So I just had my first trip to the caverns with the writ for it and boy this was just one big mistake.
This dungeon is as enjoyable as sandpaper between the cheeks to put it bluntly. My personal super peeve here? The enemy size and why they are using knockdown.
Like these use the kobold model which is considered small. Yet they have a knockdown that even sits a tall Orc on his rear. So I would like to suggest to either have these 'kobold' troglodytes get a model that makes more sense or rename the place anklebiter cave.
Alternatively... less knockdown would also be great. They literally spam it on every attack. So anyone without high discipline is just toast.
And yes, we were in a group! This wasn't a solo adventure, in case anyone gets that idea.
I just wanted to second that, while it's clear that a lot of work was put into this cave, it's a very very frustrating writ the first time around.
To be sure, the second time around-- when you know what you're doing, it's fun.
FIRST-TIMERS TAKING THE QUEST TALKING TO THE MAYOR
I suggest having the mayor offer a warning-- and allowing people to cancel this writ. "Many adventurers have gotten lost in the cavern, complaining there is a very confusing maze. Others have run out screaming in fear and anger claiming one of the monsters is impossible to kill. As such, we allow adventurers to come back and back out of this quest."
THE "MAZE"
Please consider eliminating the traps and pruning a few branches. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to get to the door, realize it's locked, and have to go back through that maze, going over all of the traps, looking for that blankety-blanking lever. This isn't like the minotaur cave where the caverns have been cleared-- if you're not a rogue, every time you run back through that maze, it costs you a potion or a healing kit.
It's easy the second time around where you have a rough idea of where it is. If you're the developer playing that maze, you'll have a lot of fun-- but that's because you know where the switch is.
THE "FINAL BOSS"
Okay, whoever designed this room-- for first time characters trying to solo it-- after running through that maze, after getting ambushed by all kinds of Troglodytes, after you go in there thinking this is just another final boss encounter-- (1) can probably write gothic horror novels to rival Stephen King and (2) is being a little bit too much of a sadist.
So, you go in there, you kill all of the henchmen and then you start working on the final boss-- and then-- just when you think you've got him-- you discover that you have... a problem. After all of that hell.
And there's no hints. No real hints.
Right clicking, reading the description of the boss doesn't help.
The one hint that I will drop to the people who google this after dying or nearly getting killed is that the solution is closer than having to run back through the maze and hit the lever.
SUGGESTIONS
1.) Eliminate the traps in the maze, and maybe take out a branch or two. Add a few extra encounters instead. Having this, quiet, empty maze to run back through *does* add to the vibe and reduces the aggravation.
2.) The final room needs a bit more of a hint. Okay, maybe having an emote makes things too obvious, but when the player gets desperate enough to start right clicking on stuff, I feel like that's when the DM from the tabletop D&D 3.5 days would start tryna drop a hint or two.
Without giving it away... doing what needs to be done... also needs to be easier for certain characters, and there are some tweaks that can be done on that front. Every character can do it... but it will be easier for some than others.
Put a hint in the description of the final boss, and in the other descriptions. When you're desperate enough to right click and examine him, you should start to get a hint as to what to do.
3.) The mayor needs to warn that this is not your average hack-and-slash or delivery writ... in my view it's even harder than the Minotaurs as a first-time-blind dungeon. This dungeon is a mini Stephen King novel. Players need to have an option to go running, screaming, and angry-as-heck back to town and ask the mayor to remove the writ.
Cool dungeon. Tone it down a bit and offer people some warning.
I feel like a lot of effort went into designing this dungeon, but I feel like 2-3 *blind* playtests (from people who had never seen it before) would have resulted in some tweaks.
Last edited by Illudran on Thu Aug 13, 2020 7:10 am, edited 5 times in total.
Illudran wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2020 6:59 am
If you're soloing this dungeon, and you're going in blind... this is the hardest dungeon on Skaljard.
Pretty much this and the masters of monsters. Going in blind to these dungeons without ever being there before its very optimistic. The trogs is also the longest screen of my life (and the subterranian pools *shudders*).
As for the KDs. I actually did this dungeon today too and yeah, they really KD a lot and their ab is surprisingly high even in their KD rolls. I'd say everything else in the dungeon is quite balanced on the challenging end of it but getting KDed and eating a crit from spear can be the end of a level 5-9 character with very little counterplay.
KriegEternal wrote:
Their really missing mords and some minor flavor things.
