Just a short post this week as I’m late sharing week 6.

Here you go.

It’s been my final week in my current job. Which has seen three early shifts at the start of the week, followed by my two final shifts being lates.

Then in my spare time I’ve been to my next “gig” getting things in place for my start on Monday.

Because of the above I’ve missed the odd day this week. Which meant towards the end of the week I had a catch up day to get me back on track.

I don’t see things getting any easier in the next week or two.

This week did see the start of level 2. So we are now deeper into the megadungeon.

Things are going to start getting tougher.

The creatures for level 2 are coming from The Tome of Beasts 2 by Kobold Press. I love the creatures in this and Creature Codex. They are so fresh and cool to run.

Onto week 6…

It’s been another busy week at work, so it’s been another struggle to keep to the daily schedule.

One thing I am enjoying about this project is the time I spend inking the map. Not only does it transform the map. But I do find the whole inking and doing the cross hatching very therapeutic.

I’m really shocked by that revelation.

I’d never have thought that doing the cross hatching especially would be so calming and relaxing. But it is.

I am wondering have I managed to tell a story, or at least attempted to tell one with the rooms on this level? Does it come across with the room names and descriptions?

I’m trying to tell two stories at once. That of the dungeon itself and the fall of the dwarven kingdom that built it, and also the story of the current inhabitants.

We’ll see how this progresses.

Next week we go down to level 2!

It’s back to work and the varying shifts, and yet some how I’ve managed to get to the end of week 3.

The moving shifts such as three lates, a midday, followed by a couple of early shifts does take a toll.

Add in I’ve had to do stuff to get ready for starting a new job (more on that in a life, the universe, and coffee post).

Suddenly squeezing in this has been a challenge.

I feel as I’m coming up with these rooms that they are encounter light.

However this first level is meant for tier 1 parties, and story wise in my head is “controlled” by religious fanatics (priests, clerics, cultists, etc) loyal to the rising evil.

As we get deeper and closer to the rising evil we’ll see things get weirder and more monstrous.

I also don’t like my map until I have finished the inking on day 7. It’s only then that it comes together for me. Until then it doesn’t seem like a real map worthy of sharing.

Currently there is a Humble Bundle called “RPG Worlds by Kobold Press and Friends” going on that has one or two useful books for this challenge.

The one that sold it to me was Endless Encounters: Dungeons.

“Endless Encounters: Dungeons is an encounter and adventure generator for characters level 1-10 using the 5th edition game system!”

I looked at the sample pdf and instantly thought I want this book. In fact this has jumped onto my “I want a physical copy” list.

The others in this great bundle that I think will be useful for the challenge are Kobold Presses Vault of Magic, plus some bestiary that will be useful in sticking the megadungeon.

Well I’ve made it through week two.

So here is the Instagram post showing the final inked version of the map that was created for week two.

How did this week go?

Well even though I was making the daily updates adding a new room each day. I didn’t share many of the rooms on Instagram this week.

This was mainly due to me not feeling they were worth sharing.

On the map drawing it doesn’t feel like the map has come together until I do the inking at the end. Granted it’s not the best inking by a long shot. But it does the job.

I feel that this week was less focused in my mind from trying to tell a story with the rooms. The aim was to have another way for a party of adventurers to get into the dungeon. Plus working out how that entrance connected up with the previous weeks rooms.

The events and items found in this section of the map felt half hearted. But I did feel they were thematic to this section.

I couldn’t think of any secrets and clues this week, maybe one or two will come as I draw next weeks rooms.

Looking forward to week three and seeing where that takes me.

Ok so I’ve started and a week in on this year long challenge.

I’ve managed to post daily updates over on Instagram that pushes them out onto other social media platforms. Well almost daily I didn’t share the two empty rooms at the end. I didn’t think there was much point.

But those updates until the last one are in pencil. I took the decision to only ink the dungeon map at the end of the week. This allows me to make changes if need be as ideas develop throughout the week.

I kinda like how the map looks. It’s not nearly as good as some out there. But it is good for me.

I do have a folder with copies of the DMG Appendix A, dungeon symbols, list of trinkets, and a few other useful bits. I like not having to carry multiple books around, or have lots open at a time. At the end of this hashtag not only will I have a megadungeon, but also a folder I can use for dungeon creation.

Somehow this first week has used up four pages. It’s smoothing that may continue. Two pages for tables, etc, then the actual dungeon itself.

This first week has been about mapping out the first rooms of the long abandoned dwarven kingdom Khul Garom.

I’ve tried to capture in seven rooms(!) that the main entrance to Khul Garom was part stronghold able to repel any outside forces, but also some sort of grand gesture that once showed the wealth, artistry, and might of the dwarves of Khul Garom.

By using bandits, thugs, and cultists to populate some of the rooms I’m trying to start telling the main story of this dungeon of that awakening evil, and it slowly increasing its grip on the surrounding area.

Whilst any items found in these rooms are not of any value. But more the sort of stuff historians at a dig find that hint at the sort of society that was there long ago. In these rooms all the good stuff so to speak was looted long ago.

Right now onto week 2…

With little gaming going on at the moment. It’s the nature of this time of year and working in retail. All I seem to be writing about is this impending #dungeon23 thing.

I suppose thinking about it I should be doing my usual spoiler alert for my adventurers because for sure ideas from this prep and what I produce will most likely surface in the campaign. But I’m not.

This morning I got to a version of the dungeon hook and the d6 table I’m happy with and commit to ink on paper.

The final adventure hook I came up with for a DM to use is a straight rip off from the Bioshock video games. I like the idea of giving the DM a hook that allows them to explore or play with the same issues, plot hooks raised by the phrase in Bioshock.

You can read more about the use of the “would you kindly” phrase here. It’s in that linked article that I came across the following little factoid:

“Before the phrase “Would You Kindly” was chosen, the developers also considered the word “Excelsior”, a Latin phrase for “Over God”, [3] and the Latin phrase “Cedo Maiori” (I yield to a greater person).”

I like these Latin phrases a lot. I think these can be worked into the megadungeon somehow. They will add to the story and history of the place.

You also might find me breaching song copyright on some of the entries. Specifically on the first few with Guns ‘n Roses Welcome to the Jungle. Although you may spot the odd Status Quo or AC/DC lyric as well down the line.

Before I’ve even really started there is a bit of imposter syndrome kicking in, along side an inferiority complex about my poor artistic skills.

While I’m fighting those feelings I think I’m there ready to jump in creating my magnum opus megadungeon for #dungeon23.

This prologue thing is becoming more of a diary thing. But it’s doing it’s thing showing my prep progress, and capturing ideas.

Ideas such as I want a bag of holding as an item that any party in the dungeon can get. But it wouldn’t be me if there wasn’t a twist. This time the twist would be the same one as I wrote about in my campaign prep. Yep this bag of holding would be a gateway for the Bagman.

Another item I’m going to add for the party to stumble upon is a deck of many things.

I also want to use the idea of dreadful incursions as thought up by and used by Mike Shea (aka Sly Flourish). I’ll most likely use a dreadful incursion as one of the options in an encounter table for the level. I have his Uncovered Secrets Volume 2 that has a page of tables that can be used to create them.

I own the Galeforce Nine Tarokka cards. I’d like to use these somehow in this hashtag but I’m not sure how at the moment. I need to sleep on this one.

As the embedded Instagram image shows a new deck of cards arrived that can be used for this hashtag project and also during a regular session.

I’m pretty sure I ordered the fumbled searches deck too. But I’m not entirely sure about that as I can’t find an email confirming I did.

I have been working on the hook for the megadungeon plus a d6 table that can be used to give adventurers a reason to visit the megadungeon.

I’ll be ready to share this bit of work tomorrow.

As the embedded Instagram post below shows I’ve started to make some markings in the notebook I’m going to be using for this year long challenge.

The stuff so far is prep work, like abbreviations I’m going to use to show where the monster stat blocks can be found. Or a kind of index/contents for the levels. The third and final bit of useful stuff I’ve added for now is a checklist for the random generation method and which level it was used on.

I want a dragon in this megadungeon after all it’s called dungeons and dragons. So one of the later levels will be a dragon liar. But how did it get there? I’m thinking a massive deep hole/cave going from the service straight to the level the dragon is on. It will be too steep and deep for a party to descend.

I want multiple entrances to the levels, especially level 1. So I’ve come up with a way to help me make sure that I can align them between levels.

I forget who shared the following link on Twitter but I’m glad they did. It’s a great tutorial on drawing dungeon maps. Couple this with the Dyson Logos tutorials and any aspiring #dungeon23 participant with a modicum of artistic ability has all they need to draw attractive dungeon maps. Just a pity I don’t have any artistic ability.

I have this memory of reading a Mickey Mouse comic strip in the seventies in which there were giant ants.

It was this memory that came to mind when I saw the acid ant in the Kobold Press Creature Codex.

Now I’m wanting to do one of the levels where giant ants are involved. Maybe an ants nest that connects two differing dungeons into one megadungeon.

I’m also warming to the idea that I need caverns of fungi as well.

All these ideas are popping up.

I’m so glad I’m writing these posts to keep track of my completely random thoughts!

This prologue post is going to focus on me recording how I plan to approach the challenge that #dungeon23 is.

Each month I plan to use a different method to randomly generate the rooms for that level.

Currently sources for generating the random levels are:

• DMG – Appendix A: Random Dungeons
• Tome of Adventure Design
• Axebank’s Deck of Many Dungeons
• Map & Dice Playing Cards
• D&D Dungeon Geomorphs
• A random map generator that uses a rubrics cube! (Forget source of this at mo)

So just basic maths dictates that each of the above will be used twice through out the duration of the hashtag.

I also plan to do a similar thing when it comes to populating the megadungeon, swapping between the sources I have (I’m not going to list them all here when they are already listed in a previous post, plus I’ve ordered the kobold press Creature Codex), I’m also going to use the monster generator rules by the Lazy DM.

When I do use the Lazy DM stuff I’m not sure what I’ll come up with. What I do know is that some of the creatures will be unique, some will be dire versions of existing monsters, or even undead/elemental versions. I intend to explore all the Lazy DM ways of creating “new” creatures.

D&D 5e has tiers of play (see below) which I think will impact the creation of the megadungeon.

• Tier 1 (Levels 1-4): Local Heroes.
• Tier 2 (Levels 5-10): Heroes of the Realm.
• Tier 3 (Levels 11-16): Masters of the Realm.
• Tier 4 (Levels 17-20): Masters of the World.

Four tiers, 12 months. Every three months will cover a tier of play.

Logic dictates that the first three levels will take a party of heroes from level one to level four. And so on.

I’m going to try and stick to tier appropriate creatures to populate the current megadungeon level. But if a more powerful creature makes more sense then I will use it.

When I refer to creatures in the notes for the dungeon I’m going to use creatures name, then in brackets source. I.e. Goblin(PHB) or Fire Ant (CC).

When it comes to the Lazy DM generated monsters I’m not sure how I’ll record the stat blocks. I might use the Arcane Library templates for that. Has the advantage I can easily use them elsewhere, and share them easily with others.

I’m not going to use dates to label rooms to their descriptions. Instead I’m going to use a week/day format. 1/3 would be week one, day three.

In the previous post I said I liked the idea of using supernatural environments from Tasha’s. But the section on Magical Phenomena also inspires me. Particularly the Magic Mushroom, Enchanted springs, and Emotional Echoes sections. Although the Mimic Colony sounds pretty cool to throw in there somewhere.

I think the Tasha’s bits will help tell a story in the dungeon. To impart some of its history.

These are some of the thoughts I have at the moment that I needed to record before I forgot them. As usual none of the above is binding, things change. Or as the Jack Reacher goes “Plans go to hell as soon as the first shot is fired.”

I’m sure there will be a new post pretty soon.