So, it seems that my 7DRL was successful. It's certainly not perfect, but it is playable and hopefully somewhat enjoyable.
I've always been fascinated by the monster memory of Angband and its family. It seemed like something that on its own could motivate venturing into a dungeon. The central idea behind my project for this year's challenge was to put it in the center of game-play. And because I'm a hopeless fanboy of everything Lovecraftian, I decided to throw some gibbering horrors from beyond all space and time into it as well. Because Tentacles. And so, Tales of the Tenebrous Pit was born. Or, as someone on #rgrd put it, Pokéthulhu.
Behind every author is a story. The story behind my favorite author, HP Lovecraft, involves two insane parents and way too much racism. My 7DRL tells another story - the story of a failed expedition, an ancient place full of horrors and a hopeful author who prefers to explore it instead of running in fear. A man armed only with a gun and a notebook.
Of course, you run into various problems when tackling such a project. Even though large parts of Grandpa Howie's work are supposedly in the public domain, their legal status isn't quite clear. On top of that, the beasties of the Mythos are quite well-known to many folks nowadays, and there is no real motivation for completing the notebook if its content is already known before you start. Thus, I turned to the roguedev's oldest and best friend, and prayed to the mighty god RNG for guidance. The result was a generator that pumped out not just random monsters, but also their brain-blasting descriptions. The horrors dwelling in the Tenebrous Pit are as numerous and varied as the spawn of Shub-Niggurath!
Game is available
here. I'll probably do a little patch today or tomorrow, the interface could use a little more love that I forgot about.
EDIT: Have some screenshots. Linked due to cyclopean size.
An ordinary dungeon levelArgh, the horror! A half-completed notebookA notebook entry.