Levels and Dungeons

Moonshades is a "dungeon crawl" game ... we walk, run, and crawl around dungeons. The backstory for this environment tells about the history. This page documents what we know about the environment now.

Definitions
There are really two concepts, Levels and Dungeons. In this game they are almost the same. At some point perhaps the terminology might change to make it easier to discuss dungeons, dungeon levels, player levels, inventory levels, ability levels, etc.

A "Level" is a dungeon tier with its own walls, doors, rooms, and decorations. Each level down can be reached by normal means - we walk around one level and eventually discover stairs that lead down to the next level. There is no minimum player level or experience level to move between game levels.

A "Dungeon" is a special challenge Boss level with special rules. It is only reached by opening the brown book at the top of the screen, and opening the page to "Arcane Dungeons".

Levels
This is the list of all levels as of v1.5:
 * The Blacksmith Level

This is the "lobby" for the game. It is where we first enter when beginning a new game. It is safe. Nothing attacks here. The Blacksmith, the Forge, and Rath Highrock the Knight are here. This level leads to one of the Side levels - The Chamber of Heroes.
 * Tombs of the Cruel Wolf
 * Tombs of the Cruel Wolf Level 2
 * The Voiceless Dungeon
 * The Enchanted Labyrinth
 * The Wild Lair
 * Forsaken Tunnels
 * The Cursed Catacombs
 * Gloomy Caverns
 * The Fearsome Crypt
 * Forgotten Cemetery
 * The Mystic Forest
 * The Maze of the Damned
 * The Tombs of Terror
 * The Tombs of Terror Level 2
 * The Cyclopes’ Lair
 * The Cackling Crypts
 * The Cackling Crypts Level 2

There are also three "Side Levels" that can be reached from one of the above levels. These are smaller levels with a special purpose. There is no teleport access to these side levels.
 * 1) The Cold Pits is a small level with only Green Trolls ... and something special
 * 2) The Buried Quarters is a small level with only Spiders ... and something special
 * 3) The Chamber of Heroes is a small level with no mobs. It has statues named after legendary Moonshades players.

Arcane Dungeons
Three are open now, one is coming soon: These special dungeon levels have a lot of mobs that are more difficult to kill than in the normal levels. After killing all mobs and solving all puzzles, at the end of the dungeon there are at least two chests. There is a guarantee that these chests contain Epic or Legendary rewards. There is also a chance to find a third chest too, which contains 15 gems.
 * 1) The Grim Dungeon
 * 2) The Restless Tunnels
 * 3) Chaotic Point
 * 4) The Deadly Glade (coming soon)

The dungeons only allow us to enter once per day "only when the three moons come together". If you die in this level, you cannot come back for 16 hours.

Each of the dungeons has three levels of difficulty, Easy, Medium, and Hard. The page in the brown book shows how many times you entered each level of difficulty, and how many times you survived and completed the levels.

Level Details
A separate page links to details about all locations in the game.

Tips
1) On one hand, you are encouraged to play dungeons every day to receive great rewards.

"With great rewards come great risks..."

On the other hand, if you die in a dungeon, you lose 1/2 of your experience for your current level, and you lose 1/2 of your gold. That's painful. For this reason, don't die. After you advance into a new character level (18, 19, 20...), spend as much gold as you can. Then try a new dungeon or difficulty. If you die, you won't lose more than a few experience points and you won't be upset about losing gold.

2) If you die more than once in a level, take a break:

- go back up one level

- get experience from a lot of mobs

- raise your character levels

- get better weapons and defenses

- then come back and try again

3) After you complete the Easy Dungeons, move up to the more difficult ones as soon as you can. While we are guaranteed of getting Epic and Legendary rewards (and gold!) the rewards for Easy dungeons is very small compared to what a higher level player would hope and expect.

4) Every time you move to a new Level (or Side Level) the game auto-saves. So if you die, you can come back to that point. It's always a good idea to save the game before making a major decision.

5) It may be tempting for a higher-level player to just "farm" the highest level possible, to get more experience and gold. This is a good strategy. However, there are unique rewards in every level. For example, you will not get books from Green Trolls in the Cold Pits. And after completing the Wild Lair the first time, there are no further drops from mobs, only experience. If you want to find special items, like Magic Dust, Chitin, books, ingots, runes, etc, you must continue to play in the lower levels too.