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Old 03-02-2020, 01:45 PM   #1
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Dungeon Design

I've decided to work some more on my Oubliette setting, specifically on designing the dungeons that are the main focus of it. I've come up with a system for generating these randomly, but I think it may be making them larger than they should be.

Dungeons in Oubliette come in 5 color-coded levels (technically, there's the possibility of "level 0" Clear and "level S" Black dungeons, but those are essentially theoretical - the former are incomplete dungeons that are smaller than 3 levels deep, the latter would be those that exceed 27 levels). The colors of the dungeons are based on the color of the Dungeon Core, which is located at the deepest level of the Dungeon; destruction of this generates a great many Shards (programmable matter that functions as a sort of currency), and will cause the dungeon to collapse within a few days, rendering the surrounding area safe from monster attacks.

Red-Core Dungeons are the smallest with a connection to the surface, and are 3 (roll of 1 on 1d), 4 (roll of 2), 5 (roll of 3 or 4), 6 (roll of 5), or 7 (roll of 6) floors deep. The only monsters present are Pests (SM-7 flyers with a soporific poison for their stings/bites) and Miners (SM-2 humanoids who primarily dig out the dungeon to expand it, and can fight if needed; think kobold/goblin); as the monsters lack any ability to travel long distances (monsters directly produced by the dungeon have a Dependency on it, and will die if they stay away too long) such dungeons are only discovered by chance.

Yellow-Core Dungeons are between 8 and 12 floors deep, and in addition to Pests and Miners they also have Mounts (fast-moving SM+0 quadrupeds; think warg) and Soldiers (SM-1 humanoids who are disciplined fighters; think hobgoblin). These are the most common known dungeons (Red are more common, but typically aren't found until they've expanded enough to become Yellow), as they are typically discovered due to mounted Miners and Soldiers raiding nearby settlements, damaging buildings, destroying/stealing supplies and killing/capturing the inhabitants.

Green-Core Dungeons are between 13 and 17 floors deep, and add Hunters (fast-moving, stealthy SM-1 quadrupeds, think small panther) and Brutes (SM+0 humanoids who are powerful but mostly-undisciplined fighters; think minotaur) to their ranks. It's common for such to have destroyed one or more nearby settlement. These typically call for more experienced adventurers, although newbies may be ok so long as they stick to the upper levels.

Blue-Core Dungeons are between 18 and 22 floors deep, and add Chimeras (monsters with a humanoid torso where where their neck would be; think centaur). Most if not all nearby settlements have likely been destroyed by the monsters from these. These usually call for veteran adventurers.

Violet-Core Dungeons are between 23 and 27 floors deep, and add Hulks (massive creatures that could threaten small armies by themselves, think dragon). Fortunately, Hulks rarely leave the dungeon, and when they do don't stray far, but there are unlikely to be any nearby settlements still standing. These are the most dangerous dungeons - only veterans stand a chance, and destroying one is cause for celebration for the surrounding country.

Now, I want dungeons to take a good deal of time to actually conquer, so that it makes sense for them to still be standing by the time the PC's arrive after hearing of one. The system I've come up with has each floor have a Main Path, consisting of 5 rooms - an Entry Way (containing the stairs up to the previous floor, or the entrance), three Path Rooms, and finally a Terminus (containing the stairs down to the next floor). See the next post for how the rest of the floor is generated. That system statistically results in an average of around 40 Hallways (including the 4 in the Main Path), 21.5 Side Rooms, 16.5 Traps, 16.5 Treasure Rooms, 16.5 Armories, 16.5 Barracks, 15.33 Shortcuts, 1.17 Dead Ends, and 0.6 Hoards. As you might imagine, it takes some time to roll it all up. I think the average size is about right - I want it to take some time to get through each floor (although PC's could potentially get lucky and follow the Main Path the whole way through) - but I fear it takes too much time to generate. Any advice there? I'm also not 100% certain how much reward I want. I'm thinking of stealing from D&D or Pathfinder, with the rewards of a Yellow-Core Dungeon's lower floors being roughly appropriate for a 5th level character (and 1 sp = $1); Red-Core Dungeons (or levels 1-5 of larger dungeons) would probably be worth around 1/10th this, the lower levels of Green-Core Dungeons around 10x, Blue around 100x, and Violet around 1000x, but I suspect this might be too steep of a gradient. How many monsters to include (and how to distribute them) I'm also uncertain on.
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Old 03-02-2020, 01:46 PM   #2
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: Dungeon Design

Floor Design

Each floor has a main path, containing rooms 1 through 5. Room 1 is the Entry Room, rooms 2 through 4 are Path Rooms, and room 5 is the Terminus, with Hallways connecting them together in a single path (that is rarely a straight line). The Entry Room and Path Rooms typically have Side Rooms (themselves connected by Hallways) branching off, and all rooms may have one or more Special Features. In all cases, the total number of connected Main Path and Side Rooms and Special Features cannot exceed 6; if there is a conflict, Main Path and Side Rooms win.

Entry Room - The entrance to (this level of) the dungeon. In addition to the entryway and the Hallway leading to the first Path Room, there are 1d6-1 connected Side Rooms. Roll an additional 1d6-1 to determine how many Special Features the room has.

Path Room - One of three rooms connecting the Entry Room to the Terminus. A Path Room has a Hallway leading toward the Entry Room, a Hallway leading toward the Terminus, and 1d6-2 (minimum 0) additional Hallways connected to Side Rooms. Roll an additional 1d6-2 (minimum 0) to set the number of Special Features. The third Path Room for every floor has a Gaol connected; if there are no terminal Side Rooms (that is, Side Rooms that don’t have additional Hallways connected) for this, add one in (removing a Special Feature if needed).

Terminus - The final room of the main sequence. It only has its own entryway, as well as either stairs down to the next level or the Dungeon Core. So long as there are at least 3 levels before reaching the Dungeon Core, every 5th Terminus also has a Gateway; walking through it allows the character to instantly transport to a previously-visited Gateway in the same dungeon. Note the entrance to the dungeon is itself such a Gateway. The Terminus has no Special Features.

Hallway - Hallways connect the Entry Room, Path Rooms, Side Rooms, and Terminus together. Some Special Features can spawn additional Hallways. Hallways have 1d-4 (minimum 0) Special Features. Special Features that normally spawn new Hallways (Quarters, Side Room, Shortcut) instead split this Hallway; this split doesn’t generate any further Special Features.

Dead End - There are some Hallways that lead nowhere, simply coming to an abrupt stop. A Dead End that has a Side Room or Shortcut Special Feature will instead have a false wall somewhere; finding and breaking through this will reveal a Hoard.

Side Room - A Side Room is indistinguishable from a Path Room; indeed, it is difficult to determine the correct path, which is why dungeons typically take some time to conquer. Side Rooms have 1d6-1 Special Features.

Gaol - This is a special Side Room, only (and always) found in the third Path Room. A Gaol is smaller than a typical Side Room, and has six heavy, locked doors, each leading into a cell. This is where kidnapped villagers, captured delvers, etc, are thrown and held so the dungeon can corrupt them. A Gaol may have its own Special Features (determined normally for a Side Room, although a Gaol specifically added in will lack Special Features), but will have no connected Hallways aside from its entrance. Those captured outside of the dungeon are kept in the cells on the first floor, while those captured within the dungeon are kept one floor down from where they were captured (unless they were captured on the final floor, in which case they are kept in that floor’s Gaol). Each cell can only hold a single captive; overflow captives are stored one level further down (or up, if they were meant to be stored on the final floor and it is full). A dungeon with all Gaols full to capacity will keep further captives chained up in one of the Barracks (up to 3 prisoners per Barracks; if a dungeon somehow fills those up, the monsters will simply kill rather than capture).

Special Features: Each room may have one or more Special Features. These may be traps, additional Side Rooms, or similar. Roll 1d and consult the following list.

1 - Trap: There is a trap somewhere in the room. It may be on one of the exits (including the entrance) or elsewhere in the room. Most traps are designed to incapacitate/capture (5/6 chance), but some are lethal (1/6 chance).

2 - Treasure: This is a small connected room with a raised (1’) pedestal in the center, upon which is a treasure chest (primarily filled with coins and Shards). There is a 2/6 chance the chest will be trapped (with a poison needle or similar), and a 2/6 chance the room will be trapped; check separately (so there can be a trapped chest in a trapped room). The room trap means that moving or opening the chest, or damaging the chest or pedestal, causes the room to drop (1 yard per second, for around 10 seconds); the entryway and pedestal are not attached to the floor, so the entryway gets sealed off and the pedestal seemingly raises. One the room stops, the walls slide up, revealing a large number of monsters. The room won’t raise again until either the monsters are all slain, or the delvers are all incapacitated (in the latter case, the monsters reset any trap on the chest and take the bodies into the walls, allowing the trap to reset; they later transport any surviving delvers to the appropriate Gaol).

3 - Armory: Like Treasure, above, this is a small connected room filled with arms and armor appropriate to the humanoid monsters on the floor. Armories can contain magic items, but monsters check them frequently, so they will generally be equipped by monsters on the floor. Even without magic items, each Armory equips a number of monsters with higher-quality gear. The door itself is typically securely locked and often trapped, but there are no traps or similar within the armory itself.

4 - Barracks: This results in a Hallway that connects to a room with a sleeping/living area for the monsters of that level. Monsters don’t actually need such, but some R&R is always welcome to them. The door leading to the hallway is typically locked and trapped; it also always has an alarm trap. Each Barracks Special Feature increases the number of monsters on the floor; half of the additional number will be in the Quarters at any given time.

5 - Side Room: This results in a Hallway that is connected to a new Side Room, which has Special Features of its own. In theory, this could continue indefinitely. A Side Room Special Feature for a Path Room instead results in a Dead End.

6 - Shortcut: This results in a Hallway that is connected to another, pre-existing Side Room. Both Side Rooms must have this Special Feature to connect to each other. If there is a choice, Shortcuts give precedence to Side Rooms that are attached to an adjacent Path Room (or Entry Room), then those connected to a non-adjacent Path Room (or Entry Room), and finally those connected to the same Path Room (or Entry Room). A shortcut that doesn’t have a match somewhere simply leads to a Dead End. A Shortcut result for a Path Room calls for a reroll; if you get Shortcut again, it is instead a hallway leading to a Hoard.

Hoard: A Hoard is a room filled with coins, gems, Shards, and magic items. It is either behind a locked, trapped door, or hidden behind a false wall, but itself contains no traps or similar. Monsters in the area will occasionally check it for useful magic items, so any such that are rolled up may already be in the hands of appropriate monsters.


Partial Floor: It’s possible the floor the Dungeon Core is on will be only partially finished. Roll 1d6; on a 1, the floor has only just gotten started - it has an Entry Room, one Path Room (no Gaol), and the Terminus, where the Core is located. On a 2, the floor is roughly halfway finished, and has an Entry Room, all three Path Rooms (and a Gaol, but with only 3 cells), and a Terminus. In either case, determine Side Rooms and Special Qualities normally, but each such has a 3/6 chance of being incomplete; incomplete Traps are obvious, incomplete Treasures/Armories are empty and resemble storage closets rather than rooms, and incomplete Quarters, Side Rooms, Shortcuts, and Hoards are instead Dead Ends.
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