Making a Dungeon from Dice
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ก.ย. 2024
- Drop dice on a battle mat to generate a dungeon
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I really like the idea of dice oracles like this. But I was never quiet sadisfyed with them. Your final layout looks really cool :)
satisfied* :)
I love the name dice oracles
Currently have an underwater dungeon because someone rolled a 1 on a check and decided to make a joke about how they sense treasure bellow the surface of the water.
We've been in this dungeon for 2 sessions because they keep insisting on finding the treasure. They also keep needing to go back for air so they never get farther lol
Love generating random dungeons. Thinking the dungeon is part of a giant dragon turtle shell and when they eventually leave to go get potions to breathe under water, it'll have moved and I'll bring the turtle back later.
Update: they still haven't left. But next session I'm going to bring a massive storm to bring them away from the dungeon and bring it back as an ancient dragon turtle.
Update 2: After being swept up in a storm, the party are now hopelessly off course from their original destination. Just last session they made landfall and it was in an area that they were very not welcome. The captain, being the ever brilliant and remarkably charming man that he is, persuaded the locals to let the party do menial tasks around the village in order to obtain some form of lodging. The ship was docked and needed repairs from the storm, so they got to work. Currently they're on a mission to go deep into the nearby jungle to obtain the nectar of an ancient plant. They cannot kill the plant to obtain the nectar, even though the plant will try to kill them. If they kill the plant, they'll all be put to the stake for destroying a symbol of life for their people. Will continue to post updates once I get them.
Update 3: Last couple of sessions. They thankfully didn't kill the plant that they needed to harvest nectar from. In order to prevent it from eating a party member, they started a conga line of the mocaraina (spelling?). Full party started dancing, which was hilarious. So now that's the dance of the nation. They completed other small tasks, and were finally able to leave to the nation they were heading towards anyway. The nation they headed to had a feuding hierarchy because of the young princess having suddenly taken the throne. The gods of that nation had gone missing centuries prior, but were said to always belong in the service of the true rulers. Because the princess was still young, a lot of the noble houses wanted to have their sons marry her to increase their standing. There were two, secretly three, that didn't care and wanted her to rule as she saw fit. Her closest advisor, who she'd come to recognize as a familial figure in her life, was one of the few who followed her order to the letter and would never betray her. Even going as far as to invite the party in to her secret chambers to help them gain information on the noble houses. He's the one that informs them that if they can swayed the votes to instate her full power at her current age (19-20) instead of being forced to wait for her to be married, there would be the gods on their side. That's where the last session ended.
Update 4!: Okay, so it's been a while. The party were able to successfully tip the scales in the Princess's favor. In order to do this, they had to meet with several of the noble houses. One of the most cruel noblemen was assassinated while in a meeting with them. Being forced to clear their names, earn favor among the nobles and keep an eye out for the assassins. The nobleman who was assassinated was discovered to have been part of a cult that they met earlier in the campaign. He turned his own daughter into a sacrifice to try and rid the world of some of his enemies. It backfired and instead his daughter became a powerful druid looking warlock, and became a half-human half-dragon hybrid. However, the nobleman's oldest son took over the family house and brought his sister back into the fold. The family vote was secured, and they needed to convince one more major household before the vote takes place. The next family has a monopoly on the alcohol industry as a whole. He recently lost his father, and became a recluse. This gentleman is said to be the perfect match for the princess, however. A woman in the square would screech rumors about how he's bewitched and under the control of a succubus. The party later follows him, and see him going into what is basically a strip club. They follow him and they watch him as he broods in the corner. When a certain individual appears, the party is able to deduce that his interest is piqued. And in the middle of her show, a group of cultists try to grab the dancer. The party moves to protect the young woman, and the man they were watching rushes in to protect her. After following out to an alleyway, they clear off and kill cultists. They explain that they need his vote to give the princess all her regional power without being married off. The man agrees to vote in their favor, because that rule is preventing him from making his marriage to the young woman they helped rescue public. Upon hearing this, the woman who was screeching in the square transforms into a Hag, and the party agree to fight it while he brings his wife to safety. With most of the politics out of the way, the party made a speech before the vote was to begin. The alcohol tycoon added to their favor by bringing up that the cult that another noble family was part of tried to kidnap a young woman, had shunned the daughter and exiled the wife. The vote proceeds and it rules in favor of the princess by one. The party thanks the princess, having gained her favor and warns her about the assassin. One of the other families head of house approached. He confessed to being the assassin because he knew the cultist wouldn't budge, but he wanted to marry his assistant which wasn't permitted without the princess staging reforms. The party is told by the Princess's right hand that the gods will bless her soon, and when they do she will be asleep for at most a week. It's revealed that he, and one of the other noble houses are gods in disguise, as well as several others from different parts of the nation showing up Force Ghost/projection style. The power caused her to glow and scream in an intense amount of pain.
We've taken a break during the "week of sleep" for the princess, hence why I've forgotten to update, and there was a LOT to happen. But when we get back together to play, will do my best to update. Thank you for all the support ❤️
I love this!! 🤣 Thanks for sharing
That an awesome idea to bring out of it
I would have started leading on that the 1 in perception meant the loot thought to be far away is just not real
You don't ever trust a sense based nat one
The true treasure was the breathing exercises we made along the way!
Maybe they'll stop trying and later when you have more planned you can give them a water breathing magic item
@@Citruskon I'm going to use the dragon turtle idea, so when they go back it'll be gone. I've completely rerouted my endgame plan for this dragon turtle now. And I'm more excited to get to where I can bring it up to them.
I don't put sharks in my games, because I have galeophobia, so they've been getting pestered by other creatures, like octopi and an overly friendly giant swordfish.
Dice goblin: "THERE MUST BE A USE FOR ALL THESE DICE, THERE HAS TO BE, I SPENT TOO MUCH!!!!"
What an absolutely incredible idea for random dungeons - i have always had the issue in making a random dungeon that the rooms just dont make sense (fitting - it is completely random after all) but this way of doing it allows *YOU* to still effectively steer the dungeon. Love it!
Yes! Exactly! You re inspired, but not bound by the dice!
Awesome idea! Do you just like... throw the dice at the table and where ever they land is where you start tracing out rooms? Love it!
Yeah that's exactly it!! But I accidentally deleted that clip after going through the trouble of setting up the camera rig for an overhead shot 😭
@@ZipperonDisney haha oh no! I hate when things like that happen! The video works anyway, and maybe it will inspire some creativity for that step in your viewers! Love your short D&D vids. =)
@@ZipperonDisney oh no, I was wondering why there was no shot of the actual roll. Good video, good idea
@@ZipperonDisney probably a dumb question but do you toss the sets individually or all at the same time
@@schizopenguin all at the same time
I'm really digging the last set of dice you showed for the map (special twists).
The color is nearly identical to that of Mountain Dew Baja Blast, which is just about the perfect beverage while playing D&D.
Oh snap! You're right!
Oh this is really helpful. I actually have those blue-green dice with the gold numbers haha.
Nice!
There’s literally a random dungeon generator in the dmg who does everyone sleep on the dmg it’s got lots of neat tools not just magic items
I wish I could favorite shorts. I need to come back to this
Share it with yourself
After I get a few more map making vids I'll create a playlist, and try and remember this comment
You can make a playlist, name it “favorites” and private it, you can put these shorts there :)
@@ZipperonDisney boop
Love these shorts have made dungeon and map making great and easy for me to keep my groups entertaining
Glad you like them!
Man, this one and the other map generator. Genius stuff.
Glad you like it 😁
@@ZipperonDisney are you dyslexic?
This is such an awesome way to generate interesting dungeons! What I was wondering is do you let the players see this map while they play or is it just for the DM?
I have black poster board for making fog of war
@@ZipperonDisney Brilliant!
If you play dnd long enough a time will come where you forget to prep.
Me on session 3:
Wow, congrats on making it to session 3! I forget to prep the session 0 sometimes lol
@@korvincarry3268 making it to a session is something else... Its been almost a year and we finished session 7. I want more DnD! (My players just have a lot going on and we are naturally a group of 1+6 people so the chances that someone cant make it are high)
@@jeremy.N i hear ya. Its hard to find time, so you just kinda have to find a time that should work with the majority and then say "now build the rest of your schedule around that." Essentially make it your FIRST priority and then we might actually all be here. Its worked so far for a campaign of 6 people, plus a separate campaign thats, like, 13 people.
No, i dont know how it works. Yes its hard to speak. Yes its fun. Yes we are all still friends.
Granted, its a campaign where the dm is getting more ok with killing characters so even with 13 people the monsters are hella difficult and the situations are disastrous at all times. But its helped players think outside the box, roleplay situations well, and introduce REAL danger that isnt some existential threat, but intelligent enemies that dont bend like flimsy wet cardboard to the whims of characters.
Love your videos!!! 🤩😃
I do have one question. Would their be a follow-up video on what order the dice should be rolled?
I just dropped them all at once. Deleted the clip 😅
This is great!! I'm new to DnD and your vids are teaching me sooo many creative ideas! :D thank u friend
Happy to hear! Be sure to check out my full length vids once you get some DM experience 😁
Wait... I'm supposed to prep?
What’s this prep you speak of
Nah just roll with it
*Badum-tss*
@@Anonymous_Eyeballs 😂
@@Anonymous_Eyeballs fantastic
Dude, where have you been all my life? This is awesome!!
I always enjoy watching your videos, especially the way you explain it with visual aids and always giving an example
Damn, these videos just keep getting better and better! Love the use of dice to create terrain and encounters!
I would suggest pre-allocating an exact meaning to each dice size within a group, thus allowing for quick proliferation and expansion as well as making sure no parts are forgotten
fair way to do it, but I also like to feel free to be inspired by how it shapes out
@@ZipperonDisney thats a good idea. When i have used a similar technique to make random castles and such i use the rough shape of where they land as the “skeleton” of the place, then use the numbers (or in some cases shapes/images/roll charts if i happen to have those on hand) to determine the attributes and such, but yeah, its a tad different from the exact way you showed in the video, each with their own pros and cons.
I do this sometimes. I'll roll a D10 to see how many rooms there are. Then I'll take a handful of dice and chuck em on a piece of paper. Where each die rests represents a potential thing albeit rooms, monsters, traps, etc.
If the dice are clumped together I'll make each thing but at varying altitudes.
I'd really like a flowchart to roll with to make it easier but this method works pretty well imo. I use it to help me make maps too sometimes.
7/10 not perfect but it works
This is such a amazing idea! Thank you!!
This is such an excellent technique... I suspect the first few (dozen?) times you do this the results aren't quite right. But after you get the hang of it it becomes extremely useful and even easy.
I did 2 or 3 practice runs before feeling confident enough to shoot this in 1 take
You're so creative! I love this idea❤️
As a relatively new DM whos had troubles making areas your dice method is a godsend
Literally planning tomorrow's session in a panic cuz i forgot i promised them we're playing tomorrow, making a few of these will keep them occupied!!!! Thank you!!!
Let me know how it goes! 😁
@@ZipperonDisney It went really well! They immediately noticed a different art style for the map, everything was far more detailed and active in terms of content, they loved it!!!
I rarely have sets but individual dice, but will try this awesome idea anyways ❤
Give it a go!
All of his suggestions and tips are extremely useful
Take a premade dungeon module.
Make a note of all the traps, hazards, and encounters.
Then flip/mirror the dungeon layout.
Roll a d12: 1-11 is one for each damage type, and 12 is roll 2 dice instead.
This will determine the "theme" of the dungeon. Traps, environment, and hazards will be themed around this damage type.
Roll a d20: 1-16 is one for each creature type, 17-20 is roll 2 dice instead.
(Only double dice once. Reroll any reroll numbers until you get within the roll range of results.)
This will determine the creatures that populate the dungeon. Replace the creatures in the pre-made module with the rolled creature type and the same CR if possible.
Then come up with a way to integrate the rolled damage types and creature types to make an interesting dungeon.
Example:
Sunless Citadel
Rolled Fire Damage and Plants.
Replace all creatures in the dungeons with the Plant type, and replace all non-physical damage types from traps, hazards, and creatures with Fire.
Plants that would normally deal bludgeoning and poison, will instead deal bludgeoning and fire. Then replacing an existing resistance or immunity with Fire.
Reflavor the Sunless Citadel as a dungeon either within a volcanic region or that a cult conjured a portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire.
I tried this method and my God it's genius! Took me under an hour to create and fine tune it. My players loved it.
This is why I’m glad my brain is a random generator, takes longer to put on paper than to generate, and we tend to play “theater of the mind” anyway.
That’s my secret though. I always forget to prep.
Tbh, I just have a set of dice, each one for a different room or corridor assigned to them and whoever is closest to the dot is built next. Doesn’t matter if they intersect, doesn’t matter if it makes no sense. IT IS MEANT TO BE CRAZY FOR A REASON!
Idk how to share a reaction clip but I made one well a small short if you want to see ^-^/ it was a lot of fun to do. thank you for the great idea. I cant wait to play this lava battle droid battle facility/ factory where my players have to break in and steal the magic gems they are mining to forge high powered battle droids
I'd love to see it! Feel free to drop a link here or on Discord
Love this method. Specials could also be neutral or friendly npcs like a flumph
Please demonstrate the rolling of this and give an example of how it would work out. Awesome idea.
I’ve been looking through all of your random dice vids and I’ve been getting a bunch of ideas for a campaign which uses the dice as the core mechanic of progression and the main plot hook of the campaign, so I’m really looking forward to trying this out on my own
Cool 😎 would love to see pics!
I honest to God was expecting you to build the dungeon itself out of dice 😂 like dungeon tiles but made from dice
This idea is equally cool
im thinking of using this or another one of these videos to roll up just a building for a head quarters or a keep. i dont know if you have a video for it spesifically but either way random generation is fun
We have very different ideas of what 'didn't prep' looks like.
😅
Because I play digitally most of the time, I tend to just use a generator on the internet but this is something I’ll keep in mind if I ever do a big in person game
If I would try this, the boss will certainly appear just at the entrance
That could be fun. The biggest threat is out of the way, so now it's attrition against low level baddies as you explore and recover treasure
NGL, I was expecting you to be physically building cave walls, and using dice as the construction material.
I create my dungeons on paper and then draw the map as the players enter each area.
Okay i absolutely need to do this
Update: did it. Map turned out amazing. Did it for caves and underground things as well and it was amazing there too
Inadvertently causing a panic attack amongst your players wondering why you're rolling tons of dice for no reason.
Poor man, he played so much DnD he forgot to pay the light bill and now all his sessions must be held by candlelight 😞 The cost of true dedication
Rolls dice d20 lands infront of the entrance:oh yeah it’s big brain time
The idea that dungeons are just for when you forget to prep.... true. For me it's a shopping trip. I players will just make it to a town and decide to go shopping or go on a date
Big fan, keep up the good work bud
As a new dm this is gonna go great tysm
hope it works out for you :)
Great stuff and lovin that shirt
Thanks!
Would love to know what you're drawing and rolling on! Looks super high quality.
Ooh that's an awesome idea 😄
Why are you in a drak void with a lighter sir, do we need to come rescue you?
In the dungeon 😜
This looks like a decent method, provided it's viewed purely as an inspiration aid so you don't feel locked in to any of the randomly determined results.
100%! I think randomness is best when used to spark your imagination
I see some dangerous imagery in that
So what did you do, just toss all the dice out on your map and go from there? This is the coolest way I've seen to make a dungeon tbh!
Yeah I accidentally deleted that clip 🙃
I really dig maps done in this style. I've always been terrible at making battle maps that are unique and interactive, so doing something like this is really fun.
Is there a recommendation on the size of the map itself? I usually play with four others so typically it's a 4-party team, so smaller maps may feel a bit too crowded, but I'd like to know what's recommended.
I have two sizes: the cheeses battle mat and the cheeses megamat. I prefer the larger 34" x 48" one
@@ZipperonDisney thank you! I like hearing recommendations from folks that have been doing this longer than I have!
Again never seen this. Good job
Would like to see your chart of what the numbers on each die specifically mean
Very helpful in creating dungeons
What do you Use for your paper
it's a dungeon grid. It works with dry erase markers so it's reusable. You can get them at most hobby shops or just off Amazon.
@@cooperemmerton2692 thx dud
This is a Chessex Mega Mat. It's wet erase and I use vis a vis pens
@@ZipperonDisney thx dud
My mind is only focused on how long it would to erase that marker on the grid
Only a minute really
Prep. Yep. Definitely. Definitely something I do. Definitely
TOTALLY FUN, I AM IN!!!
Finally, a true rogue dungeon crawler
interesting concept, might roll out a bunch of different dungeons and put them all into a campaign. no story or anything, just a bunch of dungeons to clear and see how long players can last.
Pls write a book about all your "how to generate x with dice" stuff 😁
Something something dungeon dice monsters something
Did you ever make an article about this? :) I’d love to save it as a pdf :)
That's the plan for my October pattern post
You know you're a dnd nerd when you use a lighter instead of a flashlight
Like the idea! Do you actually draw it all out like you did for the video though? Won't the players just see all the traps and stuff?
What battle map do you use I've seen many but yours seems to be the best quality I've seen it that size
Chessex Mega Mat. They should pay me given how much I answer that question!
@@ZipperonDisney haha yeah
This is actually pretty great 👍
I always hear people say "You forgot to prep" like...how do you FORGET the single most important aspect of a set date where you've made plans with MULTIPLE people? Lmfaaooo.
Sometimes life comes at you fast and more pressing matters for maintaining employment/housing/familial relationships/romantic relationships/financial stability/etc. push the thoughts of needing to prepare for an upcoming session out of your mind in the few windows you have time to do so. Until, well... session's in ten minutes.
If you turn volume off it looks very menacingly
Secret tunnel!
Im new to DnD so i might tru this when i get the ropes
This is a great idea!
Whenever I start a campaign I make 2 adventures. One is labeled oh crap we are playing tonight and the other wtf are my players doing. The wtf are my players doing is random encounters for when my players go off on their own
I make my maps in a rpg map makers and we do mini runs of DND or Warhammer but my players including me make are own sprites for our adventure, we call it pixel Monday lol.
Great content! Thanks for the videos. Hoping to DM in the near future. What's the drawing matt that you use?
Where did you get that grid lined paper
It looks good as a drawing board for any map
Awesome! :) as always !
Thanks ❤️ 😊
“For this dungeon you’ll need 6 sets of dice…”
Well’p, I’m out.
Forgot to prep? Nah going to use this as part of prep
Wait this looks so cool
I'd like to see the actual rolling of the dice. Like did you just toss them all at once or did you roll them more intentionally.
Yeah my B. Didn't notice that was missing until the vid already had 1000 views and I didn't want to take it down and re-shoot 😮💨
I just dropped the dice onto the mat and went from there. It looks and sounds cool though
Wow that is so cool! One question though, that map (because i have it too) is hard paper, so will i be able to remove the markings with uhhh... for example a paper with water?
This mat in vinyl and works w wet erase pens
@@ZipperonDisney thanks a lot!
With your dming style do you show your players the full map from the beginning and trust they wonr meta game more than necessary or do you do cover and reveal?
I have some black poster board cut outs that I use for fog of war. Check it out in this vid: th-cam.com/video/BklZZyKGfZ4/w-d-xo.html
Hey!I m wondering what grid you use in this video and if you can clean it after you re done with the dungeon
Chessex mega mat + Vis a Vis wet erase -> www.amazon.com/shop/zipperondisney
Where do you get your graph paper? I can’t ever seem to find just plain old one inch grid paper anywhere?
This is Chessex Mega Mat, but another's trick is here 👉 th-cam.com/video/BklZZyKGfZ4/w-d-xo.html
Want to see the full map? 👉 discord.gg/w2DksJuj
Do you have a long format version of this? Going more in dept for beginners
Might be a stupid question but here goes: What type of canvas do you recommend for use? White board w/grid, paper grid? What type of fabric is your made of? And is the marker erasable for reuse of canvas, or permanent?
Chessex Mega Mat with vis a vis wet erase markers
What map is that? Looks huge and I assume you can erase the pen on it. Perfect for my needs.
Chessex mega mat -> www.amazon.com/shop/zipperondisney
you kind of missed the rolling the dice part. It's a litte confusing.
Ugg. I shot it too. Must have deleted that clip 🤦♂️
Hiya, I'm new to D&D, where do you get those rolls of paper with grids?
This is a Chessex Mega Mat, but you might want to check out my '$20 Starter Set' video to get started
They're vinyl, which makes them a lot longer-lasting and they tend to unroll a bit better. I dropped $50 for one of the infinite dungeon ones you can scroll and have a bunch of maps on
One of the things I did with dice for a smaller map, idk if it's okay, is that I'd have my D4s as elevation levels, D6s as terrain objects, my D10s as possible items laying around and my D20 as the number of enemies. It's a much smaller map but it's supposed to be out in the open so that's why I am not using all my dice and such. Does this even sound good?
Sounds great 👍
@@ZipperonDisney :D
Follow up question in relation to this comment. With each dice set representing different aspects of the dungeon. Do you use a hiarchy of sorts with the dice. For example if the d20 represents the boss monster for the monster dice. What would the d10 be for like say random encounters ie traps boons etc. Thanks love the vids!!!