WAR! & Illu(s/n)ion - Week 5 of Our Dungeon23 Saga
Chameleon Dragons, Batman.
Have you ever been possessed by two spirits at once?
In a poetic sense, during my dungeon23 excursions, I found myself juxtaposing an elusive prompt that erupted onto the page one day, as well as the new “chapter theme” for the month of February - more on that later.
Needless to say, these ‘two spirits’ waged bitter battles inside my mindscapes, which I am excited to share with you today!
Some Context: For my dungeon23 challenge, I’m making a random “d365” tunnel/cavern segment “table” inside my cosmic underworld setting, “The World Without Skies”.
Chapter 2 Begins - “War”
Off the bat, I knew I would be butchering the premises laid out by Sean, and that the game designer in me would inevitably make this more robust than it ever was supposed to be - just the way I like it! ;}
In the original Dungeon23 challenge, you’re supposed to end up with a 12-level dungeon, with around 30 rooms in each level. Very neat, straightforwards, with some story-scaling ideas baked in.
However, my underworld setting is basically a bunch of cosmic soup - all of the reject matter buried to the bottom of the multiverse, churned together over aeons of forgotten souls’ sagas.
Everything is alive and everything is constantly shifting, at different rates of movement. Spooky tectonic plates all the way down, if you will.
So, instead of having each month “go down” one literal level, I wanted to use this prompt as a way to peel back the sediment layers of the story itself!
I’m writing 33 epic poems set inside of this grave place, 11 poems in 3 volumes, and there’s 12 months in a year!
I don’t have the drafts of many of these poems written yet, but I do have a good amount of story structure notes.
TL:DR I decided to take 1 main theme from each poem and turn them into monthly dungeon themes.
At the end of that month, I’ll take some time meditating on the next months’ poem, choosing the theme for that month, and then make a new procedure surrounding that theme!
I’m not forcing myself to use each months’ table every single day, but I’m going to be using it at least 2-3x each week!
For January, we wrote in “Chaos”, a free write, as we didn’t know what the heck we were doing (However, I’ll definitely take that ‘Cavern Focus Table’ from Week 1 as the “Chaos table”).
For December, the twelfth month, instead of doing one theme, we’re going to bring it all home into a symphony of emergent story - using ALL the months’ procedures and combining them in new ways!
“But Drew wait! That’s only 10 themes! I thought there were 11 poems!”
You’re right, lol! I made a mistake when putting everything together. However, there are two poems that are a pair within this first volume, and we’ll link them together when we ‘cross that bridge’.
Week 5: Illusion//Ill Union
From the start of the week, I had this phrase almost wrote itself on the first page; “Illusion / Ill Union”.
I don’t remember consciously thinking of the phrase before it was on the page, but once it was, I thought it entirely peculiar.
If you move the “S” in illusion around and mirror it, it’s the same mark as the “N” in union. This week, we explored what this phrase could mean in several different contexts.
Again, the concept culminated to full at the end of the week, where I wanted to make something truly epic: a tunnel siege spanning a giant chasm.
It was a real challenge trying to figure out the best room of the week, and this spread was almost it…
There’s so much here that I adore. This process of exploring the lore through the dungeon journey has really yielded a lot of narrative results that will make its way into different scenes and motifs in the epic poems.
This is a full theater of tunnel warfare, taking place between 5 different factions, all trying to find a hidden horse and wield it for their own weal.
On entry 35 we find the River King making an appearance in the flesh!
He and some of his wizards are trying to find ILPMYR, The Mare of Knowledge. Whoever rides it remembers with full clarity “The Most Important Thing”, whatever that may be to the rider.
But there are many forces in the hollows vying to find this same sickly horse.
(Also the Monument Mythos has been invading my mind and is referenced twice in this theater, real recognize real.)
Innovations of the Week
I’ve started using new icons, as shown in the rooms above;
Circled Single Letters - F for Fair Door, S or X for Sprite, H for Hole
Black-shaded Monster Heads - For a Scourge monster
Runes from the Gray Orphans’ Book - Labelling things, for my own practice
Sometimes I’ll write in details as if the icon is a numbered feature, but whenever I don’t, it correlates to a random procedure I already have in the Gray Orphan’s Book; Denizen, Common Encounter, Cavern Focus Table, etc.
I’m sure the rune system will expand over time, and as it does, I’ll post updated rune sheets for funsies.
Best Room Week 5: The Old Aboad The Thrice-Handed
This encounter is a mystery, a tragedy, and is heavily steeped in some of the first inspirations for this setting.
First; some sneaky previews of the Gray Orphans Book:
Ornim the Thrice Handed is a tutelary being who can be invoked to teach and perform Musecraft, but has recently stopped appearing to Invokers true.
The strongest song for this entry is Blue Walsh, by the band Mastodon, and the whole thing (including the characters shown), is inspired by its lyrics and tone.
“You disappeared into the steam // ‘Cause I waited so long, to watch it all leave”
If by some chance you end up taking this dungeon room and running it, make sure you have that track on loop at the table.
Discord Highlights: The Gambler’s Hoard!
My buddy Ian showed us up with this rock star dungeon this week, where everything is themed with classic Casino-themed traps!
Here’s Ian’s rundown of his process!
If you want to see more from Ian’s wild mind, check out his instagram @itsianlaird!
How is Dungeon23 going for you?
Please let us know in the comments or join our Discord server, where we’re posting about #dungeon23 every day!
Discovery: Poetry is Based and Valid
Often times I’ve found myself writing in room features and encounter prompts that don’t have any mechanical stuff, and is literally just a short poem framing a dramatic encounter.
It’s easy to get bogged down by game rules, but in both ‘solo play’ like this, and at the table, it’s all really about seeing where your stories go - even the grindiest of dungeon funnels wants to see who gets out, what happens, and how it all goes down.
As long as you bring it back to story, your dungeons will ring true with truth.
Join Us for Dungeon23!
The best part about dungeon23 is that there’s no real way to lose. It’s for fun!
Interact with it as much or as little as you’d like. If you’re looking for a fun place to geek out about dungeon23, come on down to The Cult of The Muse Discord Server!
We’d love to see what you’ve come up with!
Join us next week, where all goes sideways and AWRY!