We’re doing the Gygax 75 challenge and now it’s asking for us to do a dungeon. A challenge for Sci-fi but mothership has done it before so let’s see what the specifics of the challenge is.
Week 3 Specifics
Draw and stock three levels of your dungeon.
- Describe the entrance to the dungeon in 7-10 words.
- Set aside at least one page of your journal for a point-to-point map.
- For Each level include d6+6 rooms/Areas and connect them
- Include d3+1 ways up or down a level
- Come up with three themes (one per level)
- List 11 monsters and place them
- Spread d6 features throughout the dungeon.
- For each room/area, note whether there is treasure.
- Name three wondrous items and locate them in the dungeon.
- Spend any remaining theme budget adding detail.
Extra Credit
- Map out all three levels on graph paper.
- Create a wandering monster table.
Initial Thoughts
This is a very classic DnD method of making a dungeon. Most of it can be kept intact but I think I’ll have to make some small modifications and notes to myself.
- Monsters-> NPCs. This is a far more human setting. While the truly monstrous does exist, anything truly dangerous is going to have to be much rarer and more mundane.
- Treasure is specifically NOT MONEY. This stellar system uses digital currency so I can’t just have big piles of gold around and it’s more interesting that way. In addition, the players are all military, not mercenaries.
I’m also going to add a second goal, this is going to be a type of Funnel. In Part 1 of my campaign, everyone had like 4 characters they’d rotate between. I think for this next part of my campaign, I want this to be the central “are you ready for the finale” section. We start with all the characters going down here chasing after some bad guys and most of them get massacred. They get reassigned after the failed mission and spend most of the campaign running around trying to gather information and prepare themselves. When they’re ready they return to go on a final set of expeditions into the dungeon for the finale.
Sources of Guidance
Some sources I plan to use for Sci-fi Dungeon building
- Mothership adventures
- Dead Planet – Abandoned spacecraft
- A Pound of Flesh – Space Stations
- Gradient Descent (If the 1e PDF arrives soon)
- Kevin Crawfords Stuff
- Hard Light – The main SWN adventure about dungeon delving
- 16 Stars – Kevin Crawford’s supplement of adventure sites
- Worlds Without Number – The Creating adventures chapter in particular
- Electric Bastionland – The section on mapping the Underground
Does anyone have any other suggestions?
Gaius Invictus 