Solstice Dungeon - a work in progress

 as my hobonichi came early and had weeks starting this december, i thought maybe i would start early during the week of the winter solstice, the true new year. seeing as my theme for dungeons23 is seasonal, it felt appropriate to start at the very beginning of winter. to mark the solstice, here is what I have put together thus far.

The Cairn

While trekking through the valleys of Nutmeg Pass you spy an impressive cairn looming atop a hill amongst a small copse of windbeaten pines. The winter wind whistles through the cracks in the cairn as you lift the stones revealing a dark shaft driving into the frozen earth.

Caspar David Friedrich

1) Burial Sleigh
    - Mummified corpse in decayed finery sitting on a sleigh lashed to four mummified aurochs.
    - Ancient, brittle medieval weapons (d6, fragile) and various debris litter the floor
    - Portcullis propped open with broken wood and mummified corpses to hallway leading deeper.

2) Humming Stone Chamber
    - Enormous humming brown stone resembling a walnut swings gently via a chain pulley system bolted to the ceiling and ending in a crank spool on western end of the room.
        + The humming causes vomiting for anyone being in this chamber for more than 5 minutes.
    - Floor mosaic depicting figures battling on aurochs-led sleighs on an arctic battlefield.
    - Hallways leading North (to 4, portcullis shut from other side), East (to 5, portcullis blasted open), and South (to 1, portcullis propped up)

6) Diggerman Cave   
    - Rough hewn tunnel-like cave, supported primarily by fresh timber and tomb detritus.
    - Chest of precious minerals and stones
    - Diggerman 4HP, pick (d6, bulky) minibombs (d6, blast)
        + Desires precious minerals and stones
        + Dirty, disgusting, nerdy, distinguished.
        + Chained to Diggerbeast
    - Diggerbeast 6 HP, digging claws (d6)
        + Loves but does not respect Diggerman
        + Desires freedom and friends

Carl Spitzweg

some passing ideas regarding this process include when is it appropriate to "work ahead"? at times i found my head swimming with ideas and i made an effort to file these away, not wanting to get too far ahead of myself. part of the appeal of this practice is that it echoes a lot of the mindfulness techniques i learned while training to be a social worker. at work, this practice is of particular use given how fast-paced and often brutal my work can be.

i did these sitting in a window just off a skyway leading to the cafeteria on the furthest south end of the hospital. this window is far from my unit and often quite sunny, weather permitting. i sit, eat lunch, listen to whatever is in my head that day and write out a room. and this evening i wrote everything down and fleshed out the three rooms in a blog draft.

nice view for dungeonmaking

but on my way home, walking in the pre-blizzard conditions, i started thinking of the other rooms, what might lurk in room 7? what riches await in room 3? what should i put in the other rooms? but i set these thoughts aside and instead focused on fleshing out the diggerman who had once been a geologist with a giant mole. and yet my mind tugged me away, what about slim watchers in the woods who shyly protest "don't look!"? no, not yet.

i can't pin down a conclusion on whether or not i should think too much on other rooms, whether i should hold them lightly, eschew working ahead altogether, or just follow the dopamine. for now, i think i will try mindfulness, but if it becomes too rigid, i may have to bust out, and then reconstrain, like breathing through this project.