Random Adventure Jam: It Begins

 

Rather than another selection of bits and bobs for your Cryptdiggers this week I'd like to opine about the mess I just dragged myself into. That is of course @pangalactic's Random Adventure Jam over on Itch.io. The idea behind the jam is to use the Random Adventure Title Generator to get an evocative title and then make an adventure for your system of choice. At first, I had no plans to actually participate in the jam but I am such a sucker for online generators of all types I just had to see what it would give me. 

One of the first rolls of the dice gave me the title "Hallowed Halls of the Reptile Gods" which seemed interesting enough until I was struck by a bolt of delightful nostalgia for an old adventure I ran for Pathfinder 2E that was my first experiment running a real dungeon of mostly my own making. "Mazebek's Tomb", as it is known in my hastily scrawled notes, was a large underground cistern that was the prison of an ancient crocodile river god that was placated by fine food and drink by a staff of dedicated automata. Conceptually, it takes a lot from the Mork Borg adventure Bloat though where that adventure goes gross out fairly quickly as a lover of cooking shows and Chef's Table I leaned more on the delightful decadence of fine dining for the crocodile god. 

Though Mazebek's Tomb was filled with enough content for a foray or two by my players I had left several unfinished sections and unfinished ideas by the time they had accomplished their objectives that it was simply left where it lay, as a happy memory for my group and I, until now. At the risk of over-sharing (Though your here on my blog so in a way this is your fault.) finding RPG's and especially the DIY community around them saved my life in a very real way. Without them, there are so many people I never would have met and experiences I never would have had that I can only imagine my life without them as being very empty indeed. So, I'm putting my hat in the ring and I'd like to make something to share with this community I have benefitted so much from. 

"Mazebek's Tomb" must now become the "Hallowed Halls of the Reptile Gods" so that I can try to do the most terrifying thing I can think of with some slight confidence. That is of course writing an adventure for someone else to not only read but to possibly run it for their own players! Unlike many of my talented (and cool) colleagues on RPG Twitter I am not a professional writer. Nor am I an artist. Or even academically inclined enough to have a transferrable skillset to either of the two. I'm a dropout warehouse worker who runs dragon games on the weekends. But, I also know that I am not taking this step completely blind. One of the most uplifting and wonderful things this community does on a daily basis is create resources that other would-be creators can use to ease their load a bit. 

Since I will leveraging as many of these resources as I can below will be a list to anyone else who is putting making their own adventure for the first time. I will be posting sporadically about the process of remaking "Mazebek's Tomb" into a dungeon that is Best Left Buried here on the blog for the foreseeable future and perhaps creating an audio component as well to go more in depth or behind the scenes on my process. That's all for now, thanks for reading, and I hope you join me on this adventure into creating adventures!


Link to the Jam

https://itch.io/jam/random-adventure-jam


Random Adventure Title Generator

https://loottheroom.uk/random-adventure-title-generator


Links to Resources

@goblin_archives

The Annotated Archive of Game Design Resources

https://goblinarchives.github.io/LiminalHorror/Game%20Design/All%20in%20one%20place/


@yochaigal1

Public Domain Art

https://newschoolrevolution.com/public-domain-art


@Zeshio

Zine making guide

https://www.zeshio.com/blog/2021/8/28/digital-zinemaking-basics-a-guide-by-zeshio


This Twitter thread by @SandyPugGames

https://twitter.com/SandyPugGames/status/1431690038144798729?s=20


@DavidSchirduan

Blog Post On Making a Zine

https://www.technicalgrimoire.com/david/2019/11/JalopyZine


HexKit Stuff

@sealedlibrary

https://itch.io/c/1374263/hexkit-stuff


Dungeon Map Maker

https://dungeonscrawl.com/


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