Rat Nests, Scorpion Beds, Orc Barracks, …

The dungeon now has a new kind of room: the monster den. Monster dens have the max number of monsters for their type. And the monsters will come in assorted sizes!

The loot in monster dens is randomly determined as in other rooms, but there will be one extra loot item added. Monster dens also feature custom background art and a description (barely) on the bottom left of the screen.

The caverns and mines will each have one den per game. (Or 2 or 3, if you’ve unlocked more dens.) The ruins do not have dens.

I’m a fan of the flavor text on the dens, but I think there may be too many of them.

Do others of you agree that there are too many dens (once you unlock them all)?

And a question for new players: Did you like finding dens on your first few sessions? Should we instead hold back monster dens and unlock them later?

I just don’t like dens, especially with the distorted images of the gargantuan or titanic expanded monsters.

Josealdolph: We’re working on improving the resolution of the enlarged monsters. Aside from that, what don’t you like about the dens?

@Rowdius: 1) there is no point in fighting with extremely powerful monsters when you’re just starting with level-1 weapons, 2) dens are some kind of “enchanted” rooms (at least that’s the way I see them), so following the game pattern, there should be at most one of them.

The monster dens are meant to be rooms that you’ll usually want to avoid, if possible, until you’ve found better weapons in the ruins. Is that a bad design? I can see where one would prefer to look forward to the special rooms rather than wanting to avoid them.

Good point about multiple dens making them seem less special. Do others agree?

I like the dens. I’m still escalating to level 40 to unleash more, though I don’t use to avoid them.. actually they help me to progress, like gold chest of mithtil on dragon’s lair.. I sneak pick and leave! Also, if I’m felling confident I back and clean all the game rooms.. and finally go down on tunnels (usually intent to get more health potions). Just wondering, not related to dens but, do you guys have plans to a forth level? that would be awesome!

I quite like the challenge of the monster dens. Sometimes it is just not possible to avoid them though because they either block you getting through or contain the loot you need. In the caverns in campaign mode particularly this can leave you with little chance to get started. They are good later on though, when you have slightly better weapons and want the extra loot.

I think increasing the number of dens as you go is OK, because your skills level up which gives you a little more chance. Not putting gigantic monsters in the caverns is worth considering.

Big monsters especially in the monster dens can make it difficult to see the hexes behind. Rotating the view or making monsters semi-transparent except for the hex that the mouse is over might help with that.