Dungeon23 – Week 1

I was seeing a lot of cool dungeon ideas online over the last few months, more than usual, with the hashtag #Dungeon23. I appreciated the creativity, but I did not think of google what this meant.

Then, just before Christmas, a friend introduced me to Dungeon23 and what the exercise was. Here is the original post, which explains the very simple concept:

Megadungeon for 2023. 12 levels. 365 rooms. One room a day. Keep it all in a journal. ⁦@LukeGearing⁩ let’s do this. pic.twitter.com/tCVgh8i1MF

— 💭 Sean McCoy (@seanmccoy) December 5, 2022

A little bit of dungeon designing, every day, for a year. I was on board immediately. Some people are well into their ‘Megadungeons’ at this point, but I decided to what until the 1st to begin, alongside the friend who clued me in.

I’m onto room number 10 today, below is what my Dungeon looked like by the end of Day 7:

The Atmo-Sphere

I order to distinguish my dungeon from the other wonderful concepts I’ve seen, I decided to go sci-fi. This dungeon sits within the remaining chunk of a decimated planet, floating aimlessly through the stairs, accessible to those who can access its teleportation circles, or when the residents of the protective ‘Atmo-Sphere’ teleport down to a passing world to gather supplies.

The aforementioned Sphere is a defensive orb powered by the dungeon itself. The people that survive on the surface live a symbiotic existence with those that dwell within the many layers of the central structure.

The Lore

This complex was initially built because of a prophecy. The prophecy foretold the end of all life on the world because of a great famine. The first layer of the complex was built to solve thwart the Famine Apocalypse.

And they succeeded.

However, no soonee had one success occured, that a new prophecy was revealed. A new apocalypse was on the horizon (the nature of which I haven’t decided yet). So a new layer was built into the complex, beneath the first. The first layer gave support to the new one.

And another apocalypse was avoided.

And a new prophecy emerged.

And so a third level was built…

At some point, an apocalypse that could not be prevented led to the Complex, in its Atmo-Sphere, sailing through the void of space in its protective bubble. It seems you can only avoid Doom so many times before it catches up.

So the megadungeon is several layers of different ages and technologies, original used to prevent an apocalypse, now left to decay and malfunction. Most layers are still occupied, some by people who used to work there. Different clans with different intentions, surrounded by the most advanced attempts to prevent the end of a world.

Week 1 – 7 rooms complete

Level 1, built to prevent the first apocalypse, is occupied by the ‘Principles of Plenty’ – a clan who revere the work that was done in these chambers years ago. They covet the massive amounts of food that the laboratories can still produce, giving only what is necessary to those who live outside, and the floors below. They won’t attack the adventurers on sight, but they won’t tolerate any aggression.

If the party wants to explore the entire layer (and perhaps ingratiate themselves with the Principles), they will need to prize open several sealed areas. This week I began to develop the entranceway and one of these sealed areas. Sentries went haywire and killed many of the clan in the residential area. Those rooms have been shut away behind heavy, welded doors.

Ignore this area entirely, and the party will have to fight or negotiate with the Principles to gain access to lower layers. They also miss out on loot, and the chance to learn more about what this place used to be.

Here’s a break down of each room:

1. Entrance
– Broken, rusted hangar
– sliding doors have been sheared off
– mud a debris scattered across the way in
– Empty wagon and containers, recently emptied
– W and E doors are sealed, N door is open

2. Defensive Corridor, prepared for assault
– Metal barricades set up to guard (should the citizens outside the dungeon choose to invade)
– 4 NPCS members of the Principles of Plenty (this layers’ clan)
– 6 hidden hatches hide guntraps, deactivated (clan can reactivate them if the party leave and re-enter after being hostile)

3. Hub Room
– Four pillars support tall roof, several large shards of metal have pierced the ceiling.
– 7 exits, W and E are sealed by heavily reinforced barriers. NW corridor is blocked by a sheet of metal that has cut through from above (shards of metal fell from the large antennae structure on the surface above the mega dungeon)

4. Storage Room
– most of the large, wooden barrels have been hacked open
– 1d4 sealed barrels contain trapped Grey Oozes

5. Scorched Room
– Burn marks and large grooves across all surfaces
– A malfunctioning sentry-constructs kneels in the centre of the room, attacks anything that comes within 10 feet

6. Ruined Dormitory
– large room set up for several beds, most of which are damaged or destroyed
– Thin, linear burns on the floor and ceiling from something that burned/sliced through the room
– north passage is blocked. A damaged, bronze scout is trapped the debris.

7. Storage space/Locker room
– Ransacked shelving
– Chance for random loot/trinkets from former residents

In Summary

This is such a fun way to wind down in an evening, and I highly recommend it even if you’ll never use what you have made. Even if you don’t play D&D. It’s little bursts of creativity to get your mind going. If you can’t do every day, its well within reason to write “empty room” once or twice. I shall definitely do so from time to time.

Thank You For Reading! Check in next week to see the next 7 rooms.

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