GURPS DF / DFRPG Random Dungeon Generator

[Bruno]

I suppose it depends. Minecraft players tend to start mucking around with JSON objects immediately. It's becoming the standard configuration format now.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Bruno

The really nitty-gritty configuration is done in the data files, not through the dropdowns, because I could slowly go insane trying to add enough UI for the ten gazillion items you need to tweak.

And I download the data files and start poking around.

I assume features.js is the file that lets me tweak how often a room has a monster, right? And the weight is the likelihood in the total sum of the weights (currently 249) that it picks the room type? It looks like threatDistribution.js gives the probabilities of each relative CR. What does NgtX mean? And what threat distribution is online? How do we switch from one to another?

I do see how you can add different kinds of Specials (using the term from the old Basic Set table) to the generator, adding tables for things like Thrones and Altars and putting the code into features.js. I never would have thought of the Atmospheres, so props for that. I like the tags with the traps, to go full librarian. I do also see the sizeArea.js file, which does address having enough room to fit your dragon. It's a pity there isn't a full treasure table, however.

My JavaScript is quite rusty (though I did learn some while in tech support), so going through some files like CER_encounter.js isn't wise on my part.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Like this?

"Description: This room is 30 feet wide and 50 feet long. There is a ceramic idol (8" tall). There is a table, large. There is a loamy smell."

Aside from the height not being there, I'd say that's enough. (Why are dimensions in feet instead of yards?) The volume and area aren't going to come up enough in a game to be really worth it.

My suggestion was following on from putting the elevation figure on the map, meaning putting the other dimensions on the map next to each room.

Area and volume might be handier for some groups than others, but if the computer can calculate it more easily than a GM mid-session it could be worthwhile having, especially for non-rectangular rooms.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

And I download the data files and start poking around.

I'm glad to see that things basically make sense to you! I've tried really hard to a) format things to be easy to read and b) name things coherently.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I assume features.js is the file that lets me tweak how often a room has a monster, right?

Bingo.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

And the weight is the likelihood in the total sum of the weights (currently 249) that it picks the room type?

Yep. A pretty standard way of doing "pick randomly from a list" for computers because it's easier to expand on than trying to do a dice-driven table and then squeeze another 5 new ideas in.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

It looks like threatDistribution.js gives the probabilities of each relative CR. What does NgtX mean? And what threat distribution is online? How do we switch from one to another?

N is from the CER article, which is basically expressing the relationship between the threat of the encounter vs the party's ability to present a threat to the monsters. The bigger N, the easier the encounter. NgtX is a terrible name but I stalled out on how to give it a self documenting name that didn't turn into a big paragraph. I'm open to suggestions - I could have done with putting a note in the file, for sure.

NgtX indicates that N numbers that are greater than this number (that don't already belong to another entry) belong to this entry. The current numbers are the ones from the CER article, as are the descriptions.

So if you have an encounter who's N is 12, it's a nuisance encounter. If it has an N of 1, it's a worthy encounter. It's specifically greater-than, not greater-than-or-equal-to - an N of exactly 0.5 is Boss, not Worthy.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I do see how you can add different kinds of Specials (using the term from the old Basic Set table) to the generator, adding tables for things like Thrones and Altars and putting the code into features.js.

I tried to make it easy to expand for my own laziness, but also to facilitate fiddling with by other people (who could then contribute the new ideas if they felt like it).

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I never would have thought of the Atmospheres, so props for that.

I have to credit Arrows of Indra's random-level-of-hell generator for reminding me that atmospheric conditions are totally a thing from Ye Olden Days, and GURPS has rules for them (which I pinched for DFRPG).

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I like the tags with the traps, to go full librarian.

The tag system is not fully utilized yet, but ready and waiting!

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I do also see the sizeArea.js file, which does address having enough room to fit your dragon.

Yes, but I confess right now the logic doesn't properly check if there's enough room for everyone - if there's enough room for one dragon, it tends to think there's enough room for 20 dragons.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

It's a pity there isn't a full treasure table, however.

Yeah. The remote treasure service is a bit unreliable (it's hosted on a free service and they throttle whenever they feel like it) and right now I'm pretty sure I'm hammering on the service pretty bad if someone generates a big dungeon. And of course you need to have an active and reliable internet connection.

I've been meaning to generate a set of a couple of hundred "parcel items" to build some treasure out of if the online generator isn't available. It won't be as exciting but it'll make a do.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

My JavaScript is quite rusty (though I did learn some while in tech support), so going through some files like CER_encounter.js isn't wise on my part.

The original code from drow (Related to the base map and random number generation, mostly) is entirely undocumented and has some really terrible variable names (he released it "minified", blech). I've been doing my best to clarify it but that's slow going.

I haven't been strict enough in documenting my own code, but I've been trying... some of it is some pretty hairy logic though. I try to refactor once I reach the "It's working but I don't know why" stage though :P

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

And what threat distribution is online? How do we switch from one to another?

You missed this part. It might be a good idea to have this be a pull down list in the generator, but hidden under Advanced Options or something.

Originally Posted by Bruno

I tried to make it easy to expand for my own laziness, but also to facilitate fiddling with by other people (who could then contribute the new ideas if they felt like it).

I might crack open the Dungeon Alphabet, the Tome of Adventure Design, and/or the d30 DM Companion to make more such “Special” bits.

Originally Posted by Bruno

The tag system is not fully utilized yet, but ready and waiting!

Obviously it needs to handle monster class. I also see there are no CERs for the traps.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

You missed this part. It might be a good idea to have this be a pull down list in the generator, but hidden under Advanced Options or something.

I actually had this as an experimental feature and royally messed something up when I did it, so I rolled the change back and shelved it for a later date. I've got infrastructure in place to use it, but no actual logic (yet). I believe it's just using 'average' for the moment.

I'm trying to get the existing setup more stable before toying with more complex things (and encounter generation is complex). There may or may not be an issue with the encounters getting repeditive at higher CERs and I don't know if that's just a problem with the DFRPG monster list being shorter than the full GURPS DF and thus not a lot of options at certain CERs, or what.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I might crack open the Dungeon Alphabet, the Tome of Adventure Design, and/or the d30 DM Companion to make more such “Special” bits.

Please do! I've been meaning to come up with altars and suchlike, but I've got a lot of "i'm meaning to do"s to address.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Obviously it needs to handle monster class. I also see there are no CERs for the traps.

My data entry volunteer got burned out calculating all the monsters' CERs. Right now it is very much assigning them with no concern as to difficulty.

If you look around in there, you can see some of the parts of a "random trap construction system" kinda thing that will let the program generate vaguely CER-appropriate traps of the traditional "weapon-swinging" or "weapon launching" types. Or I might just write a little script to churn out every possible combination and bulk add them to the list (but then when I come up with more additions I'll have to rerun the script and etc and the on-the-fly generation is smexier).

--

Once things are pretty stable, one spin-off project I want to do is a set of pages that let you generate e.g. "An encounter", "A random dungeon room (with lighting, description, contents)", "A random treasure", "a random trap", "random basic dungeon description (mana, sanctity, natures power, temperature, lighting, ceiling heights, etc)". This is related to the feature request of having a button to reroll a given room or treasure or whatever.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by ericbsmith

On that note I just noticed that the room descriptions aren't matching the hex size. The description seems to be using 1 hex = 10 feet, so a room that is 5 hexes by 4 hexes is described as 50 feet by 40 feet instead of 15 feet by 12 feet.

Well hey, this is probably why we're getting extra-odd things kicked out related to the size restrictions - the same error is in various parts of the program (no surprise there).

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

My suggestion was following on from putting the elevation figure on the map, meaning putting the other dimensions on the map next to each room.

Personally, I'd start with having room heights. This would start from a standard room (and hallway) height when the dungeon is generated, then vary from there. Much like how light and mana level are generated now, actually. Beyond that, I don't know if it matters much, though area and volume are simple calculations.

EDIT: Appropros of nothing related to this, but the original purpose of a room would be something handy to have, as well as of the dungeon.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I actually had this as an experimental feature and royally messed something up when I did it, so I rolled the change back and shelved it for a later date. I've got infrastructure in place to use it, but no actual logic (yet). I believe it's just using 'average' for the moment.

Any way to change that the hard way?

Originally Posted by Bruno

Please do! I've been meaning to come up with altars and suchlike, but I've got a lot of "i'm meaning to do"s to address.

I'm looking at altars, pillars, plants, statues, and thrones. Probably altars and statues to start; I'm working on a plant monsters Pyramid article as well, which also consumes my prep time as well as makes me want to step lightly around vegetation, both in writing and in delving.

Originally Posted by Bruno

My data entry volunteer got burned out calculating all the monsters' CERs.

Considered asking Pseudoboo? He seems to do this a lot.

Originally Posted by Bruno

If you look around in there, you can see some of the parts of a "random trap construction system" kinda thing that will let the program generate vaguely CER-appropriate traps of the traditional "weapon-swinging" or "weapon launching" types.

Speaking of traps, when a door is trapped, all I get is a note that it is trapped, no actual trap:

"South Door a: Iron (1/8"): DR 25; HP 46 - 190 lbs; ST 6 needed to open; it is unlocked; it is trapped."

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Any way to change that the hard way?

Double checked and right now I'm not actually using the easy-access table at all.

In CER_encounter.js, in monster_room()
there's

        var cer_scale = ( rand_between(0.11, 1)+ rand_between(0.11, 1)+ rand_between(0.11, 1));
        var target_cer = dungeonOBJ.cer * cer_scale;

This is the control on the goal CER the program is trying to match (generally can't make it on-the-dot but that's the intent).

Right now it's generating three random numbers between 0.11 and 1 and adding them together (to get a bellcurve between 1/3 and 3) and using that to scale CER.

Although now that I think about it, I don't know what that bellcurve looks like.

Anyways you could do whatever you want in there to generate the target CER.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Considered asking Pseudoboo? He seems to do this a lot.

I've been meaning to patrol the wikis and such and see if it's been done already.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Speaking of traps, when a door is trapped, all I get is a note that it is trapped, no actual trap:

"South Door a: Iron (1/8"): DR 25; HP 46 - 190 lbs; ST 6 needed to open; it is unlocked; it is trapped."

Le sigh. I'll look into it.