Tiny Dungeons Project

[BUNKERCLUB55]

hi all

here is a really small dungeon with new monsters, a new spell and some fun for low level chars. it's a stand alone but my wish is to see several small dungeons, from all of us, that can be used as side tracks or put togheter in a bigger complex ... or just in a big compilation of tiny dungeons "branded" M20.

rules are M20 core, i used "critter generator" by greywulf (fepition) and donjon's dungeon generator for the map, but some changes happened.

will we start a"Tiny Dungeons Project"? it will be good material for everyone ... or at least "material"!

see u all

[Crose87420]

What's this "critter generator" you mention and where can I snag it from?

I think the Tiny Dungeons Project is a great idea. For the last two or three years I've seen the "One Page Dungeon" contest results and thought, One Page Adventures for M20 would be a perfect fit.

You could do multiple level dungeons with each person doing a level, or even form campaigns of several One Page Adventures.

[sycarion]

What's this "critter generator" you mention and where can I snag it from?

I think the Tiny Dungeons Project is a great idea. For the last two or three years I've seen the "One Page Dungeon" contest results and thought, One Page Adventures for M20 would be a perfect fit.

You could do multiple level dungeons with each person doing a level, or even form campaigns of several One Page Adventures.

I modified it a little bit, but here is the perl script is based off of it to generate critters for the Action! System. Let me find the original script and I'll post it.

[sycarion]

Here's my modified script for M20. I'm still looking for the original.

Hope folks find it useful.

Code:

#!/usr/bin/perl
srand(time ^ $$ ^ unpack "%L*", 'ps axww | gzip');
$usage="usage: $0 number maxhd\n";
$ARGV[0]=~/^(\d+)$/ && ($numb = $1) || die $usage;
$ARGV[1]=~/^(\d+)$/ && ($maxhd = $1) || die $usage;
%rule = (
  'W','VF YF YF YXF YXF YXYF B',
  'B','PB YNF YNXF YNXF YNXYF YXYNF',
  'P','a ambi ante circum cis co de dis ob per prae se sine sub',
  'Y','Ca Ce Ci Co Cu Cy Da De Di Do Dy',
  'X','Ce Ci Co o',
  'V','a e i o u',
  'F','Ca Ca Ca Cae Cos Com Cus Cus Cus Cus Cus Cium Cium Ces',
  'C','b b c c ch ch d d d g g l l m m n n p p ph r r r s s s t t th th v x z Rr sH Ll',
  'D','b b c c ch ch d d g g l l m m n n p p ph r r r s s s t t t th th v x z Rr sH Ll h qu gn pt',
  'R','b b c c c ch ch g g p p ph t t th th',
  'L','c ch p g f',
  'H','c ch cl m n p ph pl pr qu t th',
  'N','n c l r'
);


for (1..$numb) { print &parse('W'), " : ", &stats, "\n"; }

sub parse {
$_=pop(@_);
/[^A-Z]/ && return $_;
@TMP=split(/\s+/, $rule{$_});
$_=splice(@TMP, rand @TMP, 1);
for (split('')) { print &parse($_); }
}

sub stats {
  $tst = int(rand()*13)+1;
$hd = int(rand()*$maxhd)+1;
$hp = int($hd*4.5)+int(rand()*4*$hd);
$ac = 10+$hd+int(rand()*5);
$tohit = $hd+int(rand()*4);
$dmg = int(rand()*2)+1 . 'd' . (int(rand()*6)+1)*2 . (rand>0.6?'+':'-') . (int(rand()*4)+2);
%weapon = ( '1' => 'Bite',
              '2' => 'Claw',
              '3' => 'Talon',
              '4' => 'Gore',
              '5' => 'Slap',
              '6' => 'Slam',
              '7' => 'Sting',
              '8' => 'Tentacle',
              '9' => 'Weapon',
              '10' => 'Weapon',
              '11' => 'Weapon',
              '12' => 'Weapon',
              '13' => 'Weapon',);
  $type = $weapon{$tst};
# $type = (rand>0.6?"By weapon":"Natural");

return "HD$hd (${hp}hp), AC$ac, $type +$tohit ($dmg)";
}

[Crose87420]

great!...now exactly what do I do with this script???

[sycarion]

great!...now exactly what do I do with this script???

It is a perl script.

Copy the text of the script from here and paste it into a text file. Save the text file as critters.pl

On a Mac or a Linux box, open a terminal. (Most linux distributions and Mac OS X and above have perl installed.) To run perl on a Windows computer, follow helpful tips at this link(http://bytes.com/topic/perl/answers/50676-perl-windows

The script will want two numbers. The first number is the number of 'critters' you want to generate. The second number is the maximum hit dice you want the creature to have.

For example:

If you type this

perl critters.pl 5 10

It generates 5 creatures. The creatures will range from 1 to 10 hit dice. The output would look something like this:

secrium : HD9 (43hp), AC19, Weapon +11 (2d10+3)
braxixymos : HD8 (41hp), AC19, Slam +11 (2d8+5)
gures : HD6 (44hp), AC19, Talon +6 (2d12-2)
diothuphium : HD10 (61hp), AC22, Weapon +10 (1d12+2)
ryma : HD1 (5hp), AC11, Weapon +2 (1d12-5)

Each creature has a name, HD, AC, weapon type, BAB, and damage in parenthesis. The results can vary in quality.

I do not know perl good enough to put on a website, though I would if I could.

[Crose87420]

Okay, thanks for the help!

[BUNKERCLUB55]

here the website 

http://home.greywulf.net/files/critters.cgi

and here the dungeon gen 

http://donjon.bin.sh/d20/dungeon/

would be really great to put togheter a bunch of dugeons or short adventures/encounters with new monsters, new stuff

[sycarion]

Using the script, here are 650 critters arranged by Hit Dice, then Alphabetical Order.

Hopefully, these critters can provide inspiration for a tiny dungeon in that you can choose by HD how powerful the tiny dungeon will be.

[Empty]

Using the script, here are 650 critters arranged by Hit Dice, then Alphabetical Order.

Hopefully, these critters can provide inspiration for a tiny dungeon in that you can choose by HD how powerful the tiny dungeon will be.

Is it just me, or does critters generate incredibly random sounding names?

Really, do any of those sound like something you'd encounter in a game?


On topic, the idea of tiny dungeons is brilliant, maybe I'll get around to making one..

[sycarion]

Using the script, here are 650 critters arranged by Hit Dice, then Alphabetical Order.

Hopefully, these critters can provide inspiration for a tiny dungeon in that you can choose by HD how powerful the tiny dungeon will be.

Is it just me, or does critters generate incredibly random sounding names?

Really, do any of those sound like something you'd encounter in a game?


On topic, the idea of tiny dungeons is brilliant, maybe I'll get around to making one..

As far as the topic goes, I think Tiny Dungeons are a brillant idea, too. I hope to come up with a couple myself.

It's not just you. I hope they provide a starting point for encountering new creatures or rethinking common ones. If I had the time, I'll like to expand the generator out to creating random special abilities/special qualities.

In general, I end up replacing the name because any generator for names can only do so much. What helps me is the generating of stats and attack types. Sometimes two critters together inspire something interesting. For example, two monsters on the spreadsheet appear next to each other:

Code:

manus HD1 (5hp) AC12 Gore +4 (2d8+2)
minus HD1 (6hp) AC15 Bite +3 (1d12+4)

This makes me think of two very similar creatures, one that attacks with their mouth, the other with their horn/antlers. I can imagine a 1st-2nd level dungeon with these two creatures in alternating encounters. Because of their similar appearance, it make take some time for the party to tell the difference between the two (and plan accordingly.)

Or maybe these creatures are two avatars of a more powerful creature. In these forms, it appears to die, but it is really just gathering intelligence.

[BUNKERCLUB55]

I like the generator, and the new feat is great, i mean replacing the simple "natural" with several kind of attacks (tentacles, claws, etc)

every generator is just a starting point, then it's it's up to us to modify what sounds bad. and yep .. names are crap ... but sometimes they work 

we can set a "standard" for the dungeons/adventures .. we see wht happens

[SethDrebitko]

This is cool. Something I would love to get some skill with is making generators so we can have a great big set of them.

[WasabiJae]

For the last two or three years I've seen the "One Page Dungeon" contest results and thought, One Page Adventures for M20 would be a perfect fit.

You could do multiple level dungeons with each person doing a level, or even form campaigns of several One Page Adventures.

I love the One Page dungeon layout and for sure I've combed through the last two years contests entries and picked out my favorites to string together or sprinkle around.  Something about having the key and map on the same page is really great you can really visualize and plot.  I would even like it if larger modules would break thinks up into this sort of layout because going back to flipping pages is such a drag.   It does fit with the microlite feel as well because it's a simple thing and yet you immediatly see how nice it is.

[Crose87420]

I love the One Page dungeon layout and for sure I've combed through the last two years contests entries and picked out my favorites to string together or sprinkle around.  Something about having the key and map on the same page is really great you can really visualize and plot.  I would even like it if larger modules would break thinks up into this sort of layout because going back to flipping pages is such a drag.   It does fit with the microlite feel as well because it's a simple thing and yet you immediatly see how nice it is.

Yeah, I have the last two years worth of the One Page Dungeon entries saved and look through them every now and then. There just too good not to be used with M20.