Do you all have good examples of how noise in a dungeon is managed in a dungeon crawl style table top game?
I was just thinking earlier today that it’s a bit simple to assume a party of adventurers can fight a group of monsters in a stone room in a dungeon, and minutes later, ambush the monsters in the next room over when they burst through the door to attack.
I also realized I really have no practical understanding of sound and volume in that kind of an environment . Are the spaces big enough with enough miscellaneous furniture or lichen that it just absorbs that much environmental sound? Would the sound echo and bounce around enough to make it non-obvious that it was a fight and not just the dungeon equivalent of the creaking sounds of a settling house?
I’m curious to learn how other games have managed this idea in practice, other than simply ignoring the concept all together. I feel like, in the right game or scenario, approaching a conflict and keeping noise in mind could add a great layer of strategy or tension. Or, be a huge frustration. Just want to learn about other examples or ideas on the topic.
If I recall correctly, the designer of LOW had, at one point, a vaguely relevant system where engaging in combat would ins some way alert nearby enemies. But I am not sure where that is discussed, how exactly it worked, or whether it is still part of the design at this point. I can only point you towards the channel where it would have been discussed, if you want to go searching. Click
It is not the same genre, but I feel like it could be easily adapted for dungeon crawling. First off, I highly recommend the game Nemesis. One of my favorite concepts they cover in the rules is making noise.
Here is a link to their rulebook. The noise rules are on page 15.
And to keep it a little less nightmarish, if one player goes through the door, but the other players follow them the same turn, only one noise roll is used. This forces an interesting choice between moving as a team very slowly, and moving separately to get more done at a higher risk.
The Clank! games are all based around sound. You may already be familiar, but making sound means you drop one of your colored cubes in a bag with other cubes and the do periodic draws to determine if the sound was heard.
Could see that system working for other dungeon crawls.
Zombicide has had basic noise mechanics over their various versions.
In general terms, noisy activities generate a bang/boom token. If the enemy doesn’t have line of sight it moves towards the loudest noise. This gives players options for distracting enemies and sneaking by to get somewhere without conflict.
It’s simple and works well for mindless zombies – you might something a little more sophisticated for more intelligent monsters. Something simple like the bang/boom tokens could be used to affect monster movement and initiatives and make things a little more thematic.
I can only make sense of the noise tokens by thinking of the noise as something the aliens are making, rather than players. You creep about making noise and attracting aliens, and the noise tokens kind of represent to me lots of aliens skittering through the corridors nearby.
You could have a bag of noise counters and draw one for an unexplored room. A bit like Space Hulk blips
It is flipped over to reveal what was making the noise when you have line of sight to it.
Eg. A growl counter is in the next room. Flip the counter when you open the door to reveal if it is
A. A guard dog, but it’s a chihuahua
B. A guard dog, but it’s a dire wolf
C. A friendly dwarf with a sore throat
Different sounds could be different chances of being good or deadly
Hmmm,
well i know what you are thinking of and it’s kind of a strange thing… but i don’t really have a good solution for this, because of the randomness of the morst DC´s its not clear what situation the heroes are facing in the next room.
The only thing i know it the Noise tokens used in Dungeon Universalis which the heroes generate while hacking down a closed door. So the chance of surprising the monsters (if any) in the next room will shrink with every round they need to destroy the door.
Core Space: First Born has a hostility track to determine the severity of spawns. Making noise (shooting guns, exploding grenades) increases that track more quickly by adding pegs to the board. Every so many pegs in the board causes a higher tier of enemies to spawn.
Well yea… i guess that would work. And i play enough games which challenges me with a lot of rules (looking at Dungeon Universalis) So i am fine with the system and totally understand your perspective and the reason for having that mechanic implemented.
. Are the spaces big enough with enough miscellaneous furniture or lichen that it just absorbs that much environmental sound? Would the sound echo and bounce around enough to make it non-obvious that it was a fight and not just the dungeon equivalent of the creaking sounds of a settling house?
