Tag: Dungeon23

A Twitter hashtag for the year-long event of creating a room-a-day to create a multilevel dungeon where each month’s rooms make up a level.

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More Tools Of The Cartographer

It feels like I have settled into the 10×10 grid geomorph style for the majority of my #dungeon23 entries. With that being the case, I have also settled into using a standard six inch by six inch index card.

It makes for a straightforward template/layout to set the map into the center of the card using the third and eighth block of each side as the entrance/exit, although I have also realized that not every entrance or exit needs to access the overall 10×10 grid space. However, I also recognize they should be drawn out all the same.

The ongoing theme of these dungeon rooms/maps touches on possible scenarios and environments that may be used in “The Bellweather Chronicles,” which has been engaging in how it has been applied to the world-building processes behind the lands being traveled by the story’s heroes.

As much as I have been using my daily creations as distractions, they also serve as incentives and inspiration. This is pushing me to improve the maps with more details and better perspectives, justifying the addition of more tools of the cartographer in me… that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. However, I still need to return and get the “Light Cool Gray” version of the pens I purchased today.

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The Swamp At The Gateway

I’ve scratched out another 1000-plus word scene to move the story further. I’m filling in some gaps that are separating several scenes I have already written to these opening scenes I am using to set the stage and send our hero off on an adventure.

Alex thought himself a bit of a tracker; for a good reason, he could track better than anyone else in the valley with a natural ease and surety that few could match. When Stu Wellington suggested he and Mitch keep an eye out for any signs of little Billy Watkins, Alex took that up as a challenge.

In the scene “The Swamp At The Gateway.”

Interestingly enough, these opening scenes I have hinted at here are starting to take the stories around Alexandre Bellweather, a young woods guide, or some may say “ranger,” in a slightly different direction than I originally envisioned—a good approach, just not exactly how I had initially imagined the story would begin.

If you follow me as @Reistache on Twitter, you might have seen a reference to “the gateway” in my #dungeon23 entry for today (January 18, 2023), but you will have to gain access to the novel “The Bellweather Chronicles” to read how a swamp is involved.

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Shifting Gears For #dungeon23

Yes, that’s me above. However, I want to work towards using this (@Reistache) account for these #dungeon23 updates on the blue-bird services.

That being said. Although the idea of a single room a day for every day of 2023 is a phenomenal effort and will be quite the accomplishment, I would like to devote some of that time to the actual building of the dungeon as well as the adventure that may happen in it. I’d also like to go into more detail about my approach to this project.

In general, I plan to create my rooms as 10×10 grid “geomorph” tiles to be used in any number of ways, including those not even related to the #dungeon23 project. With these geomorphs, I also plan to provide a means to connect them without necessarily lining them up side-by-side — this leads to the “hallway” rooms I will be focusing on next.

Another underlying concept that I will be toying with is a means to generate the dungeon using a randomized selection of geomorphs and hallways… and potentially other layout “themes” to be worked towards as the project progresses.

With any luck, the quality will also improve over time. Wish me well and follow along on this adventure.

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Cartography Tools

Cartography tools used by Reistache & JellyBeen & Cais (aka me).

Day 7 of #dungeon23 has been posted (see my @JellyBeen blue-bird account). I added a bit of color this time — I needed some better delineation than my typical black ink and pencil. Check it out, and let me know here or there.

The featured image of this post shows a collection of some of the tools I use (there are more but only so many that I find helpful daily). Please have a look below for a reference list.

  • Staedtler mechanical pencil (my favorite since high school)
  • Staedtler white eraser (another long time favorite)
  • Staedtler triplus fineliner (for colors)
  • Micron 0.1mm, 0.3mm, and 0.5mm black (for majority of lines)
  • Metal straight-edge
  • Dotted paper journal from Artist’s Loft (not quite the quality of LEUCHTTURM1917 but a very economical substitute)
  • A very handsome leather cover for my journals
  • A bandolier I picked up on Etsy holding the following:
    • A mid-century modern pen using a very modern gel ink refill (a perfect match IMHO).
    • Staedtler pencil
    • Uchida Le Pen Fineliners (black and green — other colors not pictured)

I have so many more tools at my disposal, and I look forward to trying out a few more as I work through some more design ideas and thoughts for this #dungeon23 campaign.

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A Social Experiment

Well, it’s nothing all that elaborate. This is more just a test case of a post to see who or how many accounts will post this to the blue-bird stream. Ideally, it will be two: this site’s primary and another. Feel free to read other posts and pages on this site to know who else to expect.

If this works as I hope, both accounts should realize a fair split of the potential traffic from and to the blue-bird streams. If it doesn’t work, goodbye plugin(s) — and the search for another automated approach will continue.

Social experiment aside, the choices are still open regarding what sort of content I should consider for the site. There is the #dungeon23 content, an excellent means to generate consistent posts or story hints about the adventures of Alex, Aerilon, Old Jeb, and Elenia.

There is also the option to use both resources and draw from each to improve the other. A good fantasy-based story can always use a dungeon as a setting.

The adventure continues with six rooms drafted for #dungeon23 in my analog journal.

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dungeon23

An interesting idea came across my bluebird stream the other day — #dungeon23; to the best of my understanding, is to create a dungeon room a day using the rooms from each month to build a level. Ultimately, this will make a “mega-dungeon” to be used as one sees fit.

That sounds great; I’ll give it a try. I’m three days in and on pace!

Now, there are several different variations that are already popping up all over the blue bird and I imagine elsewhere although I am only really following the #dungeon23 hashtag there.

My variation is to create dungeon geomorphs with the idea of creating a new geomorph for six days and then randomly generating a layout of those six geomorphs on the seventh day. The idea of randomly developing a dungeon or environment scene has always intrigued me, which may be a great way to create these scenes.

As I continue to diverge here, when I say scenes, think something along the lines as I need to create some background for a novel I am writing (or some may say, including myself, pretending to write).

Now that I have whet your appetite, I hope to continue providing some exciting designs for #dungeon23. I’d also like to generate some interest in a story about a young ranger that may be a mage, a wizard of questionable origins, an old warrior not quite past his prime, and an unusual half-elven waif rescued along the way.

Come along; let’s have an adventure.