🌟 A Prologue to Dungeon23: Part 1
"Tales of the Star can be found in almost every civilisation across the galaxy. Some consider it a sign of good fortune and prosperity, while others see it as an ill omen, warning of turbulent times. It has been the subject of myth, fascination, and even the divine. The Star wanders the cosmos, blinking out in one place before shinning brightly in another almost instantly. It is recognised by its unique purple shine. Astronomers have attempted to track it's movements, but it has proven to be unpredictable and without any obvious pattern. The few missions sent to visit the Star have all met with failure and many did not return at all. Thus the wandering Star remains one of the great mysteries of the universe. A mystery that we'll likely never find an answer to." -excerpt from The Errant Star Throughout Time and Space by Prof. Lindsey Herschel
Dungeon32 is a yearlong challenge set by Mothership designer, Sean McCoy, to create a 12 level megadungeon by creating 1 room a day everyday for 2023. Here is the initial pitch on Sean's blog.
After quite a bit of consideration I have decided to participate. My initial hesitation was due to me never having made or even run a megadungeon as well as being cautious to commit to something as big as this. I already have a lot I want to do in 2023 and having a megadungeon to write on top of all that wasn't too appealing at first. But then, spurred on by the community spirit, I got to thinking. If I make this challenge suit me and my schedule then it is more than doable. The only way this is going to work for me is if I frame it to better suit me. So that is what I did.
My Dungeon23 Guidelines:
1. Keep it simple. I have a tendency to take things too far. For this I need to be content with simple maps and little to no art, layout, or graphic design.
2. Write concepts, not finished prose. The point is to get ideas down and just write something everyday. If that something isn't enough or even good it can be revisited later.
3. Utilise procedural/random generation. Random name, room, theme, loot, or monster generators will take a lot of the mental load off me, even if I make those generators myself.
4. Plan themes and design motifs for levels. Have an overarching goal for each block, level, and group of levels to follow to make them cohesive.
5. Follow a dungeon creation procedure. Traverse Fantasy's Bite-Sized Dungeons, All Dead Generations' So You Want to Build a Dungeon?, and Goblin Punch's Dungeon Checklist offer great procedures and guides to easily make interesting play spaces. USE THEM!
6. Post a weekly update on the blog. Every week I'll post an update here showcasing a new block of 7 rooms I worked on that week. This is to keep me accountable and is also less stressful than daily updates. Follow the #dungeon32 tag to see all related posts.
I'll probably add to these or alter them the closer we get to the start. Now of course these are just guidelines and can be broken if I feel so inspired.
But what exactly will I be making? Well I'm only going to officially start the challenge on 1 January, but in the meantime I will established a starting point. I'm currently working on a fantasy dungeon I plan on publishing (more on that later), so I'll make a sci-fi dungeon for the challenge instead. I need a bit of world building to establish the dungeon, a few factions, a settlement the PCs can return to, an exploration hexcrawl/pointcrawl, and some solid hooks to get the players interested. So without further ado, presenting:
...and I've already broken my first guideline.
The Errant Star is a celestial phenomena that most civilisations have at least acknowledged at one point in their history. It is a bright purple star that appears to instantaneously change its location across the sky. Sometimes it orbits other stars and other times it seems lost in the middle of nowhere. A few explorers and adventurers have attempted to investigate the star, but none who venture close ever return.
Hooks & Starting Points
- Whenever the PCs enter a new star system, there is a 1 in 20 chance that the Errant Star will appear, orbiting that system's star. It remains there for 3 days.
- The PCs find a strange mechanical device that always points to the Star's current location.
- A distress beacon from a derelict starship is detected on the edge of the Star in a nearby system. There is no one aboard the ship and the ship's computer is fried.
- A crazed young woman claims to know where the star will next appear. She begs people to go to the Star or else all will be lost.
- A mysterious person, known only as the Benefactor, is offering to fully fund an expedition to the Star.
- The PCs find an old holobook depicting the Star giving a person strange luminous objects which imbue them with immense power.
As the PCs approach the Errant Star a dark shape begins to form, softened by the blinding light. The shape splits into 3, which elongate outward and appear to wobble. They soon reveal themselves to be 3 concentric rings rotating around the star at 90° to each other. The two inner rings are split into 3 sections whereas the outer ring is continuous.
To be continued...
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-Eucatastrophic is written by Jason Christopher Burrows