BoV for dungeons?

[Isamu]

I'm curious if anyone else thinks a BoV type review process to help the best dungeon scenarios rise to the top would be a good idea.

BoV is a great resource for balanced, well-tested maps and I'd love to have a similar resource for dungeons.

Are there any plans for a new system, or for BoV to accept and approve dungeon scenarios?

[Creationist]

I doubt the latter will occur. The BoV is for tournament maps of a certain kind. It would be interesting to have a similar styled review of dungeons. The problem is that there are so many ways to go with a dungeon, and that a dungeon is multiple maps. The main problems are probably the enormity of dungeons and the variance of said dungeons. For example, one dungeon might be 7 rooms that are kill em all and another dungeon that is 3 rooms with puzzles. How do you compare the 2 dungeons with one system?

[Darkmage7a]

I don't know about a BoV style committee, but it would be nice if everything followed a similar format for displaying information.

Such as listing;

1. the required terrains
2. the specific figures required
3. how much space you need
4. approximate time to set up
5. approximate time to play

I think if people knew they had the time and materials to play out a dungeon beforehand they would be more inclined to read through it and give it a try.

[Creationist]

Originally Posted by Darkmage7a

I don't know about a BoV style committee, but it would be nice if everything followed a similar format for displaying information.

Such as listing;

1. the required terrains
2. the specific figures required
3. how much space you need
4. approximate time to set up
5. approximate time to play

I think if people knew they had the time and materials to play out a dungeon beforehand they would be more inclined to read through it and give it a try.

The major problem is that dungeons contain very heavy amounts of special rules that wouldnt occur in something like a BOV map. Maybe only a kill-em-all style dungeon reviewing, but that takes the essence out of the dungeons.

[Velenne]

Originally Posted by Darkmage7a

I don't know about a BoV style committee, but it would be nice if everything followed a similar format for displaying information.

Such as listing;

1. the required terrains
2. the specific figures required
3. how much space you need
4. approximate time to set up
5. approximate time to play

I think if people knew they had the time and materials to play out a dungeon beforehand they would be more inclined to read through it and give it a try.

I agree that a panel isn't needed in Dungeons but I'm very keen on the idea of standard presentation formatting Darkmage is suggesting. I'd like to see something like this developed.

[SgtHulka]

Originally Posted by Creationist

I doubt the latter will occur. The BoV is for tournament maps of a certain kind.

I would actually find a BoV style thread for dungeons much more useful than for tournament maps. Why? Because there is absolutely no way to judge the balance of a dungeon without playtesting. If I see a dungeon on this site, I want to build it, play it and have fun. I don't want to playtest it and tweak it. That's too large an investment of time.

In other words, it's much more difficult to know whether a given dungeon is a cake walk for the heroes, for the monsters, or balanced, when it isn't just two 500 point armies duking it out. Is the D&D Masterset dungeon balanced? I think so. But I wouldn't have guessed it after playing the first room.

[BadBird]

I think this is actually a good idea. Something like the BoV but certainly not like the BoV....

My wheels have been turning after seeing (and playing) Scotts Sunken Crypt. It would be nice to have something to go to similar to the BoV but for dungeon crawl maps. I get that the BoV is for well tested balanced best of the best tourney maps. We don't need something as intense as that but something that serves a similar end, a list of well balanced, play tested somewhat accessible, fun dungeon crawl maps. Maps that we know others have played and enjoyed.

I can't see there being to many hard and fast rules, more like guide lines.


I think Scott nailed it.

Easy Instructions. Build and rules all in one place and easy to understand.

Custom glyphs and traps combined with official glyphs.

Not overly character specific. (Easy to swap out Heroes or squads for those you own)

4 rooms.

Increasing difficulty.

Not epic in scope. Not many have 12+ hours to play a game

And most of all fun!

Really the intent with this "DoV" (?Dungeons of.... ) would be for the purpose of discussing and positive criticism of given dungeon maps, perhaps by way of nomination, by a panel. The end result being a database of "go to" dungeon crawl maps. This panel would not necessarily have to be closed like the BoV (witch is very understandable mind you) but maybe more open and organic.

[Agent Minivann]

I think that wanting this to have included scenarios is a bit much. The BoV is about giving a balanced tournament experience. D&D scenarios are a different animal entirely. They aren't necessarily going to be balanced for one (especially if part of a larger campaign). What makes a good BoV map can be reduced down to a few fairly simple criteria. Balance, interesting decisions, and following the prescribed limit of terrain sets to name a few. What makes a good D&D scenario and map is a little more ambiguous. I think it would be hard enough to get a BoV type of approval process for D&D maps without scenarios. They're just going to be so different that you can't really approach them the same way.

Putting an "official" scenario on them would only pigeon hole the maps with a specific scenario in the minds of too many players. I think the real magic of the D&D set is to create a set of rooms that can be explored, and then revisited with new scenarios. Let's go back into the dungeon and see what nasties moved in after we got rid of the last ones.

I don't want to discourage people from putting something together if they so desire, but I would like to discourage them from attaching a scenario to a map. Or at least get a map (or maps) and make multiple scenarios for that map.

[Isamu]

It wouldn't have to be exactly like BoV, just some way to filter the best dungeon scenarios to the top.

Dungeons with fixed armies are actually easier to balance through play-testing, but with all the special rules and multiple rooms, it's harder to know if a scenario is balanced just by looking.

I was just thinking a 'community tested and approved' dungeons thread would be great when you just want a proven dungeon that you can setup and start playing quickly.

[Jexik]

Fair warning: such a thing would take an awful lot of time and effort.

[Warlord Alpha]

Hmmmm. I think some kind of database would be a good idea.

Like, there is a master index of dungeon campaigns people have created, and it is sortable by terrain and length and such. And users and can also rate the dungeons out of 10 stars or something like that.

Allowing users to submit the dungeons themselves in a standard kind of template would take all the work out of running it and organizing it.

The only issue I can see is that it would probably need to be done on an external site and would require somebody with a lot of experience creating web-based apps.

Although it will probably never be created, it is a nice thought nonetheless.

[SgtHulka]

Originally Posted by Warlord Alpha

Although it will probably never be created, it is a nice thought nonetheless.

Quoted for truth.