Every level is different! But how do you make that happen?
The Salamander Mines were created using the How to Host a Dungeon rules. Some levels came in with lots of detail--local monster groups, a history, treasures and specific features. Like the Hobgoblin mines. How to Host told me who livers there, what they were up to, who their neighbors were, and what they were up to.
The Crossroads began is literally that--a place where two major corridors crossed. With a statue.
But due to some aesthetic impulse I cannot name, I decided it needed to be a whole level:
There's not much in the crossroads to stop for. It's a place that's attached to many other regions of the dungeon. It' a place to pass through. Thus, in true pernicious DM mode, I put a portcullis trap right in the middle of it. Denizens who know about the trap can easily route around. But curious adventurers, drawn to a fine tiled chamber full of pillars, are sure to run afoul.
But of course, I could not resist adding something unique. For this level I decided to add some abandoned Dwarven baths to the north, and a band of Gnolls with a temporary camp to the south. I liked these details a lot, so I made few changes for the update. The biggest changes involved moving some hallways around so they fit the big map better.
Here's what it looks like now:
The statue I left undetailed. Maybe it's just a random landmark. Or maybe some clever DM will make the center of a whole plot. I leave the details up to you.
I figure there's a month or two of drawing at my normal page before all the levels are done. I'll keep sharing as I go!
The project's launched, the goal has been hit, so let me talk a little about what I'm doing with it.
I like a lightly-detailed dungeon where I can ad-lib as much as I want, but when I'm stuck or tired, I can always find something to build from. The Salamander Mines fits that aesthetic.
The goal of the mines isn't consistency or completeness, it's inspiration. For example, here's the original drawing for one of the upper levels:
It's got an extremely basic random encounter table. I've tried to do this with every level--a table or tool that you can use to quickly generate something random and (hopefully) interesting. Sometimes it's a random encounter, sometimes an interesting treasure or NPC, sometimes it's a rules sub-system for something specific to that level (like the dreaded labyrinth).
Here's a screenshot of the digital remaster of the same level:
This level also has a table you can use anywhere in the dungeon--a way to find out what your randomly-encountered denizens are up to. That's my design philosophy in a nutshell. I like to mix very specific details with general tools. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each level is its own thing, but it also contributes something to the general vibe.
In the updated Salamander Mines, some of this information is going to be on the poster itself and some will be in the book. Here are some rough snaps of tables for this level.
The random encounter table: And some tables to figure out what a given encounter is up to on any level:
The sub-tables are discretionary. It may not be worth trying to figure out what a group of Carrion Crawlers are up to. It IS interesting, however, to find out that the Hobgoblin Miners are returning with a magic item as trade goods from below. An adventuring party that's looking for a powerful monsters is very different from one that's looking for a place to rest and heal.
And who knows, maybe those Carrion Crawlers really are intent on spying on the local Troll...
