This is a bugfix release of Dungeon Robber, but I couldn’t resist throwing in more functionality.

People have been reporting their savegames disappearing, which is bad news. When I was a kid, I didn’t mind my Legend of Zelda save disappearing from the gold Nintendo cartridge, because it meant I got to play more Zelda. But these days I like my savegames to, you know, save. I’d been using the built-in Flash data-saving feature: I’m still using that, but I’m also backing up savegames to HTML5 storage, so each one can act as a backup if the other fails.

Not paranoid enough for you? I also added a “save settings” feature on the loading screen where you can physically make a copy of your Dungeon Robber savegame and save it into a text file or email it to yourself. This lets you import/export your character between multiple computers, and also lets you make sure your fully unlocked town will last forever.

I’ve also added a way to reset your game, if you want to start over from the days when your village had no buildings and your graveyard was empty.

Note: There’s one text error I’ve noticed: in the IMPORT feature, it claims that importing a game will delete the current game. That’s not true: in fact, you can’t import a game over an existing one. You’ll have to torch your village first, before you can import. I’ll update the text when I get home.

I’ve also added a little News section to the loading page, and a link to buy the poster, now that some people are playing the game who don’t follow my blog or kickstarter.

Finally, I’ve made it a little easier to delve down into the dungeon depths. I’ve added 4 inventory slots to every character. That means that you can load up on all the equipment you want and still have room in your pack for the occasional Jacinth of Estimable Beauty or other dungeon treasure.

I still have a long list of bugs to be fixed in an upcoming patch! If you find any new bugs, email me at paul at blogofholding!

It’s my birthday today, and here’s my gift to my readers and kickstarters: the Dungeon Robber video game beta is now available!

I’ve talked before about this game. To recap, it’s a free Flash web game, a final bonus reward to cap the Random Dungeon Generator Kickstarter. It uses the original D&D rules to construct random dungeons and then lets you send in characters to die.

As you may have noticed, I have a tendency to contract featuritis. I always end up jamming a few more things than I planned in all of my projects. As I’ve mentioned before, that’s how this game ended up with pets, extra classes, and the textbook sign of feature creep, a fishing minigame. Well, since then, I’ve added new weapons (including D&D classics like the bastard sword), new treasures, new class abilities, new town buildings, and, based on many hours of alpha testing, new conveniences.

Here’s one: Dungeon dead ends, the curse of any randomly-generated labyrinth, are now semi-safe locations where you can eat food, rest and recover a spell or two, and even send a henchman back to town to sell some of your inventory-clogging vendor trash. All of this comes with a risk. While you’re sitting in the dead end, munching your iron rations and keeping watch down the hallway, you might be ambushed from behind by a monster passing through a secret door.

I’ve also implemented every trick and surprise in the original 1979 random-dungeon charts, including ones which are vanishingly rare. If you happen to find a magic pool that grants wishes in the dungeon, email me and let me know, and tell me what you wished for and how it turned out.

This game has a lot of moving parts, and it’s sure to be buggy. I’d like to hear about any bugs you hit. Also let me know what parts are fun, what parts aren’t, what you found confusing, and what grisly end met your 2nd level Dungeon Robber who somehow found himself on level 7 of the dungeon. My email is paul at blogofholding.com.

And finally, some challenges to you: I’ve been playing this game, in some version or other, for months, and I have never become King. And on the perma-death Advanced mode, my record is even worse. I’ve never made it to level 5, Knight. If you break my records, let me know.

My random forest monster chart includes a bunch of plant monsters, and in the Mearls sidebar game we ran into most of them. Here are the details of the dangerous flora of my elven forest.

Tree of wisdom: This dangerous willow tree is also called a Tree of Death. Elves may seek it in moments of crisis.

Glowing pollen sifts from the tree. Its dim golden halo can be seen 200 feet away at night or 20 feet during the day. There are humanoid and animal bones under the tree, and there may also be treasure (1 chance in 3) and/or passive living creatures (roll d6. 1: normal animal, 2: magical animal, 3: humanoid, 4-6: none).

If you go beneath the tree’s leaves, you feel peaceful and happy. You must make a Wisdom check/save (against enchantment) any time you try to leave the tree, initiate combat, or stand up. If you fail the save, you sit beneath the tree and won’t willingly perform any actions for an hour.

When you first sit down, and after every hour sitting under the tree, you have some spiritual breakthrough (DM: come up with a wise-sounding epigram!) and gain 30 XP.

After six hours spent beneath the tree, you make a death/Will/Wis saving throw (depending on edition). If you succeed, you permanently gain a point of Wisdom. Furthermore, you gain serenity and resolution about a sorrow or dilemma you’re facing. From now on, this tree has no effect on you. If you fail the save, you die.

Red bell ring: – All the trees around a clearing are hung with red bell-shaped flowers. If any creature larger than a fox passes into the ring, or touches a bell, all the bells ring (stealth and invisibility has no effect). The ringing of the bells forces a wandering monster check, prevents surprise, and wakes sleepers (including magical sleepers). Red bells are easy to spot unless you are hurrying.

Cobra vine: You’ve ventured from the path and are wandering through the elven forest. As your foot touches the ground, 2 glowing eyes snap open on an otherwise normal-looking vine. It instantly readies an action to strike (it has the stats of a poisonous snake), at anyone within 10 feet who moves or attacks it. You can try to move out of range slowly enough not to trigger it (5 consecutive rounds of easy dex checks, moving one foot per turn) or try to dodge/attack it (it gets the first attack) or someone outside the range can throw something large enough to distract it (you can escape while it’s attacking something else).