The Microdungeon 10

The Microdungeon 10 experiment is completed. Today I (finally) mailed 9 microdungeons to the folks who requested to them.

I've also thrown in a few extra goodies: a print of The Wizard's Tower, a couple of Moo cards, and a sticker with dungeon art on them.

So what was the point of this exercise? With shipping and materials, I only made a few bucks on it. On the other hand, I created 10 new dungeons I wouldn't have created before and found owners for them. This is a huge win for me! With dozens of homeless dungeons sitting in little boxes on my desk, a piece of art I can send off to someone makes me happy. Homeless dungeons make me sad.

The only downside was how long it took. Even though each dungeon is quick, it took me a month to complete them all. This is because I do most of my sketching in the 45 minutes between dropping my daughter off at school and starting work every day. And that time is subject to disruption from work emergencies, family duties, errands, dental appointments, other art assignments and a host of other obstructions. The next time I do something like this, I'll carve out a block of time to work on it so I can get it done in a more timely fashion.

That said, thanks for taking part everyone. I hope you enjoy your new dungeons!

Clockwork City of Forbidden Gods

Gombaz, the Clockwork City of Forbidden Gods wanders the world of Lemmeth from North to South, but always heading West. It always keeps the wandering moon of Gelumiel directly overhead, such that when the petty lords of the plains see it rise above the horizon, the gather their goods to their cellars and sharpen their spears. The only blessing is that this accursed city never stays in one place for long.

Interdimensional Mansion of Science

Crumbling Factory of the Owlbear

How close is the Owlbear to completion?
What do they plan to use it for when it's done?
Is the sphere of annihilation they're using for a power core actually stable?
And will the Kingdom of Aarnd really strike preemptively to prevent its coming online?

Clockwork Tower of Death

Time Wizardry is considered a highly arcane study, even among Wizards. Due to its difficulty, years can pass without results. However, rare successes have yielded some of the most powerful spells ever discovered.

The study of time magic overlaps with many other areas of study. The confluence of time, death magaic, and clockwork is a neglected, but fruitful area of study, though not without its dangers.

Tentacle Spaceship of Science

When I had my wife proofread the Microdungeon 10 post, she immediately requested "Tentacle Spaceship of Science." That's not really fair, but where one's spouse is concerned, one has to be prepared to overlook minor discrepancies.

Ancient City of Forbidden Gods

More forbidden gods for you!

This dungeon apparently has a blender in it. That seems a perfectly sensible thing to include in a dungeon, and yet I feel I must slightly apologize for including such an un-dungeonish thing in this setting. Of course that assumes that what appears to be a blender to our eyes is, in fact, a blender. Perhaps it is some sort of astral antennae. On the other hand, if an object is handled and used by enough people in their daily ritual in our world, who is to say that this could not create the requisite resonance to cause a divine focus in some other world.

The Microdungeon 10

Still working away on my 10 microdungeon requests. I drew a couple more today. I'll scan them soon. Once they've all be drawn and published, I'll be sending them out to the lucky owners. Have a great weekend!

Atomic Castle of Death

When death moved in, the villagers complained, but nobody did anything, because Death is a hard force to impose, and it kept the dragons away.

But after a while people started, well, dying; which is the thing with death isn't it. So a band of adventurers was duly hired. Their task: enter Death's dark castle an induce it, by word or by deed, to stop visiting death on the village. Welcome to the Atomic Castle of Death.

Atomic City of the Githyanki

The Githyank build their cities near Ilithid outposts, the better to check the ambitions of their oldest foe.

Aghyth'atch, known as the Atomic City is unique among these. Neither a Githyanki construction nor a former Ilithid stronghold, it was built by unknown beings and may have wandered the Astral depths for millennia before its capture. Even now its sentient heart longs to be back on the unknown errand its creators programmed into its fiber at the dawn of time.

When you help the Atomic Heart on its mission, take +1 forward to rolls inside the city. When you hinder it, take +1 forward in dealings with Githyanki or Ilithids.

Underground Maze of the Githyanki

What are the Githyanki up to in this underground maze? Are they excavating that skull, or did they just find it there? Shard of what?

These new microdungeons are sparking my inspiration more than I expected. I thought I was kind of done with microdungeons, but now it seems like maybe I'm not!

Haunted Tower of Forbidden Gods

The first of the Microdungeon 10: the Haunted Tower of Forbidden Gods. What makes a god forbidden? Is it enough that worship of the god is outlawed somewhere? Or must the god himself be somehow proscribed? And what manner of authority is required to achieve that feat? Or is there something ontologically significant about the state of being forbidden (at least where a god is involved)?