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Inspired by a somewhat recent Tales from the Pit strip, my friend and I decided to have a go at the Great Scavenger Hunt. We both agreed on a list of items, created identical characters simultaneously, and went at it. (We were in real-time communication via Gmail chat.)
The Variant: Entroband
The Character(s): Thing 1 & Thing 2, Dark Elven Nimble Ninjas.
The Rules: When all of the items are indentified and in your house, you win! If you die... Well, I'll talk a little about that below.
Without further ado, these were the Items we were after:
[1] A wand with 13 charges.
[2] A corpse/skeleton of a unique "C" and a corpse/skeleton of a unique "f".
[3] An uncursed ring or amulet that reduces a stat.
[4] 2 identical "p" skeletons.
[5] a cursed ranged weapon.
[6] an enchanted weapon or ammo stack whose total bonus is 5.
[7] an armor with armor bonus greater than the armor's natural AC.
[8] a metal statue of any monster ("metal" is not a material - it can be a gold statue, a silver one, an iron one, etc.)
[9] an ego or artifact light source.
[10] a trapped chest.
I managed to find 7 of these items. They were:
[1] A Wand of Magic Missile (13 charges)
It started with 16 and I shot a BSV a few times.
[2] The corpses of Fang and Hobbes.
I also killed Grip and Freesia later; I suppose Lion Heart would work too.
[3] A Ring of Stupidity (-1)
I used a Scroll of Remove Curse.
[4] 2 Novice Priest skeletons
I never found [5].
[6] A Tulwar (2d4) (+3,+2)
Home-made; I had enough money to buy it (+1,+1) and enchant it up.
[7] A Small Metal Shield of Resist Fire [5, +11]
Smeagol dropped it for me =)
I never found [8]
[9] A Brass Lantern of Duration
I bought it at the General Store for a dime.
I never found [10].
ISSUES
There were two problems. Problem one was that the more items we found, the more boring it got, because we started finding items slower and slower, and finding items is fun. This problem could be solved by adding a Time Limit, so that whoever has the most items by the time the time runs out, wins the game. (I guess that's how regular scavenger hunts work =p) The effect of this would be: in the beginning, it's fun because you're getting lots of items, and in the end, it's fun because you're racing against time.
Problem two was that my friend died. Not the person, but his character. This effectively ended the game in a very unsatisfactory manner because neither player collected all the items. (Although he came closer than me; he was only missing item [5]). He died of boredom, being totally unable to find that last item. Also, we were playing in different time zones, and in his zone it was 1AM. That might have had something to do with it. I think setting a Time Limit would solve this problem as well (the issue of boredom, that is. I know I'm writing terribly but its getting pretty late here too.)
Nitpick: I think the "items must in the home for them to count" rule should be expanded to "items must be in the home, inventory, equipment, or museum".
Well that just about sums it up. I'd be happy to play this with anyone, feel free to email me if you want to set something up. If you play with anyone else, I'd be curious to hear how it goes.
Whether or not you've tried it, feedback is very welcome.
Happy hunting
Djabanete
The Variant: Entroband
The Character(s): Thing 1 & Thing 2, Dark Elven Nimble Ninjas.
The Rules: When all of the items are indentified and in your house, you win! If you die... Well, I'll talk a little about that below.
Without further ado, these were the Items we were after:
[1] A wand with 13 charges.
[2] A corpse/skeleton of a unique "C" and a corpse/skeleton of a unique "f".
[3] An uncursed ring or amulet that reduces a stat.
[4] 2 identical "p" skeletons.
[5] a cursed ranged weapon.
[6] an enchanted weapon or ammo stack whose total bonus is 5.
[7] an armor with armor bonus greater than the armor's natural AC.
[8] a metal statue of any monster ("metal" is not a material - it can be a gold statue, a silver one, an iron one, etc.)
[9] an ego or artifact light source.
[10] a trapped chest.
I managed to find 7 of these items. They were:
[1] A Wand of Magic Missile (13 charges)
It started with 16 and I shot a BSV a few times.
[2] The corpses of Fang and Hobbes.
I also killed Grip and Freesia later; I suppose Lion Heart would work too.
[3] A Ring of Stupidity (-1)
I used a Scroll of Remove Curse.
[4] 2 Novice Priest skeletons
I never found [5].
[6] A Tulwar (2d4) (+3,+2)
Home-made; I had enough money to buy it (+1,+1) and enchant it up.
[7] A Small Metal Shield of Resist Fire [5, +11]
Smeagol dropped it for me =)
I never found [8]
[9] A Brass Lantern of Duration
I bought it at the General Store for a dime.
I never found [10].
ISSUES
There were two problems. Problem one was that the more items we found, the more boring it got, because we started finding items slower and slower, and finding items is fun. This problem could be solved by adding a Time Limit, so that whoever has the most items by the time the time runs out, wins the game. (I guess that's how regular scavenger hunts work =p) The effect of this would be: in the beginning, it's fun because you're getting lots of items, and in the end, it's fun because you're racing against time.
Problem two was that my friend died. Not the person, but his character. This effectively ended the game in a very unsatisfactory manner because neither player collected all the items. (Although he came closer than me; he was only missing item [5]). He died of boredom, being totally unable to find that last item. Also, we were playing in different time zones, and in his zone it was 1AM. That might have had something to do with it. I think setting a Time Limit would solve this problem as well (the issue of boredom, that is. I know I'm writing terribly but its getting pretty late here too.)
Nitpick: I think the "items must in the home for them to count" rule should be expanded to "items must be in the home, inventory, equipment, or museum".
Well that just about sums it up. I'd be happy to play this with anyone, feel free to email me if you want to set something up. If you play with anyone else, I'd be curious to hear how it goes.
Whether or not you've tried it, feedback is very welcome.
Happy hunting
Djabanete
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