Comments on: Maze of Possibilities

By: phasedweasel

phasedweasel — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 20:31:14 +0000

Fuck fuck – didn’t finish reading to the disclaimer. Delete my post if you don’t want to know!

By: phasedweasel

phasedweasel — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 20:29:31 +0000

I liked the “Chaos Maze” mechanics presented in the Fourthcore module “Fane of the Heresiarch” a lot. Instead of card draws, the 25 cards are placed face down in a grid, and essentially you play a game of memory. Match pairs of “progress” cards to earn a success. Failure to do so incurs certain penalties. There is also a “reward” pair, and five “monster” cards. The cards are removed when matched, and reshuffled after each player picks two.

I used this to simulate an “impossible geometry” maze created by a Lovecraftian horror in my game. It allows for player skill (ability at memory) and creates better choices, I think, than card draws or a random generator.

By: froth

froth — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:26:29 +0000

I don’t know if you have access to the old 1e adventure “Pharaoh”or not, but it has a maze/gauntlet portion that might be worth looking at to see if it gives you any ideas.

By: Benoit

Benoit — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 23:14:13 +0000

I agree with DeuceDM – there should be “shades” of success. Higher check = get to look at more cards. Also, give the decision to roll a skill check some teeth – what is the consequence for failure? Give some treasure back, automatic failure, automatic encounter? Decisions are always engaging.
You could also give a choice of some sort upon success – draw x number off the deck OR draw 1 off this other “minor treasures” deck, which has small consumables that boost skill checks or whatnot. OR the “minor treasures” deck could just be a range of skill bonuses, BUT the labyrinth has to be beaten in a certain number of turns. So then the decision becomes, “Do I take a bonus for a future turn, increasing the likelihood that I can draw more than one card, or do I draw a progress card because we have to beat this thing quickly?”

Both of these things keep it from turning into “My turn? I roll to see if I can draw two…no…I draw one.” That would get boring quick.

By: DeuceDM

DeuceDM — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:57:09 +0000

D,
Why not a two or three different decks to simulate the skill, then the roll determines the # of cards the player can draw? Maybe 1 card per 10 on the skill check? Nat 20 = an extra card? Would add to the complexity of the program, but also give the maze ALOT of flexibility.