Beginnings: #dungeon23, 2023 in gaming, and 2023 in blogging.

It's a time for beginnings.  My - lapsed - group and I am beginning a new campaign and beginning tabletop gaming together after a long period of doing other things. I have begun working on #dungeon23, as a personal challenge to get more productive geeking done more than anything else.

I rolled "Artisan Mines" on my hastily constructed dungeon themes spark table and felt I could run with it:

The beginning of Level 1...

The challenge is to write a 12 level, 365 room megadungeon - one room a day. I find that somewhat intimidating so I'm aiming to average a room a day and still try to do a level a month.  Some may be big, some will be small - I suspect August's and December's won't exist - but my aim is to share one level each month here for all of 2023.  Fingers crossed. Beginning to blog again.

I spent a lot of time panicking, mainly about what to build and how to stock whatever dungeons I did build, but I think I'm settled down now.

I found a great tool for "cyclic dungeon generation" on itch.io which has been a boon for inspiration about shape and flow.  I searched for the old school tables for dungeon stocking but found a rule of thumb that - back in the day - dungeon level = monster level = hit dice that I like, so I'm riffing off of that for encounters. I found so many resources about treasure, and that treasure is so different between systems, that I'm going abstract with it so the details can come later.

These are my dungeon beginnings:

• Room: Dilapidated dormitory. 2d6 [goblins] asleep here on any given shift.
• Room: Shelves cut into the walls hold gems (major treasure) seemingly arranged by texture and flavour.
• Room: Privy. Smells bad. (I'd had a busy day)
• Room: 2 yoked golems trudge mindlessly, endlessly, on a circular path turning the machinery via cogs and shafts.
• Room: Empty. Carvings on all walls depict feasting trolls. Large double doors, locked and barred from this side. Bell calls a single [goblin?] wearing overalls and fancy hat.
• Room: Short cut? But far too dangerous to pass through when machinery is turning.

I had planned to begin thinking more about dungeon and adventure design way back last year for the RPG Blog Carnival. That panic that I overcame by beginning was what meant I never began this before, despite wanting to for so long. I needed a push to start before I felt I was ready, 'cos I was never going to feel I was ready otherwise!

Coincidentally, this month's RPG Blog Carnival theme is beginnings. That struck the chord to begin work on #dungeon23, and begin a new campaign, and motivated me to begin blogging again.

So, this beginning technically has its beginnings in the Carnival. Signups are open for hosts for 2023 so why not check out the RPG Blog Carnival hub on Of Dice and Dragons and consider beginning to join the Carnival if you're an RPG blogger?

I'll be beginning a new campaign soon, most likely Mothership. I will be beginning to play Warcry this year too, and maybe Blood Bowl again. That means I'll begin painting minis again too.

Let me know your beginnings in the comments? Whatever you begin in 2023 I wish you well.  Sometimes beginning is the most important thing.