Wallet Dungeons

 While chipping away on dungeon maps, adventure writing, and messing around with miniatures, I came across this cheerful little document.

Wallet-Dungeons

Essentially, roll some dice and get a tiny dungeon. I think I've seen other similar things (I believe a Mothership adventure has a dice rolling method to create derelict ships) but I've had some good fun with this one.

An array of my creations. I love random generators, and there's something about throwing a handful of dice and moving them around that gives me some tactile joy apparently.

The adventure that I'm working on has some high level notes of adventure locales I need, so I jammed my smaller dungeons together to see if they could be used to make a larger dungeon. I've been messing around with all sorts of flow charts and nodes in dungeon design, so this is right down my alley.

Not a long post, the inspiration and drive are ebbing and flowing of late. I've been slowing working on things, but nothing massively interesting to share at the moment. My figure adventures have been thrown up on instagram (for those that are interested in that sort of thing).

19 hexes: hex briefs

After writing out 19 hex briefs and taking notes of potential factions and adventure locales, I hit a bit of a wall. The ideas weren't really fitting for me, but I didn't want to dump the idea because of a little speed bump. After a day of trying to push on, I eventually decided to stop and leave the project for 2 days. Afterwards, I'd come back and have another go, perhaps with some fresh and new threads.

The two days passed and, returning to my hex briefs, they bored me. So I scrapped them and wrote another set, and things have gone much better since.

As a reminder, my aim is to make a 19 hex setting. Inspired by The Evils of Illmire and Hot Springs Island, I wanted to try my hand at a project of a similar scope. The current draft has brief hex summaries, a list of potential factions and adventure locations, as well as some thoughts on a possible "big bad" that could be used if desired.

So what is it? At first I was trying to be more generic fantasy, but when I scraped the old idea that went in the bin too. It is now a river valley and surrounding lands, where various peoples live around the ruins of ancients who buried themselves in metal bodies. Unknown to the locals, some of the buried tombs are reawakening, which could snowball into a robot-undead horde rising from their resting places. Imagine undead invasion, with more metal bits.

My thoughts are that, as the project continues, I can release them onto this blog (about 1 blog post to a hex) and then group everything into a single file once its all done. If I were making this to run soon, I'd populate the various dungeons with premade modules, but for the blog posts I'm thinking of making everything whole cloth. If premade dungeons are used, they'll probably be place holders. For now, here are the hex briefs.

 𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋𑁋

1. Dawnglider Pass: A high plateau in the mountains is the domain of a dawnglider, a huge, winged serpent. Generally, the dawnglider prefers to keep to itself, leaving to fly and see the world or hunt. Some take the perilous journey to meet with it, either leaving offerings or reverence, or seeking its wisdom or knowledge of spells and history. The dawnglider appreciates intelligent company and can spend days or even weeks with visitors of particular interest.

2. The Split Mountain: Local mythology tell that long ago these two peaks were once joined but were hewn in two during a battle between primordials that formed the land. Surrounded by lesser hills and dense wilderness, there lies within it a dormant Metal Catacomb of the [Leader Name].

3. Anomaly Fields: The forest and marshlands here are plagued with anomalies, magical phenomena that is both fantastic and dangerous. Occasional treasure hunters come here to scrouge for the arcane debris of these anomalies, with no clue that a laboratory of the ancients lies just under their feet.

4. Valley View: High hills give a magnificent view of the valley below. The region is a pilgrimage site for outlanders, who come here to meditate or contemplate the world and the gods. Some paths are blocked with cord and wards, for a grim opening has been discovered. This Metal Catacomb remains quiet for now, and the outlanders wish it to stay that way.

5. Mountainside Opening: Where hills climb higher and become mountains can be found remains from the past. Notably there are scattered walls and metal beams, while high on a mountainside are metal aeries, the opening to a Metal Catacomb. [At the mountains’ base is a sealed tomb to a buried demon who loathes their imprisonment and wishes nothing more than to escape.]

6. Shimmering Grotto of Futures: Deep in the marshes is a grotto that reflects and refracts light from cracks above. The dancing colours are said to be messages, and by studying them the gods tell fortunes and futures. It is an old place, with many aged coins pressed into cracks or thrown into the pool. Some distance away is a stretch of marshland where outlanders come with objects of the Metal Ancients and offer them to the little gods here. The waters are gorged with treasure, but removing items earns one the ire of the gods unless something is offered in return.

7. Metal-Mad Mage Lair: Concealed amongst an overgrown structure lies the lair of the Metal-Mad Mage. Once a laboratory of fine arcane arts, it resembles more a pawn shop or museum of curiosities. The Mage combs the area for relics and clues to the machines below, driven by his most recent metal additions.

8. Shambling Vents: Geothermic rents and other more artificial gusts of melting heat eject from the earth amongst the hills here. Warmth and heat are a source of life, and here the vents can be called upon to defend the land.

9. Outlander Villages: Scattered villages and homesteads line the river valley, with a larger village beside a crystal lake that forms the centre of trade for these disparate peoples. Standing stones and posts indicate the frontiers of their lands. While inhabited, it is not a long journey to enter the wilderness once again.

10. Bastion of the Ancients: An iron grey rectangular structure sits nestled amongst the slopes and trees. The remains of smaller buildings stand on and around this bastion, and concealed entrances lead inside to a Metal Catacomb.

11. Flowering Shrubland: The tall trees give way here to colourful bushes and shrubs who thrive in the damp and sandy soil in this area. Gatherers praise the area for the useful herbs and ingredients that can be found here, and under the old kings of the lowlands the area is protected from settlement. While the law is not enforceable, the soft earth makes long-term living and agriculture difficult. As such, it is a haven for animals and plant life. Others gather from this place, forest folk who appreciate the humans staying to the plains.

12. Rust Clefts: A dead foundry sits at the centre of hollows and lengths of hewn hill. The area is like the carcass of a ginormous monster, rotten with rust and overgrown with red brambles. Monsters and bandits are common amongst the clefts, and it is often one of the places where budding adventurers travel to, whether in search of treasure or a bounty.

13. Iron barrows: Hills both natural and artificial are dotted with openings. They contain remains of a past people seemingly obsessed with the Metal Ancients, many wearing bronze masks. Called the Bronze Faces by outlanders, they are avoided for strange undead wander here. Of late a new group has arrived in the area. Calling themselves “clay kin”, they enter the barrows without worry.

14. Waterfall Valley: Here the highland valley falls away in a series of cascading waterfalls. The slopes and cliffs form an unofficial border between the outlanders and plains villages. Atop these slopes is a place known as the Temple of the Abandoned, a crumbling stone structure where statues of past nations are taken to. Folk tales tell of how these past empires fell to their gods’ wrath, and as such people would rather take the difficult journey transporting the statues rather than destroy them and risk drawing their attention. Some statues still listen to prayers of those who ask.

15. Glasteel Pit: A wide pit carved into through earth and buried structures. This mine was busy until several months ago, when grells moved in and drove the miners out. With the recent troubles in the villages, they are still there. Some miners speak of a huge blue door, buried in rock and impenetrable to their tools. They reckon there is treasure behind it, if only they would open it. Lengths of cliffs stand between here and the highland valley, dotted with caves used by bandits and outlaws now that the mine is closed.

16. Foraging Caves: Free of metal or ancient structures, these caves are a haven for fauna and flora of all kinds. Some small villages make good use of the caves for food and resources. However, the Militia have been clumsily exploring the caves in search of treasure, destroying, or disturbing many of the animals who live there. The hills are also the home of the Granite Scholar, who lives away from the villages with agents acting as their front in the villages.

17. Sanctuary of the Coil: A serpentine war machine lies here entombed by earth. Called “The Coiled Dragon” by a band of small reptilians who live nearby, many openings allow travel through corridors and inner workings. Numerous spaces have been turned into shrines and temples, with areas with still functioning machinery given high reverence.

18. Upper River Valley: The river crashes down from the highland valley and slows to a wider and more ponderous flow here. The slopes and rocky hills give way to fields and grassland, or light forest to the north. A walled village stands in defiance of the Militia, refusing to pay their taxes.

19. Green Hollow: Irrigated fields line the river here, tended by numerous farmsteads that dot the land around the three major villages. Green Hollow, with its mighty buildings telling of past glories, stands as the central hub. The Militia have their stronghold in this region.

A magical source of inspiration

 One thing I'm trying to get better at is developing ideas, rather than simply throwing together a bunch of notes and leave them somewhere "to finish later". While some can be used for later inspiration, I find that some end up becoming mental baggage that feel like they need to be developed to free up the space. So, to free up some physical and mental space, here are some notes that may end up becoming a very loose hex crawl at some point (in the vein of The Evils of Illmire).

Using liches libram awesome oracle I created a setting and took notes. The last day or so I've been working on it, mostly throwing a bunch of ideas onto a page through blitzed brainstorming. My mind kept wanting to go science fantasy in a Caves of Qud style, but I attempted to keep the notes a bit more generic. Is that for the better or worse? I don't know, I reckoned generic makes it easier to adapt and less niche, but who knows.

Where is this place?

 Who lives here?

Who are the faction leaders?

What great beast or danger dwells here?

What legendary loot is there to be found?

So, what is this place?

• Where sandy plains meet forest are numerous ruins of a past empire. Here roam bands of reiving humans and minotaurs who seek glory and plunder in the name of their dragon-god. These reavers also tell tales of a great slumbering fire giant who awakens every few years to eat and fight. Within one of these ruins is a crypt created by imperial mages for esoteric arcane purposes. A wizard, eager to unearth their secrets, stumbled into the crypt and left changed. Now known as the Metal-Mad Mage, he follows some secret agenda, in part advanced by machines of liquid metal. Their presence has awakened an ancient "Aspect of Death" who craves to devour the Metal-Mad Mage's essence.
• If I were to go more science fantasy, they'd be a lot more robots, cybernetics, the works, but I understanding it's a bit more niche and ideally I wanted to create something more people could use.

I had about 19 hexes very briefly written out. Part of why I wrote this out was to refresh myself away from an increasingly jumbled list. A couple of ideas have come to mind, perhaps I'll make a series of blog posts for this hex map. And maybe draw some more cards for inspiration.

Nefolia Caves: sub-level key

While working on the creature and magic item entries for the Nefolia Caves, it struck me that I had not included the 1st draft key for the sub level. This secret area links areas 21 and 25. So I thought I'd throw a post with it quickly. Now to continue on the monsters and items.

Nefolia Caves: map & key

I showed a very draft version of this map some two posts ago. The map redrawn, I thought I'd share something closer to finish rather than the WIPs until now.

It's come a long way since a bunch of boxes in a flowchart and I'm pretty happy with it, as simple and rough around the edges it might be. I'm sharing the current key and map as is, with the idea to make a neater and edited PDF in the future.

Just struck me there's no extended monster or magic item files. I'll compile them and either add them here or in another post.

The dungeon is intended to be used alongside the Caverns of Thracia. My thought was that the place was a smaller village near the palace complex, perhaps a home of workers and others who supported the luxuries of the palace and underground gardens. As such the "Dark One Cultists" are intended to be part of the cultists in the caverns, and statues (which I feel there are a lot of in the Caverns) come up in several areas, either as enemies or decoration.

The dungeon is, and always will be, free to borrow, use, modify, or otherwise throw around the internet.

Map:

(The key is copied from excel and rather crude. A future PDF version will have more effort put into it, apologies if this one is a bit naff.)

Key:

Expanded key:

Dungeon diagnosis - Branches

I returned to my megadungeon for a bit, determined to clean up the starting area I had been working on to work out why I wasn't liking it. I'd flowcharted it before, but I decided to flirt with madness once again and made a cleaner version.

Dotted lines are secret passages, double lines with no arrows are blocked or collapsed corridors.

On a print out version, I'd circled an area and wrote "boring, basically a straight corridor". This is referring to an area where, while there are plenty of doors and rooms, they are only 1 room deep and all lead back to the same path. As I added areas and connections to the flowchart, I discovered this issue was a lot more widespread than I'd initially thought. For all the rooms and connections, there are a lot of branches, dead ends of exploration. Plus there's a lot of squiggly corridors that I feel can be compressed or turned into rooms.

A rethink and a rework is in order. I might even try making a fresh flowchart, making a well looping area then placing my current key over the top of it, rather than try to endless tweak the current one.

1st Draft of the "Starter Dungeon"

 About a week ago I posted a tangle of a map that needed to be edited down. I also set myself a soft deadline of Sunday to get a 1st draft key done. By and large, I stuck to it, and have 95% of a 1st draft (some stat blocks are missing, and a couple of magic items need more than a keyword of detail).

The mess of a map I was working on was also massively cut down. I wanted a small map, but I was sketching more and more rooms which could be a dungeon, but not this dungeon. I wanted something quick and compact to work on, so a lot was cut until I had below.

As the 1st draft was being written, some areas were being cut up into smaller areas or details added. For example, the north-north west cave walls are dotted with small rooms. I was going to take a photo of the notes, but pencil on grey doesn't show well.

As for the key, there are 30 areas keyed, plus a small 14 room sub level not shown on the above map. It's not exactly revolutionary, but its a key. 

There's enough that I'd be comfortable running it. There are 2 main factions vying for control (and a couple of small groups poking around), enough treasure to get a B/X group to level 2, and some magic items and secrets for the curious. Next step, do some editing and some playtesting.

Progress

Last post was about me messing around with my megadungeon. In an attempt to actually finish something rather than be constantly tweaking a huge project for ever, I started work on a smaller dungeon, aiming to finish it preferably by the end of the month (by the end of the week would be nice).

I needed a base. I needed Donjon.

This was my base. I then made a node map or a flowchart mapping out the basic room layout and straightened out corridors.

The day I was working on this, I got to a point where I was thinking "what's the point of this, why am I worrying about boxes and lines and loops.... so many loops." I'd also done ready on various sites about mapping and nodal dungeons and mapping megadungeons. Definitely had a bit of creative overload. So I printed off these nodes and began drawing, away from the computer. 

The reason I drew it out this way was to make sure the dungeon was jacquayed enough. I was realising a lot of my maps were mostly branches, and even when paying attention I kept falling into boring layouts. I think it was because I was too worried about room sizes, getting everything nice on a grid, etc. So I went freeform, added and removed nodes to get something of interest to explorers.

My moments of madness passed, and I had an initial sketch of the dungeon.

It's a mess, but it's a sketch. I currently have a printed version on my desk and many edits have already been made; too many rooms, many rooms need to be shrunk, but the basic shape is there. Like sculpting, a lot needs moving around still. My plan is to have this place as a sort of introduction to the Caverns of Thracia, or at least another place to visit in a route map surrounding the Caverns.

Megadungeon: flow(chart)ing from room to room

 I feel that with projects, especially large ones, there is an ebb and flow much like waves. Things move along, slow down with blocks and problems, and speed up with break throughs and new ideas. I've been working on a megadungeon for a while now, in various iterations and having put it aside several times too, and the ebbs and flows have been keenly felt.

Recently I've been playing around with a new, drastic idea. The last time I did this, my 3+ levels were all smashed together into a single level, massively changing the dungeon's layout. Now, I've been thinking about the map itself and how I present it.

Up until now I've been working on my maps the classic way; ten foot grid, everything laid out in near exact measurements, all that jazz. However after reading through Gradient Descent, a megadungeon for the horror sci-fi game Mothership, I had a thought; did I need to do it this way?

Gradient Descent uses a flowchart type layout to represent their maps. Rather than worry about scale, rooms are either "human scale" or "industrial scale", drawn as rectangles of various sizes linked by lines for corridors. It's not the first time I'd heard or tried something similar myself, but it renewed the thought in me.

I've also been writing some route maps for designing large city and wilderness locales, which I've enjoyed and also inspired this effort.

To make progress and not get bogged down in the size of the place, I cut off part of my megadungeon to begin working on the key. This is that part. I also reckoned that, once complete, I could run groups through this part of the dungeon while I work on the rest.

This is the part I attempted to "flowchart-ify"; Corridors reduced to lines, some rooms linked together into larger rooms. My main concerns while doing this were;

• Does this map the map and key easier to understand?
• Does this make the dungeon easier to run?

Draft one. Boxes are rooms, double line boxes are large rooms, circles are doors. Rooms take about 10 minutes to explore (1 dungeon turn), large rooms 30 minutes.

It's a hot mess, but it's not a blank page and can thus be edited. Areas with lots of smaller rooms, crypts in the original, were joined into "large rooms", the idea being that in the key I would note "x crypts along walls" and include a random table for generating the contents.

I'm not sure if this will stick, or if it would actually to use at the table, but I'm intrigued and keeps up the momentum.

Cyberpunk route map

 I'm really enjoying minimalism in my RPG prep and creation currently. I'm finding that a few sentences or bullet points, when condensed down to the necessary and evocative, are much more useful than long paragraphs of exposition. While jotting down ideas for quick and dirty sandboxes, I hit upon the idea of a cyberpunk route map to maybe use with Electric Bastionland at some point. Some late night feverish writing, and an hour or so of filling out additional locations, here it is.

All it needs are some random tables somewhat inspired by this post, but that'll be at a later point.

MONORAIL

• Quick and free, loops around most of the borough centre.
• Rises above the roads and lower buildings, offering great views when it isn’t raining.
• The transport police do spot checks, and they are ruthless. CHA save or they stop your train and search for criminals or contraband.

HIGHWAY

•  Leads to many places, but everyone and their dog uses it. Pretty much solid traffic at any time of the day.
• Its slow, real slow. Get ready to sit in your car and crawl through traffic for a few hours to get anywhere. There are footways below the highway, though they’re either crammed with people or unsafe.
• Drive by shootings and firefights happen often, slowing down traffic even more as well as causing massive damage.

The Bar

• Location of the Six Shooter, the only place of interest or importance in the area. A large bar and nightclub, all the local gangers and fixers go there.
• Toby is the head of the Six Shooter, an influential fixer in their own right and hard as iron. They keep a sleugh of mercs to keep the place somewhat safe, and always have work for those willing to get their hands dirty.
• Because of the popularity of the place to gangers and the like, there are frequent night markets set up in the nearby area. To get in, you need to know the time, the place, and the password.  Fixers often know the details, but don’t give them to any old goon.

Black Pipes

• Territory of the Blood Wheels, the area is dotted with vehicle chop shops. Word is that the best Blood Wheel techies can turn a beat-up family car into a war worthy steed in no time. They don’t work for outsiders though, not unless their boss owes them a favour.
• The Blood Wheels are fiercely territorial, and don’t appreciate others staying on their turf for long. Visitors are often trailed by Blood Wheel vehicles, with the occasional revving or flash of a weapon to encourage people to move along.
• From here the Blood Wheels launch raids and hits onto the Highway and beyond. If there’s a shooting on the Highway, the Blood Wheels are probably involved to some degree.

Borough Centre

• Corpo part of town. Corporate skyscrapers block out the sky, and military grade walls protect gated communities for the rich and indentured.
• There are shops for anything and everything, but they don’t serve any street rat that stumbles in. To get anything done in the Centre, you need to look the part.
• None of the major corporations have offices here, but several smaller and more local ones have their headquarters here. The transport police also have their main station here.

IR Street

• Every surface of IR Street is dripping with neon. Many locals wear sunglasses even at night to give some relief from the constant glare.
• IR Street is the little sibling to the Centre, the one who fell onto drug and violence perhaps. The shops offer may things, some less than legal, but prices fluctuate massively and mostly always cost more than normal. Pawn shops buy pretty much anything, making the Street a bazaar for all sorts of stuff mercs find on jobs.
• The Lampies control IR Street, owning many of the higher end clubs, brothels, and shops. Their armed guards are a common sight. Jennies’ Warriors are the other big gang, who run a night club known to be a refuge for victims of abuse and unfair circumstances. The only thing bigger than Jennies’ heart is the gun she constantly keeps on her.

Merc’s End

• An abandoned mall  now used for all sorts of things. Homeless folk like in parts, while gangs run covert operations in back rooms and corporations do underhand dealings away from the eyes of the Centre.
•  The place earned its name as it is a battleground, and many a merc and ganger has lost their life in the shattered halls. Trauma Team only goes there to pick up its highest paying customers, and even then, they always send heavily armed back-up.
• Though it is extremely dangerous, the End is an ideal place to hide out and lay low. Many leave stashes or secretive net hacking hardware squirreled away in some back room, and most are not found.  The illusive “Beggar King” is said to help those who wish to disappear, though many believe he’s only an urban legend.

The Pillars

• Deserted construction sites left to rot and fall apart. The area got its name from the numerous pillars and iron beams left behind on the construction sites.
• Being a relatively flat and open area, there are numerous dragster races held here. Other races dart between the pillars, occasionally leaving several of the racers smashed apart or flipped over.
• The place is often used by smugglers and dealers to exchange goods, especially those coming into or leaving the city.

Green View

• Vast parks and green spaces give some relief from the city. In the deepest parts of the park the drone of the city almost disappears.
• To make the parks seem more real, artificial birds and insects fly around and help maintain the parks. Artificial rabbits and foxes used to live here, but they were too aggressive with tunnel digging and caused several footpaths to collapse, resulting in their deactivation.
• Several areas are off-limits. Officially they are the secluded spots for those who can afford the quiet, but rumours are abound of experimental plant and animal life being tested in those areas.

Convergence

• Several large roads come to meet here, funnelling down into a single main route into the borough centre. A tangle of roads and crossings fills the skyline.
• Huge rubbish processing plants are in this area of the borough, manned by legions of drones and machines. On rainy days the smog clings to the air, making it dark even in the middle of the day.
• Peddlers of all sorts ply the crawling highway, trying to sell knick-knacks to bored drivers.

Halls of Steel

• Vast factories churning out equipment for the corporations and transport police. The area is entirely ran by a local corporation who keep the area heavily guarded.
• At night, corporate marked trains send loads of equipment into the borough centre. Normally traffic is halted to allow the fortress wagons to pass.
• There is a vast underground network of tunnels under the Halls. There before the construction of the factories, many use these rat ways to get into and out of the factories under the corporation’s nose. There are rumours of an underground bazaar in the deepest tunnels where stolen goods are fenced and taken to the surface.

Great Minds

• An area were many corporations had research facilities. Originally surrounded by well kept gardens and promenades, its glory days are fading as the open spaces are covered with taller brutish buildings.
• A secret war goes on between the research facilities, with everyone attempting to hack into and steal the secrets of each other. Anyone caught gets barely a slap on the wrist and a firm telling off, everyone knowing it won’t stop anything.
• Of late, a facility owned by a corporation working on bioengineering went into lockdown. While many of the staff have been evacuated, they are forbidden from saying anything to the public or media, and the facility remains on lockdown. Several have already made their way in, but no one returns, only increasing the legends of the place.

The Burning Streets

• Bright red and yellow graffiti shows visitors the locations of shops and meeting points of the Burning Hand, a group united in their love for creativity and freedom of expression. Many artists and activists are part of this group as well as corporate runaways.
• Nothing is standard issue in the Burning Streets. Everything is home made or modified to some degree. It is the best place to find a custom weapon or piece of gear, as long as you don’t mind having to come here everything you need it repaired or ammunition.
• The Burning Hand tolerates other gangs and welcomes all to come with holstered weapons and open hands. As such it is used as a neutral meeting ground for many groups, who know better than to mess with the Burning Hand’s custom weapons and cybernetics.

Entombed Paradise

• Not its original name, this area is full of gated communities and hab-blocks built in an effort by the borough to build better living quarters for the population. After one of the structures collapsed in a tragic accident and months of failures and neglect, the project was abandoned and the buildings sold off. Now many still live there, but conditions are no better than some of the combat zones.
• Despite the lack of the supervising eye of the borough council, work still crawls on. Gangs and banded community members continue working to make better of their situation, even starting up rooftop farms. An artisan industry supplying everyday items to the locals flourishes in the shadowed streets. Several powerful families and clans hold sway over the area, and outsiders must deal with them directly if they want to get anything done or answer to them should they break their rules.
• The locals here have a fierce independence and distain for corporations. All offers of help from the corporations is refused, and those who attempt heavy handed operations in the area are often ousted with threats or relentless harassment and gunfire.

Caged Witches

• Hidden in the back alleys of a typical part of town is the territory of the Caged Witches. Esoteric drug runners, they make a wide variety of narcotics, underground medicinal products, and outlandish cybernetics they claim gives neigh-supernatural powers.
• While most are doubtful of their supernatural powers, the Caged Witches are fierce opponents. Their custom cybernetics allow them to see, react, and move quicker than most, turning them into lightning face killers. They also love camo-weave cloaks and clothing, allowing them to “disappear” at will.
• The gang is currently in the middle of a schism, with two different leaders each wanting to take the gang in a different direction. The matriarch Oksana pushes for expansion and domination to heal the gang’s perceived slow decline and rot of late, while Lizeta, a ripperdoc and cybernetics tinkerer, encourages balance and consolidation on what they have rather than what they could have.

Editing the (stone)hell out of Arden Vul

As my Caverns of Thracia trundled on and the players explored more and more of the dungeon, I could see a crossroads off in the distance; expand the Caverns, add or make a new dungeon, or do something else.

I had already tried expanding the Caverns, but it was a half hearted attempt. I also thought of starting something completely new, but in the end decided to add a new dungeon to the current game, to not annihilate the progress the long timers have already made.

The next question was what. Stonehell was a strong candidate, but I felt for d&d 5e it wasn't enough. While I'm planning on using a new host of house rules to make things less of a cake walk, Stonehell just wasn't enough I felt. I could expand it though.

The dungeon I eventually decided upon is Arden Vul. Arden Vul is ginormous. 10 levels, that many and more sublevels, some of these levels have over a hundred rooms. It's intruiged me for a while and, given the success of several plotting factions in the Caverns of Thracia, Arden Vul with a host of competing groups is right up my alley (down my dungeon corridor?).

The issue is, Arden Vul is ginormous. And unfortunately, I would argue the key isn't all that great. Full of details and nuggets of history and details on who this skeleton was 200 years ago.

But I don't need that when the party enters, looking for gold, and I only discover after half a page of details that goblins were lying in ambush and should have attacked by now.

I can see the good in there, it's just under a lot of... stuff. I feel like it needs a severe pruning before I could use it at the table.

Before I get into my process, I noted down some oddities I found. Maybe I was missing something after trawling through the key for hours on end, but I'll leave them as I wrote them as an archaeological nugget.

• Carving has piercing eyes & empty eye sockets. Understand the idea, but seems a bit off.
• Way too much info on history of some places. Can see a lot of work went into it, but neigh impossible to use at the table (imo).
• Splitting it up into areas, each with own monsters, magic items, and random encounter tables, rather than front loading a lot.
• A ghost appears in a key, then it mentions "if not found in the room before, they are found here". Would be nice if he appeared in the room before, even a "x chance the ghost from the next room appears here". 
• Maybe nit-picking, but why 3-18 instead of 3d6?

To be able to run it, I needed something smaller. Enter once again Stonehell.

I think most people have an idea what Stonehell is and how the key is laid out; map and random tables on one page, key on the other page. There's also a double spread before with larger room entries, magic items and new monsters found there. It's great, I love it, and I needed something similar for Arden Vul.

A sample of the 1st level key. Using excel, there's not really an exact template to it for the time being. In general, monsters/NPCs are noted first, dressing next, and and puzzles/treasure after that.

At the time of writing, I have keyed up levels 1, half of level 3, and starting on level 2. The plan isn't to key the whole thing right off the bat. Any place that a party can enter from the surface, I want that area keyed. As the games continue, I can add to the key over time. Saying that, Arden Vul has so many connections and ways to access levels. While great for gameplay, it's a lot of work up front.

I somewhat feel that, when this is all done, it would be a shame to keep this key hidden. But at the same time, I have no idea about the legalities of sharing a fan key to a dungeon. I'm in no danger of finishing any sort of key for a while though, so that can can be kicked down the road.