I like that method, particularly because it seems to pack a lot of information into just a few dice rolls... potentially as few as just one toss of 2d6.
Wallet Dungeons is my favorite dice driven generator for multi-player prep.
Chaoclypse's Dungeon Generator is my favorite dice driven generator for Solo play.
WD really is fast for generating a plausible site map. Grouping 5s and 6s to make towers and great halls. There's just enough detail to allow a theme to emerge from the arrangement, but not so much that imposing an outside theme on the results is impeded.
CDG is really focused on cultivation of a superior solo experience. Room exits are generated on a 2d6 roll, with zero or one exits at the middle of the range. This deliberately favors a more linear map, which reduces bookkeeping and limits arbitrary choices, but makes for a poor multi-player site generator. The shapes and sizes of rooms and corridors are likewise optimized for the soloist with 8.5 × 11 graph paper or a browser tab open to dungeonscrawl.com.
I used to use the tables method in Ad&D 1E DMG which I loved but it was more … a game or maybe a solo activity in itself. I tried the 5E DMG a year ago as it has similar capability (first time since 1E) and it was good.
The reason why I liked the 5E version is that the DMG also had tables for “why the dungeon”. Eg: why is it there? What was it before? Why are the PCs going there? Who are the factions? Who are the leaders involved?
It’s spread out in three sections .. but a few bookmarks and about 2-3 hours I had a well flesh out adventure … not just a dungeon.
The reality was … I did most of the creativity but the tables narrowed down each possibilities from endless to something a bit more narrow. Do that about 20 or so times and you have a good adventure
Yeah, I think the "why" is extremely important in TTRPGs, but it's also important in thematic board games. Having tables to support that is really handy.
As for the AD&D method being a game/activity in itself, there's nothing wrong with that! Personally, I love world-building games even if I never plan to use the world for any other purpose or game!
I’m with the you. The solo activity in RPG can be very satisfying… it’s one of the reasons I play more RPGs than Boardgames. I found with Boardgames my solo activity was limited to buying more Boardgames :)
Low/no combat dungeons seem possible in TTRPGs with strong emphasis on player agency, depending on player choices. Mothership actually seems to have a couple of examples: The first "dungeon" location in "Another Bug Hunt" has one enemy. "Gradient Descent" notes that it's theoretically possible, if unlikely, to navigate the whole mega-dungeon without combat. The use of themed locations to provide not just flavor, but environmental challenges, also makes me think of the Numenera "Jade Colossus" system of random dungeon generation.
In pure board games, is a no-combat dungeon crawl a race game?
Thank you for the comment! I'm familiar with Mothership, and agree that while there is combat, it's not always the focus of the game. It's a great system!
I think I've heard the Numenera dungeon generation system mentioned before? Not sure. I'll see if I can check that out somewhere.
My favourite in terms of makes-happiest is Rollin Kunz' DUNGENERATOR (it's why I worked with him on the quickstart rules for DIE in a DUNGEON)
Though my favourite in terms of most-used is dice-driven, but specifically with rooms being a single 2D6 roll interpreted thus:
¬ sum is room height + width (in 10ft increments)
¬ difference between dice is number of (visible) exits
¬ rightmost dice is read according to BX room stocking guides
If I want a corridor beyond a door, I tend to roll 2D6-7 for corridor length but treat the dice as individual for the purposes of doors.
I like that method, particularly because it seems to pack a lot of information into just a few dice rolls... potentially as few as just one toss of 2d6.
Wallet Dungeons is my favorite dice driven generator for multi-player prep.
Chaoclypse's Dungeon Generator is my favorite dice driven generator for Solo play.
WD really is fast for generating a plausible site map. Grouping 5s and 6s to make towers and great halls. There's just enough detail to allow a theme to emerge from the arrangement, but not so much that imposing an outside theme on the results is impeded.
CDG is really focused on cultivation of a superior solo experience. Room exits are generated on a 2d6 roll, with zero or one exits at the middle of the range. This deliberately favors a more linear map, which reduces bookkeeping and limits arbitrary choices, but makes for a poor multi-player site generator. The shapes and sizes of rooms and corridors are likewise optimized for the soloist with 8.5 × 11 graph paper or a browser tab open to dungeonscrawl.com.
Somehow I missed (or forgot) that Chaoclypse had a dungeon generator! Thank you for mentioning that!
Ooh I was hoping that the excellent little Wallet Dungeons would get a mention! 🙌
The Vast in the Dark also has a great procedure for branching levels of dungeons.
The Vast in the Dark is amazing from cover to cover. I'm trying not to just have an article about every chapter. 😂
( I did feature it in the depth crawl article: https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/depth-crawls )
Thank you for the great article. I am already excited about trying Carta SRD, it seems super fun in solo play!
Thank you! The Carta SRD is such a simple yet flexible idea.
I can’t believe you forgot the classic “Death Maze” by SPI, https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3625/deathmaze-heroic-adventure-in-the-corridors-of-doo, where randomly drawn counters are used for rooms and corridors. I guess this should fall into a new category of tile?
Wasn't familiar with that one!
The counters do seem to look/act like tiny dungeon geomorph tiles. I'd put it in the same category as this: https://www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/dungeon-geomorphs
Escape from Demon Castle Dracula does a really creepy/fun job of making a tense card-driven dungeon.
Ooooh, this looks interesting. Link: https://nerdypapergames.itch.io/escape
Because I felt inspired, I added a bunch more geomorph dice to Zero Dice. As always, it is a free/no ads web toy for those that like to play with RNG.
https://tangent-zero.com/zero_dice/zero_dice.htm
That's pretty cool!
I used to use the tables method in Ad&D 1E DMG which I loved but it was more … a game or maybe a solo activity in itself. I tried the 5E DMG a year ago as it has similar capability (first time since 1E) and it was good.
The reason why I liked the 5E version is that the DMG also had tables for “why the dungeon”. Eg: why is it there? What was it before? Why are the PCs going there? Who are the factions? Who are the leaders involved?
It’s spread out in three sections .. but a few bookmarks and about 2-3 hours I had a well flesh out adventure … not just a dungeon.
The reality was … I did most of the creativity but the tables narrowed down each possibilities from endless to something a bit more narrow. Do that about 20 or so times and you have a good adventure
Yeah, I think the "why" is extremely important in TTRPGs, but it's also important in thematic board games. Having tables to support that is really handy.
As for the AD&D method being a game/activity in itself, there's nothing wrong with that! Personally, I love world-building games even if I never plan to use the world for any other purpose or game!
I’m with the you. The solo activity in RPG can be very satisfying… it’s one of the reasons I play more RPGs than Boardgames. I found with Boardgames my solo activity was limited to buying more Boardgames :)
"I found with Boardgames my solo activity was limited to buying more Boardgames"
Nooooooooooo, this is me! 😂😭
Low/no combat dungeons seem possible in TTRPGs with strong emphasis on player agency, depending on player choices. Mothership actually seems to have a couple of examples: The first "dungeon" location in "Another Bug Hunt" has one enemy. "Gradient Descent" notes that it's theoretically possible, if unlikely, to navigate the whole mega-dungeon without combat. The use of themed locations to provide not just flavor, but environmental challenges, also makes me think of the Numenera "Jade Colossus" system of random dungeon generation.
In pure board games, is a no-combat dungeon crawl a race game?
Thank you for the comment! I'm familiar with Mothership, and agree that while there is combat, it's not always the focus of the game. It's a great system!
I think I've heard the Numenera dungeon generation system mentioned before? Not sure. I'll see if I can check that out somewhere.