Dungeons

However, our protagonist falls victim to a devious plot hatched by his thoroughly vile ex-girlfriend and finds himself at the bottom of the underworld hierarchy and the top of the dungeon pile which in this world is about as bad as it can get. Our Lord must have his revenge, and make his way back down the dungeon levels to his rightful place.

At his disposal are his dim-witted goblin minions who dig tunnels and build rooms to lay out his lair and trap ever stronger and braver heroes who dare to enter. It goes without saying that a malicious and sneaky creature such as our Dungeon Lord has more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Revenge will be sweet indeed.

Lesson 1 "Happy Heroes = Awesome Resources"

Your main job as a Dungeon Lord is to keep heroes happy. Yes, you read that right...you have to keep the heroes entertained - but not because you're a nice guy. No, you see a happy hero equals a hero who is rich with wonderful and powerful soul energy. That soul energy is what we in the dungeon-making trade consider a prime resource, so if you can "fatten" up heroes, they become ripe with soul energy, that you can siphon from them in prison cells and torture chambers. Mmmm…I do love a good torture chamber.

So, what sort of needs to these pesky adventurers have?

• Need for Treasure: The hero loves treasure and shiny things. He satisfies that need by stuffing his bags with the contents of a treasure chamber.

• Need for Knowledge: The hero is, frankly, a nerd and quests for knowledge to he can prove he’s smarter than anyone else. He satisfies that need by reading books in libraries.

• Need for Equipment: The hero just plain loves cool stuff. If this were the modern world, he’d be the guy sitting around the electronics store waiting for the latest gadget to be released. This type of hero satisfies his cravings by stealing new items from armories.

• Need for Damage: Some heroes are just plain weird. This hero acknowledges his masochistic instincts and just loves it when monsters inflict damage on him in battle. I think I dated someone like this a while back…

• Need to cause Damage: This hero has a sadistic need to inflict damage on monsters. (now that’s my kind of man!). The stronger the monster, the greater the satisfaction he gets in delivering a sound pounding to it.

• Need for Traps: Much like the damage-seeker, this “hero” is certainly one of the stranger creatures you’ll meet, as he satisfies his needs by tripping traps

• Need to Heal Others: What a sweetheart (yuck!)…this hero type has a need to heal others. He satisfies it by healing other heroes with potions and healing spells you leave around the dungeon for him to discover.

You might be wondering how exactly you meet these adventurers’ needs. Good, it means you’re paying attention to the lesson! You meet each type of need by building specific “provider rooms,” each custom-tailored to specific needs. Here’s the list of provider rooms you can build -

The different Need Provider Rooms

• Treasury: You can build treasuries wherever is space. Heroes with a Need for Treasure will automatically go to a treasury and take your precious gold from it, until it is empty. If you have enough Gold, your goblin workers will automatically refill any empty coffers, to ensure that you can satisfy all the heroes.

• Armory and Library: You can build those only in rooms (at least 2x2 tiles) of a specific type. Armories fulfill the need for equipment, while libraries fulfill the need for knowledge. There are three different types of gimmicks you can stock these rooms with.

o Interaction gimmicks are important, for they are what let the heroes use the room at all. You can only assign one interaction gimmick per room. The interaction gimmick determines the amount that a hero can "steal" from a room

o Efficiency gimmicks determine the speed at which the hero satisfies the corresponding need. Heroes can therefore satisfy their current need more quickly in a high-efficiency room than in a more inefficient room. Your goblin workers can restore the room's capacity by working on efficiency gimmicks

o Capacity gimmicks determine the supplies that the room has to offer. Every time a hero fulfills his needs in this room, the room's supply decreases.

Lastly, how do we satisfy those heroes who love to receive or inflict damage, or can’t get enough trap-tripping? That’s all part of the dungeon design kit, my attentive student! By using gimmicks, you can place monster spawn points or traps throughout the dungeon. When a hero passes by one, he could end up in a battle with blobs, skeletons, zombies or far worse. If you’ve played your cards right, you’ll be able to knock out the hero, take him to your prison cells or torture chambers, and extract some soul energy, turning that pesky hero into a sort of battery filled with lovely soul energy.

There you have it, my Dungeon Lord in training, a look at what sort of turn-ons the heroes in Dungeons have, and how you can meet those needs in order to attract more targets, excuse me, “heroes”, to the dungeon – so you can capture the witless fools and steal their precious soul energy away!