apolis wrote:Hi John,
1. Do I have access to all the gold owned by the characters in the tavern, even those who are not currently in my party?
Yes
apolis wrote:
2. If I delete a character, do I lose any gold?
no
apolis wrote:3. How does the community pack work? In addition to my characters' equipped items and the "community pack" of 16 items each for the whole party, is there another community pack at the Tavern for the characters not currently in the party?
Each character can take up to 16 items into the dungeon (in addition to those he has equipped). Originally, each character had access to only his 16 items, but this proved to be a pain in the ass, so I changed it so that all characters have access to all of the items. However, I did not want to increase the number of total items that you could carry into the dungeon. Therefore, the total number of items you can take into the dungeon is 16 times the number of characters in the party. However, all of the characters will have access to all of the items.
apolis wrote:4. If I delete a character, are that character's equipped items deleted or do they move into the "community pack"?
They are deleted.
apolis wrote:5. Please remind me: If I enter the dungeon with the maximum number of carryable items, and then find 10 more items in the dungeon, can I carry those too, or do I have to drop stuff before I pick up anything new?
I believe that is correct, but I am not quite sure. There is, however, a maximum limit to the total number of items you can have in the game (both in the dungeon and castle).
apolis wrote:6. I'm not clear what gets restored by a portal. Suppose I create a portal, and then some time later I spend 10 minutes rearranging the party, redistributing items, selling unused items, and buying items; should I make another portal afterwards? I'd hate to die and have to redo all that work. Unless the portal retains the current party configuration and equippage even after you die?
The portal saves the complete game state (with the exception of how many portal gems you have). So if you re-arrange your packs and then restore, that rearrangement will be lost.
apolis wrote:7. How can I find out how much gold my party has while I'm in the dungeon? I want to know if I can afford item XYZ at the shop yet, but none of the menus in the dungeon display our gold.
Interestingly, this is the first time I realized that I do not show that anywhere in the dungeon. It is odd that no one has mentioned this before, because, as you said, it might be useful information.
apolis wrote:8. Do you have to walk through walls in this game? In the oldies like Might & Magic, and maybe Wizardry (but I forget), some walls were actually secret doors so you had to test every single wall just in case. But please tell me before I waste hundreds of extra hours banging my head on every wall of the dungeon for no reason.
There is a way to walk through walls, however, I do not believe that there is any place in the dungeon that you cannot get to without walking through walls. There are no secret doors in this version of Oubliette (the original version had them).
apolis wrote:9. Is it easier to beat the game with 10 characters or with a smaller party like 4 or 6? Does the game give you proportionally fewer monsters if you have a smaller party?
The number of monsters you face is not affected by the size of the party. Although you can have 10 characters, you really do not need that many. Remember that only the first two characters can engage in melee fighting. I have found that a party of 5 or 6 works well. Of course, it has to be the right combination of classes.
apolis wrote:10. When buying items in Grundig's store, is there a way to find information about the item before I buy it? For example, if I click on Short Sword, there doesn't seem to be any info about what damage it does, what classes can use it, etc. I certainly don't want to spend 500000 gold on a "Holy Ring" and it'll turn out it's just "AC -2" or something.
I am confused since I believe that most of the information is already displayed when you tap on the item. In any case, there are no 'cursed' items in the game. Some items may lower your AC, but only because of some other positive characteristic.
I hope this helps.