Dungeon Tactics 101

[MortiS-the-Lost]

This is a guide to basic dungeon tactics aimed at players of my 'MortiS Quest' campaign and thus in place will refer to the extensive set of house rules we use, however a lot of this also applies to other dungeon based games so should also be of interest to players of Advanced HeroQuest, Warhammer Quest, D&D, Descent and other such games.

Part 1: Having a balanced party
Tactical thinking begins before you even enter a dungeon as having the right skills to deal with the enemy your going to be facing is vital to any Quest. Some times you will know what enemies you're facing before you set off, other times you may not find out until after you have entered the dungeon, in some situations with particularly large dungeons you may face different kinds of enemies in different areas of the dungeon. Therefore a well balanced party needs to be ready to deal with anything, be it hordes of Goblins, sneaky Skaven, hard to hurt Undead or extremely powerful Chaos creatures.

Each type of enemy also inhabit their own type of dungeons, for instance Skaven dungeons tend to be riddled with all kinds of ingenious traps, secret doors and hidden escape-routes, while the dungeons inhabited by Orcs and Goblins will be a poor state of repair, with more simple traps and a rambling layout. They often have little-to-no logic in many areas due to lack of organisation, but generally stronger or more important greenskins will inhabit the more comfortable areas while lesser creatures maybe forced to share with the Squigs or Trolls. Night Goblin dungeons are often the remains of older complexes built by Dwarfs or other races and taken over by the greenskins and their cousins. The tomb complexes often inhabited by the undead  will often have traps close to the entrance to discourage intruders and more easily traversable areas further in. Chaos dungeons by their nature will contain more strange things like talking doors or magical portals that lead to otherwise inaccessible areas. Chaos dungeon may take on forms not seen in other dungeons, change layout as it is explored, have objects that react in unexpected ways or contain unique creatures or hazards that will test even the most experienced dungeoneer.  


Tanks: Every party should have at least 1 tank type character that can absorb (and often also deal out) a lot of damage. Barbarians and  Knights are the most effective at this, but a Dwarf can also fill this role (especially if they have heavy armour). Tanks of course should be kept at the front during combat, but may need to step back and let other characters go first when the situation calls for it. For instance a Thief type might be better off going in front when the party encounters a Locked Door or Trap.

Healers: A source of healing is vital in any adventure, a good stock of potions will suffice at times but bringing a Cleric along is the most effective choice. Some magic users may also have healing spells at their disposal, but due to the nature of magic in the Warhammer setting, they can be unreliable (also their talents maybe better spent elsewhere dealing out damage or incapacitating enemies) the rest of the party should protect their healer at all costs

Ranged: Being able to kill an enemy at a distance is always an advantage. Elves armed with Bows and Human Marksmen are the most obvious choices, Magic Users can deal out the most damage at range (and also hit multiple targets) with Fire Ball type spells, but are easily damaged them selves so they need to be kept as far away from the enemy as possible while still giving them a clear line of sight. Dwarfs are also fairly effective at range when given Crossbows or Guns.

Dealing with Traps: Thieves and Halfling Rogues are the only classes than can disable Traps, but don't forget that Dwarfs can also spot Traps although they cannot disable them, however if the party knows where a Trap is and can avoid it they may not need to disable it. If a room or corridor has no monsters in it, it may contain a trap, so it often a good idea to send someone who can spot Traps in first to make sure it's safe. Also watch out for enemies who wait around at the far end of a corridor instead of attacking like expected, they may know something about the corridor you don't.

Dealing with Locked Doors:  Thieves and Halfling Rogues can also Pick Locks, of course the other way to deal with a Locked Door is to get a high damage dealing character to break it down, but in the case of Metal Doors this can take much longer. The other disadvantage of beating down a door is that the monsters in the next room will know you'll coming and have time to prepare.

Due to the vast variety of dungeon environments and enemies some character types will prove more effective in some dungeons than others and may take on slightly different roles depending on the enemy they are facing. For instance a Cleric will be on the offensive more in a dungeon containing undead or demonic creatures where their blunt weapons and holy powers come into their own, where as in a dungeon inhabited by Orcs they will be spending more time healing the wounded party members. In a Skaven dungeon you'll need someone who a can deal with Traps if you want to progress efficiently without everyone getting injured or killed.

Next: Character Combinations and Working Together

[SamuelF]

Looking forward to reading the next instalment of this one.

Are you thinking of putting up the Mortis Quest rules at any point?



ps- I think the section on tanking got clipped.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Thanks dude!

Yea when the house rules are in a bit more of a solid state I will post them on the forum, another thing I've considered, which might be of more use to people wanting to run their own versions is to write a long article on how we came up with the rules and how they changed with play testing.

SamuelF wrote

ps- I think the section on tanking got clipped.

oop sorry, better go back and fix it!

[Marchomer]

I've never thought to write a "Player tacticts guide", it's a cool idea. And what you wrote, is unquestionably the truth about the right way to face a dungeon. I also think after a period of time, everyone might to understand these mechanics!

When I start a D&D campaign, I always recall to the players points 1, 2, 3, 5!


PS:
When is finished and stable, I'll post a summary of my HQ house rules (at the present time only is a reference work of all the expansions + rivisited characters + shrines events + fate points rules  + some american HQ artifacts... I want to keep it quite simple and backward compatible).
As you know I'm very intrigued and interested about 'Mortis Quest'. On the web I found a lot of new HQ rules, but I don't like them!  

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Part 2 Character Combinations and Working Together

Fighters at the front, Cleric at the back, Wizard in the middle so he can shed some light and never let that damn thief out of sight!

In any given adventure the characters will have moments when they are fighting against all odds just to stay alive, whilst at other times they will be able to rest and recuperate for a while in empty parts of the dungeon. To survive in the unpredictable and unknown environment of a dungeon, the characters need several strengths and abilities which they can depend on. They need battle-hardened
fighters to throw against the enemy at times of conflict, and ranged weapons and magic to attack their foes from afar. Conversely, they need to be able to to heal injured companions when the battle is done. In the treacherous underworld they will also need the mobility, flexibility, equipment and skills to deal with an almost infinite variety of mostly hazardous circumstances.

The first problem when putting a party together is to decide which character types to choose. This can be resolved easily enough by each player selecting a character miniature which they like the look of, and just using it. The chances are that the resulting party will have an interesting mix of different abilities and they will be able to work together just fine, however this doesn't always work and some thought and discussion on the part of the players is required as to what character types they will be playing. All to often several players will want to play similar character types and this means that find their party has an inherent weakness that could get them all killed if they run into the wrong type of enemy

Imagine a party made up entirely of Knights or Wizards! The former would be unstoppable in close combat, but devoid of any healing ability, depending on potions or provisions to keep them alive if they get injured. Additionally, no one has any missile weapons, which can leave the party susceptible to flying creatures like Giant Bats.

The all wizard party on the other hand would have no problem attacking at range and be able to unleash a multitude of devastating spells each turn, but because of the their inability to use armour they would quickly be cut down in Close Combat should a Wandering Monster sneak up on them unexpectedly

Here's a few examples of parties that work well:

The Fellowship of Four:
The classic HeroQuest and WarhammerQuest line up of Dwarf, Elf, Wizard and Barbarian is a well balanced party which copes well with most encounters if the players work together.
A Barbarian clearly gives the party muscle and killing power, pure and simple. He is the mainstay of the classic party, and the other heroes will often follow him as their leader. His high Body Points value and Attack in close combat make him one of the most efficient fighters in the game, cleaving through Monsters like a hot knife through butter, however barbarians have low Mind Points which makes them very vulnerable to enemy magic.
The Dwarf generally moves slower than the Barbarian, this tends to mean that in combat the Dwarf often misses out as the other characters have killed all the Monsters by the time he gets into the fight. However, when he does get stuck in, not much can withstand his mighty axe and unlike the Barbarian, the Dwarf is highly resistant to magic. Also the Dwarf can spot traps and warn the rest of the party.
The Wizard is physically much weaker than rest of the party, but he has the awesome and greatly feared power of magic at his fingertips. Most wizards will have a least a few high damage spells that are deadly against monsters or can incapacitate them in some way, so what he lacks in Close Combat he can more than make up for at range if he wishes. However, perhaps the most important role he fills is keeping the rest of the party on their feet, whilst they in turn protect him from the enemy. If the Wizard spends each turn casting damaging spells during combat then he will not be able to cast those vital healing spells - the end of the battle could see the unfortunate demise of several characters ...
The Elf can handle himself fairly well in a fight, but is not as good at absorbing damage as the Dwarf or Barbarian. However armed with a Bow he's able to engage enemies from afar, and (unlike the Wizard's spells) fairly reliably. Coupled with the fact he is very agile and fast on his feet this makes him a very flexible Warrior indeed.
The only real weakness of this party is the lack of a character with Thief Skills to Pick Locks and Disable Traps, however doors can always be broken down by the Barbarian and once the Dwarf has spotted a Trap it can usually be avoided by the other characters.

The D&D Heroes
The 3rd edition D&D 'mascot' party consisting of a Fighter (in our case a Knight), a Cleric, an Elf Mage and a Halfling Rogue also works very nicely.
Although he lacks the high Body Points of a Barbarian, the Knight's heavy armour more than makes up for it enabling him to avoid loosing Body Points at all, rather than relying on having a huge stock of them. This makes the Knight an ideal tank although he can't quite deal out as much damage as a Barbarian.
The Cleric of course is the party's main healer enabling the Elf Mage to concentrate on casting the high damage and incapacitating spells in combat. As mentioned before the Cleric's abilities also come in handy when facing Demons and the Undead, armed with a Warhammer he can do a lot of damage in Close Combat and it may not seem an obvious use for him, but a Cleric can be very useful for breaking down Doors too.
With the Cleric doing all the Healing the Elf Mage can be used as a kind of artillery piece hurling high damage spells at the enemy from a safe distance. Elf Mages are considerably better at spell-casting than their human equivalents but are at much more of a risk of loosing their spells if they miscast. So each time they cast a spell they are taking a risk that they may not get to use it again in the same adventure.
Finally the Halfling Rogue provides the services of Trap removal and getting Locked Doors and Chests open safely. The Halfling's small size can also be useful allowing her to squeeze through gaps other characters can't and sneak around an enemy rather than engaging it. The ability to back-stab is also very useful if she can get into position to use it, but she needs to be kept out of any particularly heavy combat and may often need to run away from more powerful enemies.

Feeling Brave Tonight?
The party line up seen in Dragon Strike is similar again, consisting as it does of a Barbarian, Elf, Dwarf, Wizard and Thief. The addition of the Thief covers one of the weaknesses of the HeroQuest party, but the party is still very much reliant on the Wizard for healing.

As you can see from the examples above every character type has it's job to do at different stages in the adventure and each character's weaknesses are covered by another character's strengths.


Next: Party Formations and Marching Order

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Thanks dude, I've had some new (and not particularly experienced) players join my group in the last month. I try to give general hint and tips on tactics to new players during the game, but one of them suggested I write it down so they can read it in their own time, as I was doing so I thought it might be of interest to you guys on the forum and give you some insight into how our games play. Your own (and anyone else's) thoughts on dungeon tactics are of course always welcome

I'm considering doing one on role-playing tips and the Warhammer background too

As for your rules, I'm looking forward to reading them and incorporating some of them into my own games, with each of us sharing our own rules and thoughts on other peoples rules here the forum is a great environment to develop our rules in.

[MortiS-the-Lost]

Sorry Part 3 is taking so long people, I'll have it up eventually

[BobbieTheDamned]

I think Mortis has covered a lot of subjects already. I'll chip in with a few points, which will be part advice part rant, hope no one takes these personal they're just general observations.

And A Booming Voice Said
One major point I'd like to make though is to always pay attention, if the GM is doing a lot of description of something it wont be for his own amusement. Sometimes it will just be to embellish the setting but more often than not it'll be something important. Plus it always speeds up games if people pay attention, for me nothings worse than being sat there waiting for my go because other players don't know what's going on because they weren't listening. Paying attention is both courteous to the GM, who after all is the one putting in the effort to run the game, and considerate for the rest of the players who were paying attention.

Ooo Shiny Thing
Stopping to loot every room can make your character very rich, but most dungeons aren't as filled with treasure as you might think, hell why would these guys been living in a murky damp dungeon if they were fabulously rich? Seems like a lot of the time this will only trigger more wandering monsters and generally just slow the advance of the party down. Of course sometimes its necessary to find stuff to get through the dungeon, but how many quest vital items have turned up in empty hallways? Having said that I do realise some classes are pretty much relegated to this task if there's not a lot of traps or locked doors to deal with.

I'm Guybrush Threepwood Mighty Pirate
Mortis has covered picking roles by what miniatures you like, which is fair enough, but sometimes you have to pick roles to which you'll be able to roleplay, that is of course the point of playing the game. I know a lot of people use RPG games to bring out parts of their personality that aren't normally apparent, but quite a lot of people (myself included) tend to play exaggerated versions of themselves. So sometimes its best to ask yourself what sort of character you think you'd be in the setting you're playing.

There's A What Coming At Me?? Where's My Rulebook
AGH!!! METAGAMING!!! One of my greatest hates in all gaming is meta-gaming: using your own knowledge of the game system to advantage when your character doesn't have said knowledge. Its petty, against the spirit of role-playing and just wrong. Anyone caught doing it in any game I run will be sorely punished. I take this quite far, even if I work things out I always question if my character would have.

I'll be back with more later.