Dungeonology: The Expedition

The Good, The Bad and The Gloomy
almost 7 years ago – Sat, May 04, 2019 at 05:49:29 AM

Hello Scholars!

The KS campaign is almost over, but you still have a whole day to attend our Lessons! (and, above all, to keep unlocking SGs)

In today’s lesson, we will talk about Onamor, the new Scholar who joined the class!

The gloomy Onamor!

The new student of Rocca Civetta is a great lover of Swords & Sorcery and has come to put into practice his knowledge of necromancy and obtain the chair of Dungeonology.

Son of the gravedigger of Rocca Civetta, he used his father’s job to learn how to master Necromantic art and alternates his studies at the University with the management of the town’s cemetery. Like every working student, he doesn’t have much time for university’ social activities. Thus he doesn’t have many friends... but who needs them when your undead fellows are more obedient and, above all, way quieter?

In the game, Onamor can count on a fair number of cards in hand, but the rest of his features are absolutely average. On the other hand, his Stealth and Knowledge Combos are easy enough to reach!

Anyway, the real Onamor’ strength is his skills, all based on the management of the Students!

First of all, with “Misdirection” he can discard the Exploration Trick Cards to get new Students, that thanks to “Shovel Master” he can get from the Reserve instead from the bonfire (which, therefore, can also be empty). Finally, with “Necromantic Apprentice,” used as an instant action, he can sacrifice Students to perform a Divination.

So, combining these 3 skills, Onamor will be able to count on an infinite reserve of Students, that he can use for Trick Cards or for very useful Divinations to be performed at any time.

When Onamor is exalted, he replaces his regular skills with “Soul Reaper” and “Improved Misdirection.”

The first one is a passive skill: every time another Scholar sacrifices a Students, he will be put on Onamor’s card, and when Onamor has 3 Students on his card he can put them in reserve to collect any Cube from the Area where he is or an adjacent one.

Instead, Improved Misdirection is an enhanced version of Misdirection. In this case, discarding an Exploration Card, he will get many Students equal to the bonus value of the card.

So, with Onamor you will play a Scholar who is definitely focused on Students... dead or alive, they will be useful anyway!

The "From Future Past" Cycle

Many of you, who follow us from our previous projects, already know the (probably) most iconic character in LMS universe.

The Psionicist Jukas made his first appearance in Sine Tempore, in which he and his companions of the “Genesis” ark-ship were looking for a new habitable planet for the human race.

Then, he mysteriously appeared (way older) in Black Rose Wars as one of the mages competing for the control of the Lodge. But what was his motivation? What is Jukas doing in the Italian Renaissance? And, above all, how did he get there?

Now, thanks to Dungeonology, we will find out the truth: in his timeline (several millennia before in the past) Jukas faced Crono in a deadly duel that, due to their powers of space-time manipulation, catapulted them in the 1500s, but miles away from each other!

Jukas did not lose heart and began looking for information to understand where (or when) he is, and mostly how he could reach Crono to finish his job and kill him.

And this is where our Scholars come into play!

In the game, Jukas is considered as a Boss, who will compete with our Scholars because he is also looking for information and, since he is not precisely good-natured, he won’t accept interference in his research!

Anyway, Jukas won’t be the only character coming from another era to join the Dungeonology world! The mysterious Andromeda will also make her appearance as a Scholar, more 2 new Areas and many more surprise! 

But to know more about the functioning of these fantastic characters, you must wait for tomorrow’s lesson!

See you tomorrow for the last day!

Raoul is ready for the Adventure!
almost 7 years ago – Thu, May 02, 2019 at 01:54:38 PM

Hello Scholars!

In today’s lesson, we will introduce one of the four new students who arrived at Rocca Civetta thanks to the Erasmus program, plus we have some other succulent news!

But let’s not get lost in chit-chat and meet Raoul!

Raoul, the conquistador 

This student from Spain has already obtained an excellent reputation in the University thanks to his great charisma and the (unlikely) heroic deeds he loves to tell... in the end a good story doesn’t need to be “exactly” real, right?

Raoul’s movement and study features are average, but our beloved Spanish has a 5-card hand, therefore he can always count on a wide range of possibilities during a game; unfortunately his base number of Students is rather low, so he must manage his resources very carefully, in particular at the beginning of a game.

His “Conqueror” skill allows him to double the Bonus Value provided by “Notoriety” and “Social” Trick Cards; also he can always add +1 to the Auxiliary Effect of the Subterfuge Cards.

This skill perfectly combines with Raoul’s large amount of cards, in fact, it will be easy for him to always have at least one card in his hand that uses the aforementioned special Rule! 

“For the Queen,” instead, will allow Raoul, by acquiring an Exhausted Token, to study one information more without increasing the Alert Value of the area where he is: this is an excellent ability that compensates for his average study value.

In his Exalted Version, in addition to a beneficial increase in his features, Raoul will be able to use an enhanced version of this Skill, which at the same cost will allow him to take up to 2 additional cubes without increasing the defense value of the room!

Therefore, Raoul is as an excellent Scholar with skills that will allow you to use Trick Cards whose effects are enhanced most of the time... provided you know how to manage your resources! 

Adventure time!

Soon we will release a new SG cycle, the “Adventures Cycle”!

In this new series of Stretch Goals, mainly based on Adventure, you will encounter 3D traps, new treacherous rooms from a remote past and new cards, but above all, you will finally get to know the Archaeology Professor of Rocca Civetta, the reckless and bungling Enrico!

Probably, you already heard of him in so many stories of Dungeonology, and now it’s finally time to meet him!

Enrico is a new Dungeonology Boss that you can use in any game. Enrico is a peculiar Boss because he won’t try to chase the Students out of the Dungeon like the other bosses: just the teacher and the students are all in the same Dungeon! The problem is that… well,  an adventure with Enrico means troubles, and the troubles in which he will get into will also affect the Students, whether they like it or not!

Enrico is probably the funniest and wildest boss in Dungeonology, and with him, your games will be even more daring!.. Oh, sure! You can even use it as a Student!

Spanish Distributor!

Amazing news for our Spanish friends, we are proud to announce a new collaboration with Last Level. A well-known Spanish distributor, whose ranks include several playful masterpieces, it is an honor for us to know that our project has hit Last Level to the point of making it our Spanish ambassador. Thanks to its support, all Spanish backers will be able to receive the basic game and all translated SGs and add-ons, completely free without having to purchase the language pack. For this reason it will soon be eliminated promptly from the add-ons.

Even this Lesson is over, and as usual, some spoiler just for you!

An unexpected visit
almost 7 years ago – Thu, May 02, 2019 at 01:48:16 PM

Hello Scholars!  

After meeting Raoul, today’s lecture will introduce the second Students who came to Rocca Civetta thanks to the Erasmus program: the adorable and graceful Meher!  

Meher the dancer from the east!  

The young Meher, with her ascetic calm and love for dance and music, symbols of harmony with the universe, came from distant India to teach the art of dance at the University of Rocca Civetta; once noticed her talent, Prof. Enrico selected her as one of the pretenders to the chair of Dungeonology, and that’s why Meher threw herself headlong into this new adventure, facing all the difficulties as she usually does... keeping calm!  

Meher’s features are really good! With 3 Students and 4 cards in hand she will always have something to play and the necessary resources, both to hinder other Scholars and foster her ascent to the chair of Dungeonology! Even her movement (equal to 4) is truly remarkable and will allow you to explore the Dungeon with great agility!  

Like Raoul, Meher has a study value of 2, thus her chance of collecting Information Cubes is average.  Meher’s “Inner Calm” skill allows you to lower by one point any modifier to the Alert Value of the Area she is in, even those given by the presence of a Boss! A skill that will allow her to study easily and will force the opponents to use more cards to hinder her.  

Anyway, Meher’s true strength comes from her second skill: “Nirvana”!  Thanks to this skill, our favorite dancer will always be able to count on an automatic divination for each of her study attempts, a remarkable bonus that becomes really important considering also her number of cards per turn and the combo with Inner calm!  When she is exalted, Meher is even more formidable: not only are her features all raised by one point, but to her powerful abilities, a third is added: Illumination!  With this ability, Meher’s spiritual arms will allow her to collect Information cubes not only from the area she is in, but also from the adjacent ones. Even if she won’t be able to use “Inner calm” when collecting from adjacent rooms, Illumination will give her a wide range, as well as avoiding entering a room that is too “hot” to collect the cube she needs!  Perhaps now you have understood that Meher’s peaceful spirit is ready to make the world a tougher place for all Rocca Civetta students!  

Video Game Play Situation  

Many are asking for the gameplay Video, and unfortunately we couldn’t fulfill this wish.  

As you know, we have commissioned a video to “Game the Game” guys, and the video was actually realized, but due to a misunderstanding for which we are responsible, Becca and the others played the game using an outdated prototype of Dungeonology’s Rulebook.  

Although it was very funny, GtG’s video contained a lot of mistakes and did not show many fundamental elements of the game: for example, due to this discrepancy between prototype and updated rules, the Boss never appeared.  

As we have explained several times, the Boss is a fundamental element of a Dungeonology game, thus showing you a video where Laetus never appeared would have been misleading and totally wrong. A Dungoenology game without a boss... is not Dungeonology!  

Together with GtG guys we decided to completely reshoot the video, but this second video won’t be ready by the end of the KS campaign; it will be released immediately after, before the Pledge Manager will start.

After this bad news, we looked for an alternative to give you a gameplay video anyway, so we asked our friend Ken Cunnigham to make one using TableTop Simulator, and that’s precisely what he is doing in record time. A few days ago, Ken and his group played a Dungeonolgy game with TTS and now Ken is proceeding with the editing to let you all enjoy the video.  We ask you to still have some patience: we will have our gameplay video within a couple of days! 

Meanwhile we post a small extract as an appetizer!

Pauline visited LMS!  

Today we got the most welcome visit of Pauline, one of our backers, who being in Rome for work decided to come and visit us; for the occasion we organized a special Dungeonlogy game, starring Pauline, Michele (our official painter), Diego and Danilo (Dungoenology’s authors).  

Unfortunately the treacherous Michele got the better of Pauline, who however fought back very well and, above all, had a lot of fun!  Soon she will make a personal review with her opinions on the game!  

Thanks Pauline and Ciao!
  

And now as usual a little spoiler:

Leonardo's Workshop!
almost 7 years ago – Thu, May 02, 2019 at 01:45:00 PM

Hello Scholars!

Today’s lesson is devoted to the latest expansion of this KS campaign, introducing you to the most brilliant mind of the Italian Renaissance, so let’s get ready to enter Leonardo’s Workshop!

Welcome to Leonardo's Worksop

The University of Rocca Civetta has many external collaborators, and among them, the most renowned and respected is undoubtedly Leonardo da Vinci!

Inventor, scientist, artist, and architect are just some of the titles that could well represent this legendary figure of the Italian Renaissance, plus he organizes and supervises the most sought-after Stage for Rocca Civetta’s Scholars!

To study with Leonardo, the University selects only the best... but it is not so easy to access his internship, in fact, after the selection by Rocca Civetta, they must pass Leonardo’s tests!

Once you enter the Workshop, the doors will close behind you, and from there onwards Leonardo will put you in front of an innumerable series of traps, logic games, and skill tests to understand which of the candidates will be able to unlock his secrets! The Scholars can decide whether to face this new adventure in cooperative or competitive mode, or in the new “Team Mode”! 

In this expansion, you will find a completely new dungeon including 20 completely new areas, which you must explore to study all Leonardo’s disciplines!

In fact, you won’t have a clan card on which to submit the Thesis, but each player must focus on one of the different fields of study, and the first who will succeed in presenting the Thesis on that argument will win the game!

But be careful!

Leonardo won’t just sit back! Like a Boss (but an extraordinary boss) he will walk around the Workshop’s areas activating traps and interrogating the Scholars he meets, and failing his tests will be real trouble for you!

Anyway, Leonardo won’t be alone, and during the game, you cannot miss the arrival of his latest invention: Mechalisa! This huge war robot needs a field test... and what better time than your entry in the Workshop? Mechalisa will be a Super Boss and a real pain in the neck!

But the new features of Leonardo’s Workshop are not over: with this expansion will come a new Scholar, Tancredi the Architect, and a new type of Trick Cards, the Meccanica cards, which will add a new type of gameplay to Dungeonology, which you can use in any game, not just when you are playing with Leonardo!

More surprises await you and more details on this expansion will be in the next Updates... are you ready to enter Leonardo’s Workshop?

ALL-IN!

As already anticipated on the board in the last few days, here are the two all-in bundles to get all Dungeonology material!

As an LMS tradition, you will be able to choose between the Game Bundle, that includes the 3 expansions presented during this KS, and the All-In Bundle, that in addition to the 3 expansions will include a sleeve set to cover all the existing Dungeonology material, plus the amazing Dungeonology Art-book!

Both have a very affordable price, to let you enjoy all the Dungeonology material without spending a fortune!

You can add your all-in bundle by clicking on “Manage your pledge” and indicating the desired amount, or add it when the Pledge Manager will open!

Of course, if you add the amount now, you can exploit this last opportunity to raise our project’s funding and unlock even more Stretch Goals! We still have 5 days to show all the surprises waiting for you! 

That's all for this lesson! And now some spoiler as usual!

Into the Workshop
almost 7 years ago – Thu, May 02, 2019 at 01:42:25 PM

Hello Scholars!

In today’s lesson, we will delve into the mechanics (LOL) of Leonardo’s Workshop! Let’s get ready to unlock the secrets of Leonardo da Vinci!

How works the Workshop

During the setup of Leonardo’s Workshop, all the Zones will be placed face-down (i.e., covered), as shown in the figure. On the back of the Workshop’s Zones, there will be rails that will affect the game when the big woman enters in play.

The Red Zones will contain the essential information to complete the great inventor’ Stage, but they are challenging to access; first, you’ve got to toughen up by entering the Green Zones. 

As soon as Leonardo locks Scholars in his Workshop, the unfortunates will be randomly placed in four Starting Zones (yellow tiles).

These special Starting Zones won’t protect the Scholars, as usual, leaving them exposed to Leonardo’s tests and other players’ low blows. Furthermore, many effects of the Workshop and its Boss will make these Zones move around the Dungeon, forcing Scholars to rethink their actions based on where they will be able to access.

If the Scholars succeed in overcoming the Workshop’s tricks before Omega Students destroy their plans, they will be able to submit their research to Leonardo, who will test them for a final exam: escaping from his Workshop with what they have learned, to share this new knowledge with Rocca Civetta!

Oh, don’t forget that sooner or later the terrible Mechalisa will join the Workshop, trying to crush Scholars and steal their information!

Mechalisa is a prodigious artifact, but fortunately for the Scholars, she is still a prototype with some defects. She works thanks to a simple artificial intelligence, that allows her to move through the Workshop’s rails and perform sudden maneuvers to take the unfortunates by surprise.

Will the Scholars succeed in impressing Leonard and submitting their relevant research back to Rocca Civetta?

Soon on your tables!

That’s all, see you tomorrow for a new lesson! 

As usual some spoiler for you!