First Dungeons and a Thank You to Mom

First dungeons.  The discovery that got me started in developing dungeons was a graph paper tablet I found in my mother's supply closet at her office.  I'd never seen one before.  Didn't know they existed.  Holy crap, I just found gold.  I asked if I could have it and she said of course.  Armed with a ruler and pencil I drew dungeon map after dungeon map. 

After I finished a few dozen maps I chose the maps with the best personality and started room descriptions.  There was no logic or theme to the dungeons, just rooms with monsters and loot.  Blink dogs next to a room of ogres next to a hallway of Type 2 demons with an alcove where Beelzebub lounged.  Didn’t matter how ridiculous it was, it was cool.  I was doing it.  I was making dungeons.

With map mapped, descriptions described, I thought I was ready but it didn’t feel right.  Back into my mother’s supply closet I went.  Good god all mighty, a box of manila folders.  She said take them.  So I borrowed her stapler and stapled my map to the inside of the folder.  There was room on the other side.  So I made up a wandering monster table on her electric typewriter and stapled it there. I set the folder on its side and wa-la, I had a cardboard screen just like those TSR modules.

I walked the school halls with my homemade modules waiting for a study hall to break them out.  I had one dungeon called the Taps Six Dungeon.  It got kinda famous in my school.  Everyone wanted to go through it.  They wanted to know what the name meant.  I just smiled and said there is only one way to find out.  Actually, it didn’t mean a damn thing. I just thought it was a cool name.

So thanks to the supply closet at my mom’s office, my career in developing dungeons then eventually world building started.  And being that it's Mother’s Day, I want to give a huge thanks to you mom, for allowing me to raid your office closet, and understanding and allowing me to indulge in this weird hobby I really love.