Catacombs

[tukkek]

A horror-themed mini-game Location with a focus on Undead and Evil Monsters. Ideally it would work more or less like a Haunt, with a Fight to clear the entrance that re-stocks every night. The map layout would be the exact same as the first (and only) Dungeon Floor, accessible once the Garrison is cleared, which has no encounters or features other than:

1. 4 5-floor Branches, one per Tier. The Dungeon is of a new type called Catacomb, with its own horror-themed tileset. Each branch is a full 5 levels. The Floor Features are hand-picked from existing ones into a static Table, with an eye for the horror theme and making it unique gameplay-wise - one such example is having only a small chance to roll a Camp as a Rare Feature so that it feels less safe the deeper you go into the Dungeon. To improve the replay value of this mini-game, each Catacomb has a single prefix Branch ("Flooded catacombs").
2. A priest/cleric-like NPC that will reward players for defeating Bosses inside the Catacombs. Its EL should be equivalent to the sum of rewards, so probably something Epic-tier (with adds) or it wouldn't make sense to do the "quest" rather than Fight him and take the treasure. Bosses are mandatory on final levels but there's no reason there can't be at least one other boss per Branch.
3. Probably a permanent Fountain to instantly heal a Squad without trigerring a Siege restock.

New Dungeon Features are an open question but one idea is a Phylactery (or Memento), which would work like an Eidolon, except only for Undead creatures. This could itself be part of a new Container, like Fallen Champion or Remains, that could and should be used elsewhere. This isn't great as it doubles down on the horror theme which should already be fully covered by hostile Monsters. One option here is to also have Rosaries, which would conversely summon heavenly allies.

Maybe a second Feature, related to advancement would fit well here as well - maybe a Tome of the Vile Kit that grants Upgrades at a cost? Something like at least a 100XP worth of upgrades but also a permanent -2 to an Ability score, applied last?

The Catacombs probably shouldn't be an actual Haunt but instead a new Unique Location that restocks a Fight nightly. The theme here is for new Undead to come out of the Catacombs themselves every night and loiter on the surface, going back inside during the day. If the Location is safe to enter during the day, this would not only make sense thematically but also allow for interesting Fights to be generated every Night without much concern for balance - something like lowest of 2d20 would make it interesting throughout the whole game but even more so early on when players could be starved for objectives.

Catacombs, with their own tileset, Features, enemy types... could easily be ported to a proper Branch later on ("Tomb-dungeon of eternal rest").

So is this worth its own mini-game Location?

1. Nothing terribly new to code, just simple ideas that may benefit other parts of the game as well (Bounty Giver Inhabitant and Phylacteries/Tomes).
2. As other mini-games, is a self-contained way for players looking for a more horror-themed experience (which there is obviously interest and merit in, given horror roguelikes and roguelites and RPG survival horror).
3. Having different Branches applied makes it highly replayable while still self-contained and thematic.
4. Even for players who aren't interested in the horror dungeon themselves, the respawning Siege is an interesting strategic point to keep an eye on, with a high variance in challenge and combat scenarios and proper theme, despite the static map.
5. The Bounty Giver (Gravekeeper) might be a great addition to the game, with power players wanting to check him early on for interesting items or shallow rewards. Having only a couple (normally appropriate) rewards per tier would help make it optional though, we definitely don't want to shoehorn players into feeling they need to clear a five-level Dungeon to play optimally, let alone one with fixed theme.
6. If Phylacteryes and Rosaries abound, this is a good place to focus-farm before a Siege, for example.

What are the open questions:

1. How is this meaningfully different than something like the Deep Dungeon or just normal dungeons? There's the theme and random Branches but would the gameplay be unique enough to justify the work involved?
2. The Deep Dungeon and other mini-games are better thought out to being self-contained. How would the Catacombs deal with that? Maybe have the Bounty Giver also be a shop vendor? And trainer? (This would heavily benefit from Inhabitant redesign #311 ).
3. We already have 3 mini-games in the starting area. Would a fourth one be overkill, especially for new players? Should we be making these instanced Locations and spreading them around the world? Should the Catacomb be part of the starting area but farther away, in which case moving there only for night to come and an Impossible fight to pop up would be a pain (can be stepped around with a waiting prompt: It's night-time and the Catacombs are festering with the Undead... press w to wait until daytime when it's safe")... which could maybe have a chance of a random-Difficulty scaled encounter so it's not always free to exit then heal inside.
4. How to handle going back to the surface after as few or as many hours have passed? If the Siege is restocked should a Fight immediately start, at any random EL? Should it be safe to resurface regardless of time of day? The easiest way to solve this is just to throw the player at the World Screen after leaving a Branch, which solves every issue (other than having a guaranteed place to fallback to but hey - horror theme) but it's a pretty "gamey" way to handle it.