GMMichael
Guide of Modos
Oh ye dungeon-makers (and dungeon-explorers),
Have you ever wanted a web-accessible dungeon document? That you could, say, bring up on your phone while DMing a D&D night at your local tavern?
What about having a shared quest that you could build with other ENWorlders, with no need to share passwords or to create new accounts on obscure websites?
Or have you just wished, while writing up a dungeon with rooms and NPCs and items on paper, that you could actually READ your own handwriting, and click your way to the different pages instead of shuffling through a pile of loose-leaf?
Suffer no more.
ENWorld has a wiki. Yes, a wiki. And you can start your dungeon there. And finish it. Or let someone else finish it. I can see it now: "ENWorld's World-Famous Never-Ending Dungeon." With one room for each of ENWorld's (shoot, I can't find the user base number right now) members!
I made a dungeon in one minute* with Donjon.bin.sh, and put it on the ENWorld wiki in an hour (or two). It turns out that Donjon puts a LOT of monsters and treasure and stuff in a dungeon (if you aren't careful with the generation settings), so I skipped most of it in order to prevent Monty Haul, help players survive, and well, save time. I also attached the pdf of the dungeon, which includes the map and all the detail, to the first room for reference. You can check it out here.
So, how do you do it? I recommend these steps:
The possibilities are endless. I'm hoping to create a shared guild of quests and adventurers with my piece of the wiki. My testing thread for that is here. What would you like to do with your corner of the sandbox?
*This would totally be my Youtube clickbait title.
Have you ever wanted a web-accessible dungeon document? That you could, say, bring up on your phone while DMing a D&D night at your local tavern?
What about having a shared quest that you could build with other ENWorlders, with no need to share passwords or to create new accounts on obscure websites?
Or have you just wished, while writing up a dungeon with rooms and NPCs and items on paper, that you could actually READ your own handwriting, and click your way to the different pages instead of shuffling through a pile of loose-leaf?
Suffer no more.
ENWorld has a wiki. Yes, a wiki. And you can start your dungeon there. And finish it. Or let someone else finish it. I can see it now: "ENWorld's World-Famous Never-Ending Dungeon." With one room for each of ENWorld's (shoot, I can't find the user base number right now) members!
I made a dungeon in one minute* with Donjon.bin.sh, and put it on the ENWorld wiki in an hour (or two). It turns out that Donjon puts a LOT of monsters and treasure and stuff in a dungeon (if you aren't careful with the generation settings), so I skipped most of it in order to prevent Monty Haul, help players survive, and well, save time. I also attached the pdf of the dungeon, which includes the map and all the detail, to the first room for reference. You can check it out here.
So, how do you do it? I recommend these steps:
- Draw a map, label your rooms.
- Make a word processor document that lists each room and each NPC (these are your 'entities,' along with items as optional entities).
- Decide on a wiki code for your dungeon. I recommend your user name and your dungeon name (or its abbreviation). So mine could be GMMICHAEL_DUNGEON1.
- Copy and paste your wiki code A LOT. Each entity in your dungeon will need a wiki code. It serves as a page name AND a hyperlink (but the wiki does the linking for you). Your first room will be your wiki code plus the room's name, like GMMICHAEL_DUNGEON1_ROOM1.
- On the ENWorld menu bar, click Resources / Wiki / Create Page.
- The pop-up asks for a page link and title. Put your first room's wiki code in each. For the Parent Node, choose Sandbox (because that's where we play, right?). Click Proceed.
- Cut/copy and paste your description of your first room into the content box. Also, if you want to link to any other entities (now or in the future), paste the wiki codes for those rooms in the description and label them, like this: "Go to room 2. GMMICHAEL_DUNGEON1_ROOM2"
- Repeat for each entity in your dungeon.
- Revise! There are countless things you can do to make your entities better, like adding formatting, spoiler boxes, URL links to hide your wiki codes, adding pictures, and more!
The possibilities are endless. I'm hoping to create a shared guild of quests and adventurers with my piece of the wiki. My testing thread for that is here. What would you like to do with your corner of the sandbox?
*This would totally be my Youtube clickbait title.
