{"id":8277,"date":"2022-11-07T07:11:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T12:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=8277"},"modified":"2022-10-25T09:16:49","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T13:16:49","slug":"dngn-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/?p=8277","title":{"rendered":"DNGN #1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Vasil Kaliman\nSinging Flame\nOSE\nLevel 1-?<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DNGN #1: Weird-Fantasy Megadunegon is the first issue of a serialized zine that takes place in a megadungeon. Each issue will cover ten levels of the dungeon. It’s cover-to-cover of classic B\/X monsters, magic items, encounters, secret doors, and old-school fun! It is a quick and easy resource of adventure material that a referee can use at the gaming table with no prep. DNGN is designed to work as a complete megadungeon adventure, or for levels be dropped directly into your pre-existing campaign setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This 44 page adventure features ten \u201c2 page\u2019 dungeon levels, each with about six rooms, and a \u201cbonus adventure\u201d at the end with a second dungeon. It\u2019s HEAVY gonzo and, while the format is decent, the actual encounters feel almost procedural in the degree they are are on-theme and yet ultimately disconnected and unfulfilling, either seen separately or as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, how\u2019s that bitch for a summary? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first of many issues, it claims, each with more levels of the DNGN. This feels like the art punk crowd found OSE and latched on to it. And I don\u2019t mean that in the bad way. There are some fresh ideas from the art punks, and the OSE style is a decent baseline for formatting. But, ultimately, both are like buying a $800 drill and thinking it will turn you in to a carpenter; window dressing to the main event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, the OSE format. I like it and the rest of you dick heads who don\u2019t can just fuck right off. We start with a room title, to orient you to the framing of what\u2019s to come. Getting you in the mood, so to speak. Then some bolded keywords like \u201c6 stone bowls\u201d with some more details in parens after that, like: (12\u201d radius). We then get some bullets to epands on the above descriptions, with their own bolded words and terse little descriptions. I think it lends itself well to scanning and fall naturally in to a \u201ctell me more\u201d Q\/A style for play. The DM glances down, hits the bolded keywords, the players ask followup question and the DM can relate more, based o nthe paren information or the bullets. And, fucking importantly, it\u2019s hard to fuck this shit up. Oh, it\u2019s possible, I\u2019ve seen it. But, also, it\u2019s REALLY hard to turn this fucking shit in to a three paragrapgh wall of text shit fest. It kind of forces a terseness in the descriptions while leveraging the \u201cless is more\u201d style that I think our imaginations work best with. And, did I mention IT DOESN\u2019T LEAD TO THREE PArAGRAPGH SHIT FEST DESCRIPTIONS? So, is it the best? Meh. It gets the job done. Do I respect the person who can craft a three sentence evocative and interactive room description in \u201csentence style?\u201d Absofuckinglutly. But that number is quite rare and at least the OSE style formatting doesn\u2019t lead to an unusable adventure. Theoretically, you could then focus on the interactivity and making the descriptions evocative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, on to this. I\u2019m mildly surprised when I see, first thing in the adventure, the wandering monster table. 1d2 ACOLYTES dragging 1d3 ZOMBIES in chains. 1d4 DEEP ONES * sacrificing a human to an idol of a star god. 1d4 DUERGARS looting a charred and smoking corpse. Hey, that\u2019s not bad! I can dig it! And then, looking depeper, only twenty entries for ten levels? And, I cherry picked some shit, there\u2019s a lot of \u201cthey attack\u201d on that table. Or, a merchant who has a key for sale for the nearest door? What\u2019s that about? And, pay attention, the \u201cwhat\u2019s that about\u201d applies to almost all of the entries, as we will soon discuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ok, so, ten levels. Two pages per level. A sixish room map on one page and the facing page (digest format!) having the rooms keys. The map is clear and easy to read \u2026 but it only has six rooms also, so, meh. It does have light and  floor(?!) conditions though, for each room, on the map. Which is nice for running the dungeon, at least the light anyway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the room entries? \u201cDead dwarf (in adventuring gear) sprawled on the floor. Bone fragments are scattered around the body.\u201dHmmm, I\u2019m not sure \u2026 \u201cHere lives a sadistic? CLERIC. He gathers his victims’ thumbs, strips the flesh away, and uses them to make bone curtains he sells to an eccentric clientele pictures\/art\u201d Oh, could it be that \u2026 \u201cOne statue in one room emits a foul odor. (entire figure is carved from human ear wax.)\u201d  Ah, fuck me man. It is, essentially, procedurally generated. And I don\u2019t mean a series of tables in the adventure. I mean that the entire thing is so disconnected from one another that it feels procedurally generated. There\u2019s a theme, I guess, of some insects, and a heavy HEAVY gonzo sci-fi theme. So much so that I\u2019m not even sure this could be classified as D&D. maybe a splugorth dungeon? Almost every room has some sci-fi in it. Anyway, the contents of a room don\u2019t make sense. It\u2019s like someone rolled on a sci-fi\u2019ish version of the dungeon trappings table from the 1e DMG. Just some things in the room. And the individual rooms don\u2019t really relate to each other. No zones or anything like that. Those acolytes? Who the fuck knows where they are going or why. That cleric? He\u2019s got no story at all or relation to anything else in the dungeon. Just each room, individually. Almost like a funhouse dungeon. But, also, each room is not a set piece. It\u2019s just a collection of random things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m super supportive of using tables, in a design, to help the DM spark ideas and get their imaginations going. But you can\u2019t just write them down. You have to riff off of them, put them together. Make them work together to be larger than the sum of their parts, and, not detractfrom each other because they are all seemingly random. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point, in a 30×80 room, there is a mass of vibes growing 4\u2019 up the wall. With a purple worm hiding in them. For serious? There is no sense at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the entries themselves, going back to look at them? Generic. Abstracted. The deep ones are calling for a trans-dimensional being! No. Absolutely not. They summon Cthulhu! Or one of the Great Old Ones! The Shadow People of Karth! Be fucking specific. \u201cThere is a journal in an unknown script.\u201d Well, what the fuck does it say? I\u2019ve got a fucking spell, that\u2019s why!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, the trappings are here. A \u201cMegadungeon\u201d with but six rooms per level. A format, but nothing to format. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is $8 at DriveThru. The preview is fifteen pages and shows you the maps and dungeon levels, so its a good preview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.drivethrurpg.com\/product\/410800\/DNGN-1?1892600<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Vasil Kaliman Singing Flame OSE Level 1-? DNGN #1: Weird-Fantasy Megadunegon is the first issue of a serialized zine that takes place in a megadungeon. Each issue will cover ten levels of the dungeon. It’s cover-to-cover of classic B\/X … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dungeons-dragons-adventure-review","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/dngn.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8278,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277\/revisions\/8278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tenfootpole.org\/ironspike\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}