The Dungeon as Mythic Underworld

The Darkness Beneath, published in serial form in the magazine Fight On!

There has been some interesting blogging on megadungeons, recently.

Yesterday, Wayne Rossi at Semper Iniativus Unum asked, Why Build a Megadungeon in 2017? Peter V. Dell'Orto at Dungeon Fantastic followed it up with More Thoughts on Megadungeons, and then Rossi posted Megadungeons, Bosses and Goals, today. Both authors have written many great posts on the subject over the years.

Dell'Orto has a useful page on his site that compiles his posts, as well as directing the reader to a more general compilation of megadungeon resources at Ken "Rusty" H's The Rusty Battle Axe.

David Hartlage at DmDavid has compiled a useful list of published megadungeons (as of late 2015), here.

Rossi and Dell-Orto make a number of helpful and interesting points, but the most memorable part of the exchange is Rossi's claim that to him, using a megadungeon that you didn't design yourself is like wearing someone else's pants to your own wedding. This is one of those times where even though personal preference is obviously important, there's room for a bit of objective analysis and persuasion. I still have no problem running Stonehell or contemplating running Barrowmaze or whatever, but I admit that Rossi pushed me a bit more into thinking about going back to my own dungeon projects.

The exchange also prompted me to reread Jason Cone's short section on "The Dungeon as Mythic Underworld" in his seminal Philotomy's Musings, A collection of interpretations, house rulings, expansions, and general pontification on the nature of the Original Dungeons & Dragons rules by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Many, if not most of you are no doubt familiar with this 49-page PDF. If you're not, you're in for a treat. It's one of the main resources that got me excited about coming back into the hobby a few years ago, as well as making me consider or reconsider OD&D (as opposed to, say, AD&D).

Cone (AKA Philotomy) argues that the dungeon or megadungeon may be usefully thought of as more than just a big hole in the ground with levels, monsters and treasures. Rather, it may be a "mythic" world of its own, possibly even subject to its own rules or laws. Thus, one need not be embarrassed or feel like one has to completely justify or explain the dungeon's contrived seeming elements by coming up with a completely coherent dungeon "ecology" or whatever. That weird things happen - all dungeon inhabitants can see in the dark (until they join your party), doors shut mysteriously and so on - may be a feature not a bug. I'm not putting it very well. As you'll see, below, Cone is much more articulate and persuasive.

I don't think Cone is arguing that a dungeon should be a completely random "funhouse," but he makes a good case that something a bit more than a totally "naturalistic" interpretation may sometimes be satisfying. This conception goes back to OD&D and its vibe. But, of course, there's no reason why one couldn't adapt it to AD&D or even 5e mechanics.

I've taken the liberty of excerpting the entire section. If you don't have a copy of the PDF of Musings, you can download a free version here, in a nice-looking OD&D style layout put together by Jason Vey. Greg Gorgonmilk also "recovered" it here.

In other places in the Musings, Cone has a funny style. "Considering OD&D?" he titles one section, as if he's innocuously handing you a religious pamphlet or asking you to try a new drug you might have heard about. "Well, here's what you should know," he could have added. And then there's the way he ends his discourse on the mythic dungeon, a place where you may end up alone in the dark, wondering why your monstrous pursuers always have such an easy time opening those doors: "And boy, is it fun."           

THE DUNGEON AS A MYTHIC UNDERWORLD 

There are many interpretations of "the dungeon" in D&D. OD&D, in particular, lends itself to a certain type of dungeon that is often called a "megadungeon" and that I usually refer to as "the underworld." There is a school of thought on dungeons that says they should have been built with a distinct purpose, should "make sense" as far as the inhabitants and their ecology, and shouldn't necessarily be the centerpiece of the game (after all, the Mines of Moria were just a place to get through). None of that need be true for a megadungeon underworld. There might be a reason the dungeon exists, but there might not; it might simply be. It certainly can, and perhaps should, be the centerpiece of the game. As for ecology, a megadungeon should have a certain amount of verisimilitude and internal consistency, but it is an underworld: a place where the normal laws of reality may not apply, and may be bent, warped, or broken. Not merely an underground site or a lair, not sane, the underworld gnaws on the physical world like some chaotic cancer. It is inimical to men; the dungeon, itself, opposes and obstructs the adventurers brave enough to explore it. For example, consider the OD&D approach to doors and to vision in the underworld: 

Generally, doors will not open by turning the handle or by a push. Doors must be forced open by strength…Most doors will automatically close, despite the difficulty in opening them. Doors will automatically open for monsters, unless they are held shut against them by characters. Doors can be wedged open by means of spikes, but there is a one-third chance (die 5-6) that the spike will slip and the door will shut…In the underworld some light source or an infravision spell must be used. Torches, lanterns, and magic swords will illuminate the way, but they also allow monsters to "see" the users so that monsters will never be surprised unless coming through a door. Also, torches can be blown out by a strong gust of wind. Monsters are assumed to have permanent infravision as long as they are not serving some character. (The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, pg 9) 

Special Ability functions are generally as indicated in CHAINMAIL where not contradictory to the information stated hereinafter, and it is generally true that any monster or man can see in total darkness as far as the dungeons are concerned except player characters. (Monsters & Treasure, pg 5) 

Notice that all characters, including those which can see in normal darkness (e.g. elves, dwarves), require a light source in the underworld, while all denizens of the place possess infravision or the ability to see in total darkness. Even more telling, a monster that enters the service of a character loses this special vision. Similarly, characters must force their way through doors and have difficulty keeping them open; however, these same doors automatically open for monsters. This is a clear example of how the normal rules do not apply to the underworld, and how the underworld, itself, works against the characters exploring it. 

Of course, none of this demands that every dungeon need be a mythic underworld; there could be natural caves and delved dungeon sites that are not in the "underworld" category, and follow more natural laws. Nevertheless, the central dungeon of the campaign benefits from the strange other-worldliness that characterizes a mythic underworld. 

A mythic underworld should not be confused with the concept of the "underdark." The underdark concept is that of an underground wilderness composed of miles of caves, tunnels, delved sites, and even whole underground cities. This is a cool fantasy concept, but is distinct from the concept of a mythic underworld that obeys its own laws and is weird, otherworldly, and apart from the natural order of things. (There is no reason a referee couldn't join the two concepts of underworld and underdark, though.) 

Some common characteristics and philosophies for a mythic underworld or megadungeon (keep these in mind when creating your dungeon):

1. It's big, and has many levels; in fact, it may be endless
2. It follows its own ecological and physical rules
3. It is not static; the inhabitants and even the layout may grow or change over time
4. It is not linear; there are many possible paths and interconnections
5. There are many ways to move up and down through the levels.
6. Its purpose is mysterious or shrouded in legend
7. It's inimical to those exploring it
8. Deeper or farther levels are more dangerous
9. It's a (the?) central feature of the campaign 

If you embrace these concepts, you'll be playing OD&D according to some of the original assumptions of the game. And boy, is it fun.

Now it Gets Tough. Sleeping Beauty's Dungeon: 6th Level

Before proceeding, here is the Zylarthen version of these fiends:

TENTACLE MEN: Hit Dice: 8+3. Attacks: 1-6 x 4, brain attack – mind blast. Armor Class: 5. Move: 12. Alignment: Chaos. Languages: Types G or E. Number Appearing: 1-4. % In Lair: 50%. Treasure: Class 4. Description: These grotesque horrors are rumored to live in inaccessible ancient communities many miles beneath the earth. Unluckily, individuals and small groups occasionally emerge on inscrutable errands into the deepest caverns or dungeon levels. Each of these humanoid creatures stands slightly taller than a man and has four tentacles surrounding its mouth. If a tentacle hits, it will penetrate to the brain in 1-4 turns (unless the creature is killed in the interim) causing death with no saving throw. The creature may also make a Mind Blast attack each turn, affecting those in a cone 60’ long with a 10’ base. Those inside the cone must make a special saving throw with a base chance of success of 11 on a twenty-sided die. Those failing their save will suffer effects as determined by an eight-sided die:

Die Roll	Effect
1	Coma—three days
2	Confused (victim will act according to the results of rolling two dice: 2-5: attack the Tentacle Man or others in its party, 6-8: do nothing, or 9-12: attack his own party)—five turns.
3	Death
4	Enrage (victim must immediately attempt to engage the Tentacle Man in melee and attack)—seven turns
5	Feeblemind (victim’s actual intelligence drops to the equivalent of an animal)—permanent.
6	Insanity—permanent
7	Sleep—one hour
8	Stun—three turns

The special save will be modified by distance (-2 if the victim is closer than 20’, -1 if the victim is 20’ to 40’ away) and by the victim’s wisdom modifier to Turn Undead. In addition, all Magic-Users will be at +4 to save.

Sleeping Beauty's Dungeon Continues...

Section A: Abominations from the Depths of the Earth

1. Monster: 1 Troll
2. Empty
3. Empty
4. Monster & Treasure: 3 Tentacle Men
5. Empty
6. Empty
7. Monster & Treasure: 2 Giant Spiders

Section B: Asian Holiday

1. Empty
2. Monster & Treasure: 2 Ogre Magi
3. Empty
4. Empty
5. Empty
6. Monster: 1 Ogre Magi
7. Treasure
8. Empty
9. Monster & Treasure: 4 Griffins
10. Monster & Treasure: 6 Water Nagas
11. Empty
12. Empty
13. Empty
14. Monster & Treasure: 140 Giant Flies
15. Empty
16. Empty
17. Monster & Treasure: 1 Wooly Rhinoceros
18. Empty
19. Empty
20. Empty
21. Empty
22. Empty
23. Monster: 120 Snakes
24. Empty
25. Empty
26. Empty
27. Empty
28. Monster: 1 Hydra (6 heads)

Section C: Potpourri of Death

1. Empty
2. Empty
3. Empty
4. Treasure
5. Monster: 2 Giant Squids
6. Treasure
7. Monster: 16 Lesser Vampires
8. Empty
9. Monster: 7 Sicarians
10. Monster & Treasure: 1 Invisible Stalker
11. Monster & Treasure: 16 Gelatinous Cubes
12. Empty
13. Monster & Treasure: 2 Bravos
14. Empty
15. Empty
16. Treasure
17. Monster: 1 Incantator
18. Empty
19. Empty
20. Empty
21. Treasure
22. Empty
23. Monster: 60 Berserkers
24. Monster & Treasure: 6 Phansigars
25. Empty
26. Empty
27. Monster & Treasure: 11 Bravos
28. Empty
29. Monster: 4 Manticoras
30. Monster & Treasure: 1 Bear
31. Monster & Treasure: 1 False Gnome
32. Empty
33. Treasure
34. Monster & Treasure: 100 Giant Bees
35. Empty

Section D: Mind the Ceilings (and other places)

1. Treasure
2. Monster& Treasure: 5 Ochre Jelly
3. Empty
4. Empty
5. Monster& Treasure: 1 Lurker Above

Section E: Guild of the Six Fingers, continued

1. Monster: 1 Hydra (5 heads)
2. Treasure
3. Empty
4. Treasure
5. Empty
6. Empty
7. Monster: 15 Harpaces
8. Empty
9. Empty
10. Empty
11. Empty

Too Many Damn Elves! Sleeping Beauty's Dungeon: 5th Level

Elves. I hate them.

This is the strange level that I was referring to in the second set of Notes here.

Again, it is the randomly generated "raw" version that will certainly be adjusted.

Section A: What Are All These Good Guys Doing Here?

1. Monster & Treasure: 80 Elves
2. Empty
3. Empty
4. Empty
5. Monster & Treasure: 130 Elves
6. Monster: 17 Duellists
7. Monster: 16 Blink Dogs
8. Empty
9. Empty
10. Empty
11. Empty
12. Treasure
13. Empty
14. Monster & Treasure: 210 Elves
15. Monster: 2 Werebears
16. Monster & Treasure: 5 Very Young Silver Dragons
17. Empty
18. Monster & Treasure: 10 Tigers
19. Empty
20. Empty
21. Empty
22. Empty
23. Empty
24. Empty
25. Empty
26. Empty
27. Empty
28. Treasure
29. Empty
30. Monster & Treasure: 1 Invisible Stalker
31. Empty
32. Empty
33. Monster & Treasure: 8 Giant Hogs
34. Treasure
35. Monster: 1 Giant Hog

Section B: Doppelgängers, Flying Creatures, Sea Creatures and More Hogs

1. Empty
2. Empty
3. Monster: 8 Giant Hogs
4. Monster & Treasure: 7 Griffins
5. Empty
6. Empty
7. Empty
8. Empty
9. Treasure
10. Monster: 6 Giant Hogs
11. Empty
12. Monster & Treasure: 1 Griffin
13. Treasure
14. Empty
15. Monster: 4 Doppelgängers
16. Empty
17. Empty
18. Empty
19. Empty
20. Empty
21. Monster & Treasure: 1 Sicarian
22. Monster & Treasure: 2 Tritons
23. Monster: 9 Giant Octopi
24. Treasure
25. Monster: 6 Doppelgängers

Section C: Okay, I'm Rooting For the Cyborgs

1. Empty
2. Empty
3. Empty
4. Empty
5. Monster & Treasure: 100 Elves
6. Empty
7. Monster & Treasure: 90 Elves
8. Treasure
9. Treasure
10. Monster & Treasure: 5 Cyborgs
11. Monster & Treasure: 1 Phansigar
12. Monster & Treasure: 150 Elves
13. Monster: 6 Giant Hogs
14. Empty

Section D: Shriekers

1. Empty
2. Treasure
3. Monster: 14 Shriekers

Notes on Creating a Zylarthen Dungeon: Part II

1. Idea for those 240 Sea Horses: Let's make them giant and green and controlled by virtually-nude maidens with tridents! Nah, that was already done in 5E. Not.
2. For people with iPhones: I should have called it "Temple of the Headless Android".
3. Background to the Dungeon: I think I hinted at this in one of my Google+ posts (though not in the blog itself) but the idea is simple: After the Witch put a curse on Sleeping Beauty--something like, "you will sleep until kissed by someone pure of heart"--Sleeping Beauty was of course spirited away to somewhere where people pure of heart would have difficulty obtaining access to her cheek. Her father, the king, then went mad (as you might too if your daughter had been kidnapped by a Witch) and the kingdom went to ruin. It is now a foul place. Meanwhile, the Witch found and/or dug out and constructed a dungeon beneath Sleeping Beauty's now abandoned castle. There she lured or captured various "pets" and invited others in. The idea was to guard Sleeping Beauty from suitors, but also to create a magnet that would attract optimistic  adventurers from all parts of the world where they would subsequently be slimed or chomped or fried to death or whatever, as the Witch observed it all with sadistic glee from her crystal ball. If they made it far enough, then they could be charmed and added to her growing entourage of slaves. Also, for the Witch it was fun to live in a luxury apartment beneath a horrific maze brimming with monsters. That's actually the life goal of most Witches.
4. Geography of the Dungeon: I envision it as ten to twelve levels. I'd like to Jaquay it, perhaps primarily by centering it around a shaft that potentially goes all the way down. It would be spooky and scary, with a rickety stairway and mist wafting up, etc. This is how the Witch, as well as other powerful monsters get out, without the rigmarole of slogging back and forth through the, so to speak, lower-class housing. I've never seen a dungeon that does this precisely. Perhaps there are arguments against it. Any thoughts?
5. Are the Levels Too Small? So, there are 1-6 sections of 1-40 rooms per level, giving an average of 70 rooms, 20-25 of them occupied by monsters. However, the actual rolls yielded 90-100 rooms per level. But this is still only two-thirds of the level size of Stonehell, which to me is sort of the gold standard of megadungeons. One plausible principle of a megadungeon, I think, is that if you want to try, you can clear or mostly clear a dungeon level and then gain a class level (if you haven't been slimed, chomped, fried, etc.). But if the level is too small, then that obviously becomes too easy. I think I will add a few sections per level, as some of them seem pretty thin to me. The result will be a sprawl with the same rough averages as Stonehell but looking less, so to speak, symmetrical.
6. Randomness is an Imagination Pump not a Straight Jacket or a Suicide Pact with Stupidity: Well, that title is pretty self-explanatory. Consider these points:
7. If They're Cool, I'll Let Them In, Whatever the Dice Say: There are roughly 300 distinct monsters in Seven Voyages of Zylarthen's Book of Monsters, but even if I expand the number of rooms, some of them will inevitably not come up in the rolls. But if they are particularly cool, it would be a crime not to add them.
8. Inappropriate for Dungeons: The Monster Level Tables on pp. 10-14 include ALL monsters, not just monsters conventionally found in dungeons. Now, a few results assigning non-standard creatures (such as that Boar in the test Dungeon) are perhaps neat. But if 20% are like that, then that might be weird-stupid, not weird-cool.
9. Too Many Watery Creatures: This might be the case with watery monsters. Odds are you will get more of them than in your standard dungeon. Now maybe it is a watery dungeon. But in that case, every Zylarthen dungeon will be watery on average if rolled randomly. On this theme, exhibit A is those Sea Horses. Now, there are 240 of them on 3rd level! I might be able to make that work, but then again I might not. And you haven't yet met the multiple Giant Squids and Water Nagas on the 6th level! Upon consideration, some will be edited out and replaced.
10. Too Many Friendlies: Stocking a dungeon with some allies or at least some potential allies is cool. But too many is sort of weird. You haven't seen it yet but there are 420+ Elves on the 5th level. Why? Keep in mind that in Zylarthen, Elves are Lawful. Oh, and I forgot to say that in that same section there are Blink Dogs, Werebears and Silver Dragons. What are all those diverse good guys doing down there? Now, I think there are four ways to go on this: a) They're just there for whatever reason. Okay, but frankly I think that's dumb. b) They're evil versions of the standard monsters--Drow or whatever. For multiple reasons I don't want to go down that route for Zylarthen. It's not that Elves need to be Lawful. I could have made them Chaotic a la Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. But I think it's just too pat to say that all races, or all Lawful races, have flip sides. It's a cliche. c) They could have been charmed or whatever by the Witch. I'm going to consider that, but I'm not sure it's the right answer. Or, finally, d) just re-roll them. I'm inclining to that right now.

Well, as Gary Gygax might have said: Divide the jewelry and bag those coppers! Onward and downward!

Temple of the Android. Sleeping Beauty's Dungeon: 4th Level

Why a temple to her? Because there are only three rooms in the section and it sounds more grandiose and interesting than "1 Android hiding in room". Also there is only one of her. Perhaps her synthetic brain has gone a little off, and she now believes herself to be a goddess, using her laser pistol to fry unbelievers.

Section A: Temple of the Android

1. Treasure
2. Empty
3. Monster & Treasure: 1 Android

Section B: Hall of Statues

1. Treasure
2. Monster & Treasure: 13 Goblins
3. Empty
4. Monster & Treasure: 80 Goblins
5. Monster: 1 Lion
6. Empty
7. Empty
8. Monster: 2 Evil Thieves
9. Monster & Treasure: 1 Basilisk
10. Empty
11. Empty
12. Treasure
13. Monster: 2 Calots
14. Empty
15. Empty
16. Empty
17. Empty
18. Empty
19. Empty
20. Treasure
21. Empty
22. Empty
23. Treasure
24. Treasure
25. Monster: 14 Kobolds
26. Monster: 1 Basilisk

Hogs! Giant Insects! And Stuff Attacking from Underwater! Sleeping Beauty's Dungeon: 3rd Level

Author's Notes: Again, I reserve the right to change anything. The dungeon is meant to be fun, but not thoroughly comic. However, what's neat (to me) is the way at least apparently meaningful patterns can be generated completely randomly. Note the section exclusively inhabited by giant insects. Also, there's definitely a water theme going on here, both on this level and others. Can that be developed into something cool, even with the Sea Horses and all? I can't say for sure, but I think it's worth at least trying.

Despite their perhaps less than imposing name, Giant Hogs are some of the most fearsome creatures we have met so far, surpassed only by the Lesser Vampires on the 2nd level. One would think that 5 Giant Hogs with 6 hit dice, that each do 2-12 hits of damage would be more than a match for a group of 3rd level adventurers (just two hits would kill the average full-strength such character). Remember all hit dice are six-siders (3rd level Magic-Users only have 2) and most humanoid and non-humanoid creatures only do one six-sided die of damage.

Section A: Dungeon of Lights

1. Empty
2. Empty
3. Monster & Treasure: 2 Piercers
4. Monster & Treasure: 12 Mermen
5. Empty
6. Empty
7. Empty
8. Monster: 1 Duellist
9. Empty
10. Empty
11. Treasure
12. Empty
13. Empty
14. Monster & Treasure: 100 Fire Beetles
15. Empty

Section B: Hogs

1. Monster & Treasure: 5 Giant Hogs

Section C: The Drowned World 2 (Lair of the Rabid Sea Horses)

1. Monster: 2 Piercers
2. Empty
3. Empty
4. Monster & Treasure: 1 Giant Tick
5. Monster & Treasure: 1 Cave Creeper
6. Monster & Treasure: 5 Orcs
7. Monster & Treasure: 1 Cave Creeper
8. Monster & Treasure: 7 Giant Rats
9. Monster: 11 Orcs
10. Empty
11. Monster: 23 Fire Beetles
12. Empty
13. Monster: 18 Fire Beetles
14. Monster & Treasure: 6 Shriekers
15. Empty
16. Monster & Treasure: 1 Giant Hog
17. Empty
18. Empty
19. Empty
20. Monster & Treasure: 240 Sea Horses
21. Monster & Treasure: 2 Wererats

Section D: Order of the Screaming Skull vs. the Elfin Marines

1. Empty
2. Empty
3. Monster: 6 Diabolists
4. Monster & Treasure: 14 Elves

Section E: House of Insects

1. Empty
2. Monster: 3 Giant Moths
3. Empty
4. Monster: 3 Giant Moths
5. Empty
6. Treasure
7. Monster & Treasure: 1 Giant Bee
8. Empty
9. Empty
10. Empty
11. Empty
12. Empty
13. Empty
14. Monster & Treasure: 2 Huge Spiders
15. Monster: 110 Giant Bees
16. Empty
17. Treasure
18. Monster: 1 Large Spider
19. Empty
20. Empty
21. Monster: 5 Giant Flies
22. Empty
23. Treasure
24. Empty

Notes on Creating a Zylarthen Dungeon: Part I

1. Embrace the Random: I propose that creating a dungeon is a bit like writing a novel. For many people, starting one is intimidating because they assume that you have to have all of this stuff in your head beforehand. Most people are incapable of having all of that stuff in their head beforehand, so they get scared off. What they don’t understand is that much of the ‘stuff’ will emerge organically—later. You don’t create by setting down what you’re already thinking, but to discover what’s, so to speak, already there. Random generation is the engine that allows you to discover things. In Vol. 4: The Campaign, I cite the comments of C.S. Lewis on this. The other stumbling block is feeling responsible for every decision. Should I put this monster or that monster in that particular room? What is the right thing? What if I do the wrong thing? That feeling of responsibility can be daunting. But random generation takes it off of your shoulders. Or so it seems. It’s all sort of irrational. But it’s how many of us think. Or at least it’s how I think.
2. What Initially Reminded me to Embrace the Random: In his introduction to the seminal contemporary megadungeon Barrowmaze, the author, Greg Gillespie claimed that much of the dungeon was generated randomly. I thought, wait, that’s legal? You can create a dungeon randomly and then sell it for money? Count me in, man!
3. Level Variance: On P. 9 of Vol. 4 I laid out tables of monsters for each dungeon level. Each table spanned six or more monster levels, such that you could, say, get 4-24 of the weakest vs. 1 of the most powerful. I then wrote: ‘For greater variation, consider a wider possible spread of monster levels: die 1 = one (table) level lower, die 2-5 = specified (table) level, die 6 = one (table) level higher.' For this dungeon I increased the extremes such that die 1 = two levels lower, die 2 = one level lower, die 3-4 = the same, die 5 = one table level higher, die 6 = two table levels higher. Thus, on say the 3rd level one might encounter anything from 3 Giant Rats (at the absolute lowest possible end) to 1 Basilisk (at the absolute highest end). Is this variation good or bad? I have no idea. Keep in mind, though that ideally the players will often not be able (at least at first) to easily identify the level of difficulty of the monsters. How powerful are those frothing mammals swimming through the water at us? Who knows?
4. Non-Random Patterns: For new monsters, I decided that there would be a 1 in 3 chance that they would be the same as previously encountered ones. Die 1-2 = a random roll of all monsters previously encountered in the entire dungeon in numbers appropriate to the level, die 3-4 = a random determination of previously encountered monsters on that level, die 5-6 = a random determination of previously encountered monsters in that section. This creates meaningful patterns that make sense. Hopefully the repeating ones will be interesting and not boring. If they seem boring, perhaps there’s a way of making them more interesting.
5. A Mistake: I screwed up slightly on the algorithm for treasure not guarded by monsters. It’s supposed to be 1 in 6 of all unoccupied rooms. But my Excel randomizer algorithm only did 1 in 8. I will reroll unguarded treasure for the first two levels.
6. Just So You Know: That said, obviously much of the flavor, tone and mechanical interest will come from traps and features added later. But the monster distribution helps to trigger ideas for this.
7. Why are there so many Martians? Is this a good thing? Out of the 99 monster assignments in the first two levels, 6 are Martians. This is very close to precisely what the tables would predict, as Martians make up 1/18th or 1/19th of each table. The Zylarthen dungeon monster encounter tables are not naturalistic. That is, I didn’t set out to have them track some previously decided scheme of proportions. Rather (with only a few exceptions—dragons, most obviously) each monster is represented precisely once in the tables (and I decided that the different ‘colors’ of Martians would each be a separate monster). Each table for each level generally includes one monster from each of 15 or so categories—getting 'weirder' the higher the die roll. Thus, there is generally 1 mundane mammal, 1 giant insect, 1 prehistoric, 1 undead, 1 Martian and so on in each table. Since the humanoid Martian species are clustered in the lower tables (as opposed to the Orluks, White Apes and so forth in the higher ones), there’s roughly a 1 in 20 chance on these tables that a new monster will be a Martian. I guess I think this is fun. But other dungeon creators are of course free to reroll if they find this bothersome.

More notes in a subsequent post…