Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
New year, new challenge. I abandoned Dungeon 23 because I found that the dungeon in progress deserved better treatment than this challenge provides. More on that later. This year however I’m going to try and see it through. If I get a usable megadungeon out of this, all the better, but I will be trying to make some points about dungeon design, dungeon ecology, megadungeons, and other related topics. This challenge should prove a good substrate for that.
For those unfamiliar with the concept, Dungeon 23 was a challenge set by Sean McCoy for 2023. You map and describe a megadungeon one room a day. Each month is a separate level, so you get 12 levels. The emphasis is on finishing rather than on it making perfect sense, with 5 bland room descriptions being better than 1 detailed room. In this regard it’s more of an excercise in seeing things through and creating a habit rather than good dungeon design exercise, but it’s a fun thing to do during your lunch break or commute each day. For me however the interesting part is making a dungeon that can be used in an adventure.
Some people have modified the challenge and instead of one megadungeon with 12 levels and 365 rooms they make a different dungeon each month. They end up with 12 smaller dungeons and that’s quite sensible in my opinion. It’s easier to maintain the logic of the dungeon if you’re not creating it over the course of a year, one room at a time.
To be honest I would rather choose something that could benefit from the diversity and incoherency you easily get from a year-long challenge. Single magic items, monsters, or market stalls (as I saw somewhere on the internet) are all sound choices. You still get the sense of accomplishment, plus you will probably be able to use more of what you create this way.
But the challenge is to make a dungeon, so I will make one, one room a day, and I will try to keep it coherent and functional.
You wake up in a cell
My first room is a prison cell, and a good part of the first few months will be prison-themed. Prisons are a good choice for this kind of exercise, because you have a lot of similar rooms that make sense together, you only have to furnish them. My prison will be an abandoned one, that is currently being used by squatters. Or so it seems from the first few rooms.
Other similarly convenient places are living areas (dormitiories, tenements, trailer parks, even villages and towns), necropolises (preferably made of tombs, not single graves), or other locations consisting of multiple similarly built rooms or buildings. This will be the backbone of your dungeon (or level, or just a section) to which you will add other necessary facilities. For example a prison could have rooms for guards, storerooms, workshops, kitchens, maybe a torture chamber or a recreation room, depending on the tone and setting. A barrow field would contain the barrows themselves (some maybe with multiple chambers), and then maybe a temple and some maintenance buildings. Why not multiple temples or shrines, and maybe an inn for travellers. You probably get the idea.
I originally wanted to post this after only a few rooms but I’ve been delayed by work on the site. Therefore at the time of posting this I have about three weeks worth of finished rooms. I will probably work on this only on weekdays and catch up Mondays. These updates will be posted on Wednesdays or Thursdays.
Are you doing the #Dungeon24 challenge as well? Or perhaps are you working on #Hexplore24, a similar challenge proposed for this year? Leave a comment and feel free to link your creations!
Rashundai Games 