Lighbringers, prepare for glory!
In this tabletop gaming post we are going to explore THE core tactics behind Massive Darkness- what you need to keep in mind as you move through the dungeon hack and slash.
While Massive Darkness does have a campaign system, at the heart of each adventure- supported by the mechanics is the leveling system.
Over the course of the gaming session you go from weak to uber-strong. The game, by design levels you up very fast. This feature allows one to get a full board game / RPG lite gaming experience in a single session.
This system of mechanics in the game is then layered over how monsters are encountered in the dungeon. The ones potentially encountered in the various rooms have a level of control- you can pick, for the most part, when and in what order you want to engage them.
You also have advanced knowledge of the size of the rooms to influence the potential spawns.
Wandering monsters are a bit trickier- they can spawn at any time, along with wandering mobs, and likewise as you move through the dungeon, level up in power and frequency.
What this creates is a kind of forced timer- you have to keep moving through the dungeon and leveling up as quickly as possible, to build in some form of safety for when a boss wandering monster is spawned.
If one is spawned early (looking at you ogre mage), fighting it will be quite a challenge. As a player you embrace the random and protect yourself by grabbing stuff and leveling as quickly as you can- while rushing to get to the end of the dungeon as fast as you can.
While you are growing in power, so are the opposing minion, bosses, spawns, and potential magic items they can use in the dungeon.
One needs to always keep moving and leveling.