Dungeonology: The Expedition

Born to be Wild!
over 5 years ago – Fri, Nov 06, 2020 at 03:59:12 PM

Hello Scholars!

Today we continue to meet the new Scholars of Rocca Civetta (even if by now we have introduced almost all of them), and this time it will be the turn of Claudio, the young hunter of Rocca Civetta!

A Wild Life

Claudio has always been in love with animals and spent his young life in contact with nature.

He has honed his hunting skills to be able to capture the small animals of the forest to get to know them better and... Make friends!

When he enrolled in the faculty of Dungeonology to learn more about the animals that inhabit the dungeons, as well as sleeping in the campus park, he founded a small brotherhood with other students who are passionate about outdoor life like him. And so the Lambdas were born, a new brotherhood dedicated to protecting the nature!

After Caterina, whom we met in the last update, Claudio will also make use of 3 personal Students, this time green, to represent his Brotherhood.

With the Lambda Leader skill, playing with Claudio you will replace 3 standard Students with 3 green Students, and every time a player draws one of them, Claudio will get it automatically.

Wayfarer will allow the Hunter to double the Bonus value of the Exploration trick cards when he plays them from his hand.

Thanks to Survivalist, Claudio will be able to move through the Dungeon areas with peace of mind ignoring the Stop, Toll, and Ambush effects!

Finally, with Hunting Party, every time you succeed in a Study test, by sacrificing a Lambda Student you can collect an additional Information Cube!

In the Exalted version, Hunting Clan replaces Hunting Party, with which you can sacrifice up to 3 Lambda Students to collect 2 Information Cubes for each sacrifice made! If you have kept your green students and are Exalted you can catch up very quickly with this skill!

Claudio's characteristics are excellent as regards Movement (obviously) and cards in hand, but quite low as regards the study capacity and the Student's reserve, but for him, peering at the thesis card will not be too complicated, and he can take advantage of it enough early in the game!

Claudio is waiting for you in the forest to play with you, will you answer the call of nature?

That's all for this week too! See you next Thursday with a new preview on wave 2!

Stay safe!

Alchemy is the way!
over 5 years ago – Fri, Oct 30, 2020 at 12:02:52 AM

Hello Scholars!

Here we are at the now usual weekly appointment with Dungeonology!

Today we will present a new Scholar, Caterina Sforza, the Lioness of Forlì!

Caterina the apprentice alchemist

The girl who in the future will become the ruler of Forlì arrived at the University of Rocca Civetta to refine her passion for alchemy and increase her following of admirers.

Her great intelligence and her natural charisma quickly made her into one of the most popular scholars of the University so as to lead her to form her own personal Brotherhood, the infamous Z Brotherhood, which immediately entered into competition with the most famous Omega.

Thanks to her qualities it was obvious that Caterina would also have tried her hand in the competition for the chair of Dungeonology, and so now all the other contenders will have to contend with her!

Unlike the other Scholars, during a DNG game Caterina will also add new Students to the University Bag!

Thanks to her Z Leader skill, you will have to replace 3 Standard Students from the Bag with 3 of her Z Students, marked by the Black color. If a player draws one of these Students, Caterina will take it, putting it in her reserve. When Catherine Sacrifices a Z Student, it will go back into the bag!

Thanks to Z Camp, Catherine will be able to place a new and exclusive Zone during an exploration. Camp Z can be used by Caterina (and only by her!) as a Starting Zone, and once she takes a rest on it, she can search for a Z Students in the Bag and add it to her reserve.

Finally, with Transmutation, Caterina by acquiring a Stun token will be able to swap the position of 2 Information Cubes in her Area.

Not bad right? But the best will come when Caterina becomes Exalted! With Final Transmutation, she will be able to completely rearrange the Cubes in her room, a very powerful ability that goes perfectly in combo with Loyal Apprentice! She can in fact sacrifice a Student to automatically collect an Information Cube, and if the sacrificed Student is a Z, she will collect an additional Cube!

The wise use of these two skills will allow you to perform a spectacular combo and indigestion of the most precious Information Cubes!

Caterina will therefore prove to be a truly original Scholars to play compared to the others, and who will make extensive use of the additional material connected to her. This is not an asymmetrical Scholar in all aspects, but it is certain that thanks to her particular skills, the games in which she will be used will be really different from usual!

What do you think? Are you ready for some Alchemy?

Before concluding this update, a small update on the work of Wave 2.

We are about to complete the revision of the new rules and we hope to be able to close this phase as soon as possible to be able to work on the new version of the Rulebook which, as we anticipated a few weeks ago, will be rewritten and reprinted to be integrated with the new wave rules. 2.

Unfortunately, the shadow of Covid 19 is returning threateningly in Europe. In Italy, as in many other countries, restrictive measures are being applied again to which LMS is complying to protect the health of those who work and collaborate with us. At the moment the greatest difficulty remains that of carrying out playtest sessions with a full frequency, but we are working to ensure that all this does not further slow down the work on our projects that are still to be completed (at the moment DNG and DEI), in the hope that there will not be a new lockdown and that the situation will improve soon.

That's it for now, see you next Thursday!

Stay safe!

Death Becomes Him
over 5 years ago – Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 07:01:27 PM

Hello Scholars!

Here we are at the usual weekly appointment with Dungeonology wave 2!

Today we will introduce you to the most creepy Scholar of Rocca Civetta, the really-pallid Onamor!

Onamor the Gravedigger

The silent Onamor is the undertaker son of the village of Rocca Civetta, and as you can imagine spending every day among the corpses has made him a very silent boy.

However, his father's lucrative job allowed him the luxury of studying at the most renowned (and only) university in his city.

Due to his quiet nature, he was unable to make many friends and so he threw himself into the study and spent a lot of time in the university library.

It was here that one day while looking for a book on Egyptian embalming techniques, he found himself in a wing of the library that he had never visited. Not at all frightened by the sign that read "Forbidden Books, stays away!", Taking advantage of the librarian's distraction, he borrowed a book called "Necromancy, if you know it you avoid it, but if you want to learn it read this book."

Onamor then began to study the obscure art of Necromancy as a self-taught and having a lot of raw material to experiment with (thanks to his father's work) he learned to master some spells.

The competition for the Dungeonology Chair will be the perfect opportunity to test what he has learned!

In a game, Onamor will be able to exploit the Students in truly original ways to achieve victory!

With the Misdirection ability he will be able to discard the Exploration and Notoriety type Trick Cards to get a Student, moreover, with Shovel Master every time he earns a Students (in any way) he can take them from the Reserve instead of the Bonfire.

The combination of these two skills will allow him to always have (unfortunate) Students available to be able to use them at will, and above all, he will be able to easily recover those lost due to the effects of Zones, Trick Cards, or Bosses. Furthermore, thanks to Misdirection you will be able to avoid having to Rest to recover precious zombies... ahem, I mean Students.

Having so many Students available will also allow him to use Necromantic Apprentice at any time, sacrificing a poor Student to use Divination 1.

In his Exalted version, Onamor will be able to count on the improved version of Misdirection and Necromantic Apprentice!

With Improved Misdirection, you can discard any Trick card to get new Students; while with Necromantic Mastery he will be able to use Divination 1 twice for each Student sacrificed!

His characteristics are decidedly average with a very good value of cards in hand, which will help him to take advantage of his Student-based skills, but one thing to take into consideration when playing with this grim student is that for him to look at the Thesis card is not so easy.

Onamor is a truly peculiar Scholar and is a candidate to be the best choice if you want to play your game by disturbing other players thanks to his Necromantic skills; furthermore, having the possibility to always have Students available will put you in a position to make truly spectacular plays and combos!

What do you think? Will Onamor be your favorite Scholar? If you are still undecided think that playing with a Hero with the features of Simone Romano (Sword & Sorcery's game designer, of which this SG is a crossover) should definitely convince you!

That's all for this week, see you next week for a new wave 2 update!

When your classmate is a Gynoid...
over 5 years ago – Fri, Oct 16, 2020 at 08:05:39 PM

Hello, Scholars!

Here we are at the weekly appointment with Dungeonology, where we will introduce you to a new student from Rocca Civetta and where we will give you updates on the status of the work of wave 2.

WAVE 2 State of the work

As you know we are working on the rewriting of many of the rules of the wave 2 material, a work that unfortunately has been slowed down severely by the Italian lockdown in the spring and by the subsequent restrictions we are following to ensure the safety of those who work or collaborate with us. Unfortunately, the situation has not improved in recent months, and indeed the new wave of Covid 19 in Europe is once again putting us in hard times, like so many companies around the world. As far as our work is concerned, we cannot hide that the restrictions in addition to slowing down the practical work are also slowing us down on the playtest front, which will necessarily affect our production times for wave 2.

A few months ago we had estimated a delay of about 6 months for delivery but unfortunately, we are forced to postpone this date further. At the moment our realistic estimate, also considering the times given to us by the factory, in April / May 2021 for the definitive end of mass production. We know this is not good news but to maintain the quality standards we promised you both in terms of gameplay, translations, and materials, we need this time.

However, there is good news. We have collected your feedback and requests regarding the creation of a revised version of the Core Rulebook, and we are pleased to announce that it will be done!

You got it right! With Wave 2 you will also receive a new physical version of the completely revised Core Rulebook. The purpose of this new version is not to change the rules of Dungeonology but to offer a simpler and clearer reading of the rules of the game also according to the many new rules that will be introduced with wave 2 and the new expansions!

The new rulebook will obviously be translated into all 7 languages ​​and will be included in the Rocca Civetta Box.

To conclude we are trying to take advantage of the wave 2 delays to offer you the best game and the best extras you have ever seen!

Those of you who will soon receive Black Rose Wars wave 2 will be able to realize what we mean by "time well spent".

Andromeda the Gynoid

A new mysterious Scholar is coming to Rocca Civetta. From a very ancient past, the Gynoid model Andromeda has awakened from her millennial sleep, in a time she does not know, and her analytical mind has taken her to the best place where she can learn all about the new world ahead, our beloved university. 

With her disguise, no one will discover her true identity and meanwhile, she will be able to aim to know as much as possible about this strange new world and its inhabitants. Obviously, the professors love her for her infallible memory and her artificial...discipline!

But let's take a closer look at this very original Scholar!

Andromeda comes into play with 3 very interesting skills. SCAN allows you to choose whether or not to enter a newly discovered room, very useful for avoiding entering a room with negative effects that would ruin your strategy. With RAM, Andromeda can easily protect his precious Information Cubes from other Scholars or Bosses. Finally, with COPY and PASTE, Andromeda will be able, once per turn, to look at the first Trick Card of the deck and choose whether to draw it, discarding 2 cards from her hand ... a very useful skill to get the right card at the right time!

When Andromeda is Exalted, her abilities will increase in power. ROM will allow you to decide whether to lose/give an Information Cube when an effect dictates it. With DEFRAG the effect of Copy and Paste will improve, allowing her to take the trick card by discarding only one card from her hand.

Finally, when Exalted, she will be able to use a new ability: DATA ENTRY. With this skill, for each card discarded from her hand he will be able to randomize and for each Civilization and Militia symbol obtained he will be able to collect an Information Cube in the room where it is placed.

The characteristics of Andromeda are quite balanced but with excellent values ​​for the cards in hand but a very bad value of Students, finally with 3 Blue Cubes to collect, Andromeda will be able to easily peek at the Thesis Card already from the first rounds of her game!

And that's it for today! We bet Andromeda will become one of your favorite Scholars!

See you next Thursday!

Restarting the Engine
over 5 years ago – Tue, Oct 06, 2020 at 02:22:00 AM

Hello, Scholars!

Welcome to a new update, which inaugurates a new phase for Dungeonology and LMS.

Following your feedback and our reflections, during the month of September, we started a restructuring process within LMS, with the arrival of a new Manager we are making deep changes in our working method, to improve in each area, from communication to customer service, from planning to game development.

This process will take some time, we are doing our best to let our backers enjoy not just great games but the overall experience with us.

For Dungeonology this will translate into a new series of weekly updates that will keep you informed on the Wave 2  development and production times.

Starting from next week, every Thursday you will receive a new update, where we will show you the progress in game design and with the materials we are producing.

A quick update on the Pledge Manager. As you know, the Survey closed last 7th September. However, for a small percentage of you, the payment is still not charged. In case you find yourself in this situation, contact us here to solve the problem and finalize your survey!

Now let's talk about Wave 2! Starting from this first update, we will present you all the new Scholars that you have unlocked during the KS and that you will find in the Rocca Civetta's Box.

For this first episode, we have chosen the smartest and prettiest explorer, but don't say it in front of Rebecca!

Sara Loft

The young Sara is becoming more and more famous in the corridors of the University. Her recklessness and cunning skills are already legendary. Her mastery in the use of slingshots and her magical and gruff backpack makes her one of the fiercest contenders for the Dungeonology Chair!

Sara will use her Zainetto (backpack) to keep her precious Information Cubes in order to keep them safe from the clutches of other Scholars or Bosses (be careful ... it bites!). Since the Cubes placed on the Zainetto card are not on the Note Board, they cannot be stolen or lost due to the effects of Skills and Trick Cards!

Each time Sara performs a Rest she can move the Cubes from Zainetto to her Note Board and vice versa, according to her needs.

Zainetto also offers another interesting possibility: the Cubes placed on it will not count towards reaching the Stars on the Note Board. This means that depending on the needs, Sara can decide whether to reach a Star or stay in her Exalted version for longer, still continuing to collect Cubes! Not bad right?

Whenever Sara explores, the Outlander ability will also allow her to draw 2 Rooms and choose which one to place in the Dungeon. In her Exalted version, this ability will turn into Magic Map, which will allow Sara to use the "Divination 1" effect twice in a just-placed room.

Sara's characteristics are peculiar, she can count on excellent Movement and Cards in Hand values, but she will have to manage her very low value for Students. Finally, it will be quite easy for Sara to start to look at the Thesis Card and set up her strategy from the very beginning!

What do you think? Does Sara have what it takes to become your favorite Scholar? Obviously, if you want to try it in your games you can use the images in this update to make a good proxy! Let us know what do you think about her!

That's all for today, see you next Thursday for a new update!

Before saying goodbye... a couple of pics from the latest Rigor Mortis expansion playtest session!

Enjoy and stay safe!