Hey, everyone!
I’m about 90 rooms into my Dungeon25 project, and while I’m happy with my progress so far, I’d love to swap ideas and hear what’s worked for others.
Here’s what’s been working for me:
Writing rooms in pairs (or clusters). This has been a game changer. Thinking about how rooms in small groups and considering how they relate to each other has made generating material so much easier.
Relying on themes, motifs, and spark tables for inspiration. For the first level, I started with two major themes: castle and the sea. From there, I brainstormed motifs associated with my themes. Castle led me to knights, courts, and statues. The sea led me to pirates, kelp, and tides. Then I wrote some spark tables and began combining two mundane ideas to yield something more original. Who is the Knight of Kelp? What’s the deal with the Court of Tidepools? Why is there a statue of a pirate here?
Writing and mapping in tandem—to a point. Generally, my process has involved coming up with a small cluster of rooms, then placing them on the map. However, I sometimes add rooms to the map without keying them or write a room description without immediately placing it on the map. This has helped me follow my inspiration and avoid getting stuck working on a specific area.
Here’s what’s been challenging:
Incorporating traps. My megadungeon is far more inhabited than the prototypical mythic underworld, so it doesn’t make sense to have a bunch of deadly unsprung traps lying about. What has been fruitful is thinking about who may want to set non-lethal traps (and why).
Including weird, highly interactive stuff that encourages experimentation. This has easily been the most challenging aspect. Statue puzzles and odd shrines can only get you so far. Taking inspiration from real-life marvels and oddities has helped (I have a room inspired by the Prague astronomical clock, for example)
If you’re involved in Dungeon25, participated in Dungeon23, or have worked on large dungeons, I’d appreciate advice, best practices, and referrals to helpful resources!