Making the worst of a bad situation
After these long days and weeks, I’ve begun to feel comfortable in this new skin. Muscles and joints have started to adapt and move differently, and travelling through the water with such ease is truly a joy. Breathing fluid is still uncomfortable and shocking, but I think it will become natural over time. However, nothing can last. As soon as Algite opened the seal, everything changed…again.
Whether by a flaw of engineering or a devious trick of design, there was nothing below us but open air. As the sea fell out from under me, I thrashed about blindly, desperate for purchase. The appalling dryness of it all was the biggest shock. And the sound, overwhelming and painfully harsh. A rush, crack and a scream from below was the last I heard of Algite alive. As I gathered my senses and reconciled my surroundings with my bewildered equilibrium, I found myself clutching a small spongey tree growing from a rocky ledge. Water poured down the slope around me, and far below I could see more rocks, illuminated by an unearthly light. But the depths were gone. I was left hanging in open air, my new gills flapping helplessly while my nose and lungs struggled to remember how to do that which was once effortless instinct.
- D’Bittel Bramms, Undersea Dungeoneering for Newbs and Landlubbers, vol. 1
Perhaps it’s a coincidence, perhaps these are things that just bounce around in my head at all times, but I’ve recently been contemplating some unrelated Poe stories for a completely different project. I hope to share more of that someday, but this Harry Clarke illustration felt timely and appropriate. I love a nested narrative and they always seem so fitting for tales of the sea. Poe, Coleridge, and William Hope Hodgson all do it well. A character narrator who has clearly seen some shit. A grizzled old seaman who doesn’t really have any advice except “Don’t do what I did, it won’t end well.” Usually the Sole Survivor, cursed with second sight plagued with guilt and nightmares, and desperately in need of some therapy. Or just lots of rum. People better educated than I have surely written books on the subject, so I’ll move on.
As I’ve been busy with deadlines and projects the last month, I thought I could save time by skipping the little narrative bits I’d been putting at the top of these posts. This week I was feeling inspired, and I actually drafted that snippet prior to my scheduled every other Sunday blog day! Reflecting on these types of preambles and little story introductions has me wondering if this is just a good inspirational starting point for the author, a warmup exercise? That’s kind of how I’m feeling about these right now. It sets the tone, introduces some flavor and world-building to the story. I’ve missed writing them. It’s a lot easier for me to make up a short bit of fiction about previous adventurers and their delving than it is to talk design process or RPG theory (of which my knowledge is thin and my interest fleeting.) Even better, I love making up fictional books!
Now I’m sitting here writing a blog about writing a blog about writing a dungeon. If you’re new here, it’s amazing you made it this far, but I’ve said from the beginning that this whole #Dungeon23 experience is an exercise. This is an attempt for me to sit in a chair and try to write…anything. I have stacks of ideas but little free time or motivation to work on any of them. Daily stress and the extreme amount of attention it takes just to do my day job has made it hard for me to enjoy being a creative person for many years. Check out my first post if you’d like to know more. The goal of this dungeon and the accompanying blog are an attempt to develop a writing practice and a way to hold myself accountable for it. The bonus side of this is I can share it with a couple of fellow nerds who might be interested. I’m still not a writer. I’m barely an illustrator. But I’m working on it!
Just two weeks to share with you today, to keep up with my posting routine. I have settled into my previous spring schedule of being about two weeks behind on the dungeon. We’ll see if I can maintain that. One piece of art has been delivered and more are underway. (I did sign that contract, if you were wondering. I also received an advance!) Guitars are being built and repaired, and I’ve made breakthroughs on a couple of inlay design projects. The dungeon doesn’t care. The dungeon is waiting.
Week 25: Sometimes this really feels like I’m just trying to fuck with the players, but I guess that’s my job as a GM and dungeon designer. I can’t wait to playtest this and find out. Looking at the map more closely (it’s been a minute,) there is a ladder, but it is well hidden. Descending further is indeed madness, but what other choice does a party have? Continuing the theme of endless downward progress, but to what end? A pink hazy forest is visible several hundred feet below, with white “clouds” drifting above it. The dungeon will speak to you here, and it may even be helpful. A lonely spirit is searching for a companion and we see something wondrous that will be a shock to soggy underwater adventurers: BIRDS! They are perhaps less genial than the spirit. This brings up an interesting thought. Replacement PCs at this level of the dungeon may have been born here and may never have visited the surface. Note: make sure there are mechanisms for adapting or re-adapting to air-breathing!
Week 26: Ok, this one just looks like a Metroid level. An ancient sacred space, a gigantic calcified corpse, deadly traps, and something that might almost be a Boss Monster. If you can gain the favor of the Ambassador, you will be granted a great boon. If you can survive the deadly fangs of the Protector and tear your eyes away from its treasure hoard, you may gaze upon the Tree and the Mountain and the world between. The people here are peaceful and well cared for, if not entirely real. Seems like a nice place to visit. The first two entries for July feature the Sphere and Stair, a mechanism for transitioning from the underwater areas of the dungeon (specifically The Floating Gardens) to the deeper, drier areas where the mystery deepens. This page has a lot of Capitalized Things. Must have been a serious week.
This post has been converted from a previous Substack post and dated accordingly. Please let me know if it seems like something got lost or if you find any major formatting issues.
Thanks as always for hanging out! I appreciate any subscriptions and share. Comments and questions are always welcome!
Andy
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