Zone ideas

[darkgod]

moaaarrr

[Susramanian]

Urghinithol's Prison

Once upon a time, the good guys imprisoned some gnarly demon Urghinithol in a magic stasis field and sealed it up in a cool dungeon. The player stumbles on the dungeon, finds the imprisoned demon, and obviously determines that freeing it would be fun. The demon is imprisoned on the entry level, and there are three different stairways leading to different sections of dungeon, each of them twisty and turny and filled with horribleness. Somewhere in each of the three branches is an undead wizard who guards a part of the magic key to release the demon. Get all the parts of the key, go back to the entry level, and turn him loose. This triggers a big boss fight with loot at the end.

So wait, why didn't those ancient magic guys just kill Urghinithol? The player did it, obviously. The answer becomes apparent when Urghinithol starts showing up at (long) random intervals for the rest of the game, basically appearing next to the player at inopportune moments and making his life hard. Repeated kills result only in blue drops.

Oh. Those ancient dudes had a good reason for that prison. They didn't just throw the key away because they were just buying time while they searched for a way to kill Urghinithol. Evidently they never found one.

This dungeon could have a sort of sequel quest, where the player tries to find a way to get rid of this annoying demon.

For the dungeon itself, it might be fun to have the three wings be non-linear; side dungeons branch off, dead ends result in backtracking, etc. Finding those key pieces is going to be a pain... and it'll keep the player busy for a good long while.

[Zonk]

I originally meant this for my module, but sharing it here doesn't hurt.
Yes, it's weird.
Indirectly inspired by the 'eye horrors' Edge came up with - and FinalMaster mentioning floating eyes in chat - so thank them too .

A dungeon that *IS* the boss you're trying to kill.

It's so gigantic and not even worth trying to fight from the outside.

So you're actually entering inside to reach its vital organs - brain, heart, whatever - and destroy them.
Doesn't NEED to have regular organs.

Level layout would be weird.
There would be ongoing/regular damage - acid/poison from the stomach, blood/ichor, body fluids...perhaps other types based on what the boss actually is. If it's demonic it could do blight or even fire damage.

Perhaps destroying/hurting non-vital organs(sub bosses)would overall weaken the dungeon.

The inside of this monster has its own fauna - fearsome monsters themselves!
This would be the "immune system", composed of nasty critters, and parasites/bacteria(perhaps the two groups should fight each other..different factions?) that don't appreciate you trying to hurt their host.

On the last level, you have to defeat the actual vital organ(heart would be dramatic, but not needed), which should be immobile but have some powerful abilities(this is no normal organ).

Once it's slain...perhaps you have to get out FAST or bad stuff happens/you risk being trapped/the body decomposes rapidly dealing massive blight damage?


add:
Forgot the boss drop/reward.
I say that instead of the heart dropping something, you should get a minor permanent passive benefit as the last vital energies leave its body and are partly 'absorbed' by you.
Something like +1 to all stats and/or a permanent +5% to some resistances(the damage types you suffered as DOT over time by just being inside there, perhaps).

As for items, there could be a FEW of them spread around the levels, on the 'floor' - high level stuff though. These would be powerful items that the monster swallowed time ago and it hasn't been able to digest yet.

Also, the dungeon layout could shift as the monster 'breathes'/moves around/stuff happens inside .

[darkgod]

Bump! Moar!

[onyhow]

Time Rift (if the chronomancy classes comes out)

Probably some kind of strange space-time anomaly caused by overuse of chronomancy effect by a particularly mad / power crazy Paradox Mage...

The terrain inside occasionally moves around (probably equivalent to regenerate the dungeon level) and periodically suffers paradox effect...

Probably makes the surrounding areas in the World Map look weird too...

[Reverend Bizarre]

The Mausoleum.

You see a crypt guarded by undead warriors. You approached them, but you weren't attacked. Do you want to investigate the place?

Player enters a room filled with non-hostile minor undead (skeletons, ghouls...). At the end of the room there is a door that leads further into the mausoleum, but it's blocked by two major undead creatures and an NPC: young woman Bayonette.

This is how it shall look (. is floor, # is wall, | is a door, @ is Bayonette, U is a major undead).

....#
..U#
..@|
..U#
....#

Dialog:

Bayonette (B): *young attractive woman stands before you. She smiles wistfully* Greetings, stranger.
Player (P): Hail. Who are you and what are you doing in the crypt full of undead?!
B: My name is Bayonette. I'm a novice necromancer. I was just studying how to raise the undead but... Well... An accident happened.
P: 1) A necromancer desecrating a crypt?! I shall not tolerate this. Prepare to die, you filthy creature!
2) Accident? What kind of accident?
B: 1) *she wearily grins* Meh, another "noble" adventurer. Boys, get him! [undead attack the player; Bayonette teleports to the room deep in the crypt where she will wait for the player; she shall have some archmage spells and be quite formidable in combat; however, there must be no undead in that room].
2) You see, this mausoleum was used by some noble bloodline... I raised some of them as undead, but they didn't obey me. It seems to me that their will is strong even after death. So, I can control only these guys. The rest of this place is filled with quite strong undead. I don't have the strength to dispose of 'em, nor can I just leave them there. May be you'll help?
P: 1) I will.
2) That's your problem. You raised the undead, so it's your work to deal with 'em.
B: 1) Oh, really? You will help? Thank you. I'll compensate you for the service. When you kill them all, return to me. [Bayonette moves away from the door; dialog ends]
2) That's bad... However, may be you're right. I'll clean up the mess myself. Farewell. *Bayonette's undead servants go into the room. Then Bayonette herself enters the room and locks it from inside. You hear the fainting sound of battle...* [Bayonette and all her undead disappears; the door is locked, player can't go further; dialog end, quest ends].

If player decided to help, then he must cleanse the crypt.

Mausoleum's lore [I'll improve the second one later...]:

1) Lord Deviver's last will.

"...last thing. I want to be buried in our family mausoleum with my ancestors. Since I'm the last member of our glorious bloodline, the entrance to the mausoleum must be sealed so that spirits of me and my ancestors may rest. Of course, it also should be guarded heavily..."

2) Deviver's bloodline decline.

"...many of them died during the Spellblaze. Survivors were depressed by the death of their relatives, but some of them became formidable spellhunters.

...the name of the last member of bloodline isn't known, so he is just called Lord Deviver. It is said that he was the one who stopped the Spellhunt. Some even say that he was a magician himself, but that wasn't confirmed. He was buried in the family mausoleum, which was then sealed..."

At the end of the crypt player will meet the Lord Deviver himself, which was mentioned in the lore. He is a warrior with some anti-magic talents.

Well, I'll work further on it... It needs some polish.

[darkgod]

I like it; please make a separate thread for it so I can see the updates more easily

[darkgod]

Mooooaarrr

[Susramanian]

Snake Cult Caverns: a bunch of creepy guys who worship snakes have taken up residence in a cave and have started turning it into an underground fortress. Cave layout, but with occasional rectangular completed rooms joined by hallways. The cultists can be any class, but they can all summon snakes. There are also quite a variety of snakes in the caverns, including some unnatural ones. On the lowest level is the cult leader and a Big Ol' Snake. The snake is fast and constricts like some X monsters. The cult leader is a powerful caster.

[Susramanian]

Haunted Manor: you come across a nearly deserted town with a big, scary manor in the center of town. The only person around says he's a member of the noble family that lives in the house, and that something went horribly awry during a gathering in the manor's meeting hall last week. The entire town attended (except for this npc, who was ill), and now the building is sealed shut and emitting all sorts of hellish noises. All the doors and windows seem to be magically sealed, but there's an attic window left open.

The Haunted Manor is a zone which consists of three distinct layers, each of which should have a different layout.

1) Attic. You enter here.
2-4) The three floors of the building.
5-7) Family crypts under the building.

There's a whole town worth of maddened, possessed townsfolk in the building. They can do fun stuff like breathe fire and summon demons and spin their heads around unnaturally. One big, bad spirit is responsible for all the trouble, and the player will encounter it on each level of the zone. The spirit inhabits a human body until the body is killed, then the spirit flees to the down staircase. It is not vulnerable to attack when fleeing. On the bottom level of the zone, the spirit runs out of room to flee, and makes its last stand in a room full of the members of the noble family. It possesses each until the body is killed, then moves to the next. The spirit is now vulnerable to attack when it's between bodies. If you manage to kill it before it uses up the whole noble family, you get a reward from each survivor. Otherwise, you just kill your way through the whole family and eventually finish off the bodiless spirit.

[edge2054]

Last Hope Sewers (because every fantasy game needs a sewers zone!!)

The sewers have been infested by ghouls and the king is offering a reward to anyone that clears out the threat.

Turns out a necromancer is using the sewers to gain access to the cities graveyard and the ghouls are Last Hope's reanimated dead.

[Grey]

Bump for some cool ideas above that I'd like to see in the game. Also here's a new zone idea for the Far East only:

Orc Breeding Pits

"You find an entrance to a dim, moist cavern. The stench of the warm air rising from it is almost unbearable."

The pits are caves similar to the spider lair. The entrance is blocked by several doors in a row, with some orc guards standing outside (just normal warrior types). The caverns inside go on for 3 or 4 levels, and are populated with the following lovely creatures:

Orc Mother
"This giant, bloated form towers above you. Mucus and slime ooze from every orifice, dripping onto the cavern floor. Orc children fight over the right to feed from her distended teats whilst small babies are regularly pushed out from her many pulsating vulvas. The sight and the smell make you retch."
Immobile, HP in the many thousands, very frequently summons orc babies (see below). Causes large slime on-hit damage, has almost no defence but high armour and phys res. Should have other abilities like a corrosive spit and a spell like Ice Storm but causing slime damage + slowing.

Orc baby
"Crawling on all fours, this green-skinned creature is far from cute, with vicious little sharp teeth and nails, and mucusy slime still sticking to its skin."
Slow, very low hp, no xp for killing, drops no loot, small slime on-hit and melee_project.

Orc child
"This small orc has a malicious and greedy look in its eyes. Its veins pulse with new life and it moves with surprising speed. Though not fully developed you can still see the muscles forming on its long limbs, leading to clawed fingers and toes."
Fast (about 80% speed), low hp, no xp, no loot, high regen (about 3-4 health per round), attacks twice per round, can use rush.

Young orc
"This young orc is almost fully formed, with hard muscles prominently visible beneath its thick skin. Whilst it has lost some of the wild energy of its younger siblings you can see the gleams of intelligence and cold calculation behind its dark eyes."
Similar to an orcish warrior, but lower armour and hp, no loot.

At the end would be the boss, the Orc Greatmother, who is similar to the other Mothers but with more abilities such as a bone grab style of attack and capable of several actions per round. Killing the Greatmother would give the achievement "Genocide", and result in reduced orc patrols on the world map.

I can do some lore to back this area up if you want, explaining how after the Spellblaze and the Cataclysm the orcs left in the east had to take drastic measures with the biology of their few remaining women to replenish their numbers quickly.

[darkgod]

moooooar

[Burb Lulls]

(because every fantasy game needs a sewers zone!!)

CORRECT.

The Falque Waterways
A series of tunnels thought to have been a sewer or aqueduct for a now-destroyed ancient city, the Falque waterways were once inhabited by nagas. Years previously, Slasul suddenly ordered a mass exodus from the waterways, and now demands that they never be mentioned again, and that their existence be completely forgotten. Why on earth would he say something like that?

Layout
Frankencoding powers activate!


A Reknor-esque collection of waterways, with pathways on either side and intermittent wooden bridges. Also, to make sure people at least attempt to stay on the walkways...

This isn't that sissy poison water that everybody ignores; foul water deals a mess of blight damage for each turn you're standing in it - not enough for cheap one-shot kills, but enough so that you get out of the freakin' water!

Pertinent files for the zones\falque-waterways folder: The grids.lua holds the waterway's darker walls and floors, water, and wood bridges.

grids.txt

(4.38 KiB) Downloaded 221 times

The zone.lua file:

zone.txt

(1.77 KiB) Downloaded 166 times

And the waterway's tiles for the tilesets/7x7 folder:

waterway.txt

(1.75 KiB) Downloaded 217 times

Enemies
Obviously, while testing, the regular vermin and skeletons that I had in the waterways all immediately died as they hit the water, so every enemy here would have to be blight-immune (or simply have it coded so the water doesn't effect enemies, but I can't do that ).

Along with the usual plague-ridden vermin and undead that inhabit all dungeons, the waterways would also hold a selection of blighted nagas. I made a few (dangerously not tested for balance) nagas for the waterways...



... but I didn't give them nearly as much attention as the dungeon itself.

Boss
Hm... the final level of the waterways could be entirely submerged, and the boss could be Slasul's first failed attempt at the creation of the Devourer, his idea of the naga's next form. No idea about what abilities it could have, although forcibly unequipping items that grant your character water-breathing or destroying air pockets around it sounds like fun .

Reward
V V *shrug*

[Burb Lulls]

Also, the blighted naga's lua file, since you can only attach three files per post.

blight-naga.txt

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