How to use DungeonMorph Dice

[rounser]

I just wanted to share a way of actually using the quite fantastic Dungeonmorph Dice:
http://dungeonmorphs.com/
It vexed me on how to populate these things, then it hit me like a bolt from the blue. Use coordinates. Every geomorph is 10 ten foot squares to a side, with exits always on the third and eighth squares on each edge, so you can describe the location of a room in an X,Y location such as 3,7. It is easy to judge these coordinates on the Adventurer and Explorer dice sets, and a bit trickier on the Spellunker, Ruins, Villages and Cities sets, but doable, even if the coordinates for a house are only approximate.

This is the solution to generating an infinite number of campaign's worth of maps, and it doesn't require fiddling with computer programs or scribbling on graph paper, and maps can be made and referenced in seconds. Everyone who dungeon masters D&D should invest in a complete set of these things, I can't recommend them enough.

 

[Imaculata]

While it might be handy for a bit of quick inspiration, I don't think dungeon and city maps are made better by just rolling for them randomly. A design is always going to be better. These dice are a novelty, but that's about it.

Besides, there's also value in presentation. That fiddling with computer programs or on graph paper, delivers maps that are immersive and just cool to look at. Even dungeon tiles provide a bit of extra detail to a combat encounter, that you wouldn't get by drawing a map in a hurry.

I think it's a hard sell to convince anyone that this:

Is better than this:

 

[rounser]

Okay, a few things based on experiences with them:

Even though they're dice, you never roll them randomly, always arrange to taste. Secondly, you don't arrange them in a line, you make a box or cross or some other shape out of them. Thirdly, the Explorer and Adventurer dice sets are compatible, giving you 10 geomorphs, which is a big enough dungeon (megadungeons are boring). The City and Village geomorphs are also compatible, giving you up to 10 geomorphs to build a city, which is a good size for an average city.

Conveniently, the incompatible sets of Ruins and Spellunker (caverns) are about the size you actually want for a ruined town or a cave lair. One set of 5 geomorphs each. You don't really need any more for these. It's like they planned it. Buy both $49 bundles and you have enough map generating ability to meet the demands of multiple lifetimes worth of D&D campaigns.

I have to heartily disagree with your assessment that the map is better. Yes, it's better than 5 geomorph dice arranged in a line, but not better than 10 dice arranged in a square, cross or L-shape or whatever. Any aesthetic value that that computer map has is cancelled out by the sheer convenience and speed by which DungeonMorph dice can be used. If you're attempting to run a sandbox or multiple location campaign these are mana from heaven, you can design and recall basically anything you need in a campaign in seconds. If your idea of a campaign is just a single dungeon, then yes, the map is better, and you'll have the time to design it, but how boring!

Anything which speeds up design time in D&D is a plus. Building a detailed campaign takes up a crazy amount of time as it is, and DungeonMorph dice can speed up design time significantly if you know how to utilise them. They deserve to sell by the bucketload.