I recently ran across an idea in the CY_BORG subreddit that talked about something called Dungeon23.

As I read more into it, the more into it I became. (See what I did there?) It’s a really simple idea where you make a megadungeon over the entire year of 2023, one room at a time. One room a day, actually.

And they don’t have to be complex or complicated or even full of content. You can add on a square box, write “empty room” as a description, and you’re done for the day.

But it’s probably a bad idea to do that every day. Who’d want to RP through an empty, 365-room megadungeon? (I know there are people out there.)

I have wanted to learn how to hand-draw dungeons for a while. I even started drawing some up earlier this year for an adventure that just didn’t pan out:

I don’t think it’s too bad for a total newbie at it. Anyway, I think #Dungeon23 is a good opportunity to make it all a little less overwhelming.

Plus, I am learning new systems like CY_BORG and Powered by the Apocalypse for some upcoming projects I’m brainstorming right now.

There’s really no wrong way to do #Dungeon23. I intend to make mine look really similar to the Mork Borg and CY_BORG maps in those books:

Example maps form “Lucky Flight Takedown,” the introductory adventure for CY_BORG.

(I’m diversifying my creative works from just D&D in case the OneD&D debacle actually turns out to be a real issue.)

52 floors & 365 rooms

Can I do it? I have no idea! Probably not, but I am going to get something out of starting the project.

I think the way I am going to approach it is that every week has a different floor, and each floor has a room for each day of the month.

The beauty of it is that if I don’t like that, I can change it however I feel like. Because it’s just a creative exercise.

And maybe I’ll come up with some cool stuff I can publish on Itch or DTRPG as a full adventure as the year goes by. That’d be neat.

I’m excited, and I will certainly be posting about it here and using the hashtag #Dungeon23 on whatever social media site ends up not imploding. For now, that’s Mastodon, and I’m @beej@dice.camp there. I’m also @professorbeej on Twitter, but I am trying to be there less and less.

What do you think about #Dungeon23? Sound like something you’d be into participating in?

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Links to #Dungeon23 Resources

This newsletter has been made possible by the cool stuff I’ve made over at DMs Guild. It’d be really neato if you’d check it out.

What is #Dungeon23? It's awesome, that's…