All Things Solo

Welcome, my fellow dungeoneers, to the Class of Cartography. Herein you will find my notes on How to Create Random Dungeons by utilizing many FGU modules and tilesets.

Note: This intro of a series of experiments assumes too many things on your part. Knowledge of how to create tables & work with the FGU Map Tool; Game Mastery knowledge to determine level appropriate monsters in encounter tables; and possession of referred modules and tilesets. But that doesn't mean you can't make do with what you already have. To keep this entry short and on point, Info Dumps will be added to comments later. Then, you can learn all the details of different parts in the article.

TL;DR: Only important missing thing is file-names from Map Packs to create Tileset Image Tables. I will provide it later.

Products I Used:

1) Template: Dungeon Generator (in Paul Bimler's The Solo Adventurer's Toolbox): This is the main dungeon text gen.
0giyD3d.jpeg



2) Dan Harlan's Dungeon Room Descriptions (DRD): Room and mundane item text gen. From the cover;

"The door is made of oaken planks, it has a turning handle and two dwarven warriors are carved in relief on the sides of this door. This room has roughly hewn stone floor that has small gravel and dirt strewn around. The floor is plain and bare. The ceiling is cathedral vaulted and shows no signs of note. Carved in relief upon these walls are one after another the shapes of twisted and corrupted figures. Their faces half melted into masks of twisted pain and terror. The remains of a small leather bound book that has been burned lies discarded along one wall."

Bolded parts; All the relevant info for choosing dressing images. Details will be in info dumps.
Bolded-Underlined: This is the Notable Object part that can be used as a plot twist and may include using make-shift images.

2.5) J. Evan Payne's FlexTale Solo Adventuring Toolkit: For "QuickStart Map Generator" part.

3) Various Dungeon Tilesets;

• Default and Free Art Packs in FGU (LoS)
• Forgotten Adventures Map Pack (FA Map Pack, free)
• Black Scrolls - Sewer (Map Pack) LoS
• FGU Dungeon Map Pack (LoS) for brushes and fundamentals.

To be tested later;

• FlexCrawl Tilesets [bundle]
• Meanders

Example FA Assets that can be used in conjunction with DRD.
FA-mappack-examples.png

4) Tables of Tile Images (Feature / Dressing) (requires prep). It's simply creating d100 or focused d12 tables that roll for tile images themselves to pop up, so you can quickly add them into the dungeon map. Below ones are for extracting architectural info & terms to be used in creation of these tables -which is mostly for me;

• Toolbox Table: Dungeon - Random Architecture (limited info)
• DRD Table: Door Materials (can also be for walls, floor, ceilings)
• Other DRD Tables for the architecture terms (It is basically an architectural designer)
• Target INFO: Naming conventions, architecture terms, color / object / feature matches in FA Map Pack. From the results, I'll create file-name lists and divide them into categories.

5) Encounter Tables

• Table: Encounters - Dungeon (Toolbox), various encounters within.
• Table: 16.06 Encounters by PC Level (Toolbox, 5E CR table for 1-2 PC)

Prep Phase

1) Make multiple tables from Tileset images in FA Map Pack based on terms used in DRD. Info dumps in comments will include methods as well as notes. I'll also add TileImage-file-names.txt so that you can quickly copy / pasta them into FGU's Table > Import thingy.

Main Categories: Subject to change after I re-read Flextile Toolkit with me good eye.

A) Main Room Shapes & Sizes (square, plus, round, maze, etc)
B) Extensions (passages, tunnels, caves, connectors, etc)
C) Room Dressings (FA Map Pack has 1000s of them but they are mostly variations.)

The first 2 will later be divided into sub-categories for ease of use and accurate connections. More will be in info dumps.

2) Make Encounter Tables if you don't have any.

• The Toolbox 1 (up to CR 7) & Toolbox Part 2 (CR 8-20) include Combat Encounter Tables for solo PC in 5E. (CR-Only Table -> Monsters Tables categorized by Terrain and listed based on CRs)
• Non-combat Encounter Tables: DRD and imagination can be utilized for them. But Table: Encounters - Dungeon (Toolbox) has various ideas in its rolls.
• Trap & Puzzle Tables: Template: Trap Generator (Toolbox)

monster-cr-terrain.png

The Method

Create a new image to be used as the dungeon map and give it grids -see pic below. Tile images, such as dungeon floors, will be added and connected together in here, according to prompts from text gens. Grids will enable snapping so your rooms can look pretty.

grid-map.png

Summary: Guided by the dungeon generator prompts, Roll random tile image tables, Place the results onto the map to shape an area, and Add dressing images based on DRD descriptions into the rooms for flavor or tactics. Then roll for encounter tables to populate your rooms.

Don't go overboard; Create-as-you-roll & Play-as-you-create. Simplify what's in front of your PC with only few open ends.

• 0) Based on prompts from the Toolbox Dungeon Generator Template;
• 1) Roll "Tile Image Tables" to get 1 Main (Room, Passage, Stairs, etc) and optionally 1-2 Extensions as exit(s) out of the Main Area. Connect them to create a small, open-ended starting area. Example: 4x4 square room that has a door to a passage, and a secret door.
• 2) Roll "Template: Complete Description" in DRD for room dressings. The result will guide you for dressing tables that will contain FA Map Pack images. Generally, 1 mundane item is more than enough.
• 2.5) Optional: Dress the room with more mundane items for flavor, environmental storytelling or maybe for tactics (cover, hazards, traps, etc).
• 3) Roll for appropriate level monster tables to populate the room for an encounter based on the % chance in the Dungeon Gen Text. That requires you to roll d100 first to see if the encounter is triggered. Don't have to be a combat encounter, though.
• 4) If there's combat: Test your might.
• 4.5) Or Roleplay Non-combat Encounters which might lead to combat, especially with the flavor notes in Toolbox Dungeon Generator -(or not). It may include utilizing the NPC generator which is part of the main template.
• 5) Move on to the next part of the dungeon. Create-as-you-go by rolling the tile image tables when necessary. Resolve Social / Traps / Combat, whatever is in it.
• 6) Rinse and Repeat until all rooms or your PC's HP are cleared. Note that Toolbox Dungeon Gen tells you how many rooms the dungeon has at the beginning.

GOLDEN RULES:

1) K.I.S.S: Keep It Short and Simple.
2) Creative Freedom: Change, add, subtract, divide or multiply anything from the descriptions and tables to your heart's content.

Notes for the Method

• 1) Toolbox Dungeon Template can give you the prompt for the rooms with extra info in 1 click. My Info dumps will detail this process and tie it to the next parts.
• Text gen part in #1 is available in Legacy DMG 5E (partially) + The Toolbox (detailed).
• Tile Image tables in #1 will require prep for once (plus every time more tiles are added)
• 2.5) "Table: Notable" in DRD is the way for it. It will require dressing images which are plenty in Forgotten Adventures Mapmaking Pack but filtering out the excess and finding the appropriate ones can take time. At least for me, 'cause I'll upload usable file names to make tables for personal use only.
• 3) is in Legacy DMG and Toolkit (for 5E) / for other rulesets, it will require more prep.
• 4.5) For non-combat encounters there are many free and paid options in the web and dmsguild / drivethrurpg.

Last Note: The info dumps I'll drop Later on will detail every single part of this article. Practical parts will be on top and details will be on bottom in case Griogre makes use of them. Next time I'll use more pictures. I guess. After I drop all info dumps, hopefully we all can rent the dungeons we'll create to various dark lords, which would be an excellent source of income in this economy.

Happy Gaming!