People have always wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons more than they have been able to get together with friends, and that desire remains intact today, especially during the coronavirus lockdown!

Back in the beginning of the hobby, one possible solution for this was to exchange pre-generated dungeons, rooms, or special encounters between players in closed envelopes, so that a solo player could play through a surprising new scenario created by someone else. Random generation of dungeons, monsters, and other game elements could be used to fill out a game beyond these traded, hand-crafted designs.

When I began learning about D&D, I didn't know anyone to play D&D with, so I used to spend hours tinkering with the random dungeon generator in the 1e DMG and similar ideas. In effect, I would play games and sessions using random generation and my own handcrafted elements, and I remember it being a lot of fun.

This jam is to allow us to rediscover and explore that mode of play, where we design dungeons for a single solo player (acting as both GM and single PC). The most important part is to include two handcrafted special rooms (a special room is anything that is not a monster, a trap, or empty).

Submission Criteria:

• Create a solo dungeon (designed for one PC) compatible with the Basic/Expert Dungeons and Dragons rules (see below)
• Your dungeon should have roughly one page of map and one page of dungeon key (describing the spaces on the map.) This is not a strict guideline; going a little bit over or under is fine. Alternative presentations are also fine: for example you can include separate documents that are only opened when the player goes someplace special or does something, randomize the order, whichever. Do cool things!
• Include two handcrafted special rooms (not a trap, a monster, just containing treasure, or empty.)
• Be sure to note what dungeon level your submission is for (see below if this is unclear)
• Your dungeon should be at most R-rated and needs to follow the itch.io rules for acceptable content: https://itch.io/docs/legal/terms#3-acceptable-use
• Have fun!!!

Frequently Asked Questions:

I don't know what Basic/Expert D&D is.

No worries! Basic/Expert D&D (also abbreviated to B/X) is a popular old-school version of the Dungeons and Dragons game, sometimes also called Moldvay Basic after its designer, or 1981 D&D after the year of its release. It's perhaps the most popular version of D&D for old-school fans, and because of that, has plenty of new and extra content designed for it. I chose B/X because it's popular, easy to learn, and compatible with our goals for this jam.

If you don't have a copy of B/X already, you have several legal options to get one!

• You can buy a PDF of Moldvay Basic from DTRPG https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/110274/DD-Basic-Set-Rulebook-B-X-ed-Basic . You'll need to buy Moldvay Expert (linked from that page) as well to design and play dungeons beyond level 3. The original rulebooks are quite fun and cool, but they are a bit dated; you may find one of the other options on this list easier to understand.
• You can get a PDF copy of Labyrinth Lord (a free clone of B/X D&D) also on DTRPG https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/64331/Labyrinth-Lord-Revised-Edition-noart-version?cPath=2033_6311. Labyrinth Lord is better organized than the original Moldvay Basic.
• Old-School Essentials is an even newer, more accurate and the best organized (in my opinion) version of B/X. The basic rules are available as a free PDF on DTRPG https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/272802/OldSchool-Essentials-Basic-Rules; you can find the rules for higher levels free here: https://oldschoolessentials.necroticgnome.com/srd/index.php/Main_Page

In general, any clone or version of B/X D&D is largely compatible. There are some minor changes from product to product, but nothing that will prevent you from using your favourite edition (which may not be one of the above!). You should also look at https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/114895/Black-Streams-Solo-Heroes, which is a free supplement for playing B/X adventures solo. (It says Labyrinth Lord, it should work with any version of B/X.) You'll need this if you want to actually play any of the submissions, as it allows a single character to take down challenges designed for a whole group of players! (If you have the paid follow-up, Scarlet Heroes, that's of course fine too.) 

I don't know how to design a dungeon!

That's okay! A jam like this is a great way to get started on learning how to design a dungeon. Any of the B/X versions listed above will show you how to key a dungeon (fill the rooms with challenges and rewards.) Figuring out how the various pieces go together can be a challenge though. When this kind of play was suggested for old-school fans decades ago, the solution was to use a random dungeon generator as a base, and then edit it and flesh it out with creative, designed elements.

Here are some random dungeon generators you can use to get you started:

• Gary Gygax's Solo Dungeons article in The Strategic Review #1 (also reprinted in Dragon Compendium Volume 1 by Paizo)
• Appendix A in the 1e AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide
• Appendix A in the 5e D&D Dungeon Master's Guide
• https://campaignwiki.org/hex-describe/rule?load=schroeder&rule=dungeon
• https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/dungeon/ or https://donjon.bin.sh/adnd/dungeon/ (the latter provides additional details from AD&D 1e, which is largely compatible with B/X D&D)

No matter what random generator you use, be sure to add on two special rooms and key the dungeon according to the guidelines in your version of B/X. You may find the generators on this page helpful for keying: https://oldschoolessentials.necroticgnome.com/generators/

What's a special room?

When you look at how to key a dungeon, most of it is done randomly - you roll a die, and there's a chance of the room being Empty, a Monster, a Trap, or Special. So a Special is effectively anything that isn't Empty, a Monster, or a Trap. This great document by Courtney Campell goes into more detail about what Specials are, and will give you great inspiration for designing your dungeon in general: http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2011/02/on-tricks-empty-rooms-and-basic-trap.html

If you have two great special room ideas and don't have the energy or time to construct a whole dungeon around them, a map and key for just those two rooms is a valid submission!

What does "dungeon level" mean?

A dungeon's level basically refers to how difficult it is and how powerful a player character must be to succeed in that dungeon. In effect, a PC's level is also the dungeon level they can reasonably challenge: a first-level PC is best off exploring first-level dungeons.

Dungeon level in the B/X rules determines the kinds of challenges found in that dungeon, and also the potential rewards. Players need to know the dungeon level to know how strong and what kind of characters they should create to play your dungeon!

If you don't know what dungeon level you should choose for your dungeon, make a 1st level dungeon, that way people can play it with brand new 1st level characters.

(Note: Don't make a dungeon for 15th level or above, as most B/X versions only go to PC level 14.)

Community is turned off for this jam. Is there no place I can talk to the other creators?

There's a channel set up for discussion on one of the big old-school Discord servers. Check out #solo-dungeon-jam on Chris McDowall's OSR server, available at https://discord.gg/6vqF25E . This server is inclusive, accessible, and respectful, in my experience as a disabled trans woman. I recommend not talking about your submission too much, as you want other participants to have fun exploring it themselves!

So what's up with the submission deadlines?

The two week submission deadline is for people to design and publish their solo dungeons. After that comes two weeks of playtesting, for people to play through each others dungeons and rate them. This process is meant to be collaborative and iterative: late submissions are accepted (contact me preferably on Discord, I might miss messages here), and updating your submission after the submission deadline is totally acceptable.

Ultimately I'd like to compile the submissions into a single product, that way people can just pass around a collection of fun dungeons for some solo fun! One of the submission questions asks whether you consent to this (using CC BY-NC-SA); if you don't consent, that's okay!

How will submissions be playtested and rated?

Submissions are rated on two scales: creativity and how fun they are to play. There's no winning or losing or really strict ranking; itch.io's jam feature provides an easy way for us to collect, share, and give feedback on submissions.

What do I do if I have a question not answered here?

You can contact me on Discord, preferably through the Discord server linked above; or by private message here on itch.io; or reach out to me on Twitter at @icequeenerika.