Creating Quests For Deep Dark Dungeons

The rules for Deep Dark Dungeons have been available for a while now and I hope everyone has been having fun trying them out. However, I'm sure by now everyone is also sick of using the random encounter tables in the book and want to know how to craft their own encounters.

The book actually recommends using your own collection of miniatures to craft your own encounters but gives very little idea of how to do that. So I thought in this post I would do about showing how I set up a quest, complete with encounter tables.

To start, I begin with a map. The book recommends a minimum of 4 rooms, but honestly that's a very short game with very little action. It works if you have time or space constraints but not ideal. My sweet spot is around 6 rooms. Anything larger starts to get dangerous but can make for a great marathon. Larger dungeons are also better for stronger groups of heroes. With that in mind, I set up this dungeon.

Six rooms, all left empty to be filled with furniture as the game goes on. Doors, of course, will be set up as the heroes encounter them. Speaking of heroes, the next thing I need is a group of brave victims to tell me how tough my encounters will be. I chose to do a Low Level adventure of 160 points, as I wanted this to be the start of a new campaign. The heroes chosen are:

Dwarf Warrior (40 points) Q3+, C4 Short Move, Steadfast

Human Cleric (36 points) Q3+, C3 Lethal vs Undead

Elf Ranger (45 points) Q2+, C3 Stealth

Human Wizard (40 points) Q3+, C1 Magic-User 

Obviously it's a little over 160 but that's not so big a deal. The idea is to get a fun group together. Now I need a pool of miniatures to create my encounters. Since I have boatloads of monsters to choose from, I decided to restrict myself to the drow box set from Dungeon Command. 

Not only did this give me a bunch of nice pre-paints to play with but saved me having to make too many decisions on what to use. 

When designing encounters, I like to start with the Final Challenge. It gives me an idea of who my bad guy is and helps me work out the theme if I haven't chosen one. For example, if I had chosen an Orc warlord, my normal encounters would contain lots of orc and goblin warriors, with some champions, ogres or trolls for challenging encounters. In this case, I wanted the Drow priestess to be the big bad, along with a couple of big spiders. With no easy stats in the SBH books already, I turned to the SBH warband calculator.

The final challenge is 2/3 of the heroes' point cost so that works out to around 106 points. It should also contain at least one personality. No need to be too exact and it's supposed to be a challenge, so I chose one priestess and two spiders.

Final Challenge (117 points)

Dark Elf Priestess (63 points) Q2+, C2 Evil, Magic-User

2 Medium Giant Spider (27 points each) Q4+, C3 Animal, Clinging, Poison

The Normal encounters came next. Normal encounters are worth 1/3 of the heroes' point total and should be made up of multiple non-personalities. Single models can be used for strong figures but single models can be ganged up on quickly, so they should be played craftily or be a little stronger than normal. You can make up as many encounters as you want but I like to stick to 6, since I can put it on a handy-dandy D6 table. As long as you can randomize what shows up, feel free to use any method you want.

Normal Encounters (D6)

1) 2 Medium Giant Spider

2) Dark Elf Crossbowman

3) 2 Dark Elf Warriors

4) Dark Elf Warrior + Dark Elf Crossbowman

5) Shadow Mastiff

6) Dark Elf Warrior + Medium Giant Spider

Shadow Mastiff (48 points) Q3+, C3 Dashing, Free Disengage, Stealth

As you can see, I chose Dark Elves from the SGD book and added the Medium Giant Spiders from above. The only new model on the list is the Shadow Mastiff. All encounters are around 53 points, but once again not quite exact. You want fun encounters, not a math problem. 

Challenging encounters finish off our list. Challenging should be around 1/2 the heroes' total and generally consist of single, powerful models, which may be personalities. Multiple models can also be used though, if they number close to the amount of heroes or more.

Challenging Encounters (D6)

1) Giant Spider

2) Dark Elf Witch + 2 Dark Elf Warriors

3) Dark Elf Witch Dancer

4) Drider

5) Umber Hulk

6) Dark Elf Witch + Shadow Mastiff

Drider (82 points) Q3+, C3 Big, Clinging, Evil, Magic-User, Magic Resistance

Umber Hulk (82 points) Q3+, C4 Big, Distract, Heavy Armor, Stealth*

*If Song of Wind & Water is available, use Burrowing instead of Stealth (84 points)

Once again, I stuck to stats from SBH and SGD with a couple new monsters thrown in. All come out to around 80 points as well. When making encounters I try to stick with abilities from SBH and SGD because that's what the rules are designed around, but really any SBH supplement can be used. That's why Burrowing is given as an option for the Umber Hulk. The system is totally flexible, though some abilities from other books might be totally useless in a dungeon.

And that's it. It really is just that simple to create your own encounter tables and work up your own quests. You can even take it one step further and create your own tables for furniture and the like, Just make sure you are making fun adventures for yourself, using your stock of minis.

And if anyone wants all the tables above in a handy PDF form, you can get them right HERE.

Happy gaming!

Star Wars X-Wing Episode II: Bring me solo (and a cookie)!

I feel somewhat remiss that I have not yet posted a battle report for X-Wing. I am really beginning to love the way it plays, but I haven't yet gotten to play a REAL game of it, since I haven't gotten to play a game against a live human being yet.

You see, I play a fair majority of my games solo. This is because I have a small pool of friends who enjoy gaming, a schedule that runs counter to theirs most of the time, or a location issue (i.e. they are now living many states away). I also have some pretty strong social anxiety issues that make it difficult to just grab a "pick-up" game here and there.

With most games, this isn't really a problem. Either it is built for solo, or I can easily play both sides in the game. Even in card games, I can usually "forget" what is in Player 2's hand and make decisions objectively (usually). And normally I don't worry too much about it because when I game, I am really in it for the story of what happens. So, yeah, I guess I've gained a sort of secondary personality of sorts.

I am Jack's complete lack of social interaction. 

The problem with X-Wing is that it has a hidden movement mechanic that, for some reason, my brain can't forget about. When I try to pick movement and I know about it, the game always ends up the same because I know exactly where I'm gonna be. And its weird because I can do open movement with other wargames I own, but this one is either too quick (and goes even quicker when movement is predictable) or the pilot skill mechanic is way more powerful when you can see what others are doing. Knowing where the other person is gonna be just breaks the game.

I have heard that some people on BoardGameGeek have had some success with random movement, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Lo and behold, that was the answer. I now no longer knew where my opponent was going to be. Suddenly the game was lasting a little longer and the battles were a little closer. With that in mind, I knew I couldn't help but make it into a scenario for the game and share it!

Mission: Training Sim [Solo]

Cam Vior strapped into the egg-shaped cockpit with shaking hands. First time out, never even sat in a seat before. It was dark. No light except what came in around the door. Suddenly bright light washed around him and he could see again, the interior of a TIE fighter now his surroundings. In the distance, a squadron of X-Wings floated against the star field ahead. A voice came through the comm.

"Pilot Vior, simulation is about to begin. Stand by for combat training."

Mission Setup

Although this mission is for one player, there are still 2 sides in the game. You will get one force that you will completely control. The opposing force will have its movement determined randomly and you will make its decisions for it beyond that.

Rebel: Rookie Pilot [Proton Torpedoes].

Imperial: Two Academy Pilots.

Special note: This mission requires a single regular six-sided die that is not included in the base game. This die can be scrounged from a number of other board games or bought in stores cheap.

Do not choose which force you will be playing. Instead, roll the six-sided die once for each force, re-rolling ties. Whichever side rolls highest is the force you will control. If you are using the squad building rules, build each squad separately before determining which force you will control.

Each force deploys as per the rules for a non-mission game of X-Wing.

Special Rules

Movement AI: During the planning phase, the player sets his maneuver dials for his force normally and they will act as normal during the Activation Phase. Do not set dials for the opposing force. During the Activation Phase, using the chart below, determine the speed and maneuver for each opposing ship as its turn comes up:

This image is not my work but belongs to a wonderful fellow on BGG  whose name I cannot find now.

First, find the ship on the chart. Next roll the six-sided die and compare it to the numbers on the left side. That is the ship's speed. If you roll a number that is not on the chart, roll again until you have a number that is. Then, roll the die a second time, counting that many spaces to the right to see what maneuver is performed at that speed. Once again, if you roll a blank space, roll again. If only one maneuver exists at that speed (besides Koiogran Turns; see below), the ship automatically performs that maneuver.

Koiogran Turns: An opposing ship will not normally make a Koiogran Turn. However, if it rolls a speed a which a Koiogran Turn can be made, after any straight maneuver at that speed where it would end up with no enemy ships in its fire arc, treat that straight as a Koiogran Turn instead (i.e. turn the ship around at the end of the movement). Stress is gained as normal if this is a red maneuver for the ship.

Leaving the play area: AI controlled ships will not normally leave the play area. They have been programmed to keep fighting at all costs. If a maneuver would take an AI ship off the play area, it will instead perform the shortest turn possible to avoid leaving the field. If this would still result in the ship leaving the field, remove it from play, but mark the spot where it left the field. During the next Activation Phase, the ship will return from that point on its turn, performing the fastest straight maneuver it is capable of. Ships controlled by a player are still subject to "fleeing" of they leave the play area, so choose your maneuvers wisely!

Other Phases: The rest of the game is played by choosing what each enemy ship would do as if you were playing that force to the best of your ability. No cheating! If you can't trust yourself use the following AI:

Actions: Actions are given the following priority: Barrel Roll (if necessary to improve or avoid attack arc, otherwise ignore), Target Lock, Focus, Evade. If a ship cannot perform an action, it skips it and performs the next in the order. A ship with only one hull point left ALWAYS Evades.

Combat: The AI ship will always attack the closest enemy ship. If there is a tie, choose the one that has taken the most damage. If there is still a tie, choose the one that has the highest Pilot Skill. Otherwise randomly determine the target. If the AI possesses a secondary attack, it will use that attack if able. 

Objectives

Play continues until all ships on one side are destroyed, leaving one side the victor!

So, that's my scenario. It's nothing new or fancy, compared to what's been mentioned already in various forums, but its at least in mission format. Hope somebody gets some use out of it.

Happy gaming!