Dragonlance - AD&D Official Game Adventures

Yeah I am getting the feeling they seem to be more linear that what I had originally thought. Not knowing exactly how the adventure booklet works and it having all kinds of Events and Encounters, I was hoping for some kind of "mechanic" (for lack of a better word) that would help to "document" an RPG Story.

I scanned and uploaded the map, you can see it at: http://www.bgdf.com/node/14411

But there are still some unanswered questions (if you check that link).

From reading the adventure booklet, I just got the impression that it was more storytelling - and I thought that could be very useful (in my Dungeon-Crawl). But now seeing how the linear component of how the story unfolds, makes it less interesting.

I guess I will have to design some kind of "hybrid" storytelling system for the game...

I was trying to have a way to replace a "Dungeon Master" with having some of the story being "dynamic".

So another alternative to AD&D Adventure Book are the "Fighting Fantasy" books (by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson).

Those books ask the player to make choices and therefore the story progresses based on his/her choices. This is great for a book - but it's not necessarily the best option for documenting an RPG story.

Since there are six (6) "Lords of the Keep", I think the game will have six different scenarios. Just because you have already played the scenario doesn't mean it will be the same:

• The board will be dynamic and different each time.
• The "setup" of the story will be different each time.
• The combat that will occur be different each time.
• The outcome of the game can be different (who wins).

It makes some sense that if players are playing Scenario #1: Lord Asinius, the bald and fat merchant, that the way to win the game (for the Heroes) is identical for each game.

But because of the "dynamic" nature of the board, story elements and combat, the odds of winning will vary greatly. Sometimes the chance of success with favour the Heroes. I want to keep the concept not too complex, so if the Heroes cannot complete the "story" successfully, well then the "Lord of the Keep" wins.

The "Lord of the Keep"'s role is to hinder the Heroes. And he will do so by learning the mysteries of the "Monster Keep" and then use the revealed secrets to try to eliminate the Heroes...

Each Hero will be given "partial information" (a type of Hidden Information) about the make-up of the "Monster Keep". Heroes collaborate together to try to WIN the scenario with the knowledge they have.

The "Lord of the Keep" acts like an "opposing" Dungeon Master, where his purpose is to have the Heroes FAIL.

So my goal is to document some kind of "storyline" into The Lord's rulebook/guidebook. I am thinking about a few types of elements that the game may require: "Events", "Encounters" and "Items". The "Items" will be thematic/story elements that are meant to affect the outcome of the game.

How about a "sample" scenario objective for Lord Asinius? My idea is something like this:

• Heroes must find the "White Diamond of Pure Thoughts". One of Lord Asinius' minions has stolen the Diamond and hidden it somewhere within his Keep. You must find it first and use it to bribe Lord Asinius such that he grants you and your companions safe passage from his Keep!

This is just an idea... But it gives you an idea about what kind of "storytelling" I want to do for the game...

I'm still working on the conceptual design of "Monster Keep". But I feel that the story lines (and plot elements) would add a BIG replay factor.

For example, each of the six (6) Lords has a different "BONUS". Like for Lord Asinius, he adds +2 Food. What this is used for is to determine which Monster cards the Lord may play against the Heroes. So any Monster that requires 1 or 2 Food can be summoned to fight a Hero.

Obviously there are other tokens (I call them Virtue tokens), each token is either: +1, +2 or +3. And that adds points to help the Lord use his Monsters.

So let's say a room has: 1 Food Token, +2 Virtue Token and is controlled by Lord Asinius.

The resulting possibilities for that room is the following:

• +5 Food
• +3 Food, +2 Treasure
• +3 Food, +2 Bloodlust

So this gives the Lord COMBINATIONS he can use to summon Monsters. So a gluttonous Giant Ogre may require 3 Food to summon... He's a real BAD BOY.

Another alternative is an Goblin that may require 1 Food and 1 Treasure, Asinius could summon two (2) of those...

Well I'm thinking about having "Events", "Encounters" and "Relics". In each room players visit, you roll a custom dice this will determine what happens in that room "Nothing" or one of the three (3) above.

Once a player becomes the "Lord of the Keep", the game tiles have been configured with all kinds of "bait" (for the Monsters). And the Heroes are "stuck in the middle" trying to survive and complete the objective required by the Lord.

So I think I'm onto something... But I'd like to add more depth with some kind of story/plot.

Well the mystery of "Events" has been uncovered given this DL book. I quote:

"As opposed to encounters, which take place in specific areas, events take place at specific times. They may happen anywhere unless stated otherwise. The first event begins your adventure, then each follows at its stated time in the sequence below."

VERY COOL! Okay so we have a mechanic for WHERE (Encounters) and now WHEN (Events).

We are demystifying things as we move along!

I will take a better look at DL-1 this weekend... Perhaps I will have some questions. My DL-10 has one (1) map and 3 Chapters worth of Encounters. Not sure how encounters work WITHOUT a map?!?!

I think the world of "Dragonlance" is unfortunately owned by Wizards Of The Coast. And we already know their submission policy let's nothing through the door... saddly. :(

However "Middle Earth Quest" (MEQ) is interesting. I will check it out further. From first glance, I like the idea since it is sort of like one player is The "Lord of the Keep" and the other players are "Heroes"... My mechanic is similar to MEQ (in that respect). The tokens idea looks to be similar to MEQ also... The one big difference is the board: in MEQ it's standard. In Monster Keep, I want it to be dynamic like a lot of other Dungeon-Crawl games.

I was trying to find a way to add more RPG elements to the game. I thought that Game Adventure booklets designed by TSR might be a mechanic that I could use.

I still need to think some more...!