03-31-2011, 11:56 AM
Aldarron Wrote:A lot of the rooms are empty because that was how the dungeon was intended - call it Arnesonian realism - to reflect actual use, as opposed to a gonzo monty hall situation. Dave stocked primarily by letting the dice decide for him. Take another look at that DF post for the castle or the intro in the FFC where Dave discusses his stocking percentages.
Another thing was that Dave had the "bad habit" of restocking his dungeon however he pleased - imagine that. So there are some accounts that describe stuff not seen elswhere. I try to account for the locations of some of those accounts in this thread http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?bo ... hread=4666
But its mostly guesswork...
Good work on pulling the stories together and notating map locations.
After re-reading exactly what you pointed out in the FFC, it does make a lot of sense. Most of the rooms aren't empty, as the chance for random encounters and re-stocking seems to pile on at least a few more encounters per level, so that seems to (vaguely) equate to 1 encounter every 1.5 rooms or so, which is perfect.
I actually plan to do much the same; I may use some of the FFC encounter lists more as a "random encounter/re-stocking" list to complement the encounters in Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor. That way, I won't feel too bad about axing any encounters that I don't feel fit my style or the (occasionally silly) Blackmoor style. I want the encounters to all be memorable and have a place, so anything that's just "here's a creature...um...because" is going the way of the dodo in my campaign.
I've already got a plan for the PCs' first sojourn into the dungeons, and it will -- quite on purpose -- be a short stint. I think that way I can see how many baddies my player takes care of, and re-stock immediately for the next time he goes down there, which will set up the idea that it's a dynamic dungeon environment early on.
My only problem now is that my idea relies on there being a quick route to level 3 (not a direct route maybe, but something a little quicker than what I think is there, unless I missed something). That's where I'll do the next part of my research: using Tavis' maps to figure out the quickest possible route to level 3, and then figure out the logistics of a possible chase sequence through that route.