The Kuiper Belt Artefact 🛸

Week 1 of #Dungeon23.

Out in the Kuiper belt is an ancient massive structure the humans simply call the Artefact. The Twitch-Tok-sponsored starship Hierophany has been stationed near it, examining, analyzing, and sending out explorers for the last three years. Other ships have since arrived from the earth, forming a kind of unordered fleet.

The Artefact.

Yep, moar #Dungeon23 - and if you don’t know:

#Dungeon23

Week 1:

I haven’t decided on a journal type yet; I’ve got several to choose from here in the house. Right now, I’m working off an 11x17 clipboard and graph paper. At the end of the week, I’ll transfer these notes into a journal -I’m hoping the work will inform the journal choice.

I’m developing this as a pointcrawl or, as the Alexandrian has described, a depthcrawl. TL;DR - depthcrawls are procedurally generated pointcrawls. This #Dunegon23 project weighs in at 365 rooms, a depthcrawl was a slam-dunk choice. The task is simply describing rooms letting the depthcrawl procedures will create the map upon play. The Stygian Library and Gradient Descent(Mothership) were very influential for me here. The Stygian Library is a fabulous example of a procedurally generated depth crawl, and I love, love, love the map design from the Gradient Descent.

Out in the immense space of the Kuiper Belt are three of these alien structures. This first structure is the most damaged of the three and has one level, as defined by Dunegon23. The other two have 3 and 5 levels, respectively, leaving me with three levels of “other structures” in the belt. This first structure has a teleporter but broken so it can only send you to one structure.

Naturally, now I’ll want to play in this space. It ties in nicely with my thoughts about a sci-fi west marches game! We’ll see how this first month goes.

The Rooms

I’ll let the organization, structure, depthcrawl procedures come to me organically as I create a room a day. This first artefact has only one level or 31 rooms—a nice setup for small-scale testing. Once I pick a journal, I may do some room sketches inspired by the CY_BORG locations pad.

From CY_BORG Locations pad

My rooms last week, in no order:

ZZ. The Artefact structure is severely damaged, and a huge chunk of the outer hull is missing. This has exposed many levels of the bay and internal structure. Around this section, expedition groups have set up camp - they call it the Zero Zone, or ZZ. It is mainly exposed to the void of space. Some of the teams have clamped shuttles or habitats that are pressurized to various areas they have claimed near the breach.

XL Storage. Large equipment scattered around the bay. Some broken, bent, warped. Maybe vehicle scale, perhaps larger.

Service levels. Tight, dark, twisty passages.

Barracks(crew). Burn blast streaks and impact marks along the walls and furniture positioned like barricades.

Sealed Delta Door. The room has been breached and depressurized. Empty EV suit tethered to the side wall.

Drone Bay. Various sizes and shapes of drones in this bay. Many still clamped in their cradles. Serviceable?

Breached Dome. Cracked dome structure on far side and near the cap of the station. see-through material from the inside. Large, tiered space inside.

Janey’s Way. It is said for a fee, Janey can get you inside the artefact through a set of external spacelocks. She knows how they work.

Teleporter. Short rectangle chamber with smashed screens and electronics leads to a pyramidal chamber it’s interior is of a smooth sound and light-absorbing material.