The Dungeon23 Challenge is a Glorious D&D Delight
12 levels. 365 rooms. Behold the glory that is the Dungeon23 Challenge.
Over the past few weeks the hashtag #Dungeon23 has been trending on social media and has quickly been picked up by fans of D&D and tabletop roleplaying games. But what exactly is it? In this article we break down everything you need to know and how you can get involved.
What is the Dungeon23 Challenge?
Dungeon23 is an ongoing social media event in which participants will try to build a single mega dungeon over the course of a year. Each day, participants will design a new room and each month will consist of a single level. The goal is have a complete dungeon that consists of 12 levels and 365 rooms filled with traps, treasures, monsters and more, with participants encouraged to share their work in progress over the course of 2023.
The idea for Dungeon23 began in early December 2022 when RPG designer Sean McCoy (co-founder of Tuesday Knight Games and publisher of the award-winning tabletop RPG Mothership) tweeted about a new year-long dungeon project he was working on and included a photo of his notebook.
The idea quickly took on a life of its own and the #Dungeon23 hashtag was picked up by other D&D and TTRPG fans, with McCoy helping to provide a little bit more structure to the challenge via a post on Substack. Unlike other events, such as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), there is currently no formal organization overseeing the Dungeon23 challenge, with the concept essentially taking a life of its own and being run and organized by fans.
How can you participate in the Dungeon23 Challenge?
Dungeon23 is open to anyone with an interest in the project. As McCoy and other champions of the challenge have pointed out, however, the main goal isn’t just to make a mega dungeon over the course of a year, it’s to try to challenge yourself to be creative, build a space for new ideas and create connections with the D&D and TTRPG community.
Online fans who are supporting the challenge have also pointed out that it doesn’t even have to be a traditional dungeon, and some participants are creating cities, mansions, post-apocalyptic ruins and even massive starship fleets. Additionally, a number of fans are adding in weekly “theme” challenges to add an extra level of creativity to their designs.
The idea, however, is to keep it simple, drawing a single room with a connecting hallway and sketching in a sentence or two of detail on any traps, monsters, magic items or secrets. Participants can create their dungeon masterpieces however they see fit, with many choosing to draw by hand and others designing using software or specialized tools.
McCoy offers a number tips on his Dungeon23 substack for participants who might be stuck or need a little inspiration. He also points out that it’s okay to miss a few days here and there. Again, the process itself is more important than the final result.
Dungeon23 resources and advice
In a short period of time a number of different resources have cropped up online to help participants. Below are just a few of the many websites offering tips and advice for would be Dungeon23 designers (we’ll be sure to update this list as more become available).
- Dungeon23 Jam: An online community where participants can join in the challenge, share work-in-progress and get access to helpful resources.
- Dungeon23 List: A collection of prompts and inspiration for daily designs, plus a ton of different resources
- Pandion Dungeon Design Journal: A free downloadable template designed specifically for the Dungeon23 challenge.
- Spicy Tuna Daily Design Book: Another amazing free downloadable journal created for the challenge
- Monthly Mega Dungeon Maker: A free downloadable PDF to help plan each month/level of your dungeon
- Dungeon23 Resources: A massive collection of helpful links and resources.
Good luck to all of the Dungeon23 participants! We’re looking forward to exploring some of these amazing new mega dungeons in 2024!
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Cameron Nichols is a Senior Editor who lives in Boston, Massechustes, and has been playing D&D since the early 90s, when he was introduced by his older brother and cut his teeth on AD&D 2nd Edition. Since then he’s played virtually every RPG he could get his nerdy little mitts on (including a weird Goth phase in the early 2000s when he rocked Vampire: The Masquerade pretty hard). His favorite D&D campaign setting is the Forgotten Realms and his favorite character to play was a Half-Orc Barbarian named Grug (who was unfortunately devoured by a gelatinous cube).
