Player issues some kind of exploration command for the ruins, and specify a
number of days. Perhaps we overload the EXPLORE command, so that "EXPLORE"
defaults to "EXPLORE 0 7" (explore the province for 7 days), while a dungeon
could be delved by EXPLORE "Pit of Despair" 30.
Each dungeon has a number of days it can be explored for, and each player can
only explore a dungeon for at most that many days (ie. that's how large it is).
Each day, something random can happen:
1.) Trap - If OBSERVATION is large enough, avoid. Otherwise, trap hits. Maybe
damage, maybe a slow spell, maybe immobilizes the player until he can escape.
2.) Monster - If STEALTH is large enough, monster is avoided. If STEALTH is
much higher, steal from the creature. If not, fight it
3.) Secret door - If OBSERVATION is too low, character is given the message
"The Dungeon dead-ends", which is the same for when the dungeon has been fully
explored. If OBSERVATION is high enough, character can continue. The dungeon
"TOUGHNESS" is increased from then on - harder monsters, harder secret doors
and traps, better loot.
I might also stick a boss monster at the end of some of the dungeons, where the
boss is a unique, tough opponent with some very good loot.
One question: If each player's dungeon-delving experience is seperate from all
others (ie. my exploration doesn't help or hurt another player's exploration
of the same ruins) then what prevents Oleg from freely disseminating a map
of all the ruins in the land? Perhaps a dungeon also has a "quality" resource,
which regenerates over time but which is drawn on each time a player extracts
loot from it. If there's lots of quality, the rewards for exploration are
high, while at low quality the rewards are small. Thus, the "well-known"
dungeons will be quickly used up.
Scott