Solo Dungeon Crawl: Excursus - Random Dungeon Generator

After half a dozen delves in the the Solo Dungeon Crawl, I thought it might be useful to put my methods together in one spot.

Random Dungeon Element

The initial method comes from this post at Tabletop Diversions.  I have modified it for my own ease.

Draw a card

• Ace = Stairs up or Exit in X squares (player's choice or roll 1d6. 1-3 Stairs, 4-6 Exit)
• 2 = Stairs down or Exit in X squares (player's choice or roll 1d6. 1-3 Stairs, 4-6 Exit)
• 3 = Straight Hallway for X squares w/ Trap (Roll 1d6. 1-3= pit trap, 4-6 other trap)
• 4 = Straight Hallway for X squares
• 5 = 4-way Intersection in X squares
• 6 = Turn Right in X squares
• 7 = Turn Left in X squares
• 8 = T-intersection in X squares
• 9 = Room(draw a door and then proceed to room generator)
• 10 = Room (draw a door and then proceed to room generator)
• Jack = Room (draw a door and then proceed to room generator)
• Queen = Dead end in X squares or Draw Again(player's choice)
• King = Reshuffle deck and draw again

Add the indicated item to your map (for rooms see the Room Generator).  I plot the map directly onto the online version I have (I use Dungeon Fog).  I only get the pens out when I have an encounter.

Where it says "X squares", roll the appropriate die:

• Hearts = d10
• Diamonds = d8
• Spades = d6
• Clubs = d4

Keep in mind that you may need to be creative or fudge it a bit if there isn't room or you run into the edge of the paper.

If playing solo, resolve any encounters.

Repeat

Room Generator

Roll the die specified:

• If room card is Hearts then d10 x d10 squares
• If room card is Diamonds then d8 x d8 squares
• If room card is Spades then d6 x d6 squares
• If room card is Clubs then d4 x d4 squares

This is a step that I find I have to fudge quite a bit.

Additional Room Exits

Roll 1d4. Subtract 1 from the result. This is how many additional exits are in the room.

Place randomly or wherever makes sense given the dungeon's layout.

Room Content

There is a useful generator for room description here at the Thieves' Guild.

Tabletop Diversions Method 

• 1-2 Monster
• 3 Trap
• 4 Weird/Unusual Stuff (talking statues, magic fountains,etc.)
• 5-6 Empty 

Old School Essentials Method

• 1-2 Empty (chance of treasure 2 in 6)
• 2-4 Monster (chance of treasure 3 in 6)
• 5 Special (no treasure)
• 6 Trap (chance of treasure 2 in 6)

'Special' indicates Weird or magical features of an area, including tricks or puzzles.

OSE has its own tables for monster generation, but these are not yet on-line.  I use the Labyrinth Lord generator at Mithril Mages as LL is a close match to OSE (it also generates the treasure suitable for the monster).  Other generators are available that specify

If no monster is present, OSE suggests the following for treasure

• Level 1: 1d6 × 100sp; 50%: 1d6 × 10gp; 5%: 1d6 gems; 2%: 1d6 pieces of jewellery; 2%: 1 magic item.
• Level 2–3: 1d12 × 100sp; 50%: 1d6 ×100gp; 10%: 1d6 gems; 5%: 1d6 pieces of jewellery; 8%: 1 magic item.
• Level 4–5: 1d6 × 1,000sp; 1d6 × 200gp; 20%: 1d6 gems; 10%: 1d6 pieces of jewellery; 10%: 1 magic item.
• Level 6–7: 1d6 × 2,000sp; 1d6 × 500gp; 30%: 1d6 gems; 15%: 1d6 pieces of jewellery; 15%: 1 magic item.
• Level 8–9: 1d6 × 5,000sp; 1d6 × 1,000gp; 40%: 1d12 gems; 20%: 1d12 pieces of jewellery; 20%: 1 magic item.

Random Encounters

OSE suggests rolling once a day in the Wilderness (I roll once for the trip out and once for the trip back) and every two Turns in the dungeon (or if the party have done something that might reasonable attract attention).

To determine what one meets, one could use the generator at Mithril Mages, but the d20 Generator at donjon had the advantage of letting one specify the terrain, so I have been using that for wilderness encounters.

OSE has it's own tables of course (8 pages of 'em), but I still find using pdfs fiddly, so I've been waiting until I get my hard-copy.  However, on reading the tables, I like the look of the Wilderness options, so I may give them a go.