Caves of Qud Part 2: Gameplay and Mechanics (with @BigSimple)

O Glorious Shekhinah! To conclude our two-part special on Caves of Qud, we turn our focus from the epic storyline to the deep gameplay mechanics and systems from the Salt Dunes of the west to the Deep Jungle in the east. Join us for a water ritual on how to negotiate with camel merchants before we clone them, managing our reputation with fuedal fungal lords, and how to navigate the differences between mutated humans, psychic warriors, and just straight-up cyborgs. Get those schematics ready as we disassemble one of the densest and deepest “traditional” “roguelike” games out there. You can find the in depth tutorial series we did with BigSimple to learn this massive game here! Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 3:44 - Game stats 7:47 - One sentence description 08:09 - Gamma World tabletop RPG comparison 10:08 - Initial bouncing off & polish improvements 14:23 - Tutorial mode & learning curve discussion 19:31 - Character creation & mutation systems 24:48 - Story structure & main quest overview 29:17 - Death mechanics & permadeath options 34:52 - Open world exploration & procedural generation 40:15 - Village generation & faction systems 45:38 - Combat mechanics & weapon variety 51:22 - Skill tree & ability customization 56:47 - Water economy & trade systems 1:02:08 - Equipment & artifact identification 1:07:45 - Mutation system depth & combinations 1:13:31 - Enemy variety & creature encounters 1:19:03 - Interface improvements & accessibility features 1:24:38 - Save system exploits discussion 1:30:15 - Community & modding ecosystem 1:35:52 - Writing quality & atmospheric storytelling 1:41:27 - Endgame content & difficulty scaling 2:07:27 - Rankings & final thoughts 2:25:15 - Similar games & show wind-down Next episode: Diablo Contact us at grogpodzone@gmail.com! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Caves of Qud OST - Soundscape I Outro music: Caves of Qud OST - Onward Romantique / Live and Drink