Had an idea, need a universe for it

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So, I had an idea. We've seen fics where protagonists get gamer powers. sometimes these fics include Instant Dungeons. What if a char got the power of Instant Dungeons but not gamer powers? What if all they could do was make a dungeon and scavenge it? Having to learn how to actually use a sword or bow, how to charge magic. no gamer stats or skills, having to actually work for their abilities? The problem is, I don't know what this would work with. Worm is cliche and I've already tried a bunch of Worm stuff, so I want something different.
 
This puts me in mind of This Used to be about Dungeons, which had "randomly generated Instant Dungeons" as part of the underlying magic of the fantasy world, so I guess I'm just thinking of that as the background...

Anyway, it kind of sounds like you want a setting where people get Abilities, so this guy could be one Ability Haver inside that broader setting?

I guess My Hero Academia is the first thing that comes to mind, so by extension, I went to TV Tropes and there are two pages that list works with similar parameters: Mass Super-Empowering Event and Everyone is a Super, if just like, lists of relevant series would be helpful.
 
This puts me in mind of This Used to be about Dungeons, which had "randomly generated Instant Dungeons" as part of the underlying magic of the fantasy world, so I guess I'm just thinking of that as the background...

Anyway, it kind of sounds like you want a setting where people get Abilities, so this guy could be one Ability Haver inside that broader setting?

I guess My Hero Academia is the first thing that comes to mind, so by extension, I went to TV Tropes and there are two pages that list works with similar parameters: Mass Super-Empowering Event and Everyone is a Super, if just like, lists of relevant series would be helpful.
Thanks for the recommendation. It doesn't nessecarily have to be somewhere that has abilities, it just has to be somewhere where such a portal would be useful beyond moneymaking.
 
Thanks for the recommendation. It doesn't nessecarily have to be somewhere that has abilities, it just has to be somewhere where such a portal would be useful beyond moneymaking.

That gets to the fundamental nature of the Dungeon Power though, as opposed to the setting more broadly. Like, if it's an alternate reality demiplane with like hologram monsters that drop gold nuggets when you beat them up, then that's only useful for moneymaking, but it's a way to turn violence capacity into money that isn't just like... crime.

So you could do a thing about Dungeon Creating Person recruiting people who have powers that are mostly good for doing violence, and giving them a place to use their powers that isn't just like... knocking over banks. Do a found-family thing where teenagers with evil-coded scary violence powers get to cut loose and have fun with their powers in the dungeon and get gold nuggets out of it, on top of that.


Well conversely if we just view the dungeon as a mysterious door, it's "use" is whatever you can carry back out the door, so it's just up to you to define by fiat how the portals would be useful. The obvious, gamer-like thing would be that it has unique drop items that are unique treasures, like Healing Potions or something, that can be taken out.

Another gamer-like thing might be that successfully completing the dungeon results in "Leveling Up", like... completing the dungeon makes your Special Power more powerful. So as the Dungeon Creator successfully completes dungeons, they can make bigger, harder dungeons. To wit, harder than they can complete alone (thus, they need to recruit party members now). And then it turns out other people who complete dungeons see their powers improve, so the "Usefulness" here is like, a power-improving meta-Power.
 
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That gets to the fundamental nature of the Dungeon Power though, as opposed to the setting more broadly. Like, if it's an alternate reality demiplane with like hologram monsters that drop gold nuggets when you beat them up, then that's only useful for moneymaking, but it's a way to turn violence capacity into money that isn't just like... crime.

So you could do a thing about Dungeon Creating Person recruiting people who have powers that are mostly good for doing violence, and giving them a place to use their powers that isn't just like... knocking over banks. Do a found-family thing where teenagers with evil-coded scary violence powers get to cut loose and have fun with their powers in the dungeon and get gold nuggets out of it, on top of that.


Well conversely if we just view the dungeon as a mysterious door, it's "use" is whatever you can carry back out the door, so it's just up to you to define by fiat how the portals would be useful. The obvious, gamer-like thing would be that it has unique drop items that are unique treasures, like Healing Potions or something, that can be taken out.

Another gamer-like thing might be that successfully completing the dungeon results in "Leveling Up", like... completing the dungeon makes your Special Power more powerful. So as the Dungeon Creator successfully completes dungeons, they can make bigger, harder dungeons. To wit, harder than they can complete alone (thus, they need to recruit party members now). And then it turns out other people who complete dungeons see their powers improve, so the "Usefulness" here is like, a power-improving meta-Power.
Hmm, that's interesting. I can see some of it. Unfortunately, this is just pointing me towards Worm again, so I'll probably end up using that setting.
 
You could always roll your own setting. Alternately, it could be a fun conceit for an IRL-based setting? Think Heroes-by-way-of-gamer.

Save your throw. Save the world.
 
So, I had an idea. We've seen fics where protagonists get gamer powers. sometimes these fics include Instant Dungeons. What if a char got the power of Instant Dungeons but not gamer powers? What if all they could do was make a dungeon and scavenge it? Having to learn how to actually use a sword or bow, how to charge magic. no gamer stats or skills, having to actually work for their abilities? The problem is, I don't know what this would work with. Worm is cliche and I've already tried a bunch of Worm stuff, so I want something different.

I mean, this sounds pretty much like Dungeon Meshi/Dungeon Keeper just with the protagonist not having control over the Dungeon.
 
Hmm, IRL. Well, that gets back to moneymaking, and while that would be useful, I'm not sure where it would go beyond that.

That would depend on what people get out of the dungeons, doesn't it? What if there's unknown alloys in there? Potions? Actual magic? Moneymaking sure, but hard cash is the least of what you could do with that. Used properly a dungeon power could take over the world.
 
There's a book series called Dinosaur Dungeon where all Dungeons are made to contain an incredibly powerful entity (think Elder god). The dungeons are sentient, gaining powers and themes from the being they capture. The MC for example contains a sleeping dinosaur-esc monster, so all her minions are dinosaur themed.

You could have dungeon powers be used to contain something powerful, but you need to find and contain it yourself. Maybe Dr Strange or Constantine needs help containing a demon? Maybe it can be used as a source of rehabilitation for super criminals? Maybe there are some endangered pokemon that need a safe dark place to hide from poachers?

Finally you could use this as a story for general fitness. A non-magical version of Iseleve, Lookism, or Kokichi's greatest disciple, they need to clear out the dungeon every so often and by doing so they get in great shape, gathering the attention of other students who admire the hardwork. Maybe they end up as part of martial arts drama, or wrapped up in school gang fights, all the while the experience fighting helps them in the dungeon and vice versa.
 
So, I had an idea. We've seen fics where protagonists get gamer powers. sometimes these fics include Instant Dungeons. What if a char got the power of Instant Dungeons but not gamer powers? What if all they could do was make a dungeon and scavenge it? Having to learn how to actually use a sword or bow, how to charge magic. no gamer stats or skills, having to actually work for their abilities? The problem is, I don't know what this would work with. Worm is cliche and I've already tried a bunch of Worm stuff, so I want something different.
How about DC you could frame them as a homo magi who played one too many games and when they first used their instinctual magic it manifested like that or a mutant in marvel. They can grow stronger by fighting monsters right?
 
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