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.