Dungeon23 Week One

 

The map so far

The first week of #dungeon23 has passed. Those looking to see what folks have been getting up to should check out this round up at Mazirian's Garden by Ben. Fittingly, the blog's name shake has been on of the things on my mind I have been plotting out my own entry: the grounds of a wizard's manse. I have a strong suspicion that it is the home of the Archwizard of the Transcendental Congress of Aureate Precepts, Merzhin. This head of this wizardly institution is more than likely currently absentee from the grounds (and also more than likely deceased having accidently eaten a poison mushroom or berry in a simply foraging misstep). This seclusion has a connection to the realm of elves and probably is built on top of some stronghold of a defeated Wizard King. That is what I have as a premise for now. Those that want more insight can chekc out the back half of the post. Here is the work I did this week:

Some Notes on Process

As I was working on my map this week, I had two old concepts on my mind. One of them was the megadungeon that was the tent-pole of the campaign the preceded the Twilight Age, one I called What Fools These Adventurers Be that ran from 2016 to 2019 that was inspired by these In Places Deep Cuccagna posts. In my last #dungeon23 post, I wrote about how I based the start of my map on that old dungeon. I was never happy with how that dungeon ended up straying from the Shakespearean and Classics-inspired vibe I was trying to cultivate. I always wanted to revisit it. But, rather than trying to shoehorn myself into something else's aesthetic, I am going to take a go at the concept but through my natural science fantasy lens that is the root of my Twilight Age game.

Some addition observations:

• I had this Traverse Fantasy post on the bite-sized dungeon as I find its break down of inhabited room to treasure to empty room ratio easier to parse than the normal dungeon building advice.
• I went with mostly-empty and elaborate initial rooms to start because I want to the space to build up the tension and feeling of the unknown off the bat. Also, there are several puzzling elements or barriers that players will figure more about later. That parts of levels are things one don't solve right away and will return to even after the PCs are of higher levels is important in a long-term megadungeon campaign. The space needs to reward long term interaction as the goal of the dungeon is to be a space that a whole long-term gaming experience is going to center on.
• I still haven't figured out how to map clearly windows or doors on an area below another area like the Garden and the Terrace.
• This Monsters and Manuals post was fresh in my mind when I wrote the entry for Leyn-El and the obvious origin for why I chose to look at a bunch of 4HD monsters when I stated him out.
• I have left parts blank to return to as I work. Some of this are random tables I expect to fill in with stuff that relates to other parts of the dungeon and some of it is that things like treasure lists or dungeon messages can take me longer to sort out. With Leyn-El's hoard this actually worked out into me splitting the value I rolled out between his cave the lock he guards. I imagine that I will update recap posts with completed pages whever I finish them.
• The rooms this week were more elaborate than I thought they would be going in. It was hard to get everything done everyday between being a little extra busy and the fact that I am going on two weeks of insomnia. But do I regret what the rooms are? Not in the least. I am just running what I dream up everyday with whatever form it may have.

Rooms 1, 2, 2-A, and 46 from this Prospero dungeon map all served as inspirations for rooms in this week's #dungeon23 map.