How to Host a Dungeon?

Now, in my years of a GM I have to admit I am not a DnD or dungeon guy. I exist in the modern and sci fi realms. Yeah I know right? Its a hard truth that many people think roleplaying and DnD are the same thing. That's a rant for somebody else however. One thing I do love is the idea of building a dungeon and better yet running people through it, or simply any good base building mechanic in a rpg. WoD's recent Nosferatu Clanbook seemed so so to me... until I got to the end where it told you how to make your own underground city!

That takes me to a recently discovered game called How to Host a Dungeon. One thing that immediately caught my eye was the subject, its labeled a solitaire game yet its not exactly that hard to pioneer the maps into playable dungeons for all manner of dungeon delving games. However, I am that guy that likes the play the game to the letter, so the freeform "Go nuts!" rules bugged that little guy on my shoulder screaming "IT SAYS A FINGER LONG TUNNEL ROB, MAKE IT A EXACT FUCKING FINGER LONG!". Now here is a thing that is peculiar, the game has a $5 version and a free version, the exact difference is formatting, images (Which admittedly, can help with some of the poor wording), and a additional Civilization and Villain for use with some of the stages of the game. It is worth it to help the author along, this is a amazing game.

Now heres the kicker, the game flat out tells you to make your own rulings and content. Nothings stopping you from reading the rules for the Demon civilization from the PDF preview. Paying for the game becomes a choice of moral alignment. I kind of respect that, it becomes closer to incentive to donate to get a nicer looking version of the game. And that is good! treat your donaters right!.

Game play goes between four stages. Primordial, which is basically rolling three D10 and figuring out what makes your dungeon Unique like caves, gold veins, mithrel, monsters. All to a gigantic Wyrm that lives in a big cave. Also, for such large and easily labeled creatures it invites you to name them as well. The first time I rolled a Wyrm I named it Gorgar. Because Gorgar will eat you (GORGAR!). Giant rivers, volcanoes, there's little that cannot happen with a roll of the dice. This adds to the charm, actually. The creator went to quite a length to make each play through insanely unique (At first, only reading the rules it will seem like your making carbon copy dungeons. Then you play...)

Then, a ancient civilization appears. be it Dwarves that set up a mining complex, Drow that build their slave cities, Demons on their way to the surface to kill god, or anything of your own design! Sadly the file was deleted but I wrote up my own Alien Civilization that play tested perfectly, I will rewrite it and post it some day if I get requests for it. The key thing about the Civ's is they WILL die off or disappear. You may really want them to survive long, but if they last too long they will quickly mine out the mithrel deposits and most of the gold (If dwarven), have a room in every part of the map (Drow) or well, demons will never last more then 4-5 turns so they are exempt. My Aliens in fact quickly tired of the underground without any creatures to eat, requiring them to flee to the surface in order to find food. After your ancient race has got bored or died a horrible death, the age of monsters begins. Some earlier placed things like Ancient wyrms turn into big bad beasties along with other monster groups appearing along with a castle full of humans popping onto the surface.

The age of monsters is a gigantic bloodbath, where your original complex will be filled with groups of quickly breeding antlings, pissed off trolls, mining gnomes, anything you want to place in it. After one of the many factions gets 6 gold, the age of villainy begins and a big bad makes his nest in the dungeon. Generally when turning the map into a playable adventure; this is the ideal stage to place your game if you want a typical "Kill the evil overlord" game going. Otherwise, If you want a fun dungeon romp to just get treasure, place the game at the very end of the Age of Monsters when conflict is probably placed between 2-3 powerful entities.

In the end HtHaD has a lot of bookkeeping halfway through it, especially time consuming when your doing this on photoshop without a pad. However, the end product can be invaluable when you need a fast, original dungeon to throw at your redshirts (Because we all know the Cave of Fate is only fun the first 20 times you play it.)

http://planet-thirteen.com/Dungeon.aspx