Saturday, 31 December 2022

Getting Ready for #Dungeon23

As some of you might already know - there is a bit of a craze over on social media/blogs/etc. at the moment... and a lot of folks are talking about this #dungeon23 thing.


If you're not familiar, then it's a concept proposed by Sean McCoy (of Mothership fame) where you try to write a dungeon room every day throughout 2023.

Then, if all goes to plan, every month can be representative of a single level of a mega-dungeon - each containing around 30 rooms (though that idea is not set in stone - it could be a city, with each entry being a building or NPC, or anything you want really).

Furthermore, each entry doesn't have to be anything special (if you're busy/struggling on a particular day - that entry might simply be 'empty room') - the main aim (as far as I can tell), is to just try and do 'something' each day if you can (and don't worry if you can't... just pick it back up when you feel like it).

Anyway, as you can probably tell, I'm going to give it a go... at least in some fashion - but to begin with I'm just going to commit to doing a single dungeon level throughout January (after which, I might change things up a little, and try something else).

And in preparation for that, I've been doing a little warm-up dungeon these past couple of days - just to iron out any creases before I start the real thing (you can find this test dungeon HERE if you want to check it out - as I think this is the kind of layout that I've settled on).

- the basic 'old-school' style of map that I'll be using (drawn in Inkscape) -

Now, the current plan is to post my 'room' descriptions here on the blog (one each day throughout January) - and see how I get on (I'll also compile all of the entries in THIS google doc).

However, I don't want to make something that's too gonzo - so I have drawn up a (very) basic plan of this first level (see below) - but it will likely change as the month progresses.


So yeah, tomorrow will be the first day of this challenge, and while I don't expect my results to be anything special (in truth I don't expect the resulting dungeon to be all that usable) - I think it'll be a fun exercise nonetheless.

Anyway, feel free to follow along if it sounds vaguely interesting... and if you're also taking part in #dungeon23 (and sharing your own progress), then let me know where to find you down in the comments!

Friday, 2 December 2022

Effigy Tombs (print & paste terrain)

I’ve had this idea for a while now – and although the original plan was to make a tips & tricks video to cover it (just using the ‘pillars’ and the ‘statues’ pdfs), I’ve instead opted for a full episode (with all new textures) in order to make things a little easier.

As usual, things started with a basic idea…


 ...which eventually turned into something a bit more presentable: 


 Anyway, here’s the video tutorial:

 

...and HERE is the pdf file (note that if you are a supporting me over on Patreon or as a YouTube Member, then please just put a zero in the little box and download the file for free).

Hope you like ‘em!