Making a Megadungeon 2: Generating What Lies Below

Last time on Making a Megadungeon I went over the lore and setting which will inform my design choices thematically.

This time: I'll be using the tarot generation system built into Worm to figure out how the different larger dungeons will fit together, where connections lead, and maybe even be inspired for dungeon themes by the major arcana. If you'd like to follow along, you can download the Underworld chapter for free here!

Making a Megadungeon 1: Lore and Stage Dressing

DISCLAIMER: I will be mentioning Dungeon Meshi spoilers within, please go read the manga if you haven't yet. It's REALLY fucking good and you will not be disappointed especially if you love megadungeons.

Prep: Gathering (Brain) Supplies

Hey there! My name is Reid and I like to talk about things that excite me.

The entire reason for this blog is that statement right there, I want to talk about things that excite me. I've always been a pretty excitable person, usually my brain will get fascinated by something or caught on an idea or story and I won't let go, generally to the displeasure of my friends (sorry boys). For years I'd get really into something and the only real outlet I'd have for sharing my excitement about it was to my friends and usually whatever had captured my imagination was niche and very specific to vibes I like which meant a lot of listening to ramblings, reading 60+ message discord text walls (or more likely ignoring them), and just smiling and waiting for me to burn out on it and move onto the next thing. That's worked for 10+ years but I'm reaching the point where I'm pretty aware that getting knowledge dumped about a topic you don't care about at 2 AM is not exactly the most fun thing. It's probably the human equivalent of a cat bringing in a big dead squirrel at 2 AM (a real thing my cat did for me once); yeah it shows they love you and just want to share something they did with you but it's 2 AM and now you have a dead squirrel at the foot of your bed you have to deal with and you'd much rather be sleeping.

For a time I made a twitter account to act as my mental dumping ground as well as an art repository since I happen to do game art for a living, and for a good 10 or 11 years that worked. I'd post about a new song I really liked, I'd mass retweet an artist I just found, I'd rant about a game I finished, or how art was hard and I was bad at it (probably too much when I was younger) but with the site really taking "this place is a hellhole" to the literal logical end and my thoughts and opinions wanting a longer format space to live. this seemed like a good idea.

This is all to say, I will strive to knowledge dump my lovely friends less and instead construct a digital spire to my absolutely rotted brain that pretty much anyone can peer into cause that seems like a healthy way of dealing with the situation. The bonus is that if you come here to read my thoughts then that is entirely on you. I've never done the whole blogging thing (outside of early 2010s tumblr) so I'm sure it'll be less polished than other places on the internet or people that have been doing this for years or grew up with blogs being the primary way of reading thoughts (the halcyon days before social media) but at the end of the day it doesn't need to look pretty, I just need to be able to post words.

it's called Trek Over Lands cause I like hiking

Now it might be hard to imagine this from the content of the post so far, but this will primarily be a TTRPG blog as that is by and large the stuff I'm most excited to talk about. This won't always be true, I'm sure I'll make a post about a video game I adored, a podcast I finished, or a song that means a lot to me but by and large, my mental energy sits in TTRPG realm. Unlike most other TTRPG blogs, I doubt I'll be making community shaking mechanics posts about this new system you can hack into your game for X cool reason, most likely just sharing thoughts on my campaigns I've run, cool games I've read or found, or ideas I'm excited about.

Here's a list about my current TTRPG efforts that you might be seeing:

• I'm playing in my first ever Play By Post game over on the RPGnet Forums. It's Heart: The City Beneath and a VERY different delivery method than I'm used to. Definitely will have more thoughts on this as it progresses.
• Was running a large group Forbidden Lands game but I'm going to be shelving it for a bit since I'm getting a bit burnt out on the system.
• Will be replacing said Forbidden Lands game with Mausritter and Mothership one shots for the time being (genre whiplash go brrrrr).
• I'm also trying to fire up a Dolmenwood campaign with a few players from the larger group cause that book has my brain by the horns... almost like a Breggle.
• Ultraviolet Grasslands is staring at me........... It calls.
  

And some of my other nerd efforts that might make an appearance here:

• Been playing Skald: Against the Black Priory most nights.
• Still making my way through Animal Well and Crow Country.
• Trying very hard to break out of the Platinum 1 bottle neck in Street Fighter 6
• Very very VERY slowly working through BG3 coop with two buds of mine.
• Porter Robinson has a new album out like next month and I doubt this place will avoid my fabled porter posting. 
• Game design thoughts haunt me at all times, they will make an appearance.
  

I'm not sure how often I'll post here or how much effort I'll put into advertising this space, but it just existing is enough for me. If anyone is out there and you feel compelled to reply to anything I post, I'd love to hear from you. Half the reason I share the stuff I'm excited about is because I like to talk to other people about it.

Alright that's all from me. Bye.