Making Lab more accessible, Just an idea based on personal experience... Options

[Hulud]

In the time I have been coming to Lab I have made some really good friends, I also encountered some real difficulties which seemed to engender some resentment at times.

The difficulties were in desperately trying to understand the system and the effects that were being thrown around. Getting to grips with the basics of Labyrinthe is fairly straightforward and easy to pick up as you go. The real difficulty is in learning the next tiers effects that get thrown at you as your character progresses.

When you know the system and what most of the effects are it makes it much easier to hear and react to them when monsters declare them. If you are not used to hearing something then you end up not understanding if it’s not spoken clearly and at a reasonable pace. I suppose it’s a bit like that effect used quite famously by [----] whereby your brain only need to read the first and last letters to understand a word, the letters in between are less important in terms of order. When a monster shouts an effect, if it’s something you have heard a million times, then even if you only half hear it because he’s speaking at a rate of approximately 50 words per second you can still know what’s just happened to you.

The advice I generally get is “do more low level dungeons to learn stuff on”...this sounds like good advice but for the fact that on low level dungeons you don’t get hit with high level effects...the only way to learn is to do which means spending time playing at all levels and scramble to learn as fast as possible all the while more experienced players and monsters become a little frustrated with you. Many people at Lab are helpful and sympathetic, but not everyone is. The problem is further compounded if (like me) you periodically have to go a few months between playtimes.

TLDR ...

The point of this post (I really am getting to it) is to point out that what would really help someone like me and presumably other people who struggle to learn what the hell just got thrown at them is some sort of guide of expectation so that I can get an idea of what to buff up on before coming on a dungeon.

We have threshold tables so why not have another threshold table that lists the sort of effects you are likely to encounter?

I’ll get the ball rolling to illustrate what I’m getting at.

Pre 8th
Most monsters do singles
Paralysis

Max 250
Most monsters do Doubles

Max 500


Max 750
Dark bolt - description

Max 1000


Max 1500
Most monsters do Quads, a few will do Quin.
Super Missile – description

Max 2000


Max 2500


Max 3000


Max 4000


Max 5000


Max 6000


Max 7500


Max 10000


Max 15000


Max 20000


Encountered at all levels
Cause Fear - description



Obviously a list like this could go on for a very long time, I think what would be most helpful would be the general and most common effects you are likely to encounter from monsters.
If anyone feels like filling any of these in - then post below and I’ll edit this one, trust me, if you ever end up on a dungeon with me you won’t regret filling some of this out.

Thanks for reading and apologies for the metric ton of text.

[draco]

In the time I have been coming to Lab I have made some really good friends, I also encountered some real difficulties which seemed to engender some resentment at times.

The difficulties were in desperately trying to understand the system and the effects that were being thrown around. Getting to grips with the basics of Labyrinthe is fairly straightforward and easy to pick up as you go. The real difficulty is in learning the next tiers effects that get thrown at you as your character progresses.

When you know the system and what most of the effects are it makes it much easier to hear and react to them when monsters declare them. If you are not used to hearing something then you end up not understanding if it’s not spoken clearly and at a reasonable pace. I suppose it’s a bit like that effect used quite famously by [----] whereby your brain only need to read the first and last letters to understand a word, the letters in between are less important in terms of order. When a monster shouts an effect, if it’s something you have heard a million times, then even if you only half hear it because he’s speaking at a rate of approximately 50 words per second you can still know what’s just happened to you.

The advice I generally get is “do more low level dungeons to learn stuff on”...this sounds like good advice but for the fact that on low level dungeons you don’t get hit with high level effects...the only way to learn is to do which means spending time playing at all levels and scramble to learn as fast as possible all the while more experienced players and monsters become a little frustrated with you. Many people at Lab are helpful and sympathetic, but not everyone is. The problem is further compounded if (like me) you periodically have to go a few months between playtimes.

TLDR ...

The point of this post (I really am getting to it) is to point out that what would really help someone like me and presumably other people who struggle to learn what the hell just got thrown at them is some sort of guide of expectation so that I can get an idea of what to buff up on before coming on a dungeon.

We have threshold tables so why not have another threshold table that lists the sort of effects you are likely to encounter?

I’ll get the ball rolling to illustrate what I’m getting at.

Pre 8th
Most monsters do singles
Paralysis

Max 250
Most monsters do Doubles

Max 500
Max 750
Dark bolt - description

Max 1000
Max 1500
Most monsters do Quads, a few will do Quin.
Super Missile – description

Max 2000
Max 2500


Max 3000
Max 4000
Max 5000
Max 6000
Max 7500
Max 10000
Max 15000
Max 20000
Encountered at all levels
Cause Fear - description
Obviously a list like this could go on for a very long time, I think what would be most helpful would be the general and most common effects you are likely to encounter from monsters.
If anyone feels like filling any of these in - then post below and I’ll edit this one, trust me, if you ever end up on a dungeon with me you won’t regret filling some of this out.

Thanks for reading and apologies for the metric ton of text.

Do some monstering! you get some time to talk to others about the effect choices, their effects, and the best way to muck up the party setup

[Hulud]

Do some monstering! you get some time to talk to others about the effect choices, their effects, and the best way to muck up the party setup

Well yes, It's quite clear that the very best and most efficient way to learn the Labyrinthe system well, is to Monster at least once a month...