Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master put me into the shoes of a half-goblin with a Bitter Warlock Sidekick Certification. With few options on my plate, apparently, due to goblin discrimination, I was convinced to take a job helping manage an independent dungeon, described as one of the crown jewels of the Lands of Fangh. The ad mentioned wanting to take the dungeon to the next level, and Zangdar, the warlock in charge, spoke highly of his guards, traps, and treasures.
In hindsight, the fact that a tour was out of the question due to “wet paint”, and the staff were unable to meet me due to a seminar for “Process… Improvement” should have raised some red flags. It turns out that this role comes with a number of unexpected challenges.
As you may have already gathered, Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master is a dungeon builder with a sense of humor. Your job requires more work than you expected as the lair you are now in charge of is in a dire state and on the verge of bankruptcy. You’ll need to build new facilities to improve your reputation, recruit staff, and attract adventurers, so you may keep the gold flowing - all while protecting your staff and valuables from invaders.
The dungeon also has a tavern, open to all, which helps keep the coffers full. You’ll have to manage this alongside taking care of the needs of your staff.
In my preview, I was able to build a basic dungeon setup and begin to see how things would pan out. I constructed some standard rooms, including a canteen, bedroom, guard room, and break room, enhanced my tavern to attract more clientele, and unlocked my first trap. It was a little taste of the future for this dingy dungeon but, like the guards that would eventually slay those who tried to conquer my dungeon, I was hungry for more.
At this early stage, the rooms are very simple. There are core pieces of furniture and a few decor items. However, the locked options point to a much wider selection being available further down the line. Likewise, I unlocked an alert system at the end of my preview, while an array of tantalizing icons with padlocks on them suggest a range of traps and tricks my future self will presumably be able to deploy.
When building the dungeon, my favorite part of the experience was the story that underpins it all. Not only am I marked as an outcast, railroaded into a crappy job by lack of options, but I was also forced into signing the most questionable contract I’ve ever seen.
All I can work out is that one of my staff sent a letter to the DOAF, which stands for Dungeon Owners Association of Fangh, trying to get our dungeon noticed, and now we have to join the parent company, the Dungeons Fund. Our warlock master was bitterly against the Dungeons Fund, but there were some mutterings about small print, and an extortionate fine if we failed to fulfill the application conditions was mentioned, and now here I am.
Like the HOA, but for dungeons, it’s basically a whole bunch of rules to obey and forms to fill in, and presumably, lawyers are involved. Who knew that villains also had to deal with paperwork? I mean we all know about selling your soul to the devil, but worker’s rights? In an evil lair? What’s all that about? If I was the warlock around here, all this admin would be the first thing I’d obliterate.
When I agreed to oversee the building and renovation of this evil lair, I never expected that I’d end up signing a contract that had the options ‘yes’ or ‘yes but in red’, rather than the traditional yes or no. I also didn’t anticipate becoming trapped in some kind of evil Homeowners Association for dungeon masters that demands you meet their very specific requirements or you’ll be heavily fined.
I should have seen that one coming though. We all know even regular HOAs have lists of ridiculous rules, and are run by tyrants who expect their every whim to be followed to the letter. It’s not surprising that there’s an evil variant, it’s surely more of a natural extension of the system.
However, despite the paperwork, which thankfully appears minimal on my end after the initial contract, the Dungeon Fund’s demands add a nice goal system and backdrop to proceedings as you start to build up your facilities, staff, and support. While my experience so far is limited to just a couple of hours, I already want to play more, and even start again, reworking things to take into account lessons learned along the way. It seems that those standards the DOAF wants me to meet are actually a goal I never knew I needed, and once the game is released, I’ll push to meet them as soon as I can. If nothing else, I really don’t want to find out what happens if you don’t fulfill the contract.
Next:Dungeons 4 Turns You Into A Ridiculous Villain And I Love It
