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DD beta rule changes
🕑 Added 2025-09-12 20:14:11 +0000 UTCHey all,
I’m coming up with the exact rule changes for duelling dungeons book 2, and I’d like a little feedback.
If you read the first story, a lot of these should make some amount of sense (and if not, you absolutely should, I think it’s my best story).
Rule 1: Each dungeon is limited to fielding 4 (5?) subbosses in a match.
Although they’re not as game changing as the bosses, as we saw in book 1 subbosses can change the tide of battle. Some dungeons had a subboss every floor, while others had only 1 or 2, which resulted in some one sided fights. The question is: Should I make it 4 or 5? Currently the Manor has 3, Bea, Calliope, and Bella. At both the end of book one, and the start of book 2, I hinted at bringing a new subboss, Stella, bringing them up to 4, but 5 would be a nice round number.
Considering there are 8 floors in expert dungeons (when including boss), 4 makes sense to me. 1 subboss for every 2 floors, but I COULD see a storyline for 5…
Rule 2: The staff available for each floor is no longer limited to 4 groups of 5. Elite units now require TWO slots, while staff which depend on swarming (like skeletons and slimes) can now be fielded in groups of up to ten.
There will actually be a bunch of subrules not covered in the book, and specific units will be identified as Elite. Like the Reverents. Again, the general rules heavily favored small groups of elite units, instead of swarms, and this rule is designed to try and equalize things a little.
Rule 3: Dungeon specific mechanics must be reviewed by an impartial third party, and adjusted based upon their recommendations.
I’m still trying to come up with a couple other interesting mechanics, like: The Lost Dynasty dungeon (egyptian theme) causes magical sunstroke, or exhaustion, forcing groups to pace themselves and take breaks in shaded areas. The Elder woods may have random progression (ie 21 encounters, randomly distributed over 7 floors) or lost woods like progression. If you have any ideas about dungeon themes, and mechanics, let me know.
What do you think? Is there anything else I should add, or adjust? The full rules probably wont come out for a bit, so we have time for a discussion.
Thanks for your help! Wombat
Comments
Shannon Livingston
Good Ideas! I went with the swarm / elite thing being set for simplicity, it give the mechanics more gravatas when they need individual reviews.
Michael Yust
What do you mean 5 is a nice round number ..8 is a nice round number just ask Bella.. I would just say a horde/swarm and the exact number would be determined by the same impartial judge. A weak swarm of unintelligent slimes might have up to 20, while a swarm of werewolves might only be 6. Having a hard and fast rule doesn't take into account how smart each creature is, or if they work together as a team or just go food attack all at the same time. What the sneaky part of my brain would do when faced with rule 3 is change the mechanics from magical to environmental. Have the dungeon temp set to 50c and the brightness set to max in the case of the Lost Dynasty dungeon. The adventurers can get around the effects with spells and items but those can be disrupted or swiped. Other Dungeons, The first on that piped into my head was a Monkey City Dungeon, after that Fallen Village with both undead and feral humans attacking, special bonus points if they can rescue the humans, not just kill them.
Shannon Livingston
Nodders, I'll note that!
Abborre
Shifting mazes should have some rules. There's lots of potential for dungeon specific things in that area.
