(This is the "Dungeon Designs" column from the June 1989 issue of the Eamon Adventurer's Guild newsletter. Copyright 1989 Eamon Adventurer's Guild, 7625 Hawkhaven Dr., Clemmons, NC 27012-9408. You may reproduce this freely as long as this credit remains attached to the article.) Traps and Obstructions - Doing It Right by: Tom Zuchowski How many times have you been blind-sided by a no-warning death trap while playing Eamon? How much did you enjoy having to start over again? Eamon authors seem to undergo some kind of strange compulsion to include in their own Eamons the very traps that they hate in others' Eamons. There are three reasons why Eamon authors install death traps: 1) They are practical jokers and think it's funny. RESPONSE: It's NOT funny to have to start over for no good reason and many people will quit if they have to start over too often. 2) They are giving proper responses to stupid player moves. RESPONSE: No one will intentionally kill himself off-if he made a stupid move then the warning clues were very poorly written by the author. 3) They consider it to be an essential part of the plot. RESPONSE: There are alternative methods that can be used that will fit the plot equally well. ALTERNATIVES TO DEATH Whenever I complain to an author about a given death trap, a response that I often get is that 'if it were real life, the player WOULD get killed there. I've got to be realistic.' Well, if it were real life, then the player would be really dead, and would never, ever again get to play the adventure. To continue this 'realism', the Eamon disk should erase itself when the player is killed. To carry this 'real life' thing to its ultimate absurdity, the player will have to quit Eamon altogether! The real issue here isn't realism, but sloppy adventure writing. What this means is that an Eamon that is well-written for realism will be very survivable. Note that I said 'survivable', NOT 'easy'! A rule which all Eamon authors should closely follow is that it should be possible to escape, overcome, or endure anything that the player encounters in the dungeon. If a trap is unavoidable then it should be survivable at least 98% of the time. 'Pass/no pass' puzzles or riddles should send the player away to search for clues, not kill him or force him to battle supernatural opponents. There are a number of ways that damage can be inflicted on the player when special effects are printed. Any trap will play well if minor to medium damage is inflicted. You can either inflict a standard amount of damage or can make it random. The methods are: 1) I recommend that you use a small set amount. The following will add 3 hit points to the player and then will jump to the melee routine to give a health status report: DF = 0:D2 = 3: GOSUB 7636 2) A random hit from 0 to 4 can be given with this code: DF = 0:D2 = INT(RND(1) * 5)): GOSUB 7636 3) If you want to make it truly dangerous with a chance of death, this code will randomly set the amount of damage to something between 0 and the character's total hardiness (M%(0,1)): DF = 0:D2 = INT(RND(1) * (M%(0,1) + 1)): GOSUB 7636 4) A final alternative is to NEARLY kill the player by giving him hits that NEARLY wipe him out. This code will leave the player one hit point away from death: DF = 0:D2 = M%(0,1) - M%(0,13) - 1: GOSUB 7636 THE DEATH TRAP See if you recognize the following scenario: you are walking down a plain hall when you come to an unusual door. You open the door-no result. You pass thru the door, and are told that you walked into an atomic incinerator and have died! This is an example of the worst brand of 'Gotcha' death traps-no warning, no wind-up, and suddenly the game is over. There are four fair ways to have handled this same trap: 1) When the player attempts to open the door, open it, then print an effect that is similar to this: AS THE DOOR SWINGS WIDE, YOU ARE STRUCK BY A BLAST OF WHITE HEAT EMANATING FROM A ROARING INFERNO WITHIN. YOU HAVE FOUND AN ATOMIC INCINERATOR. Then if the player proceeds into the room, kill him. 2) When the player attempts to open the door, DON'T open it, but print an effect that is similar to this: AS THE DOOR SWINGS WIDE, YOU ARE STRUCK BY A BLAST OF WHITE HEAT EMANATING FROM WITHIN! YOU ARE STANDING BEFORE AN ATOMIC DISINTEGRATION CHAMBER! QUICKLY, YOU SLAM THE DOOR SHUT AGAIN! 3) Open the door but print nothing. When the player attempts to enter the room, do NOT actually move him into the room, but instead print an effect similar to this: AS YOU ENTER THE ROOM YOU ARE SEARED BY A BLAST OF HEAT! YOU REALIZE THAT YOU HAVE ENTERED AN ATOMIC INCINERATOR! QUICKLY YOU BACK OUT OF THE ROOM AND FLEE TO THE SAFETY OF THE HALLWAY! 4) Combine option (1) and (3). First give the warning from option (1), then if the player enters the room print the effect from option (3) to show him that he did something stupid. This option or option 2 is recommended; special effects are fun, and the player is not annoyed by needless restarts. It would also be appropriate to inflict some damage as outlined above. DANGEROUS TRAVEL DIRECTIONS Many Eamons are set in mountainous country, and it is not uncommon to have cliffs which will kill the player if he foolishly walks off of the edge. Typically, the room description will say something like THERE IS A CLIFF TO THE WEST. Note that it doesn't say how far away the cliff is, or even if it is the top or bottom of the cliff! Subsequently the player decides to go WEST to see if there is anything near the edge, or tries DOWN to see if the cliff can be climbed. Often the results are: YOU HAVE FALLEN OFF THE CLIFF! YOU HAVE DIED! Now, think about this. In real life, no one is going to mindlessly walk off the edge of a cliff but will stop at its edge, and no one will attempt to climb down a sheer, unclimbable cliff face, either. The author forgets that a real adventurer would KNOW where the cliff edge was and if it was unclimbable. If the player blunders off the edge, then the failure was in the author's descriptions, NOT in the player's decision. There are 3 valid solutions to this: 1) Simply make the room connection 0, thus using the standard message 'YOU CAN'T GO THAT WAY'. Not very imaginative, but it gets the job done. Remember, if it were real life, the player would KNOW he couldn't go that way because he would be able to see the cliff edge. 2) Make the room connection some random high value negative number, like (-900). Program some code in the 3070-3300 region in this fashion: 3070 IF R2 = - 900 THEN GOSUB 56: PRINT "THE CLIFF EDGE BLOCKS YOUR WAY.": GOTO 300 Notes: 'GOSUB 56' spaces one line and updates the line counter by 2 lines to allow for the text 'GOTO 300' exits the Move routine 3) Use a program line similar to option (2) that prints a special effect that is similar to this: YOU STEP TO THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF. EXAMINING IT, YOU SEE THAT IT IS TOO STEEP AND CRUMBLY TO BE SAFELY CLIMBED. SEEING NOTHING ELSE, YOU STEP BACK TO SAFETY. If the effect number was 15, for example, the programming would look like this: 3070 IF R2 = - 900 THEN GOSUB 51: R = 415: GOSUB 45: GOTO 300 Notes: 'GOSUB 51' spaces one line and increments the line counter by 1 Effects are in the 401-600 range, so effect #15 is record 415 'GOSUB 45' calls the description print routine Don't make insulting comments like 'THERE'S A CLIFF THERE, STUPID!' If the player tried it, then the descriptions inadequately described the danger and the failure was the author's, not the player's. An alternative to death by falling off a cliff is death by drowning. Remember the 'real life' rule when doing water hazards. The best way to handle water is with the standard 'YOU CAN'T GO THAT WAY' response, although the alternate 'YOU CAN'T SWIM!' is perfectly acceptable. POISONS I dunno about you, but I NEVER drink or eat anything unless I have first saved the game. In fact, I never eat or drink at all if I can avoid it; the occurrence of 'Gotcha' fatal poisons is all too common. There are two fair ways to handle poisons: 1) Give it non-fatal consequences as outlined above. 2) Give it a readable label. This is more difficult to accomplish because it requires that the poison be two different types of artifact at once (readable and drinkable). But is the best way, because it gives the alert player a chance to avoid being blind-sided. To accomplish this: (a) The bottle's description must mention that there is writing on it. It would be best to avoid mentioning a label, because the player is liable to try to READ LABEL instead of READ BOTTLE. (b) make it a drinkable artifact (type 6) but add a line to the READ routine to recognize this one artifact (for example let's make it artifact # 5 and make the writing effect # 2): 23015 IF A = 5 THEN R = 402: GOSUB 45: GOTO 300 ACTS OF GOD This category includes random events that were added to spice up the adventure. You are all familiar with the old pre-version 7.0 POWER command's 'the ceiling falls on you' death trap. Other examples that come to mind are snipers in modern settings and falling rocks in caves and mountains. This kind of random thing is great for adding realism and excitement, but is patently unfair if it kills the player off. Any of the above examples would play well using one of the 'damage' options. Imagine this special effect: A RUMBLE COMES FROM ABOVE. SUDDENLY A HUGE BOULDER CRASHES ON THE PATH BESIDE YOU AND BOUNCES ON DOWN THE MOUNTAINSIDE! YOU ARE PELTED WITH LESSER ROCKS; ONE THE SIZE OF TWO FISTS JUST MISSES YOUR HEAD! Exciting, huh? And even though you as the author know that the player won't be killed by any such special effects, HE doesn't know it! FAIR DEATH TRAPS Is it possible to have a death trap that is fair? The answer is yes; there are two ways to do so: 1) Automatic Resurrection: it's acceptable to kill off the player if a means of resurrecting him can be worked into the plot. One such means can be found in #114 'Thror's Ring'; the player's companions will pull him back from foolish moves or resurrect him with a spell. 2) Progressive Deadliness: death traps are acceptable if some means is provided for the player to learn how to recognize them. One way is to have a series of similar traps that increase in deadliness but offer similar clues as to their whereabouts. An alternate method of doing this is to describe the trap's characteristics in the introduction or by some other means so that the player will know what to watch for. The bottom line on the subject of death traps is playability. It is NOT fun to have to start over and replay old, stale ground, especially if the player had no control over his demise. And the more fun that people have with your adventure, the higher they will rate it. And the higher the rating, the more people will obtain and play your hard work.