D&D 5E Running a randomly-generated dungeon one-shot

[RoiC.]

I've decided to run a one-shot for the group I play in. The only DMing experience I've had so far was running a one-shot dungeon crawler that I designed myself, which went pretty awesome... But with one adventure under my belt, I can't really call myself experienced.

Anyway, after letting ideas run in my head for a while, I've decided to get a card deck made of dungeon rooms, with each card connecting to any other card, so that each time the party finishes a room, one of the players will randomly draw a card, and they will continue to the next room.

Problem is, I'm not really sure how to make it work yet. Story-wise, I think I'll fit the adventure in Sigil, so it will make the thing both more convincing and will add a nice twist (having the doors open under unique conditions, having each room themed differently), but mechanically, I'm not sure what elements should remain constant (how many rooms, what to have in each room, etc), and what should be random, and so on.

I know, it's not even a question, and random dungeons are not a simple thing... But if any of you have any ideas or experience with that sort of thing, I'd love to hear what you people have to say.

Thanks!

 

[DRF]

card deck made of dungeon rooms,

Link doesn't work.

Anyway, I'd suggest the good ol' KISS approach: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Seems like you're setting yourself up for a lot of unnecessary work given your limited experience. Why not just run a simpler one-shot until you have more experience?

 

[transtemporal]

Yeah, kinda seems like a lot of work. Why not just use the Donjon 5e random dungeon generator?

https://donjon.bin.sh/5e/dungeon/

 

[RoiC.]

Link doesn't work.

Fixed.

I don't think it has to be that complicated, I'm just trying to think of ideas how I can make it simple.

 

[RoiC.]

Yeah, kinda seems like a lot of work. Why not just use the Donjon 5e random dungeon generator?

https://donjon.bin.sh/5e/dungeon/

I thought of using it, but it loses the gimmick of making up the dungeon as we go.

 

[Baumi]

The best System that i found so far is "Seven Deadly Dungeons":
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/223242/GoldGlory-Seven-Deadly-Dungeons

Sadly it's for Savage Worlds, but it could be adapted and for 10 bucks it's a great inspiration to do your own system.

The essence of it is to draw three poker cards (no face cards and no re-shuffly) per Room. One card is the height, one the width and the last one the number of exists (1-3). Drawn hearts symbolize Hazards/Monsters, Diamonds represent Treasures and black cards have no special Effect. Each Dungeon has it's own table for Hazards, Treasures and Fluff to make it special. There are some more small rules, but thats the gist of it.

It works really, really well and it is based on Old-School Treasure Hunts. Go in, get as much Gold as possible, which give you XP if you spend it for Carousing, Praying and other "useless" stuff (with funny event tables) and get out before you die. There is no special Climax, just pure random Dungeon-crawling fun that you can play without any preparation. 8D

 

[CapnZapp]

As you say, random dungeons are not a simple thing. In fact, they are very hard to get right; at least if you have any pretensions at a satisfying game flow. Which even veteran DMs can fail at.

I would emphatically recommend that you keep to pre-written adventures until you can call yourself an experienced DM.

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[RoiC.]

As you say, random dungeons are not a simple thing. In fact, they are very hard to get right; at least if you have any pretensions at a satisfying game flow. Which even veteran DMs can fail at.

I would emphatically recommend that you keep to pre-written adventures until you can call yourself an experienced DM.

Honestly, you're right. However, I won't become an experiencd DM anytime soon. I don't really have time to DM at the moment (honestly, I barely have the time to be a player recently), so gaining lots of experience is not going to be so possible.

So, when I do have the time to run something, I prefer to make something unique instead of running a pre-written adventure. Sure, it's probably a better idea, but this is probably not going to happen. Last time I wrote an adventure from scratch (well, I did watch Colville's videos and asked a few question online, but that's mostly it), and while it did have some faults, it went great. If I something up... It's not the end of the world, my friends will live with it. If it ends up being good, however...

 

[DRF]

I would emphatically recommend that you keep to pre-written adventures until you can call yourself an experienced DM.

Building on that, I found the Redbrand part of Lost Mines of Phandelver to be a great one-shot. Some investigation in the city, with a good bit of RP which then culminates with the exploration of the manor. Alternatively the intro goblin dungeon would work great for a new group, but might be a little boring for experienced players.

 

[aco175]

I always thought a random teleportation gimmick would work for random adventures, some show have this like sliders and many episodic shows as well. You can even do it for each encounter. Maybe a grand castle, or demi-plane even traps the PCs for the next 24 hours. A random amount of time later they teleport to another encounter. A bridge over a waterfall, a dark crypt, a tavern room, a temple in the middle of a sacrifice, etc... I would make the time between jumps random to give a chance for rest.

This "random" adventure would still require scenes and planning by the dm, but each encounter can be rolled or have cards that are drawn. It would be cool if in the middle of a fight with goblins one is drawn into the next encounter.