GURPS DF / DFRPG Random Dungeon Generator

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Bruno

The corridors are (currently) laid down by a drunken walk. The tunnel digger goes out a door and digs a spot, then it has a random chance to keep going in the same direction or to pick a random new direction. If the direction chosen is blocked it has a chance to make a junction (if applicable) or picks a new direction.
What the Corridors setting controls is that likelyhood of continuing in a straight line... but it's still just digging blindly with no particular destination in mind, which means when it's "straight" it does march happily in a straight line... but it tends to spiral after hitting a barrier. Trim Deadends can help with this as those spirals are all dead ends, but it's only a bandaid over the issue.

It's somewhat better then the random dungeons tables in the old DMG1 which tended to result in dungeons designed by the drunkenly insane...while they were high.

"Let There Be A Method To Your Madness" Dragon #10 (October, 1977) gives some pointers.

"You, as the designer, must think like the builders when you design a dungeon, and allow for all of the necessary functions of the dungeon"

"It won’t take you any longer to create a dungeon this way, and in fact it will probably be faster, due to the benefits of being organized, knowing exactly what each area is for and why it is there. The time you spend in initial planning is cancelled out when you set up the individual levels, because you don’t spend ten or fifteen idle moments wondering what to do with the next level."

The thing to remember that even in a D&D like world stone structures are expensive so there aren't going to be many unneeded twists and turns in the corridors. Doors are a great way to slow down any invaders and they are far cheaper in time, energy, and money than making the corridor look like it was designed by Daedalus.