Stabbity stab stab at dungeon creation rules. Am I crazy? Is this a viable approach?

Stabbity stab stab at dungeon creation rules. Am I crazy? Is this a viable approach?

Stabbity stab stab at dungeon creation rules. Am I crazy? Is this a viable approach?

Originally shared by Jason Lutes

Very rough draft of dungeon creation rules. I wasn’t planning on having this be part of the book, but the more of the other stuff I wrote, the more this seemed missing. All art placeholder, please let me know what you think.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B254Gcq3LvXQYmdTMmZPbkt1NmM/view?usp=sharing

15 thoughts on “Stabbity stab stab at dungeon creation rules. Am I crazy? Is this a viable approach?”

  2. I like using a little something to kind of anchor themes to dungeon locations. Roll +nothing for each theme. 7-9, you find hints of a theme, +1 forward to rolls for its presence. 10-11, the theme becomes involved with the current room, +1 ongoing to rolls for its presence. 12+ (or 10+ with the countdown gone), you find the source of the theme. 

    Don’t know how that would operate with the huge things you have going, though.

  3. It’s gorgeous, and I like the tables. My personal preference, however, would be to use them ahead of time rather than using randomizers in play.  I find random results needs a bit of time to simmer, like ingredients in a stew.

    My dungeon-making philosophy is that there should be a set of simple influences (monsters, events, etc.) that have interacted and generated some interesting evidence.

    I just remembered that I wrote it all down here! http://blog.trilemma.com/2014/10/interesting-and-useful-dungeon.html

  4. I love stuff that will let me GM on the fly. I am cool with a method that will give me immediate input for the players, with sense-making up to them. I think the “themes” idea as a way of providing access to the historical in-game logic of the dungeon is a good idea.

  5. I already told you this, but I use a technique like this all the time (the “dungeons as monsters” guidelines from Dark Heart) and it works great. Keep going! And then playtest it and see what it needs!

  9. Michael Prescott, I’m envisioning this working both ways, as a prep tool and/or as something to use in play. I also prefer to let things simmer in the long run. And that’s an excellent blog post, I strive for a similar sense of grounding and “realism” in my own games. I also end up having to wing it most nights, though, so I’m looking for a way to have my cake and eat it too!

  10. This is fascinating — probably the first framework I’ve ever read that makes me think an improv dungeon might be doable in a way that doesn’t suck.

    Couple notes:

    – in table 1, huge dungeon, it says to roll “1d6+12” for themes.

    – In Plumbing step 2, it says “give each one a countdown based on the size of the dungeon.”  If it says anywhere how big the countdowns should be, I don’t see it.

  13. This is great. I started trying to map out sort of the same thing as I was reading the Castle Oldskull Dungeon Design Guide, but this is much better than what I made.  Love the design and the “Countdown” mechanic.

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