Thursday, February 20, 2020

Procedural Mini-dungeon Example, plus d80 Lair of the Robolich special rooms

Hey-o, fam. Now is the time for all good men and women and nonbinary peoples n robots n such to decry racism, sexism, bigotry of all sorts. If you say to this VIRTUE SIGNALLING, then piss off and fail all your saves for today. I tend to play the Chaotic- and Lawful-Good  types, when I play on the player side. The Robolich wishes for you to know that mere faulty flesh parts are of no consequence and merely the avatars for the deep programming that persists, and furthermore 45 years of media consumption has taught me that slow, dense, monotypical bullying empires are not to be trusted or permitted and Rebellion requires us to undertake iconoclasm

Speaking of destroying empires, here is a thing I have been teaching my computer to make for me via Tablesmith. Long ago, it was a Moldvay Basic-based dungeon stocking program but I have now authored, cribbed, and stolen so many tables and adhered them together that it is making a perfectly good and beautifully gonzo dungeon nearly every time I spit one out. I can make them all day, and they have level-appropriate monsters, to boot.  Here is an example of a brief Level 1 DunjonCorp vs. The Robolich dungeon, the idea being that the dumb/sinister computer makes my entries for me, then I go back in and “human DM” them up and elaborate as needed. I’m a big fan of letting the Robolich do my work for me, if you take my meaning. It sort of combines my metals/treasures/traps/”special” room contents and about 10 other different parts to make a key that sometimes does not make sense. It used to have pretty good treasure-per-room ratio but that went to hell a while back. The Mutant Future/Gamma World monster list is still a work in progress so it mostly spits out “spidergoat”

  1. There is a spidergoat, here.
  2. Hidden antique Imperial coins worth 530 gold .
  3. Hidden antique Imperial coins worth 385 gold .
  4. There are 3 Vegepygmy Warriors and a blasted hole, here.
  5. Krenshar, a weapon rack, and hidden treasure: High Tech: Antitox Functions on 1-4 in 20.
  6. Hidden ancient coins of blue ivory worth 365 gold.
  7. There are 3 Morlock Warriors, here.
  8. This room has a Robodoc terminal.
  9. This room has an a fountain - drinking or bathing in it will Intelligent - AI or demon-haunted. Determine personality randomly. (nonsensical, but could be fun if I flesh it out, like maybe a water weird-style or nereid petulant NPC)
  10. There are 1 Human Commoner Zombies and a curtain, here.
  11. This room has an office supply storage facility. 1d100 cubicle walls, stacked and propped in a pile, yellow-mold infested.
  12. This room is spotlessly clean and free of dust. In the corner, there is a lantern.
  13. There are 2 Human Commoner Zombies and a broken furniture, here.
  14. This room has a force field that constrains Hezrou.
  15. Mostly empty and clean, this room smells dusty.
  16. There are 1 Small Monstrous Scorpions and the diseased remains of a Cleric, still in its chainmail hauberk, bearing a Staff. It still has a sack, here.
  17. There are 1 Dire Rats and a kiln, here.
  18. This room has an obscene hand-painted frescoes - staring at them for too long causes switch victim alignment to neutral.
  19. There are 3 Human Commoner Zombies, here.
  20. There are 3 Vegepygmy Warriors and a tripod, here.



Here is the code for the “special rooms” contents. It’s not always weighted equally so some things will occur more frequently than others… steal if you like and may the Robolich’s leering visage take pity on your unidimensional soul. Anything in brackets like [this] is a call to another table or section of this code

  1. puzzle that will [Special] if solved
  2. is half-flooded with waist-high water. The next {Dice~1d4+1} rooms are also flooded
  3. animated mosaics
  4. {Dice~%Level%d4} lewd voxel sculptures. They [Special]
  5. statue from an ancient civilization, which [Special]
  6. broken scientific equipment, that will [Special]
  7. a magic circle: entering it will [Special]
  8. slime patches - 1 in 10 is monstrous but is currently dormant
  9. {Dice~1d3} shipping containers containing {Dice~2d100} [NMS_Junk.Start]
  10. cryostasis tomb - {Dice~1d4+4} cryopods that contain {Bold~[Monster]} in stasis
  11. {Dice~1d4} mummified corpses: disturbing them causes [Special]
  12. huge fire pit - 10% chance that it is still lit
  13. broken and decaying furniture - space station style
  14. {Dice~1d3} thrones - disturbing them in any way summons {Bold~[Monster]}
  15. altar to some ancient god - praying at it causes [Special]
  16. alarm that activates and causes {Bold~[Monster]} to arrive in next turn
  17. weapon racks - containing {Dice~1d4} ancient mono-scimitars, void grenades, or blasters
  18. hyperbraziers and charcoal - inhaling the pungent fumes causes [Special]
  19. an ancient battle site with {Dice~2d20} skeletons and their wargear
  20. obscene hand-painted frescoes - staring at them for too long causes [Special]
  21. mouldering tapestries that are worth {Dice~2d500} gp but weigh 1000gp
  22. large demon idol from an ancient civilization - worshipping causes [Special]
  23. Gene resequencer - change to random race if interacted with
  24. clone vat - interacting character sacrifices {Dice~1d12} HP and gets faithful/insane/flawed clone
  25. corpse renderer - breaks corpses down into 1d10 potions
  26. trash incinerator - receive 5 gold/AL in antique coins for worhtless items
  27. sauroid pen - either dusty bones or {Bold~{Dice~2d4} Large Dinosaurs} in stasis
  28. pillars of scrutiny: if diverge from Alignment, then judged and causes [Trap]
  29. altar to [Altar] - donating money causes [Special]
  30. intricate archway - stepping through transports to [Pocket]
  31. illusionary ceiling. The party is able to view the sky outside the dungeon
  32. ancient container - contains small hoard of [Treasure] plus [NMS_Junk.Start]
  33. interactive map dome - some far away region or land
  34. fire - blazing fire in center of room
  35. roaring fireplace
  36. cold fireplace
  37. force field that constrains {Bold~[NMS_DunjonCorpMonsters.Hard]}
  38. a fountain - drinking or bathing in it will [Special]
  39. illusion - touching it will [Special]
  40. infernal machine - interacting with the control panel will [Special]
  41. magically confined monster - {Bold~[NMS_DunjonCorpMonsters.Extreme]}
  42. pedestal - touching it [Special]
  43. pit - it is effectively bottomless, or else the bottom goes to [Pocket]
  44. pool - mysterious waters cause [Special]
  45. stairway to extra-/para-dimensional section of dungeon
  46. tangleweb vines - DC 14 Dexterity save or held fast (whole party)
  47. intricate well - if a PC throws in a coin they make a wish or climb down to [Pocket]
  48. divinity terminal gives access to previously unknown minor godthing
  49. matter transmittal pad, moves within dungeon or far far away
  50. soul gem - every round a beam attacks random party member, DC {Dice~1d12+6} Wisdom save negates, else soul sucked into Gem
  51. planetarium projector - if disturbed then laser attacks at d24 on each party member for 1d10 damage
  52. bottled city access. The bottle is guarded by {Bold~[NMS_DunjonCorpMonsters.Hard]}
  53. shimmering warpgate to [Pocket]. The gate is guarded by {Bold~[NMS_DunjonCorpMonsters.Extreme]}
  54. hallway of door gates {Dice~1d6} active portals
  55. cubicle zone {Dice~%Level%d100} office cubicles. [Cubicle]
  56. office supply storage facility. [Storage]
  57. server room with {Dice~%Level%d10} humming server machines and {Dice~%Level%d4} artificial intelligences
  58. {Dice~%Level%d20} high-strength storage barrels full of [Liquids]
  59. evolutionary improver machine - adds 1 positive mutation
  60. de-volver Ray - adds 1 negative mutation
  61. dna resequencer - changes race
  62. rows of cloning tanks with {Dice~1d10} viable clones
  63. shelves of supplies
  64. parking lot with {Dice~2d10} rusted-out automobiles or skimmers. The entry-gate is non-functioning. [Parking]
  65. a very tidy resting spot is nestled in an out of the way part of this room, complete with water and toilet facilities
  66. magic mouth recites a dire warning in several languages and telepathically
  67. food production area. {Dice~%Level%d10} iron ration equivalents are available
  68. maintenance area. There are [Maintenance]
  69. ancient maintenance droid, it will [Special] if repaired
  70. broken colossal war machine, will [Special] if awoken
  71. empty robot charging station
  72. matter replicator device
  73. nanotech doctoring device - restores all HP and removes biological disease and poison
  74. Robodoc terminal
  75. small plasmic energy core - the room is bathed in low-intensity radiation
  76. giant holding tank of mutagenic gel
  77. large holding tank of mutagenic gel that is cracked and leaking. Nearby monsters will have beneficial mutations
  78. nanite cesspit that dissolves organic materials
  79. nanite cesspit that dissolves inorganic materials
  80. rippling breach in space-time that spills out Lovecraftian horrors

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