I feel like ADoM could do with a little bit more randomness, but decided to post here first before making RFEs, just to see if anyone agrees.
Things I think could use some work:
1. Fixed maps.
a) Mazes that are not really mazes anymore.
For example: Pyramid. A dangerous maze full of traps, but experienced/spoiled players will go straight to the stairs. Or even teleport straight to the stairs. Making a dungeon generator specifically for the Pyramid levels might be a waste of TB's time, but perhaps having a few different maps would help. I'd propose having a few versions of the same basic map, with only the stair chamber location in a different place, so that one couldn't tell at first sight which one is it. At the very least, figuring out where are the stairs would require magic mapping.
Current Pyramid level 2:
Code:
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Possible alternative:
Code:
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In this category I'd see 2 Pyramid levels, and underground level with Griff and Nonnak. And maybe parts of Darkforge with the secret doors.
b) Elemental Temples
This I don't find as pressing, but maybe a few different layouts of each temple would be nice? Just for some variety (similar to how the branch ends work in DCSS - there are few possible layouts for each, one is randomly chosen each game)
2. Guaranteed artifacts
I don't know if it's just me, but they are pretty damn strong. And I don't mean TotRR or Needle + Sting, which aren't problematic as they are endgame+ weapons.
Ancient Mummy Wrapping - guaranteed source of see invisible, cold immunity, death ray resistance. Having this pretty much renders 3rd and 4th dwarven quests trivial.
Elemental Gauntlets - well, free artifact gauntlets. They are not super powerful maybe, but there isn't much competition for the slot anyway.
Sword of Nonnak - free +5 Wi for mages. Perhaps not that problematic.
Rune-covered trident - now that is problematic, especially for Raven characters. Guaranteed powerful undead and demon slayer at level 36 that you can plan for is neat. At level 16 (or as soon as some sort of water-breathing and teleport is available) is sort of too much.
Elemental Orbs - +10 Wi for mages, +10 St for the rest, just for carrying these around? Now that the corruption levels are going to be reduced, maybe carrying orbs should corrupt too? Although I would not like to see kicking the orbs down to D:48 become optimal play .
Now, what to do with these? I'm not sure. Nerf a bit, or make non-guaranteed. For example, have Rehetep drop ankh or the wrapping, not both. Or a heavier alignment hit for digging up Nonnak.
3. Artifacts in general
Well, they are always the same, each game. Now, I am not proposing "randarts" or anything of the sort. What I'm proposing is a small variance in the artifact properties between games. Let's take Rolf's Companion:
Code:
It modifies your toughness attribute by +3.
It grants resistance to fire.
This weapon returns when thrown.
It could have 25% chance to also grant shock resistance, 25% chance to also have +3 Str, 10% chance to grant fire immunity instead of resistance (just an example). What it would do is randomize the game a bit, make scrolls of greater identify more useful, and possibly allow TB to add some super-rare 1 in 10000 properties .
Not sure how viable from the coding point of view this is, though.