Random D&D

[Kanegrundar]

Thanks to work and life outside of the gaming room, I haven't had a lot of time to either run or play a campaign for a while now, and that situation doesn't look to improve anytime soon. However, I still buy a lot of new material. (I haven't bought a lot of new books lately in lieu of buying up D&D minis.)

The other night I stared dismally at my collection of books and figures, which my girlfriend keeps reminding that I rarely use every time I buy a new pack of minis or a new book. I started brainstorming on how I could utilize them without having to go through all the work of writing adventures and far-reaching storylines. Due to time constraints, there is little sense in starting a true campaign, and at any rate, I want to run a PC for a change! That got me thinking about the days in which I spent a LOT of time playing Warhammer Quest back in college. I had a lot of fun with that. We played out a few random dungeons before someone took the helm and we played it with a lot more roleplaying. It was great fun. I wanted to recapture that feel without getting bogged down with needless rules. I got to thinking that since the DMG had a lot of randomized encounter charts, that making a randomized D&D game wouldn't be all that hard.

For as many books as I want to utilize...I was wrong.

Not that building up a randomized world is hard, it's just time-consuming. Which leads me to my question (finally): I had heard about a project just like this a few months ago. Who was putting it out and are they still working on it? I don't remember who was doing it, but I remember it sounding like it was pretty much what I was wanting when I thought of it again the other night.

Any information would be great. If no one knows, oh well, I've got a decent set of ideas down so far, so I'll just keep plugging away at it.

Thanks,
Kane

 

[The_Gneech]

Have you considered Dungeon magazine?

-TG

 

[Kanegrundar]

Have you considered Dungeon magazine?

-TG

Yep, and I use it upon occasion, but sometimes all I want is a romp in a dungeon. Plus, since I would like to play a PC and I'm the only D&D DM in the group, a random dungeon that can fit with simple solo play as well fits my needs a LOT better.

Kane

 

[Terwox]

I used Jamis Buck's dungeon generator quite a bit when I was getting started dm'ing and was just playing around -- drop people in a dungeon, GO.
Simple enough, it generates the dungeon, and the dungeon can be cool. Requires only minor tweaking if you want to go with a theme.
where's a link...
http://www.aarg.net/~minam/dungeon.cgi
I guess it's for 3.0. It really shouldn't matter much, except for monsters whose CRs changed by quite a bit. (wasn't that many, was it?)
anyway, g'luck, it can be great fun!

 

[Kanegrundar]

Thanks for the tip, Terwox. I can't believe that one came in under my radar!

Kane

 

[Pinotage]

You could try play-by-post games. A lot slower than a tabletop game but with a good DM it can be as exciting as anything. You get to play a PC, doesn't take up more than 15 or 20 minutes of your time each day, and you can use all those books of yours to create an interesting character.

Pinotage

 

[Kanegrundar]

I've played a couple of PBEM games, and I love to try it again. The last one I was in was great (Alternity-based game), but all of a sudden it just stopped.

Kane

 

[Dr Simon]

I've played a couple of PBEM games, and I love to try it again. The last one I was in was great (Alternity-based game), but all of a sudden it just stopped.

Kane

Yes, PBeM games tend to do that. I managed to run one for about three-four years and *almost* finished the adventure before it reached melt-down. It's probably something to do with the fact that people tend to experience life-changing events within that kind of timeframe (leave university, finish a three year contract etc.).

 

[Pinotage]

No time like the present to start again! You could try a variety of sites, even here on ENWorld, I believe. rpol.net or playbyweb.com are those I'm familiar with, but I only play on playbyweb.com these days.

I realise that it won't be entirely what you're after, and being slow and not always combat orientated you won't get that 'random' dungeon feel the whole time. pbem.com is a handy site that advertises games, mostly e-mail based rather than forum based as those I've mentioned so far.

Pinotage

 

[Kanegrundar]

Thanks for the suggestions, Pinotage. I'm not sure if I want to start a PBEM at the moment, but I'll give those sites a look.

Kane