Tome of Dungeon Mastery | Patreon Weekly #113

Hey Patrons!

I’m hoping to get v0.9.4 to beta in another few days, but in the meantime, here’s a bit more info on what’s coming.

Also, this month’s Patreon Poll has been delayed until next week to give me time to get v0.9.4 to beta ASAP.

Final Item Changes

Firstly, I’ve finally finished up those changes to unblessed ankhs! Ankhs now let the player keep two of their items, and then challenge them to return to where they died to get the rest of their inventory back. The player loses their map knowledge when they die, and they get respawned somewhere far away on the same floor. The ankh does grant a few turns of invisibility upon respawning, just in case you unluckily spawn next to an enemy.

As for other items, I’ve also finally made those changes to runestones! Every scroll now produces two of them, and the stones that used to be made in a quantity of 3 have been buffed accordingly:

• Stones of Intuition can now be used a second time if the player’s first guess was correct.
• Stones of Clairvoyance have had a big AOE buff, up to 20x20 from 12x12!
• Stones of Flock now spawn sheep in a 5x5 area, and they last a little longer too. Woolly bombs have also gotten some buffs so they still stand out.
• Stones of Deepened Sleep now only work on one enemy, but instantly put them into a deep slumber even if they were awake.
• Stones of Aggression now last a big longer against enemies and work on bosses!
• Stones of Affection are now Stones of Fear. They give the same effect as scrolls of terror, but only on a single target.

Tutorialization Changes

Those targeted tweaks to the new player experience are the last thing left to implement for v0.9.4! As I mentioned in the last weekly, I want to replace the current guidebook with the “Tome of Dungeon Mastery”, both as a nod to the tome of mastery, and so I can give the item some magical properties.

The current guidebook only ever highlights info when the player finds a page, and so they may get an important piece of info way before or after when it’s most relevant. To address this, my plan is to have some guidebook pages available right from the start. These pages will focus on critical basic information, and the book will notify the player when a really good time to read a page presents itself.

Some of the more advanced pages will still be found in the dungeon, and the player will be prompted to read them as they find them. These pages are less time-critical, and this way the progression new players get from filling in the book will still be there.