One Page Dungeon Contest 2011

If you haven't seen yet, you should check out the One Page Dungeon Contest for 2011, the winners have been announced.  Congratulations to the winners and to everyone who entered. 

There were two things I really liked about the way the contest was run 1) the way all entries were made available even while the judges were reading them, that seemed very democratic and I saw several blog posts where the blogger weighed in on their favorites, and 2) the way they find the dungeons that stick out to them and then come up with a category to contain it, that seems like the best way to find innovative stuff. 

Special congrats to Stuart and Mike Monaco, the winners I'm most familiar with.

One Page Dungeon Contest

The deadline is next week.  Last year I didn't enter anything, don't remember why, probably because work was insanity then.  I wanted to submit something this year just to be a part of the community and let everyone see-- hey here's something I made.  It was this contest that was partially responsible for getting me to blog. 

I was thinking of the Sodden Temple, but it's really a two level dungeon and I don't think I could squash it onto one page.

I was thinking of the Tumbling Dungeon, but after playing it last night I realize . . . it's kinda boring, too linear. I want to revise it to try to fix that.

I was also thinking of this animal island thing I've been working on, but, again I think it is too big for the OPD, just with the random animal/bird/dinosaur tables.

Then I remembered the Undertavern from SAGE last year.  So I submitted that.  Not too exciting if you've been following my blog, but maybe people will see it who wouldn't have otherwise.

Have the club pics on the house. PD.

Happy SAGE!

Today is a celebration of Gary Gygax' birthday. While I'm normally not t0o big on celebrating anniversaries of any kind, doing it in a way that incorporates sharing with others and forces me to stretch my creative potential is a good deal in my book. Thanks again to Zak for organizing it. See some of the results at his blog here.

The request I received was for a dungeon under a tavern run by an odd man. He asks the party to kill some rats in the cellar and then locks the door behind them. The only real restriction I has was to not, in fact have there be any giant rats. Here is what I came up with. (I'd like to polish it more but if I don't publish it I'll keep tinkering forever).

The Undertavern

John Jentilman owns the Two Moon Tavern, a cheerful if simple establishment. Always an odd sort, he constantly complains about rats in the cellar of the tavern. After coaxing the party into helping he ushers them through the iron cellar door . . . and locks it behind them.

Trapped in a bare room with a well in the center of the floor. They must seek a way out of their predicament. (Well leads to room 1)

Here it is in one-page dungeon format and as a word doc.

Update 7/28: Uggh, sorry for the egregious typos. I'm back in the mountains again and will have to fix those when I get back.

A Month of Dungeons

I haven't followed Year of the Dungeon closely, I've stumbled across it a few times in my blogoramblings. But a recent compilation of Tony Dowler's microdungeons is really something worth looking at.

These dungeons are small and uncomplicated. In the past some of them have seemed more like puns or more lighthearted than is to my taste. But the dungeon above, The Old Crypt, caught my eye.

First, the way each room has a word or two as a description fits the One Page Dungeon philosophy to a T. Only what needs to be said is said: screams here, this is sealed, candles here. That makes sense and I'm sure you have maps that have similar notations to remind yourself.


I think the "Here" and "There" above is a wonderful example of this. I imagine it means the doorway at "There" leads to the isolated room at "Here." But it's such a clean way to note it. How would I have done it? Numbers, letters, matching symbols if I was particularly thoughtful. So these dungeons have this efficient evocativeness about them.

But what led me to write this post was something more. Do you see the word "brittle" in the Old Crypt? Maybe Tony has a clear sense of what that means. Maybe in the terseness of the notes it just doesn't get translated to me, the reader. But whatever caused it I don't know what the hell "brittle" means here, and I love it.

Maybe this is all pretty obvious, but I think it might be a great spur to me as a DM to have that kind of brief abstract note about dungeon chambers to help me generate or improvise. Maybe what that would look like wouldn't be much different than the dungeon dressing tables in the 1e DMG appendix I.

But in those, each table was for a specific subset of descriptors (sounds, container contents, clothes). I'm thinking of more general adjective; "brittle" in my mind could apply to scrolls in the room, to a crust or ice over a pool characters have to walk across, or even to the tension in the air.

How about:

1. bitter
2. strong
3. faint
4. sticks
5. cracks
6. teeth
7. pick
8. bark
9. stalks
10. broad
11. early
12. fair
13. light
14. open
15. crook
16. rasp
17. ripe
18. ill
19. calm
20. weak
    

I tried to pick words with multiple meanings and words that can functions as more than one part of speech. If you get stumped on a particular dungeon room you could roll on this table. If you have any suggestions of good words put them in the comments and we'll compile a bigger list.

Anyway enough of that, go check out Tony's microdungeons. Here's the compilation of a month of them.

One Page Dungeon Contest 2010

In case you didn't see, the winners have been announced for the 2010 One Page Dungeon Contest. All 63 entries are available for download. Alex Schroeder, one of the judges, has a nice post discussing his nominations and giving an idea of some of the strengths of a selection of the entries.

Detail & Dungeon Design

Amityville Mike at the The Society of Torch, Pole and Rope posted on the One Page Dungeon Contest today. In commenting on the submissions he had this to say:

One of the purposes of the One Page Dungeon, something that several contestants failed to grasp, is that it’s supposed to give the referee just the information they need to run the dungeon. If you can fit in more, fine, but brevity is the One Page Dungeon’s strong suit.

Yikes! I don't know whether he had my Coastal Caves in mind or not, but it sure applies to my entry. I approached the OPDC not trying to see how to do more with less, but to see how much I could fit into that one page. I packed that thing like a $20 burrito! It's a little embarrassing seeing as the aim of my blog is to simplify and come up with elegant solutions that do more with less. So, I decided to make it a learning experience and write about detail. After two long drafts and tumbling this around in my head all day, here is what I've come up with:

Telecanter's Three Laws of Detail & Dungeon Design

First, to define detail as I mean it here: specificity, development, fine grain rather than broad strokes.

#1. Detail is Expensive
This seems most straightforward so I'll start here. It takes time to name places and people. It takes thought and creativity to place hazards and dungeon exits. Modules wouldn't be for sale if we were all satisfied with randomly generated or stock dungeons.

#2. Detail is Dominant
Once detail is there it tends to stay there. Sure you can rename Acerak, but it takes a little time and effort (see #1.), and if you're changing every name, every monster, every treasure, there's a point where you may as well make your own dungeon from scratch. It's easier to work with what's given than change it. This is also because detail tends to be related to other detail, if you want to take Roghan out of B1, you'll have a lot to do, including changing or ignoring the initial carved in the headboard of his bed (if I recall correctly). But detail is also dominant in the sense that once the dungeon is defined as the evil temple of a frog god, it can't be the good temple of a frog god, or a laboratory, etc. Detail by definition cuts off other possibilities.

#3. Detail Demands Mastery
If the lich is named Acerak, you need to remember that when you play your friends through the module. Sure, sometimes it won't matter, but what if the name shows up in inscriptions, in riddles. The more detailed a trap or trick is, the more you have to study it to run it. Some details may be far more important than others-- maybe you forgot to mention the treasure in room 32A and that treasure had the key that allows access to the dungeon's second level. You can wing it, of course and always change it, but there comes a point where if you disregard enough of the detail, you may as well have made your own.

And here are some additional thoughts that don't seem to merit a law:

• The more improbable something is, the more detail it takes to establish a sense of verisimilitude. For example, that fountain of gender exchange may require a lot of backstory to make it seem reasonable. (This would only matter if verisimilitude is a concern, and it doesn't have to be)
• I wonder if there is a paradox here: the people of the OSR are making dungeons for other people in the OSR who like making their own dungeons. I'm not sure about this, I would be interested to know how often you use modules and when you do, how much you customize them. And this surely deserves a post of its own, but what level of detail would a module perfect for you have?
  

One Page Dungeon Contest

The winners have been announced, and while I'm new to the OSR, there are a couple of names I recognise from the Honorable Mentions:

Best Dungeon Circa 1974: The Crumbling Dungeon - Lord Kilgore
Best Use of Tables: Mountain Lair of the Misanthropic Magus - Sean Wills

Congrats guys!

One Page Dungeon from 1934

Did anyone else catch this? Apparently a one page dungeon featuring a 5000 year old lizard people cult tunneling for gold! I don't own Call of Cthulu, but this seems perfect for exploring under 1930's L.A.

Coastal Caves - One Page Dungeon

My entry to the One Page Dungeon Contest. I tried to incorporate player choice into it from the very first room. I'm afraid I may have added too much detail based on my own "story" of how characters might encounter this place. I think what made adventures B1 and B2 work so well was the room to fill in your own details and fit them into your world. I'd like to try running a party through it and make some revisions based on how that goes.

I envisioned this for lower level parties. They'll get wet, miserable, and, if the treasure is adjusted appropriately, rich.