Dungeon Master Forum

Conflux 2 utilised new combinations of existing runes to vary the spells and provided new life to an old game.

To make it even more challenging, one could also redesign the runes, which would put every player back to a state of 'newbie' as far as DM spells go.

I'm quite keen to do this in a new CSBWin adventure that I'm designing. But is it too much? Would you prefer to use the runes you know and love? Please add your voice to the poll!

in fact - i don't mind at all. imho, it does neither improve nor decrease gameplay if i feel as a newbie and have to explore from zero.
when i REALLY need a spell, then i use trial and error (and that is no fun at all).
but i would suggest to build it as you like instead of a poll, all in all, it's your dungeon. it's harder not to use a fancy technical trick than to use it

I think the DM runes are very good symbols and add to the atmosphere of the game, so I would like to keep them as they are, but for future dungeon master developments it would be ok to use combiniations unused so far for new spells, but the game designer should be very careful with spell design so not to waste the limited number of combinations on a bunch of redundant crap spells, and he/she should create spells that befit the runes chosen.

I'd say the above would be right for anything tryign to set itself in the DM universe, but anything else there shouldn't be any fear in openign it up

Conflux isn't set i nther DM universe, and instead combines lots of fantasty genres - the runes, while not re-drawn, were re-designated in meaning which adds new atmosphere

The only limitation for the engine spellcasting is that the first rune represents 'power, but it doesn't even need to be that

So for example, the first set of runes are, say, the symbols of god's 1 - 6, you need to petition a diety to invoke another on your behalf. The second ranks are god's 2 - 6. God 1 has no power, but all starting priests can call on his balf. So perhaps god 2 is fire, ie torch. Then you move up the ranks of 'power',so effectively petitioning himself for more effect, then petitioning god 3 his superior to command more power, and so on
Maybe god 7 is so powerful he has many minions he can command, the third set of runes represent those, so all more powerful spells would be x 7 y, and then the fourth rank would be sacrifices the caster is willing to make to those minions. It would make it logical and

whatever, i was just thinking/typing, just showing an idea - there's no reason to limit any element, we like the feel of DM/the DM engine, but it doens't have to be DM, there's no reason to limit anyone's imagination

I voted for change both. This change could be anything from a sneaky tweak to a complete revamp. Basically, if it works - go for it!

I thought the runes reshuffle in Conflux 2 was good fun, and Zyx did supply new descriptions for the runes to help you work out the new formulae.

I also like the idea of changing the runes themselves to match the dungeon's theme.

Creating some new spells would also be great though would obviously involve a lot more effort for the dungeon designer, both in making them work and ensuring they don't unbalance the game.

What new spells might work? Perhaps some of the old favourites from AD&D? Or would that just make it too much like EOB? Perhaps some lateral thinking would be required to come up with some more DMy spells?

there is a post or two buried deep on the CSBwin forum that was on that topic, when peopel realised paul might be able to expand it that way

there was a similar post for RTC

i think for the moment assume nothing adventurous - a different graphics, or a spell that creates a new potion is about all : )

Yep, that's right -- you still can only cast the spells currently available (although some minor variations are possible). I was merely asking from the point of view of whether or not you want to learn a new way of doing that, or just use the existing runes/spells as they stand.