When a tavern patron begins a conversation with, “do you want to see something really wild?” one need not think too hard to realize where that conversation might lead and excusing one’s self from the table is typically the best course of action.
And yet, that’s exactly what I did not do when I found myself in that situation, much to Ferguson’s annoyance and my later inconvenience.
After my last adventure, I sought a few days’ refuge to collect my thoughts, with the notion of further exploring the underground of our world being the furthest concern weighing on my mind. We’d heard talk of an excellent weaponsmith working out of the town on the other side of the pass and I decided to follow through with my promise to arm myself - far from the events of the previous day.
If I could put wagers down on the humor of the fates I would be a very rich man.
I suppose, in hindsight, I was bound to stumble into an area where I was ill-equipped to tread. I must admit, however, that the possibility seemed always remote, and I was little prepared for it when it happened thanks to my own lack of foresight. I’m surprised to find myself saying as much, but were it not for Ferguson I believe my project would have come to an end this week.
However, I can present you with no more concrete proof that the dungeons on this world are not random generations than by exploring a dungeon that was built by government employees.
Well, Nephew. Perhaps after reading my latest adventure, you’ll begin to believe me that the dungeons are more than simply constructs doodled onto the paper of our world by all-seeing gods who play games with dice and men’s lives. I’ve been to a dungeon that was created by the hands of men and, this time, I have a witness to prove it.
So I started looking at other dice mechanics and decided what I really wanted was not just a old school dungeon crawler, but something with an insane dice mechanic. And then it hit me - Yahtzee, aka Yacht, aka Generala.
Thus was born GENERALA, the diciest game on earth. Although I've run three games using it now, I have yet to create a bestiary. If anyone is interested in playing, I'll dig up my notes on the monsters I used and post them.
GENERALA rule book
GENERALA printable rule booklet file
Nephew, I received your last letter and must admit that your defense of Dungeon Land dogma is most distubring to me, as I believed you, among all my relatives, to be the most open minded and willing to consider the possibilities. Common wisdom states that dungeons spring forth from the land wholly formed and ready for exploration by adventurers, but surely The Wizard’s Sleeve is the best evidence I’ve presented so far that this is not the case. How could a structure so obviously artificial in form be a randomly generated by nature?
I stand by my belief that dungeons are not the result of the gods doodling shapes and crosshatches on pieces of paper. There is a human element to their design and your rejection of this notion has only inspired me on to greater heights of evidence to save you from ignorance. To that end, I have put Ferguson to task to find me an actual inhabited dungeon. He repeated the doggerel about dungeons appearing only as adventurers need them, but when pressed admitted that he knew of a dungeon that was located directly under an inhabited city and even incorporated parts of the city’s construction into its matrix.
Nephew, if I’d ever convinced myself that I could take on the professional adventuring life myself, the events of the past two weeks would have convinced me of my error. However, if I had to suffer to get here, then the reward was all the sweeter.
Ferguson has taken me to an ancient dungeon, one that dates into antiquity and beyond, to perhaps the early origins of Dungeon Land. And here I have found conclusive proof of the hand of man in the creation of a dungeon.
Although Ferguson still disagrees.
I wasn't surprised that all of my players rated Adventure as the element that they'd most like to see - after all this is a roleplaying game - but I was a bit surprised that Recurring Characters ranked #2 and Combat was #4. Our last long-term campaign had a lot of recurring themes and characters, but only to give me a sense of permanency when I was writing the next adventure in that universe. Having people and places show up more than once made it easier for me to write each game because I could build on what had already happened. I'm surprised that the players identified with it.
Anyway, here's the compiled results of the questionnaire. I'll be using it as the campaign template when writing up adventures.
