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Map Maker's Guide to Runes and Traps (by peterm@soda.berkeley.edu) |
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* in this document, 'rune' and 'trap' are interchangeable terms. |
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A rune is a magical enscription on the dungeon floor. Traps |
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are just like runes except they are not magical in nature, and |
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generally have a physical attack. |
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Runes hit any monster or person who steps on them for dam damage |
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in 'attacktype' attacktype. In addition, there is a generalized |
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rune which can contain any spell at all, and will cast this spell |
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when it detonates. |
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Many traps and runes are already defined in the archetypes. |
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Here's a guide the the fields in a Rune: (archetype) |
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level -- Level the rune will cast the spell it contains at, |
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if applicable. A level 99 rune casts a very, |
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very mean spell of whatever. (Warning: level 0 |
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runes won't detonate at all!) Also effects |
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how easily a trap may be found and disarmed. |
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|
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Cha -- Determines what fraction of the time the |
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rune is visible: randomly visible 1/Cha of the |
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time. Also effects how easily the trap |
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may be found. |
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sp -- Spell in the rune, if any (the index of the spell) |
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slaying -- name of the spell in the rune, if any. |
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Optional, but if present, overrides sp. |
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recommended for use by mapmakers to ensure portability. |
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|
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other_arch -- spell archetype of the spell in the rune, if any. |
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Optional, but if present, overrides sp and slaying. |
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hp -- How many times the rune detonates before disappearing |
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attacktype -- If there isn't any spell, what attacktype to use |
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when the rune detonates |
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face -- face the rune has |
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msg -- What the rune says to the victim when it detonates |
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dam -- How much damage is done by the rune, if it does |
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not cast a spell |
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anim -- face1 is the default face of the rune. |
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face1 face2 is the face of a rune detonation. |
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face2 A detonating rune inserts a dummy object |
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mina with face2 on the square. |
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|
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direction -- Direction to cast the spell the rune contains |
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maxhp -- Number of spells to cast |
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Predefined runes for your convenience: See the Runes pickmap on the editor |
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IMPORTANT: When making rune archetypes for spells, name the rune |
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Object rune_[spell-name]. This convention makes it possible for someone |
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who does 'cast magic rune <spell>' to create a rune that looks like |
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your archetype. Examples: |
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Object rune_large_fireball |
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Object rune_invisibility |
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Object rune_improved_invisibility |
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If they're not named this way, someone can write a rune of < > |
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what looks nothing like the one in the archetypes, even though it does |
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exactly the same thing. |
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|
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All runes should be editable. For example you might want to call up |
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a rune of fire, and set its slaying so that it casts large fireball |
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instead of simply burning its victim. |
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Ideas: you could blanket a floor with 1pt dam runes of fire, but with |
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many hp. Anyone walking across this blanket will be badly hurt if he's |
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slow or sits on them for a long time, but could cross more or less unhurt |
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if he's quick. You could encourage a player to do something rash this |
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way. |
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|
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You could place Runes of Healing behind altar-controlled doors in |
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temples. Dump enough money on the altar, and you get access to the |
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Rune of Healing. (Or restoration.) |
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Also, you could implement a magic bank with runes of transferrence |
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in the same way. (Roscoe's energy emporium!) |
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|
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A rune of Polymorph with the beam directed down a long passageway |
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of monsters could REALLY cause chaos. Oohhhhh, fun, fun fun!! |
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Runes of lightning oriented down long passageways could be lots of |
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fun as well! |