TOPIC: Positive & Negative feedback for GenCon runs

Seconding the issues with the two last rooms of Into the Underdark - couldn't hear the mushrooms and the delay on their speeches made it impossible to get a good idea of what all was going on. Without the rogue box clue (which we didn't have) we were unable to build a real picture of what all the mushrooms were saying. So we brute forced it. Which we were then surprised to find no longer works for treasure. Fine.

And then there was the mindflayer, which was designed to instant-kill one person per round (annoying, but fine). However, it felt like we had no chance whatsoever when only like a quarter of our attacks that hit actually, you know, hit, based on the DM rolling a die consistently against us. Hooray.

Hi everyone! I'm the guy behind the Drow makeup from the Underdark Puzzle elevator/training room. I just want to say how much I appreciate all the positive feedback and praise that's been sent my way. Had things gone as planned, I'd be a famous actor with my eye on my next Oscar/Emmy/Golden Globe etc, but nobody seemed to get the memo about 10 years back, so taking the chance to perform and interact with as many people as I did during True Dungeon was an awesome experience for me and I'm glad I was able to make your TD experience a better one. Take care and I hope to see you all next year!

Hi John, thanks for stopping in and saying hello!

You did some amazing work, and the experience of all was definitely greatly improved as a result.

I hope you will make it back next time!

I was the AC for the dungeon John was in - he did a great job. He was awesomesauce!

I know there's been a good deal of negative feedback on the spider/grub infestation room, but I thought the idea was quite neat. I did both the puzzle and combat for Sable, so I did this room twice.

On the first run, the room GM had the grubs/spiders at the ready and had us put them on as we walked in and then explained the situation. The second run, the GM waited for us to all file in, explained the path getting here, told us about the torches and had us go get our own spider/grub off the wall. I will admit, I liked the first a bit better - we had to figure out the torch option on our own.

Both runs I hit the correct bug on my first slide. While I was somewhat proud of myself, my reward was to go stand off to the side and was allowed to do nothing to assist the rest of my party in removing their bugs Not very fun.

The talking mushroom forest was also a very cool concept, but didn't work well in the TD setting. I liked the logic aspect of it, I liked that they spoke in time intervals (but with a timed room, this is VERY dangerous). I liked that you had to pay attention to three things (color/mood/gender). However, there are complaints every year about not being able to hear dialog on audio tracts, so why incorporate it into a puzzle? I couldn't make out the words used to describe the mushrooms and trying to pay attention to the words being spoken, I didn't pick up on the mood of the mushroom talking. Also, making the room a bit bigger would have been nice since we had been forewarned that the mushroom props were not well secured to anything.

Pulsating egg sac - YES!! (although this was noticed in puzzle, was it not working on the combat side?)

Elevator puzzle - pretty easy and straightforward. I like those teamwork puzzles. (although afterward, I did question why the drow would willingly get in an elevator she knew to be sabotaged and not want to help fix it to avoid getting injured herself.) I also liked how she had us pay to get into the broken elevator too! (is this sort of thing typical for hardcore, or just this adventure?)

Spider/Ball/Sticks puzzle - another easy and straightforward one. The difficulty came with the teamwork needed, not with what to do. Very reminiscent of the eagle egg in the tree trunk from I think Lycans.

Giant Spider - VERY COOL! While waiting for others to slide, I put up my fists and pretended I was punching the spider from across the room. The puppeteer, responded with a few punches back from the spider (I would like to see the beholder (I don't remember what year/dungeon) again though)

Whoever was in the mushroom costume did an awesome job!

At the beginning of the Mind Flayer fight, I already felt defeated with the 50/50 chance. And he hit really hard to boot! I would have liked a completely optional side puzzle for a few of the party members for a chance to increase those odds, but not sure how the logistics of that would have worked.

I did notice we are now allowed to take bags and phones into the dungeon. When did this happen?

Angela Small wrote: I know there's been a good deal of negative feedback on the spider/grub infestation room, but I thought the idea was quite neat. I did both the puzzle and combat for Sable, so I did this room twice.

On the first run, the room GM had the grubs/spiders at the ready and had us put them on as we walked in and then explained the situation. The second run, the GM waited for us to all file in, explained the path getting here, told us about the torches and had us go get our own spider/grub off the wall. I will admit, I liked the first a bit better - we had to figure out the torch option on our own.

Both runs I hit the correct bug on my first slide. While I was somewhat proud of myself, my reward was to go stand off to the side and was allowed to do nothing to assist the rest of my party in removing their bugs Not very fun.

The talking mushroom forest was also a very cool concept, but didn't work well in the TD setting. I liked the logic aspect of it, I liked that they spoke in time intervals (but with a timed room, this is VERY dangerous). I liked that you had to pay attention to three things (color/mood/gender). However, there are complaints every year about not being able to hear dialog on audio tracts, so why incorporate it into a puzzle? I couldn't make out the words used to describe the mushrooms and trying to pay attention to the words being spoken, I didn't pick up on the mood of the mushroom talking. Also, making the room a bit bigger would have been nice since we had been forewarned that the mushroom props were not well secured to anything.

Pulsating egg sac - YES!! (although this was noticed in puzzle, was it not working on the combat side?)

Elevator puzzle - pretty easy and straightforward. I like those teamwork puzzles. (although afterward, I did question why the drow would willingly get in an elevator she knew to be sabotaged and not want to help fix it to avoid getting injured herself.) I also liked how she had us pay to get into the broken elevator too! (is this sort of thing typical for hardcore, or just this adventure?)

Spider/Ball/Sticks puzzle - another easy and straightforward one. The difficulty came with the teamwork needed, not with what to do. Very reminiscent of the eagle egg in the tree trunk from I think Lycans.

Giant Spider - VERY COOL! While waiting for others to slide, I put up my fists and pretended I was punching the spider from across the room. The puppeteer, responded with a few punches back from the spider (I would like to see the beholder (I don't remember what year/dungeon) again though)

Whoever was in the mushroom costume did an awesome job!

At the beginning of the Mind Flayer fight, I already felt defeated with the 50/50 chance. And he hit really hard to boot! I would have liked a completely optional side puzzle for a few of the party members for a chance to increase those odds, but not sure how the logistics of that would have worked.

I did notice we are now allowed to take bags and phones into the dungeon. When did this happen?

You should have been allowed/encouraged to assist your group by sliding at their bugs - it was part of the room mechanic, a miss of the bug but a hit on the body meant you attacked the player directly.

Something no bigger than a backpack has always been allowed (to my knowledge) and phones are allowed to be brought in on silent but it's expected you will only check them after the combat/puzzle is over, and they absolutely cannot be used as a light source, to take notes, or research anything other than a token effect.

John Anderson wrote: Hi everyone! I'm the guy behind the Drow makeup from the Underdark Puzzle elevator/training room. I just want to say how much I appreciate all the positive feedback and praise that's been sent my way. Had things gone as planned, I'd be a famous actor with my eye on my next Oscar/Emmy/Golden Globe etc, but nobody seemed to get the memo about 10 years back, so taking the chance to perform and interact with as many people as I did during True Dungeon was an awesome experience for me and I'm glad I was able to make your TD experience a better one. Take care and I hope to see you all next year!

Seriously, you were great. I really felt your disdain for those of us from lower classes/races other than Drow.

joshua baessler wrote: Something no bigger than a backpack has always been allowed (to my knowledge)

Back when they were in the Marriott they had a bag check and you were required to check it before entering the dungeon. As far as I know since they moved to the ICC they have allowed bags.

Nothing bigger than a messenger bag should be allowed in the dungeon. Backpacks and wheeled carts bumped into other party members, scenery, props, etc. Can you imagine the mushroom forest room if everyone had a backpack and/or a wheeled cart?

from the Coach's Guide :

Backpacks are allowed in the dungeon, but any kind of wheeled luggage is prohibited for safety reasons.

Druegar wrote: from the Coach's Guide :

Backpacks are allowed in the dungeon, but any kind of wheeled luggage is prohibited for safety reasons.

Then someone in admin or the coaching area missed at least several wheeled bags. Maybe the players carried them at first, then activated their wheeled superpowers.

grrrr!