All Things Solo

Welcome to the Library, dungeoneer, where we learn to deal with the printing press.

Scribbled Note: "To Griogre. Details are at the bottom. If you search " (!) " it takes you to the biggest problem I found (Toolbox's room size gen) for manual creation with image tile tables." ~Scribe Temperen

Practical

References

Template: Dungeon Generator, The Solo Adventurer's Toolbox, P. Bimler
Template: Complete Description, Dungeon Room Descriptions, Dan Harlan

Where to Begin?

Toolbox & DRD generators work PERFECTLY with each other. Providing 1 condition is fulfilled, that is, if Toolbox Gen rolls for matching elements with DRD's. Because complete DRD descriptions mostly generates a Notable item, whereas Toolbox only generates matching content sometimes. Both gens may or may not give an empty room prompt, though not always at the same time. More on the solution, later.

Comparison pic 1:


Toolbox prompted that an NPC is investigating something in the first room. Normally, a soloist would have to use Question & Answer method (Oracle) in the module to find out the object of the investigation. And that would add to the time consumed in gameplay.

But what if they don't match?

Comparison pic 2:


Simple. This is where the beauty of the wording in DRD shines. It says the room "appears..." NOT "is... empty." I can even imagine Group GMs who uses these gens for improvised dungeon crawlers while singing Trololo song in their minds. Print the DRD chat bubble while you secretly roll d6 to determine how to "surprise" your players with a wide grin.

Whether the contents of 2 generators match or not, just ask yourself "what would fit better in this part of the session?"

How to Use the Toolbox

Main Template is very simple: It only generates Dungeon Type, Dungeon Size and the Starting Area. But not without caveats. Players have to keep these 3 features in mind when creating related content. When pressed Generate button, you get prompts like;

Dungeon Gen Pic:


For example, if Dungeon Type is a Guild, you'd first determine who runs it and use appropriate random encounter tables for it. And it doesn't even have to be an enemy guild. Group GMs can also use it for creating random guilds, temples, mazes, etc.

If Dungeon Size is Small (less than 10), depending on the Rooms' Size, you would add 1-2 huge or few medium monsters in a room. If playing as Solo PC, more than 2 monsters can be overwhelming, especially at low levels. Not to forget, this info determines where to end the dungeon gen --because the Template don't know where to stop. That's why I use a system for renaming generated story links.

Renaming Story Pages

Creating a category folder in Story Tab and choosing it (while keeping Story tab open) makes you track generated content better.

Pic: Using Sidebar


After you pressed "Generate" button in the template, the story entries will be automatically added to this folder. Then you can rename them as;

001 - [Dungeon Type] (Total Rooms number) - [Starter Area's Type]
002 - [The Starter Area Entry] - (Notable Content if any) - [Next Area Type]

If area is a room;

003 - [Room 01/Max Room Number] - (number of exits) - [Notable Contents if any]
003.A - Room 01 - Exit 1) [Type of exit; i.e: passage]
003.B - Room 01 - Exit 2) [Type of exit; i.e: door]
004 - Room 01 Encounter 01 [type; social/combat/trap] -
005 - Encounter 01 Resolved As (in the text window, a short note on how the encounter resolved)

This is where you go back to the last exit entry you used and continue generating from there.
006 - Room 02...

This system gives the story entries an order by utilizing FGU's entry ordering conventions.

Naming Order Pic:


Starting Areas

These can be 5 types and the tables for them are included:

Passage
Room
Door
Stairs
Open Entrance

From there, all you do is to follow the instructions while generating text for any of these 5 types and connecting them together to flesh out your dungeon's "skeleton." Other than that, there is no way to visualize the text with Toolbox alone.

Ways to use DRD Descriptions

1. Using Room Features

Door, floor, wall, and ceiling features described using material terms in DRD. The full description is plain and simple, which allows you to add any story or combat element you can imagine. Some examples;

* Epic Battles by implies of existence of monsters: like cobwebs (spiders) and frozen walls (frost giants).
* Suspense by imagining a rusty squeak out of a latch description. Especially when it is fitted into a metal door.
* Mystery by vivid imagery on door carvings. Elements in these carvings are chosen from symbolism of classic fantasy settings such as D&D.
* Horror by profane wall graffitis, etc. You can use this as they imply evil cults, devils & demons, and all kinds of nasty monsters.
* Tragedy / Intrigue by prompt of a burned notebook under a debris. Contents of such notables are not included but this will where your imagination shine.
* And other elements that are too numerous to count.

I don't know how but they also provide such CONTRASTS in one paragraph that I automatically think of 2 sides of an epic fantasy battle.
Example: A Tree Relief carved on a door VS. Profane Symbols on the walls of the same room (Nature VS. Evil), Druid Circle VS Death Cult.

So don't take these materials just to describe the room but also give them your own style, use them to create your own story.

2. Non-Combat Encounters

Sometimes DRD passes the ball to you in unbelievable ways but it all depends on rolls that give you perfect combos.

A writing on the walls reads "Carl died here, damn this place!" AND (Five bodies lay fallen in a pile near one corner.) Which one is Carl? Or Did Carl caused this before giving up the ghost? Who the heck wrote it? Remember 5W1H questions? You can leave it as is or start a whole new story arc from there.

Extra info will be in "10. BONUS: Environmental Storytelling Demo Play" entry.

Details

This part has in-depth explanations of Toolbox Gen and is mostly for Griogre. Most of you won't need this but feel free to continue.

More on Toolbox Dungeon Areas

Passage

This type used as a connector.

The template generates how long the passage is in feet and where does it lead to (door, room, etc) so that you can connect it to other parts. It also generates contents with a chance to get nothing in it. More on "contents" below.

Room

Pic of a Generated Room Text:


The template starts with Shape & Size.

Shapes are usual geometric shapes (octagonal & hexagonal, too) including "rough" (caves, etc) which will help finding matching images in FA Map Pack. I will check the entire Pack when I start the 5th info dump (Making Tileset Image Tables), so it's early to say anything about it now.

(!) Room Size, though... This will take more research for the 5th info dump to figure out how to fit the exact size in prompts by manipulating image tiles in Map Packs with FGU Map Tool.

Sometimes it prompts "Hexagonal room - 30 ft. across - 0 exits." It is easy to imagine such a room but not as easy to fit existing Map Tiles into the description.

The (Square / Rectangle) - (20 ft x 30 ft) kind are the easiest ones. I think all we have to do is to manipulate the size of the map tile image to fit it into appropriate amount of grids. 1 grid = 5 feet. So, the example room will fit in "4x6" grids. Thank you, whoever SmiteWorks wizard coded the Map Tool!

Note that sometimes the template takes it 1 step further and give me "1d6 + 10 ft room on all sides." It doesn't roll the dice automatically and print the result into the story entry, though.

And rarely, it gives prompts such as "x ft. in diameter - y exits." Triangle and triangular shapes also among the rolls.

But this one was the rarest: "Trapezoidal - 50 ft. roughly on each side - No exits other than the one you entered through." I don't think FA Pack have one of these.

Door

It is a simple 1 paragraph description of door material and D&D game terms -mostly one or the other. Meaning, if it's trapped or not, few details on the trap (if any), some modifiers for its Oracle when necessary.

This part is too simple but the terms might be hard to read for newbies. DRD's door gen (as standalone and in part of main gen) is extremely detailed and sparks imagination better -except it doesn't include reference to D&D mechanics (trap types, etc).

Stairs

Also a connector. Defines if it goes up or down, where it leads to (5 area types) and sometimes +/- modifiers for in-tool content rolls. So it requires Room / Passage tables within, to get the modifiers first. The 2 tables within contain non/combat encounters, or rubble, debris, etc.

Open Entrance

Just a simple roll to learn where it leads.

Contents

Aside from dressings, there are 3 main types of contents in Toolbox:

1. Loot: Links to 2014 DMG & Toolbox tables.
2. Clues: Various items -mundane and magical- and an open-ended detail for them. Also, things for 5 senses (mention of noises, etc).
3. Encounters: Combat and non-combat.