Dungeon 23 Weeks 1 and 2

I began working on Sean McCoy’s idea #dungeon23 on December 11, 2022 in a dotted grid notebook Mnemosyne A5. I decided to do my writing as nightly journaling with Sundays being the beginnng of each new week cycle where i put in extra effort for the week’s framing. I am scaffolding off of a Gygax75 project i started but didn’t finish. Let’s call it Project Taboo because that’s funny to me. 


Week 1


I decided to begin this week on Sunday, December 11 by writing out a list of themes for the mini-setting framing, followed by a list i called “Ideas Without a Home”. Whenever i get a weird idea, find a neat sentence in something i am reading, or learn about a fact that’s interesting, i write it down in my markdown app Bear or my private discord server in a channel for ideas. I proceeded to list all those “Ideas without a Home” in the first page of the notebook.


On the second page, I drew all the layouts from Traverse Fantasy’s Dungeon Analysis, and listed some Things to Consider. Finally, I drew a settlement sketch. I then spent the remainder of the week keying the settlement map.


Week 2 


For week 2, I spent Sunday developing my thoughts on the megadungeon’s framing, namely why it existed. This consumed Sunday and Monday after which I spent the remainder of the week working on the wilderness environment development including drawing a mini hex. I decided to play around with Charles Fergrave-Avery’s Into the Wyrd and Wild to begin plotting the wilderness layout, focusing first on a forest area that I am planning as a “forest dungeon” of sorts. 


Finally, i wrote a d30 list of room types all the way in the back of the notebook to help me if i get stuck.


Right now the project overall is looking like a single 6-mile hex subdivided into 3 mile and smaller hexes built around the hub megadungeon area. 


Thoughts on this approach


Front loading Sunday with the week’s project works for me. My spouse and I meal plan for the week on Sundays so it’s a good time for that kind of thinking for me. Realistically i will write the majority on Sunday and fill in areas throughout the week.


Overall, as someone who has finished and published a small number of things, my goal is not to be overly precious about my ideas and expect things to evolve as I go.


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