procedural "dungeons"

So-and-so (I don't know), over on The Yak-Men Commeth (TYMC from here on), wrote up some simple rules for mapless, distanceless, roomless dungeons that fit a lot of use into a few simple prep lists.
I really like the use of 
Alert Dice to pin together everything from time-keeping to item recovery to random encounters, 
all laid out on a handy table in a way that raises the notion of overloaded encounter dice up at least one octave of usefulness. 

It reminded me immediately of the "dungeons everywhere you go" aspect of Dark Heart of the Dreamer, which is a pretty damn good supplement and probably deserves a post all of its own (and is now free, I guess).  Because it's based on Apocalypse World, DHotD attempts the map/distance/room-less dungeon using the Countdowns and 2d6 rolls PbtA games are known for. It asks one to separate the dungeon into the broad Themes or Threats (like Cold, Goblins, Devious Traps, The Longing For Lost Love, Fungi, or whatever) of the dungeon then, as each new area or room is entered, 2d6 is rolled against each Theme to see if it has an active presence in the next area. Each time a Theme is encountered the relevant Countdown advances, and when all the Countdowns are run down the dungeon is considered "completed" or "cleared".  I like that this method is simple, abstract, and allows for "empty rooms" to appear with some regularity. I like the mechanic for returning to previously cleared dungeons.

On TYMC another approach was taken: breaking down the dungeon by area rather than by theme or threat. It's the die mechanic used here that gets my purr going though: accruing Alert Dice steadily as exploration continues. I like the assumptions given that each "turn" is about an hour of time and that exploration is being done carefully/cautiously--it moves time along quickly, mitigates some of the problems of splitting up the party, and opens up the the possibility of a ruling for
rash actions: 
incautious/quick exploration (cover the same area in half the time, or less!) is always possible,
though it adds 2 (or maybe even more, depending?) Alert Dice instead of 1. 

The appearance of threats, treasure, and whatever other themes or dressing the DM wants to include is decided by the roll of accumulated Alert Dice compared to the lists already made. This double axis system (using variable # of dice AND lists where higher listings are more rare) allows an incredible flexibility of design in the procedural dungeon! It means that the longer (and deeper) that the players explore, the more likely they are to encounter (by virtue of more dice being rolled) the higher ranges of the listings. AND it makes it more likely (if an overloaded encounter die idea is used) that complex encounters become more probable as well.

So, like, if I envision a cave system where the Alert Dice table is....
1=goblin tribe (from droppings to sentries to bands)
2=special caves (specific ambush sites, magic pools, hermit's retreat, or whatever)
3=cave life (fungi, insects, maybe bats?)
4=air quality (mostly nothing, but the higher ranges have pockets of bad airs)
5=the mind flayer (hints, scraps, rumors, and then the thing itself...or at least its lair)
6=treasure (random cool finds, mcguffins included)
...each of which
is its own specifically designed sub-list... then a full, organic picture of a place begins to emerge for me, and of the timing for when certain encounters become more likely. After the first few turns, say with an accumulated 4d6 Alert Dice, we could get up to the fourth listing on one list, the third listing of one list and the first on another, or a smattering of first and second listings--all of which contain potentially complex/dynamic implications. Later -with 7, 9, or even 12d6- the higher ranges of some of the more sparse lists are finally encountered, and all manner of complex encounters of lower listings are occurring.

And then, also, there is this way that -unlike the DHotD mechanic- the accumulation of Alert Dice has no necessary end game. Or maybe it does, but that end game can be placed very "deep" in the listings.
...
                                 ..   ..
....and all that
got me thinking about this idea noisms had, and about how useful Veins of the Earth would be in fleshing out regions of such a dungeon--what with its lists of stone colors/types and tunnel/cave shapes and weird creatures, and I'm certain at least one other useful feature could be found. And then lay over that combination all the overloaded Alert Dice table possibilities. For starters, each "stone in the stack" could be its own unique Alert Dice table.

It's an idea like Ynn, a method of structuring the regularity and frequency of encounters by how deep/long the players venture within- which immediately parses for me as both flexible and widely-adaptable. Kudos to whoever writes TYMC for sharing such a useful idea! I'm, like,  93% sure at this point that it'll be a better method to achieve my intentions for the Hotel Maybe than the combination of Hex Flower and die-drop I have been using.

...but what about
when the party splits? It's bound to happen. Sometimes, it happens within the first quarter hour of the game session. So... each "branch" of the party goes off, and a separate Alert Dice total is kept for each branch. When the branches meet back up though--what then? Take the mean as the new total? Combine them?       I'm inclined to combine them: it means splitting the parties does cover more ground (and quickly too!!), but it also means that the reunion of the party's branches will lead to some culminating/climactic encounters at the upper listing of, like, 1 and 3 AND 5 occur at the the same time....? maybe?

Testing will be required.


Comments