A week of the dungeon cards and I’m already done with mapping of level 6! Now comes the keying part. I have 21 more days in April, so definitely no hurry!
Why so fast on the mapping? Well, I had some very boring meetings this week in which I had no real input, so since I’m WFH, it was easy to reach over to my personal desk, grab the deck of cards and continue the mapping. As well, it was a bit easier(?) or perhaps more streamlined.
I’ve put my comparison of the Dungeon Architect Cards (so far) versus the OD&D/AD&D random dungeon tables below.
| OD&D/AD&D random tables |
Dungeon Architect Cards |
| More opportunities for odd layouts – diagonal, especially | Very straightforward, cardinal points layout. The only times I saw opportunities for diagonals was from round rooms or hexagon/octagon shaped rooms. |
| Room sizes limited by table entries, unless a special room. (or by overrule of mapper) |
Room sizes limited by what is on the card. (or by overrule of mapper) |
| Room types are usually rectangular/square. 15% chance of odd shape. 20% chance of odd being round. |
40% chance of odd shape. Many square cornered variants or hex/octagons – no triangles, trapezoids or ovals. 28% chance of odd being round. No caverns. |
| Lots of rolls to determine door types, what’s behind doors. | Cards had defined “connectors” but up to mapper to interpret what kind of connections. (Note 1). |
| Table results include opportunities to have stairs, dead ends, trick/traps or wandering monsters in passageways |
Cards don’t define characteristics of corridors or features like stairs, dead-ends, trick/traps, monsters. Up to mapper to interpret or come up with what might be there. |
| Passageway types are table-driven, but many opportunities for diagonal results and randomness to define/extend the passages into different layouts. |
Cards have randomness in the draw, but unclear if there’s enough variance in the corridor layouts to feel as different across multiple maps like the OD&D/AD&D generator. |
| Feels like it takes a long time to map, due to resolving all the details by rolling. |
Feels easier/quicker to generate the dungeon, but lacks some details and variance of details such as doors. |
Note 1: I came up with a table to determine door type (d20: 1-12: door; 13-19: passage opening; 20: secret door or one-way door)
So which do I prefer? I know it’s cliche, but there are pros/cons to each, and I like different aspects of each approach.
The Dungeon Architect Cards are definitely geared towards maps only. They have twelve descriptive words per room/corridor entry – as each card has two sides with different results. But nothing specific about room contents like monsters, treasure, trick/traps, stairs or special. So I still have to go back to the OD&D/AD&D tables to finish that off.
Am I satisfied with the DAC results for Level 6? Yes, I think it will be a fun map. I made some creative decisions and interpretation of the card results and the dungeon has enough connections that this isn’t a serial/one-path dungeon. Definitely a proper multiple-pathways level.
I think it may come down to your style. If you just want to crank through mapping quickly, then DAC is definitely up to the task and will give you satisfactory results, albeit you’ll want to add some creative results or interpretations to suite your preferences. To finish keying the map, though, you’re going to have to use some other tool, such as the OD&D/AD&D tables.
If you like exploring the dungeon as if you were delving it, or you want to dive into the details while mapping, the OD&D/AD&D random generators are going to scratch that itch much more than the DAC. As well, the generators have all the necessary details built it, but it takes a bit more effort and rolling to get there, rather than just seeing the room or corridor already drawn for you.
I don’t regret using them! I may noodle around with a mini-game, or a creative mash-up for level 7.
Now, off to OD&D Vol III, Strategic Review #1 and Monster/Treasure Assortments to start stocking the dungeon!
Dungeon23 stats: as of week 17
- Levels: 8 (+ 4 sublevels)
- Rooms: 370 (57 added in wk 17)
- Levels 1 – 5: mapped/keyed.
- Levels 6: mapping completed/keying in progress
- Levels 9, 10 connected
- 4 sublevels mapped/keyed
- Town: Created, 7 locations/NPCs keyed.