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Is there a single sandbox party-based D&D game out there?

Grimwulf

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Vatnik
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Awright, I ended up playing Javelin. Much tanks, V_K. That really scratched my itch. I remember trying it ages ago, back when it was barely playable. Now it became really good once you get past the clunky interface. Then again, it's easier to get used to when you compare it to some popular roguelikes like CDDA.

Completely forgot it even exists, would never think of it if you didn't remind me. I owe you one.

'I just want to create a party from scratch, dive straight into procedurally generated dungeons, die horribly, repeat. No plot needed.'

This sounds nothing like dungeons and dragons.

D&D with procedurally generated combat fest does not compute well. D&D was created with hand-made adventures in mind.

No plot is better than a crappy one. Besides, most of D&D rpg's tend to force a very specific agenda on your party, sometimes forcing you to stick to a specific alignment. And if you don't want to play as a band of half-witted eval-killars, too bad - go look for another game.

How many D&D games allow you to play a simple band of mercenaries only caring for gold, that don't give two shits about that evil necromancer that threatens to destroy a random village? I can only remember IWD 2. Although it doesn't give you much choice, at least you get the proper dialogue options.

So allowing yourself to look outside of D&D will provide better results.

As I said, right now I wanna play with D&D char progression and combat mechanics. I am aware there are other games outside of D&D scope that fit my request better. Got 655 hours of play in Battle Brothers according to my Steam account. Just feel the need to play D&D roguelike - is it so much to ask?

Proud autist reporting in.

RPGs are to be studied and mastered.

That is true, especially when you are provided with several possible routes to victory and several possible endings. Before posting this thread I launched IWD 2 and played for 8 hours or so, before I realized that even after all those years I still somehow remember every nook and cranny of this game. Maybe because I finished it like 4 times or so. Muscle memory interferes with having fun, I suppose. I'm not saying it's bad, just want something fresh.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
I guess you never ended up getting around to playing Swordflight. sigh.
 

Jack Of Owls

Arcane
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I remember trying the Keep on the Borderlands module for TOEE but quickly lost interest when I saw shops the size of large gymnasiums with just a few items for sale. For some reason, it galls me when mod(ule) authors have no talent for creating at least believable if not realistic enviorments. The KotB module for NWN was something I was able to complete and have fun with though.
 

biggestboss

Liturgist
Joined
Feb 16, 2017
Messages
528
I may try out KotB even if it's shit because I've been looking for a game to play after TOEE and none of the games I've tried since are hooking me when really what I want is more TOEE.
 

octavius

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I remember trying the Keep on the Borderlands module for TOEE but quickly lost interest when I saw shops the size of large gymnasiums with just a few items for sale.

Damn, I hate things like that.

Ray Dyer's FRUA conversion of KotB was excellent, though. Don't know how faithful it was, but definitely one of the best FRUA modules I've played.
 

Filthy Sauce

Arbiter
Joined
Jan 26, 2016
Messages
614
Play Ruins of Myth Drannor. Dungeons and monsters looks same so you can just pretend it's randomly generated.

Actually the multiplayer mode is randomly generated (except the surface level). The mp works the same as the infinity games too, so you can play solo with a full 6 man squad.
 

Jeru

Novice
Joined
Jun 25, 2019
Messages
62
No plot is better than a crappy one. Besides, most of D&D rpg's tend to force a very specific agenda on your party, sometimes forcing you to stick to a specific alignment. And if you don't want to play as a band of half-witted eval-killars, too bad - go look for another game.

How many D&D games allow you to play a simple band of mercenaries only caring for gold, that don't give two shits about that evil necromancer that threatens to destroy a random village? I can only remember IWD 2. Although it doesn't give you much choice, at least you get the proper dialogue options.

As I said, right now I wanna play with D&D char progression and combat mechanics. I am aware there are other games outside of D&D scope that fit my request better. Got 655 hours of play in Battle Brothers according to my Steam account. Just feel the need to play D&D roguelike - is it so much to ask?
It was thinking about mechanics, encounters and itemization. Procedural generation means that to bigger or lesser extent both encounters and loot will also be procedurally generated, and that is polar opposite to what D&D was created for mechanically.(In my opinion)

Sure it can be done, it is not some impossible treat, and maybe someone already did it (I haven't played all D&D based CRPGs after all), but results will be worse than if someone would create RPG stat&combat system with procedural gameplay in mind from fundaments.

Anyway I hope you will find what you're looking for.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Damn, I hate things like that.

It does have very oldschool feel, though. More even than the main ToEE campaign. It's very grognard. It probably takes an hour to get to the first fight when you're new to the mod and not getting hints online. That's on top of the hour in chargen. And it's just against Lizardmen in a swamp. It takes ages to get anywhere because the hub is huge and you need to find shit like rope.
 

PrettyDeadman

Guest
LoL Bro, why dont you just play icewind dale remake in toee engine?
 

Darth Canoli

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LoL Bro, why dont you just play icewind dale remake in toee engine?

Because it's just a demo version ?
Anyone tried it ?
I wanted to wait but it'll probably take longer than Grimoire to get a release and that's the best case scenario ...
 
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Jack Of Owls

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I remember trying the Keep on the Borderlands module for TOEE but quickly lost interest when I saw shops the size of large gymnasiums with just a few items for sale.

Damn, I hate things like that.

Ray Dyer's FRUA conversion of KotB was excellent, though. Don't know how faithful it was, but definitely one of the best FRUA modules I've played.

I have a shitload of FRUA modules - including all Ray Dyer's stuff - that I should try with that special "pixel perfect" german build of DOSBox that makes 320×200 look good (supposedly) on modern flatscreen LCD/LED displays. As I mentioned too many times on this forum before, my first cRPGs were Dragon Wars and SSI's Pool of Radiance, and they turned me into a lifelong fan of the more pithy PnP-type of computer RPGs though I did end up burning myself out with Pathfinder Kingmaker after the 100 hour mark.
 

rohand

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Aug 20, 2014
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The actual roguelike Incursion is roughly based on D20 rules. I like it a lot. it's single player however so I don't know if you'd like.
http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=Incursion

EDIT: There's Red Prison - even though you create one character, you can hire more later.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1074040/The_Red_Prison/

Just wanted to point out for no reason the Genesis D&D game that looks a lot like KoTC (made by Westwood), see if you wanna play it on an emulator.
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dungeons-dragons-warriors-of-the-eternal-sun
 
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Ebonsword

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Joined
Mar 7, 2008
Messages
2,326
'I just want to create a party from scratch, dive straight into procedurally generated dungeons, die horribly, repeat. No plot needed.'

This sounds nothing like dungeons and dragons.

D&D with procedurally generated combat fest does not compute well. D&D was created with hand-made adventures in mind.

What the hell are you two talking about? The 1st Edition AD&D Dungeon Master's guide has tables of random monsters, random treasure, and random dungeon layouts precisely so you CAN play through random dungeons with no story.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
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Oct 3, 2015
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11,760
'I just want to create a party from scratch, dive straight into procedurally generated dungeons, die horribly, repeat. No plot needed.'

This sounds nothing like dungeons and dragons.
D&D with procedurally generated combat fest does not compute well. D&D was created with hand-made adventures in mind.

So allowing yourself to look outside of D&D will provide better results.
Certainly a (good) hand-crafted adventure can best a procedurally-generated dungeon, but Gary Gygax himself included rules for Random Dungeon Generation in Appendix A of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide in 1979. :M This was followed by Appendix B Random Wilderness Terrain, Appendix C Random Monster Encounters (19 pages worth!), Appendix D Random Generation of Creatures from the Lower Planes, and even Appendix I Dungeon Dressing (tables for randomly generating Gygaxian dungeon flavor). Appendix P Creating a Party on the Spur of the Moment, the final appendix, offered guidelines for swiftly creating a full party at the desired PC level for the particular scenario being run by the Dungeon Master.

For that matter, the very first issue of The Strategic Review, TSR's predecessor to Dragon Magazine, contained an article by Gary Gygax with tables for randomly generating a dungeon for solo play. +M
 

Jeru

Novice
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Jun 25, 2019
Messages
62
Interesting. Now the question is whether that was intended as an equal mode of gameplay or just an addition to a system to widen the appeal. Would be interesting if creator himself took a stance on that in some interview or something.
 

Angelo85

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I just want to create a party from scratch, dive straight into procedurally generated dungeons, die horribly, repeat. No plot needed.

I believe Dungeon Monkey Eternal could be of interest to you; it's freeware:

DME is a party-based fantasy roguelike roleplaying game. You control a group of up to four adventurers, who set off on a randomly determined quest in a randomly constructed world.
Create four characters. Explore the world. Beat up monsters and take their stuff.
 

pat

Arcane
Developer
Joined
Jan 1, 2015
Messages
46
There's Red Prison - even though you create one character, you can hire more later.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1074040/The_Red_Prison/.
The reason that I made Red Prison was basically to answer the question asked in this thread.

Admittedly it's a party of henchmen with a single PC, but otherwise it fits the bill of being a proper D&D game with infinite procedural dungeons to explore with a huge amount of possible party combinations.
 
Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
Some TIS/tileset coder needs to write a routine that randomizes dungeon layouts such as:

thieves%2Bguild%2Band%2Bfirewine%2Bruins.jpg

Also randomize loot, placeables, traps and encounter design within them.
 

CappenVarra

phase-based phantasmist
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Ardamai
Gary was all about random tables, random attribute rolls, random no. of monsters appearing, random harlots random treasure random everything - and that's the canonical way to play D&D, not handcrafted Dragonlance novels in game form

thankfully the two gentlemen above already corrected the misconception :salute:
 

Luka-boy

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Sep 24, 2014
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Asspain
Isn't there some 2D top-down OGL game where you create a party and just keep fighting battles currently in Early Access? I forgot the name.
 

Darth Canoli

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Jun 8, 2018
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Perched on a tree
I just want to create a party from scratch, dive straight into procedurally generated dungeons, die horribly, repeat. No plot needed.

Basically looking for something like Low Magic Age, only a game, not a game engine. LMA has great potential and all, but I'm gonna die of old age before the developer makes it playable.

Not even asking for a standalone game. Any mod for NVN or other D&D game will do, as long as it allows to make your own party and creates random world/dungeons to keep things fresh.

Zorbus Almost fits the bill.
You only create your main character and depending on your spirit modifier (+1), you can recruit 1-5 party members, tame wild beasts (bears, wild dogs, griffons, direphants,... ), animate golems and create a duplicate of yourself.
Party members are plenty and if you meet them but don't recruit them right away, they'll wait for you in the market plane.

Spells and ability are D&D-like, fireball, missile, hailstorm, lightning, chain lightning, web and a few original ones too, not too many spells but not too few either.

It's a rogue-like but you have limited control over your companions (follow, regroup, wait, attack target, use skills, which they also do on their own depending on the options).

Dungeon crawlers aren't my favorite genre but this one is very good.
 

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