Advent of Dungeons 2024: Day 2 – FROGS

I love Advent of Code. I say this having only done maybe 2 problems ever. Not 2 years: 2 problems.

Okay, let me re-phrase: I love the concept of Advent of Code. There are 25 daily challenges starting on December 1st for participants to work through. The daily, mini-tasks are a great way to try something new and jumpstart a project without the daunting task of a long-term commitment or habit.

I have been trying to think of ways to do the same thing with other skills or hobbies, and I came up with this: the Advent of Dungeons.

What is the Advent of Dungeons?

Every day, there will be a mini-prompt for a GM to use to put together a concept as part of a game. You could create:

  1. An adventure
  2. A combat encounter
  3. A location
  4. A puzzle
  5. A monster
  6. An NPC
  7. An item

It can be whatever with an emphasis on something that you tend to have a hard time doing. I also recommend time boxing to 10 minutes or less.

And the prompt can be included however you like. Maybe it’s literally the central point of whatever you make. Maybe the prompt is just the starting point for your mind to wander and come up with something good. Use it however you like.

Based on that prompt, come up with a short (5 sentences or less) writeup for what it could be, and share it!

Why the Advent of Dungeons?

I get so much writer’s block in my game prep. I feel like I have a million cool ideas about what will happen next while I’m driving, washing dishes, or whatnot, and I can’t wait to sit down at my computer at the end of the day and write it all down.

And then I can’t think of a thing to write and end up procrastinating on social media.

My hope is that the Advent of Dungeons is a way to break out of that cycle in a few ways.

First, prompts are always helpful: there’s nothing scarier than a blank page, and hopefully the prompts will provide useful constraints.

Second, there’s no actual pressure to deliver. This concept can be forgotten like a die that fell off the table.

Third, maybe you might actually come up with something really good, and this can be a repository of ideas to borrow from in a pinch.

Fourth, it’s just good exercise. Hopefully by working on a variety of concepts, it is easier to deliver when you need to do real prep.

Did I miss Day 1?

Yes, I missed it. You didn’t miss it: this is my fault.

I didn’t think of doing this until December 2nd, and honestly, I’m racing against midnight pacific time to even get it in.

So what’s Day 2?

Today’s prompt is: FROGS.

What did I come up with?

I think my biggest weaknesses are in designing encounters on the fly. Fights seem to always break out in flat, square rooms, and they usually end up just being a fight to the death.

I would much rather fights feel dynamic with lots of tradeoffs in decisions and conflicting goals.

so I’ll try to work one up right now.

  1. Giant frog ambush the players by breaking the rudder off of their boat so they’re stuck on the water.
  2. Other frogs underwater are prying away at the hull to sink the boat
  3. Other frogs have leapt onto deck and will try to wrap up the players to pull them off the boat
  4. The frogs may also latch onto the boat and try to rock it back and forth

So what’s Day 3?

The prompt for tomorrow is: FROZEN

Tomorrow, I’ll post again with my result for Day 3 and a new prompt for Day 4!

Elsewhere in Daggerheart

Darrington Press has a YouTube channel!

And there’s a Daggerheart video!


Posted

in

by

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *