Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Pseudo Geomorphs

Standard Dungeon geomorphs are squares filled with dungeon rooms, chambers, and corridors with so many connections per side that allow one to place them side by side and create a larger dungeon. The concept is old, and clever, as it allows a dungeon to be put together quickly but it creates dungeons that look like a uniform block of rooms and corridors without properly using the 'white space' (or in this case black space or cross-hatched space) that could help things stand out and be a bit more interesting. A clever GM can build this sort of thing into the placement but I thought it might be nice to build the spaces directly into the geomorphs.

This idea isn't fully fleshed out but I think it might have potential. It's what I call pseudo geomorphs. It's the same general idea with two differences:
  1. Not every connection needs to be used.
  2. Instead of just squares pseudo geomorphs use tetronmino. These are the shapes familiar from the game Tetris. I've mocked up a template of the shapes below, the arrows represent the possible connections between the geomorphs.
    The square tetronmino is designed to match the common 10x10 geomorphs. The other geomorphs can be used for connecting tunnels, to follow a streams course, or simply interesting shapes that won't fit on the standard square.

    The GM should place a Dungeon Landmark at any connectors that don't line up. Typically different styles of dungeons will have a subset of the Dungeon Landmark list below.

    Table 1 - Dungeon Landmark Table

    1d20
    Dungeon Landmarks
    01-02
    Alcove/Nothing
    03
    Alterr/Chapel/Dias/Shrine
    04
    Bell
    05
    Carvings/Ruins
    06
    Crypt/Sarcophagus
    07-08
    Fountain/Well
    09
    Garden/Terrarium
    10
    Gate
    11
    Mural/Mosaic
    12
    Obelisk/Menhir
    03
    Pedastal
    14
    Pit
    15
    Pool/River/Stream
    16-17
    Stairs/Ladder
    18-19
    Statue/Idol
    20
    Throne

    Anyway that's all I've got for now on that.




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