My Rules for Dungeon23
My Rules for Dungeon 23
So my Hobonichi journal isn’t arriving until tomorrow but that doesn’t mean I haven’t already started on dungeon23. I have ideas percolating, some rooms envisioned (or even sketched out) and a set of rules for myself.
The rules fall into two categories. The first category are creative constraints designed to keep me honest and prevent burnout. It is SO easy to be intimidated by some of the great stuff already coming out of dungeon23. I am not a great artist, nor much of a writer,nor an rpg professional. Stuff like this, this, or this is inspiring but… is completely unattainable for me. Sean McCoy’s advice is very much appreciated and was a huge influence on this category of rules.
My second category of rules is about processes, things to make my life easier and maintain some coherence… but without feeling like I need to map out 30 or more rooms in advance. Ideally I want to play this dungeon eventually, so it needs to, like, work but at the same time I don’t want to frontload any of the work or get stuck overthinking.
Hopefully you find my rules helpful if you, like me, have trouble getting started and staying the course.
Rule #1: No Mistakes
For my dungeon23 I will be working in a notebook in pen. I will not be editing. I will not be fixing any mistakes because I want to adopt the mindset that everything is good enough. The moment I start editing I already know that I will get caught in hyperfocus and fail the challenge. If something goes on the page it’s done. It’s official. There is no changing it. At least not this year.
Rule #2: Prepare in 2023, Play in 2024, Polish in 2025
Editing in the abstract is a waste of time (see rule #1) without playing, how on earth do you know what works? This year I am already running two active games, one of which I am already writing the system as we go. I don’t have time to run another game. This year the goal is to develop a habit of creativity… I can worry about fixing things when we play next year, I can think about “design” the year after. If ever.
Rule #3: Progress not Perfection
My goal is not to make anything worthwhile. I would love it if I did, but really I just want to hone my skills. I’m going to map, write, and draw. I will do those things because I want to get better at doing those things. Over the course of a year I would expect I might improve. That would be great! Nothing I am doing needs to be perfect, it just needs to be.
In the past when I have started projects my tendency has been to try to do too much. “An itch jam? Great! Let me just whip up a dungeon. 5 rooms? How about 10? Oh and a location for the dungeon! And the surrounding hexes! And this one has a town, I bet there is some interesting small town drama…. And I should do the art myself, let’s go ahead and learn to draw!” The projects spiral out of control. For this jam I want to reduce the scope. I am not doing a hexcrawl23, or a city23 or anything else. I am doing a dungeon. One room a day. One floor a month. I am only writing as much as can fit in my journal, and I will be happy to be confined by my limitations. And all those big projects that were never finished I’m throwing them in my dungeon.
Rule #5: Excited not Envious
Did I mention that people are putting out great stuff? I am, as a rule, going to be excited, inspired, and encouraging about it. I am not going to let it bother me that their stuff is great and mine is sloppy. This is a hobby and we all rise or fall together. Worst case scenario I run someone else's dungeon next year. That should be totally cool. I like dungeons.
Rule #6: Keep it Connected
Rooms must be completed in order, I can go back to old doors and hallways and fill in what was left empty but I am not going to let myself create standalone rooms. Each new room should be connected to the January 1 room in some way. In addition, a week's worth of rooms must fit on that week’s page. I am not going to turn the page until next week. If I have a cool idea for a room but it needs to go on the next page I must let it percolate until the day has arrived. Maybe it will get cooler by next monday.
Rule #7: Days and Months
Each month is a floor. I am not allowed to work on any rooms on floor 2 until February every room on floor 3 will be written in March. In addition any stairs, trap doors, wells, underground revolving wizard towers etc. that lead to a lower level must connect to the next month’s corresponding date. I.e. the stairs in room 2/12 will always lead to room 3/12 and the gaping pit in room 4/6 will also pass through rooms 5/6, 6/6, 7/6 and so on. If I have an idea about where that well in room 7/7 might lead I need to wait until 8/7 to finalize that room.
Rule #8: Randomness and Resources
I have probably 50 or so rooms either in my head or floating around in unfinished projects ready to go into my dungeon already but that’s only a fraction of the rooms that I will be writing. I’m gong to need resources. Luckily I have some great tools like this collection of dungeon rooms by Amanda P. I plan to use each and every one of her rooms SOMEWHERE in my dungeon. If I’m stuck I can roll a d40 and cross that room off. And then I have a similar collection of room shapes in Black Hack as well as some great generators to stock them. Or this other similar resource by Logan Nein. Not to mention the thousands of random tables I have acquired over the years. Personally I think it would be fun to do a few sections using different dungeon generation methods to compare them… I am probably too lazy for that but someone should do it.
Rule #9: Things over theme
You can probably tell by now that my dungeon is unlikely to have the type of strong theme that dungeon aficionados might be looking for but to me that is okay. I would rather have a nice collection of stuff than have nothing. I might try to stick to a few themes but my dungeon is likely to have a lot of ideas mashed together. If it doesn’t work, that can be a problem for future me. Or I can choose to not treat it as a problemRule #10: Have Fun
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