As others have already reported, the Dizzy Dragon website now includes the most awesome online random dungeon generator I've ever seen. Not only does it combine the monsters and treasures from the Moldvay/Cook/Marsh Basic/Expert books with the dungeon dressing details from the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, but, even more impressively, it creates really good dungeon maps. I mean really good. Most random dungeon generators produce uninspired maps with only a handful of rooms and a very obvious "path" through them. That's not the case, where the maps are sprawling, with dozens of rooms, secret doors, winding corridors, pools, crevasses, sections of cavern, and much more. It's frankly amazing.
Check it out. Please.
It looks good because it's using relatively large geomorphs. Which is an argument for the merits of geomorphs. Starting from absolute nothing and asking a computer to do it all is hard.
ReplyDeleteHe has the geomorphs available for download from his page. If you just want the map parts, it might be fun to print them out and deal them like a deck.
When I was younger I was always utterly fascinated by the Random Dungeon Tables in the back of the DMG - the idea that dungeons could be generated on the fly was beyond cool. I never used them - wasn't ready to give up that much control back in the day, but I wonder if I'd be willing to give it a try some 20-odd years later.
ReplyDeleteSo far I'm maxxing out on the following:
ReplyDelete320x320
Party level 4
Of course this is giving me SIX THOUSAND rooms AND a map.
Like HgMan I've always been fascinated by random dungeon generation. I just gave it a quick try and it came out decent (although have yet to take a closer look at the room results).
ReplyDeleteI may just turn to this to help out with the 4th and lower levels of my new OD&D dungeon setting. Thanks for the tip, JM.
It looks very cool, but once you create the dungeon, how do you save it and use it?
ReplyDeleteI just did the quick random dungeon and got a very impressive result. Neat!
ReplyDeleteImpressive maps -- thanks to alan-de-smet for pointing out that they're geomorph-based (so I don't feel so bad).
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to overuse the DMG dressing stuff like this -- as I read DMG Appendix I, the current/odor/air option is meant as just one selection per level (p. 217).
Anyway, funny this should pop up since I'm working on an analysis of the old Geomorphs product and DMG Appendix A right now.
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ReplyDeleteDungeon/adventure generators rule! I've never used one unmodified, but they definitely get the juices going! I've only briefly glanced at this one, but it certanily looks promising. Now, if someone would only code Central Castings Dungeon, I'd be happy as a pig in slop!
ReplyDeleteExcellent stuff. The next step is to have pregen stats for the encounter monsters and more items (all based on the level of the characters).
ReplyDeleteOn a similar note, here is a link to a really sweet adventure generator:
ReplyDeletehttp://donjon.bin.sh/adventure/
It's brilliant! And exactly how I like my dungeon maps.
ReplyDeleteThe creator might want to make the encounters match the room sizes though - on a lvl 10 dungeon I had dragons in lots of rooms that were only 30'x20'. That'd be one pissed off dragon.
Also the lvl 1 map had a save vs. poison or die trap... surely you don't approve, James?!!
Also the lvl 1 map had a save vs. poison or die trap... surely you don't approve, James?!!
ReplyDeleteWhy wouldn't I? 1st-level characters have been dying to poison traps for as long as there's been a hobby. Have we forgotten about Black Dougal so quickly?
It's funny because in a brief moment of avoiding work, I generated a series of different levels of dungeon. All the lvl 10 dungeons had 1d6 damage traps, but the 1st level dungeon was save or die...
ReplyDeleteI think actually Shawn's linked website is better for content. But the maps in that dungeon generator are really nice.
I've been contemplating recommending a sandbox pathfinder to my Japanese group (so I can continue what I started without much preparation to distract me from my warhammer 3 campaign). Shawn's site could be perfect for that...
Very impressive!
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