Dungeon Master
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The Vaults: monster set
For reference the dev wiki contains some ideas: https://crawl.develz.org/wiki/doku.php?id=dcss:brainstorm:dungeon:branch:vaults#monster_set
And there have been some previous threads on the subject (probably more but they're difficult to find because the forum search says that "vaults" and "monsters" return too many results...):
Vaults Monster Set Revamp
Alternate Vaults Monster Set: The Unwilling Guards
At this point I definitely believe that V needs a set of entirely new monsters. To illustrate this I'll quote evilmike on the wiki:
evilmike wrote:I'd like to propose a small thought experiment. Suppose (in some alternate univertse) that the Vaults is a new branch in development, rather than an already existing one. Under this alternate version of crawl, all the same branches exist, except for the Vaults (which is planned to be added in some future version). What do you think the branch would wind up looking like, in this case?
If someone proposed "here's this new branch with a really cool layout, it uses identical monsters from D" then of course that would be shot down. As far as I know, V is now the only branch that doesn't have unique monsters. Vault Guards don't even begin to cut it - their only unique property is the manner in which they are encountered, and I have always found them trivial compared to the rest of V:5.
The wiki page contained a proposal to separate the current monster set into D/V or at least tweak weightings to favour one or the other. There is a very valid objection to this: it dilutes the variation of D. There are suggestions that yaktaurs are already a signature monster of V, but since the weightings are identical this is purely perception and I think it comes down to which branch you tend to do first. Personally I see yaktaurs as a D monster and a natural progression of the centaur line.
Before we propose any new monsters I think it's important to establish the theme. The reason the Abyss monsters work so well is because that branch is already rich in flavour and backstory. With the Vaults I'm not so certain ... the name to me implies it's an ancient museum of sorts, with all kinds of treasures and ancient evils locked away in the titular vaults. Who built them? Perhaps an ancient race or society lost in time, maybe whoever created the Orb itself; perhaps draconians, perhaps humans; maybe a mad wizard. Establishing a consistent theme for the monster might provide the player with clues to the answer to this question, without ever explicity stating it (which IMO is the best way for story to emerge).
For this reason I personally loved the idea of artificial / animated life but this has raised many objections. But there is something compelling about the idea that the long-gone vault builders left magical and everliving creations in place to guard their masterwork. I can remember the first time I encountered Vault Guards thinking that they were some form of robot or animated armour, until I saw the corpses. I still there's some magical way in which they've been eternally preserved and kept in formation.
Drawing on all of the above, I think there is a theme emerging. Just as the Abyss evokes a sense of raw chaos, terror and wonder in equal measures: perhaps the Vaults should produce feelings of age, loss, and loneliness, eternity, and the forgotten?
With this in mind, we look at the Vaults as a place locked away and untouched by mortal beings for centuries. It seems logical that only a limited number of things could survive and/or still be a threat in such a place:
1. "Exhibits"
By this I mean monsters (specified in subvaults) that are locked away in the vault rooms themselves. The theme is that a magical stasis field has been put in place on the rooms to preserve the contents until they are opened or otherwise disturbed. These will be regular monsters from other branches, but it would be good if they tended towards rare monsters or special encounters.
2. Vault Guards
I am thinking along the lines of: "Long ago, this human's body was fused into a suit of armour and magically bonded into endless vigiliance; in the process, it was eternally preserved until the release of death." So these are semi-automated drones with an organic / sentient component. It would be nice if there were more types of them and if they had somewhat more special abilities, cropping up throughout V and with an Elite Guard protecting V:5. V:5 is an iconic moment both of the game and of V, so they are an obvious place to start from with a dedicated monster set.
3. Animated / Non-living Creations
This covers golems, animated items, and statues. I am not suggesting we fill V with these, but the presence of Hall of Blades in V points to a connection here. This could be considered the same category as Vault Guards given the above flavour.
I liked the idea of monster-buffing statues but as dpeg pointed out there is a luring problem. However if we are careful they could be interesting: for instance, a shrieking statue that wakes up nearby rooms and attracts corridor monsters; or a statue that can blink and haste monsters, so luring things away is ineffective.
There was some contention with TwilightPhoenix's ideas for animated items and yes I think it was a bit too much ... but the one thing I would particularly like to see from that list are Animated Spellbooks.
Golems are generally pretty boring but I think some new types of golem could solve this problem; importantly, golems don't have to be slow, if they're made from the right materials. A couple of ideas I like are an Armour Golem which is basically an animated suit of armour complete with weapon, or a Blade Golem which is made entirely of knives - melee characters and unarmed in particular have a high chance of cutting themselves attacking this, and when it dies there is an explosion of knives flying in all directions.
4. Overgrowth
Time for something wacky and new: because the Vaults have been untouched for so long there has been plenty of chance for plant life to grow and evolve in corridors and empty rooms, especially in the magical environment of V.
I don't think this has been proposed before, but here we have an opportunity to introduce a variety of new plant-based monsters. As well as being unique threats this allows us to tangle up the corridors with plant growth, making luring and escape tactics trickier. Fedhas worshippers get an easier ride, but I think any V plant monsters should still be hostile - they have evolved so deep down they are effectively cut off from Fedhas' ecosystem (or similar handwaving).
There are a number of ideas for plant monsters on the wiki but there is always a problem with making stationary threats interesting. Of course, not all plants have to be stationary.
We could even allow some semi-sentient plants to drop corpses and be butcherable, granting a new type of vegetarian chunk which herbivores can eat and which preserves a little better than normal chunks.
5. Vault Builders
We don't know who the builders were but perhaps some essence of them remains. Perhaps they were an ancient race who ascended to a higher plane of being, and from time to time they pop back for nostalgia's sake or to act as caretakers. They might manifest as powerful beings of pure energy, or perhaps their souls were bound into statues. Maybe they avoid direct intervention but to try and save their creation from getting destroyed by you, they tip the balance by casting buff spells on monsters. It would be nice to expand on the mythology of the Vaults without destroying the mystery. Perhaps they left traps for foolish adventurers, and we could have a higher incidence of the more interesting LUA traps than elsewhere in the dungeon.
...
This is a long post and I haven't elaborated on many specific monster ideas. I have some but I'll write a follow-up post with more; initially though I think it's important to establish exactly what theme will work to make Vaults stand a bit more on its own. Please tear my analysis to pieces now
Reason: fixed quote tag