Gary made some changes to the board, insisting that there was an imbalance in the movement on the fourth level, but by and large the game has remained essentially as I designed it. Gary did request player-to-player attack rules which I supplied but I insisted they be optional rules. He added a few more optional rules like wandering monsters, but I viewed these as complications to the basic playI've never played with either of these rules, but can see how they would make the game more interesting for experienced players.
Gygax went on to write two "Dungeon!" rules variant articles:
"Dwarves and Clerics in Dungeon!" in The Strategic Review #6 (vol. II, no. 1) February 1976
The Dwarf: fights as an Elf, ignores traps, needs 10,000 gp to win
The Cleric: fights as a Hero (or as a Superhero against undead monsters and evil characters), can use up to four hold monster or transference (teleport) spells, cannot be wounded or lose a turn unless "seriously wounded" (retreat one space, drop one prize, lose one turn - the same as a "light wound" in the 1980 version) although can still be killed, needs 20,000 gp to win
New Magic Items: boots of speed (3rd level, can move up to 6 spaces/turn), magic armor (5th level, +1,500 gp, opponents "add +1 on rolls of 2-6, -1 on rolls 8-10 and 12, rolls of 7 or 11 not affected").The convoluted rules for magic armor reflect the earlier version of the monster attack table (adding +1 on all monster attack rolls works as a suitable alternative, using the 1980 rules):
Combat Losing Table, from Dungeon! (1975)
The Strategic Review article also includes several new monsters and two new traps:
New Monsters: basilisk, demon, dragon (white), elemental (earth, fire), evil priest, gnolls, harpy, manticore, orc, owl bear, spectre, wight, wraith, wyvern, zombie
New Traps: anti-magic trap (lose all spells and magic items), fireball trap
"Hobbits and Thieves in Dungeon!" in The Dragon #1 (vol. 1, no. 1) June 1976
The Hobbit: moves only 4 spaces/turn, fights as an Elf or a Hero (whichever needs the higher score to defeat a particular monster), more easily stunned (a score of 11 is treated as a 6 or 8 when rolling on the Player Losing Table), can use up to seven missiles (+2 on attack roll, may use from corridor, like spells), finds secret doors 1-3/d6, ignores traps, needs 10,000 gp to win
The Thief: can move up to 6 spaces/turn, fights as a Hero (+1 on first attack, due to stealth and surprise), cannot be wounded in first round of combat (hides in shadows or climbs up out of reach), although can still be killed, steals prize on roll of 12 (avoiding combat, plus can move an additional 3 spaces), finds secret doors 1-2/d6, ignores traps (except slides), needs 30,000 gp to win
Expanding the types of characters possible to choose from invites the use of miniature figures to represent player pieces, as opposed to the colored pawns included with the game. It would be fun to mock up monster and treasure cards to use with these variant rules, someday.
A few summers ago, my son and I experimented with these other character classes, also using the new magic items, monsters, and traps. We found that the Hobbit enjoys clear advantages using its missile attacks, while still only requiring 10,000 gp to win.
Really interesting comments on the variants. Do you think the hobbit variant is simply overpowered or would upping the GP required balance the character?
ReplyDeleteI think it's those 7 missiles at +2 they can throw from the safety of the corridor! Probably warrants a bump to 20,000 gp for the win.
DeleteI've got a few variant rules for Dungeon! we've used up on my blog in this post: Character Levels for Dungeon The one I've used consistently for as long as I can remember is 2d6 for movement. It speeds up the game, and also allows for more tension when two players are trying to get to the same place at the same time. We haven't used the Character Levels/Teaming Up rules in a few years but I think we might try them again soon.
ReplyDeleteThose are great ideas! I especially like your idea for collaborative play, forming a party.
DeleteAnother way to do this is to "pool" the gp required, to get players working together, in order to achieve a common goal.
As far as the Dragon variant rules, we've used those extra monsters for years, as I followed Gygax's suggestion of annotating the monster cards with a code for the extras, which are then cross-referenced with a table with the stats. When I was young I wrote out the Dragon rules by hand on a sheet of notebook paper that I still keep in the game. I actually just played a Hobbit a few weeks ago, perhaps for the first time. We use a -2 on movement with our 2d6 movement house rule. I didn't find it particularly overpowered but I may have not been exploiting it fully.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to mock up "variant" monster cards, some day! Shouldn't be too difficult, using modern printing technology...
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