondering why no one has made an online DND3.5 companion (like Apprentice for Magic: The Gathering).  It could include a chat/IM window, a drawing window with grid (and icons for players, NPCs and monsters), and die rollers (visible to the DM as well as the player rolling).  The DM could save and load premade map layouts and just move the PC/monster icons manually.

That is a brilliant idea and would be extremely useful... I wish someone had made something like it. :-

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Well, once you know the rules it's really easy, but there are lots and lots of rules (I don't know most of them myself; I usually just look them up in the source books when I need them). Basically, whenever your character attempts to do something difficult (meaning some kind of combat action 90% of the time), you roll dice to determine the outcome. The number and nature of the dice is determined by the rules, and so is the dice value you need to get in order for your attempted action to succeed.

Let's use a concrete example: You try to hit an enemy within melee range with your longsword.

First, you need to do an attack roll - that is, roll a die to see if you manage to hit the enemy or not. For attack rolls you always use 1d20 (one 20-sided die). Let's say it comes out as a 12. To this number you add your attack modifiers - any bonuses you get from your character's combat skill (the higher level you are, the greater this bonus), or magical effects. Let's say these bonuses put together come down to 5, so your final attack roll is 17.

In order for you to score a hit, your attack roll must be equal to or greater than your target's AC (Armour Class). In general, AC = 10 + bonuses you get from being able to avoid hits (reflexes, deflection, that sort of thing) + bonuses you get from wearing armour that can absorb the force of a hit. Let's say your target's total AC is 16. 17>16, so you hit.

After you hit, you need to roll to determine how much damage you did to your target (if you didn't hit, skip this step). Damage rolls are more straightforward. Any normal, non-magical longsword does 1d8 damage. So you roll one 8-sided die, and the number that comes up is the number of hit points your target lost.

All of the above shouldn't take longer than a minute in the normal course of a D&D session. You roll 1d20 for attack, add your bonuses and tell the Dungeon Master the number. He knows the target's AC and tells you if you hit. If you did hit, you roll for damage. Then it's someone else's turn.

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