Dungeons of Nemelex Xobeh [Serious]
Posted: Tuesday, 13th May 2014, 11:19Since I got the idea from discussions about Nemelex removal; I thought I'd first bring it up here. (Also posting the rest of this post in r/roguelikes on Reddit).
This is a proposal for a game I'm thinking about making (from scratch). Comments here should be about things like if you are interested in playing such a game; features you'd like (or think it would need); trying to explain the core of the gameplay as quickly as possible, but its somewhat complex. This is an attempt at the kind of information you'd get in a user manual pamphlet of the final game.
Basics:
Dungeons of Nemelex Xobeh is a deckbuilding Roguelike. Instead of magic spells, collecting potions or scrolls; you only have your melee and your best deck of cards to survive the dungeon.
You play as a Human Gambler. You spawn in with a cane (weak melee weapon), a fancy suit and hat (stereotypical high roller/golden age of Vegas apparel), and your choice of decks of cards.
Starting decks contain 7 common level 0 cards, 2 uncommon level 0 cards and 1 lesser curse card. Each start deck has an obvious core theme (demonsummoning, fire, etc.)
There are no floor items in Nemelex; except cards. Upon picking up a floor card; you are given a chance to read it, information includes its current level, the card type, the rarity, the effect of the card and which skills the card's power draws from (if any). You are given the choice to add the card to your discard pile or destroy it.
Shuffling:
In order to shuffle your deck you have to accumulated (an amount) of battle experience. This is to prevent filling your deck with growth cards and cycling through it repeatedly without seeing battle. This is flavored in game as the magic in the cards being recharged with the souls of your kills.
When shuffling, you get the chance to choose which of your cards you keep and which are permanently discarded (destroyed). Curse cards cannot be removed from your deck in this way. Decks have a strict minimum of 10 cards (to prevent completely rigging your deck) and the maximum allowed depends on your Shuffle Skill.
Card Leveling:
Most cards are low leveled when you first pick them up; this gives them the weakest version of the effect of the card. Cards gain experience through use (passive cards), killing enemies (attack and summoning cards) or are fixed level (growth cards). As a general statement; it should be rare for a card to reach max level in your deck; because, rarer cards with more unique and stronger effects will replace the common ones as you go.
Card Classes:
Destructive: Immediate blast of magical attack energy; this come in the form of a fireball, an explosion of wood fragments, or a poisonous cloud...but it's here to kill enemies directly. Gains experience on kills.
Pacts/Souls: Either a pact with a demon or the enslaved soul of a living creature. Summons the creature on the card to the field temporarily. Gains experience on kills. Can be destroyed. (If the creature dies before it abjures; it's dead forever. Demons are smart enough to self abjure if their HP gets too low to prevent this.) [Abjuration, Pact-Forming and Enslavement cards exist as enchantment cards directly associated with summoning. Enslavement/Pact-Formation will directly make an enemy creature into a card for later use.]
Enchantments Temporary buffs or maluses to the targeted creature. (Some are even permanent maluses). Includes healing. Gain experience with use.
Metamorphosis Changes the physical area around you itself. Everything from blinking everything around to growing plants or raising zombies. Most cards of this class do nothing to help you directly; but have profound effects to helping you control positioning. Gain experience on use.
Utility These cards have non-battle use and are permanents. Effects include destroying curse cards and improving your equipment. You need some in your deck to survive, but if you place too many, you may die by wasting too many turns cycling through them in a key battle. Some gain experience with use others are fixed level.
Growth Similar to utility, these cards have a permanent effect; specifically, they are used to skill your character. This makes them a necessary evil to mix into your deck at small (or large) amounts. Growth cards are your only source of skills in this game. These are fixed level.
Curse: Cards will horrible effects when you draw them. Can only be removed by a shuffle out
Skills:
(non-card related)
Defense: Your hitpoints.
Melee: Your skill at hitting things with canes/staves/etc.
Luck: Affects the RNG; making rarer things more common on level generation. High luck means both better cards and rarer enemies.
Agility: Movement speed and dodging ability.
(card magic) Each is in a pair of two opposites. Training one thing makes it harder to train the opposite. These are little more opaque and focus on damage types and themes more than common usage.
Fire <-> Ice
Life <-> Death
Earth <-> Air
Nature <-> Technology
Otherwise: Semi-normal roguelike; though on a hex-based system. Perma-death; random floor generation; random monsters and drops...
None of this is set in stone -especially not the card magic skills- I may try both the opaque 'elementals' version (which focuses on damage type and synchroncity, rather that obviously knowing what the school does) displayed and the more obvious 'demonology for pact-making, etc.'
Thoughts? Questions?
This is a proposal for a game I'm thinking about making (from scratch). Comments here should be about things like if you are interested in playing such a game; features you'd like (or think it would need); trying to explain the core of the gameplay as quickly as possible, but its somewhat complex. This is an attempt at the kind of information you'd get in a user manual pamphlet of the final game.
Basics:
Dungeons of Nemelex Xobeh is a deckbuilding Roguelike. Instead of magic spells, collecting potions or scrolls; you only have your melee and your best deck of cards to survive the dungeon.
You play as a Human Gambler. You spawn in with a cane (weak melee weapon), a fancy suit and hat (stereotypical high roller/golden age of Vegas apparel), and your choice of decks of cards.
Starting decks contain 7 common level 0 cards, 2 uncommon level 0 cards and 1 lesser curse card. Each start deck has an obvious core theme (demonsummoning, fire, etc.)
There are no floor items in Nemelex; except cards. Upon picking up a floor card; you are given a chance to read it, information includes its current level, the card type, the rarity, the effect of the card and which skills the card's power draws from (if any). You are given the choice to add the card to your discard pile or destroy it.
Shuffling:
In order to shuffle your deck you have to accumulated (an amount) of battle experience. This is to prevent filling your deck with growth cards and cycling through it repeatedly without seeing battle. This is flavored in game as the magic in the cards being recharged with the souls of your kills.
When shuffling, you get the chance to choose which of your cards you keep and which are permanently discarded (destroyed). Curse cards cannot be removed from your deck in this way. Decks have a strict minimum of 10 cards (to prevent completely rigging your deck) and the maximum allowed depends on your Shuffle Skill.
Card Leveling:
Most cards are low leveled when you first pick them up; this gives them the weakest version of the effect of the card. Cards gain experience through use (passive cards), killing enemies (attack and summoning cards) or are fixed level (growth cards). As a general statement; it should be rare for a card to reach max level in your deck; because, rarer cards with more unique and stronger effects will replace the common ones as you go.
Card Classes:
Destructive: Immediate blast of magical attack energy; this come in the form of a fireball, an explosion of wood fragments, or a poisonous cloud...but it's here to kill enemies directly. Gains experience on kills.
Pacts/Souls: Either a pact with a demon or the enslaved soul of a living creature. Summons the creature on the card to the field temporarily. Gains experience on kills. Can be destroyed. (If the creature dies before it abjures; it's dead forever. Demons are smart enough to self abjure if their HP gets too low to prevent this.) [Abjuration, Pact-Forming and Enslavement cards exist as enchantment cards directly associated with summoning. Enslavement/Pact-Formation will directly make an enemy creature into a card for later use.]
Enchantments Temporary buffs or maluses to the targeted creature. (Some are even permanent maluses). Includes healing. Gain experience with use.
Metamorphosis Changes the physical area around you itself. Everything from blinking everything around to growing plants or raising zombies. Most cards of this class do nothing to help you directly; but have profound effects to helping you control positioning. Gain experience on use.
Utility These cards have non-battle use and are permanents. Effects include destroying curse cards and improving your equipment. You need some in your deck to survive, but if you place too many, you may die by wasting too many turns cycling through them in a key battle. Some gain experience with use others are fixed level.
Growth Similar to utility, these cards have a permanent effect; specifically, they are used to skill your character. This makes them a necessary evil to mix into your deck at small (or large) amounts. Growth cards are your only source of skills in this game. These are fixed level.
Curse: Cards will horrible effects when you draw them. Can only be removed by a shuffle out
Skills:
(non-card related)
Defense: Your hitpoints.
Melee: Your skill at hitting things with canes/staves/etc.
Luck: Affects the RNG; making rarer things more common on level generation. High luck means both better cards and rarer enemies.
Agility: Movement speed and dodging ability.
(card magic) Each is in a pair of two opposites. Training one thing makes it harder to train the opposite. These are little more opaque and focus on damage types and themes more than common usage.
Fire <-> Ice
Life <-> Death
Earth <-> Air
Nature <-> Technology
Otherwise: Semi-normal roguelike; though on a hex-based system. Perma-death; random floor generation; random monsters and drops...
None of this is set in stone -especially not the card magic skills- I may try both the opaque 'elementals' version (which focuses on damage type and synchroncity, rather that obviously knowing what the school does) displayed and the more obvious 'demonology for pact-making, etc.'
Thoughts? Questions?
but point and click roguelike has its own problems.
