Exploring how One Hundred Rats Devour a Tavern by Ravensridge Press uses a dice-rolling method with simple rules to generate a tavern map... and then have a swarm of rats destroy it.
this seems like a lot of fun :D i love rats :) seems like a really neat way of making a dungeon, indeed!
only kind-of similar thing i can think of is some games i've seen where you roll a bunch of different kinds of dice at once onto a sheet of paper, and you create a map from their positions on the paper, the type of location being determined by the numbers you get (on which type of die)! i believe Lamplighter's Festival would be one such example... (haven't played it yet, but i have it in my collection from at least one charity bundle...)
playing as multiple characters is definitely a fun idea! reminds me of another thing i got from some charity bundle... a paladin oath for DnD called "Oath of the Hive", where you play as a swarm of bees!
(a small gripe, is the use of "sentient" in the quote from the game [since you only quote, definitely not blaming you, and it's misused very frequently as well] – all rats are already sentient! i guess, to be charitable in my interpretation though, if they are referring to the swarm as its own entity, then i'm on board :)
[otherwise a 'better' word might be "sapient", or "with human-like intelligence" to be extra clear, if that is what is meant... "sentience" is the capacity for feelings and sensations, and something we humans share with all our fellow animals :D but like is pointed out in the wikipedia page for "sentience", it has often been used interchangably with eg "sapience" in for example science fiction, somewhat regrettably in my opinion, since it might cause people to underestimate what other animals are capable of... {and to be clear, i very much dislike implying there is any hierarchy in intelligences – hence "human-like" and not "human-level" above! we are simply differently intelligent to other animals, being adapted for different things ^^}]
The way of generating the map seems very similar to Wallet Dungeons / Wallet Stations by AwkwardTurtle to me. I always have those cards in my TTRPG kit bag.
this seems like a lot of fun :D i love rats :) seems like a really neat way of making a dungeon, indeed!
only kind-of similar thing i can think of is some games i've seen where you roll a bunch of different kinds of dice at once onto a sheet of paper, and you create a map from their positions on the paper, the type of location being determined by the numbers you get (on which type of die)! i believe Lamplighter's Festival would be one such example... (haven't played it yet, but i have it in my collection from at least one charity bundle...)
playing as multiple characters is definitely a fun idea! reminds me of another thing i got from some charity bundle... a paladin oath for DnD called "Oath of the Hive", where you play as a swarm of bees!
(a small gripe, is the use of "sentient" in the quote from the game [since you only quote, definitely not blaming you, and it's misused very frequently as well] – all rats are already sentient! i guess, to be charitable in my interpretation though, if they are referring to the swarm as its own entity, then i'm on board :)
[otherwise a 'better' word might be "sapient", or "with human-like intelligence" to be extra clear, if that is what is meant... "sentience" is the capacity for feelings and sensations, and something we humans share with all our fellow animals :D but like is pointed out in the wikipedia page for "sentience", it has often been used interchangably with eg "sapience" in for example science fiction, somewhat regrettably in my opinion, since it might cause people to underestimate what other animals are capable of... {and to be clear, i very much dislike implying there is any hierarchy in intelligences – hence "human-like" and not "human-level" above! we are simply differently intelligent to other animals, being adapted for different things ^^}]
Great article. That seems to be a clean way to generate a dungeon.
Thanks! ☺️
You're welcome. I think I have a one-page rpg to check out.
The way of generating the map seems very similar to Wallet Dungeons / Wallet Stations by AwkwardTurtle to me. I always have those cards in my TTRPG kit bag.
I played this one last year on the channel! 2025 had some really decent entries - I liked Glide: The Courier from Sleepy Sasquatch as well.
Thanks for the reminder - I'll be keeping an eye on this year's jam!
Great read. Thanks for highlighting this technique,I want aware of it.