I check out every solo dungeon crawl I find. I feel like I'm on a journey to find the perfect one or, having g studied the crafts and procedures, design my own.
I got Tables of Doom a couple days ago, a Fifth Edition solo crawl. Like Four Against Darkness and Ruins of the Undercity (and it's variants) you roll for the room, determine if it has traps, monsters, traps, and treasures. I like the way it does this.
There is a whole additional book of map tiles. You roll a d10 and get random results based on the direction of your exit. Ten results for north, ten results for east, ten west and south. And each room has it's own likelihood of having traps, monsters, and randomness.
I like the random effects. Many of them are of two parts.
So you smell a bad smell. The next time you roll a random, you discover the source of that smell. Or you hear a scream. The next time you see who is screaming.
It has clues which could make secret rooms easier to find or enemies easier to beat, like in FAD.
I haven't played it yet. I spent some time reading it today. I kept thinking about how I could improve it. 🤔
In the first quest, there's only one NPC and he will join your One Guy. Monsters are just attack sprites. I would fill dungeons with exotic randomized enemies (roll for skin color, roll for fur, feathers, flesh, scales, or exotic anatomy) with reaction rolls. Do they have an enemy? An objective? Are they afraid? Curious? Furious?
I don't want spiders goblins and skeletons. I want Cyborgs and energy beings. Insectoids and Octopoids. And traps to do more than damage. They could draw attention (shrieking fungus, laughing gas) or freak characters out (bad trip magic) or just do weird stuff (eyes shoot beams of light, sounds characters make become colored smoke)
In the ideal generated dungeon, you would generate rooms that fill you and your characters with wonder. Full of undiscovered new creatures, treasures of unknown races from bygone eras.
ReplyDeleteUltimately I see a narrative unfolding which might end in Shakespearean tragedy, Vengerian orgy, or Ren & Stimpian absurdity. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/OyXKccQtp52vOOJ99WkiX20gaRp4HuO8jR01TFUAZ-eg2P5-QuyGLQwV1xJ9HuEBleefGra4ttI
Imagine entering a strange underground world where normal rules do not apply. There are people who are potentially agreeable to outsiders who probably would appreciate help against dangers endemic to this world.
ReplyDeleteSimply by helping one tribe interfere with another, your characters become heroes and acquire enemies. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9mIy3NfYmuPf6EsMqJyb3fQvYgnoSoYbOMlmFB7x9lBby2DRKOJ2uO233cY3IFDpQpBOHkCDYGM
For a while now I've been thinking about how to do a solo dungeon with little or no combat, just traps & puzzles and obstacles. I am intrigued by the two-part effects; they might just be (part of) what I'm looking for.
ReplyDeleteStart with rooms. Squares and rectangles with straight or angled corridors.
ReplyDeleteAdd some variety and you have octangluar or hexagonal rooms. Round rooms.
How about if we get complex? Trap doors above and below? Pits deep enough to need a ladder. A door you must transform to traverse. Or an elevator. Or a Subway.
Balconies and windows.
And then dressing. Graffiti, barrels of grain, piles of bones, crumbling furniture.
Maybe you've got some statues and monoliths.
Or massive ginea pigs. Origami. Fossils. Swarms of harmless crawling invertebrates.
The author of Tables of Doom admitted that this was an experiment who's methods would be more refined in supplemental offerings.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about the traps and monsters being given a single difficulty score, like in Index Card Rpg.
You roll for room difficulty, between 3 and 18.
3d6 x 3
To disarm or evade a trap or defeat or evade a monster, you'd have to beat that score. But you could reduce that score if you had a character suited to the task.
Fighters fighting monsters of equal or fewer hd. Rogues detecting traps.
I also like the idea of quest giving nodes. These orcs are friendly and want the bowl of fire for a barbecue. 🔥
ReplyDeleteThe red queen demands the head of her spying servant. She will resurrect it and it will answer her questions.
The Crab King wants some new music. Make friends with a musician.
Or you find an altar. This god has demands and offers boons and blessings. And mutations.
Chad Robb: Get writing! Also, some of the OSR crowd may have random tables that have this feeling that you want. For example, check out the d100 tables at http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with Gerard Nerval: the two-part effects are really interesting. I know that a situation can often affect the next situation (such as a loud noise making your perception check lower), but the interactions that you describe sound more linked, more causal.
I love Elfmaids and Octopi and Chris Tamm, the guy who runs it, gave me an honorable mention in the Planet Psychon book.
ReplyDeleteAnd I did one of the illustrations.
ReplyDeleteChad Robb Very cool!
ReplyDeletePhilip Reed
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking of how to make "Tomb Raider" style multi-level dungeons. Have multiple ways to cross an area with Risk-vs-Reward pathes. You still get to the same place at the end.
ReplyDeleteIt would need to be made with rollable charts, so I can play it solitairy.
Ruins of the Undercity rolls for Room or Corridor. Tables of Doom has tiles which might be a room, a corridor, or both. 4AD rolls for geomorphs. You trade ease of use for diversity of layout.
ReplyDeleteI like in Tables of Doom that each tile has a series of scores.
Encounter 9, Trap 6
So you roll a d12 and if you meet or beat the score, that is present.
You also choose to be watching for traps or stealthy for monsters.
ReplyDeleteChad Robb Is this what you are talking about?
ReplyDelete"D&D Solo Adventure: Tables Of Doom - 5E Solo Adventuring"
drivethrurpg.com - DriveThruRPG.com
Yeah thats it.
ReplyDelete