RUclips is weird. I’ve never seen your page, but I’ve also never heard of the One Page Dungeon contest, or DungeonScrawl. So thank you for that, and I look forward to seeing more of your content!
In the future, all you will need to see your campaign broken down is your credit card statement, to see all the micro-transactions WotC charged you for!
Seems like the algorithm likes your stuff. This is one of the smallest channels I’ve ever been recommended, but the video quality is great. Subbed for more tips and ideas around running TTRPGs
Great video -- really enjoyed the presentation style (simple, clear, no hype or quick cuts to distracting asides or comical comments) and actual useful information. As a DM for 40+ years you gave me a lot of great tips in under 6 minutes and thanks very much for the Dungeon Scrawl link -- didn't know about that tool. Subbed!
Hey Steve! Thanks for checking it out! I'm a fan of shorter formats too. Some of my videos go a little longer but with this one I decided to start reigning them back in to the 5-6 minute mark.
I realize that often the last notes I took the better the session would be. I found that if I took lots of notes, I would be trying to force the players down the pass I wrote out for them and players definitely noticed this and got mad at me for railroading. Now that I started taking notes I find this more room for imagination and improv, which greatly improves the session.
Good call out! Anything that helps refocus the game on the players is probably the way to go. I find that dungeons are often a bit railroad-y by nature. The best ones offer multiple routes and options ... but those are often the bigger, sprawling dungeons. It's a good mental check point for GMs...how can I make this dungeon more like a sandbox?
My last adventure went NO where near my (well panned) notes... Random encounters and on the fly story creation... pretty good so far. Luckily I also had back ground history of the area to work with and had determined what tribes were in the area and the politics involved.
@@bjornstahle4652 Not sure if you've checked out Apocalypse World yet, but that system has a good way of keeping track of other forces at work in the area. It's called 'Fronts' and is an interesting way to summarized what different groups or individuals might be doing in parallel to what the party is doing...and how they might lead to conflict. It's also kind of a 1 page summary.
I have written out 'notes' before sessions that are pretty detailed. Border line rewrites of the adventures themselves 😂. More in the D&D as homework field. As I get more confidence as a DM I like the idea of just quick notes and reminders.
I use pages of notes for each session. Pages of text, usually several maps, index cards, and NPC character sheets. Never had a problem with being able to find stuff. I see the fun in trying to make a one page dungeon for a competition or something, but feel no need to clip my prep even further by annotating it all once its done. It would be an extra load of time I could better use doing something else, to even try. Each "Adventure" that I write is usually anything from 8 to 20 pages plus maps. I print it all off, slide-bind it and make notes on the adventure pages as we go through it, including notes like how they solved certain puzzles or the outcome of NPC interactions. Then, when the adventure is done I file it along with the previous completed adventures into one constantly growing "Campaign Book" so that I have an easy to reference record of everything they've done.
I've done a few game sessions prepped on a single sheet of paper. Usually the map doesn't fit on the same sheet, so technically a two page dungeon, but I find writing all the prep notes on a single sheet keeps me focused and helps the session sun smoother.
I stumbled upon this video as a recommendation on the homepage and just realized you're the creator of this year's OPDC champion piece. Congratulations! Your work is truly amazing!
Great tips. My drawing skills are subpar (working on it) and the free dungeon builder will aid me greatly. And now I need to go check out these one page dungeons. Thank you.
Love the video, I think the idea of using the 1 Page Dungeon method is a great one, most of my notes trend to be an Obsidian Notes since I run mostly online, but I can see using a single image of Dungeon and dropping notes onto it in Photoshop as an alternative. Thanks for the tip 🙂👍
I play digitally so I usually have my notes writen over a digital map on a second screen. For the notes I use a program called concept, which gives u a large canvas to put pictures, write and draw. It works pretty well especially because I have all notes to a from past sessions easily accessible but for my new campaign I wanted to use more paper notes so i will give this a try. And no I didn't know one page dungeons.
Concept sounds a bit like Mural, which I use at work all the time. I haven't tried it for D&D ... maybe because I associate it too much with my day job!
Your one-page idea is pretty good. I tend to use a notebook. I write what I think I will need in it, usually a separate page for a game session. Then, when the game is going, I realize I can't read a darn thing I wrote and just make it up.
My notes are usually just an outline of scenes with some DCs for reference. Much of my time is spent on the Roll20 maps. I often wing the rest. This is mostly due to lack of time as in the past I spent much more time preparing.
There are definitely some things I miss about Roll20 when I'm running a game IRL. I tried to create fog of war once with a hole cut in a big sheet of paper that moved around with the character figures as they explored the battle map...that didn't work so well.
Thank you! How have I never heard of the One-Page Dungeon Contest until now? I've seen a number of pieces on one-page prep and largely make an effort to do so, but never once have I encountered the contest. I've also started making a battle card compilation with all the battle stats for all possible encounters in the next session. I use little grid boxes for monster/adversary HP for visual damage calculations. It lets me jump to any combat quickly to keep the game moving, especially if there's a bunch happening and I'm starting to get confused.
Battle cards are a great idea! I've been using the official D&D monster cards for stats but then I usually have to prep an index card to keep track of hit points and powers/spells. There's a massive library of one-page dungeons out there! Very inspiring!
@@savevsjustin In all honesty, card is figurative here. I really use a pape from a grid composition notebook. They squares are smaller, closer to 10 per inch, and I usually can fit an entire session on one page. The notebook was a leftover from a mistaken purchase and I finally found a use for it.
For stats I tend to use the monster cards published by Wizards along with an index card to track hp and spells. One thing I love about my digital games using Roll20 is how all the monster stats are automatically linked to their tokens.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:12 📝 The speaker distills their D&D game notes down to one sheet of paper with visual cues inspired by one-page dungeons to streamline their game sessions. 01:10 🗺️ For Dungeon Crawls, the speaker uses sticky notes with key details placed close to each location on a printed dungeon map, allowing for quick at-a-glance reference during the session. 02:19 🏰 The concept of one-page dungeons challenges DMs to include everything needed to run a dungeon on a single page, often using artwork to inspire and tell the story. 03:14 🎉 The speaker and their son participated in the one-page dungeon contest, creating a dungeon called "Yay We Won, So Now What?" with a collapsing, treasure-filled dungeon to escape from. 04:23 🎨 The speaker utilized the free version of Dungeon Scroll, an online app for creating old-school style dungeon maps, to build most of their dungeon. They also mention their preference for Photoshop and layout tools for artwork and layout. 05:32 💬 The speaker asks viewers about their game note-preparation techniques and encourages discussion in the comments section. They also provide links to Dungeon Scroll and their own dungeon entry. Made with HARPA AI
Great video! I've been wanting to design a dungeon since I've already seen my fair share of Dragons over the years, but very little in the dungeons department. "Dungeon Department" sounds like a fun name for a dungeon themed around a dungeon construction service, actually. Like an Ikea for dungeons. Hmm... I'll certainly take your tips into account here. Anyway, I did have one question: Is Dungeon Scrawl free or paid?
I'd play Dungeon Department! Designing a one page dungeon is certainly a great way to start designing dungeons. Doesn't take too long and you have a 'low commitment' adventure you can try out with your group right away. Dungeon Scrawl is free! The Beta (which I used) is completely free. The 'full version' can be used for free but if you want to use your dungeons commercially you need to pay for a license.
RUclips is weird. I’ve never seen your page, but I’ve also never heard of the One Page Dungeon contest, or DungeonScrawl. So thank you for that, and I look forward to seeing more of your content!
Cheers! Glad you decided to check it out!
In the future, all you will need to see your campaign broken down is your credit card statement, to see all the micro-transactions WotC charged you for!
Seems like the algorithm likes your stuff. This is one of the smallest channels I’ve ever been recommended, but the video quality is great. Subbed for more tips and ideas around running TTRPGs
Thanks! Sometimes the Algorithm giveth ... and sometimes the Algorithm taketh away!
Great video -- really enjoyed the presentation style (simple, clear, no hype or quick cuts to distracting asides or comical comments) and actual useful information. As a DM for 40+ years you gave me a lot of great tips in under 6 minutes and thanks very much for the Dungeon Scrawl link -- didn't know about that tool. Subbed!
Hey Steve! Thanks for checking it out! I'm a fan of shorter formats too. Some of my videos go a little longer but with this one I decided to start reigning them back in to the 5-6 minute mark.
Such great ideas, thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for checking out the channel!
I realize that often the last notes I took the better the session would be. I found that if I took lots of notes, I would be trying to force the players down the pass I wrote out for them and players definitely noticed this and got mad at me for railroading. Now that I started taking notes I find this more room for imagination and improv, which greatly improves the session.
Good call out! Anything that helps refocus the game on the players is probably the way to go. I find that dungeons are often a bit railroad-y by nature. The best ones offer multiple routes and options ... but those are often the bigger, sprawling dungeons. It's a good mental check point for GMs...how can I make this dungeon more like a sandbox?
My last adventure went NO where near my (well panned) notes... Random encounters and on the fly story creation... pretty good so far. Luckily I also had back ground history of the area to work with and had determined what tribes were in the area and the politics involved.
@@bjornstahle4652 Not sure if you've checked out Apocalypse World yet, but that system has a good way of keeping track of other forces at work in the area. It's called 'Fronts' and is an interesting way to summarized what different groups or individuals might be doing in parallel to what the party is doing...and how they might lead to conflict. It's also kind of a 1 page summary.
@@savevsjustin I'll check it out!, Thanks for the info!
I have written out 'notes' before sessions that are pretty detailed. Border line rewrites of the adventures themselves 😂. More in the D&D as homework field. As I get more confidence as a DM I like the idea of just quick notes and reminders.
There's certainly something about that first draft of notes that gets the imagination engaged for me.
I use pages of notes for each session.
Pages of text, usually several maps, index cards, and NPC character sheets.
Never had a problem with being able to find stuff.
I see the fun in trying to make a one page dungeon for a competition or something, but feel no need to clip my prep even further by annotating it all once its done. It would be an extra load of time I could better use doing something else, to even try.
Each "Adventure" that I write is usually anything from 8 to 20 pages plus maps. I print it all off, slide-bind it and make notes on the adventure pages as we go through it, including notes like how they solved certain puzzles or the outcome of NPC interactions. Then, when the adventure is done I file it along with the previous completed adventures into one constantly growing "Campaign Book" so that I have an easy to reference record of everything they've done.
Thanks for sharing the map program!!
You're welcome! I was pretty excited when I learned about it too!
I've done a few game sessions prepped on a single sheet of paper. Usually the map doesn't fit on the same sheet, so technically a two page dungeon, but I find writing all the prep notes on a single sheet keeps me focused and helps the session sun smoother.
At my day job we call that an 'executive summary' ;-)
I stumbled upon this video as a recommendation on the homepage and just realized you're the creator of this year's OPDC champion piece. Congratulations! Your work is truly amazing!
Thanks for checking it out! The OPDC was a lot of fun!
Great tips. My drawing skills are subpar (working on it) and the free dungeon builder will aid me greatly. And now I need to go check out these one page dungeons. Thank you.
JP Coovert has some great drawing guides for maps www.youtube.com/@JPCoovert ... but drag and drop from Dungeon Scrawl is great too!
Love the video, I think the idea of using the 1 Page Dungeon method is a great one, most of my notes trend to be an Obsidian Notes since I run mostly online, but I can see using a single image of Dungeon and dropping notes onto it in Photoshop as an alternative. Thanks for the tip 🙂👍
Thanks! I haven’t checked out Obsidian Notes yet, I’ll have to look into it. I’ve been using Evernote.
@@savevsjustin : Obsidian Notes is pretty useful and easy to operate, I highly recommend it 😁👍
I play digitally so I usually have my notes writen over a digital map on a second screen. For the notes I use a program called concept, which gives u a large canvas to put pictures, write and draw. It works pretty well especially because I have all notes to a from past sessions easily accessible but for my new campaign I wanted to use more paper notes so i will give this a try. And no I didn't know one page dungeons.
Concept sounds a bit like Mural, which I use at work all the time. I haven't tried it for D&D ... maybe because I associate it too much with my day job!
Your one-page idea is pretty good. I tend to use a notebook. I write what I think I will need in it, usually a separate page for a game session. Then, when the game is going, I realize I can't read a darn thing I wrote and just make it up.
Thanks! I haven't given up my (digital) notebook completely. Even with the one-page dungeon, I sometimes still default to improvising!
My notes are usually just an outline of scenes with some DCs for reference. Much of my time is spent on the Roll20 maps. I often wing the rest. This is mostly due to lack of time as in the past I spent much more time preparing.
There are definitely some things I miss about Roll20 when I'm running a game IRL. I tried to create fog of war once with a hole cut in a big sheet of paper that moved around with the character figures as they explored the battle map...that didn't work so well.
Thank you! How have I never heard of the One-Page Dungeon Contest until now? I've seen a number of pieces on one-page prep and largely make an effort to do so, but never once have I encountered the contest. I've also started making a battle card compilation with all the battle stats for all possible encounters in the next session. I use little grid boxes for monster/adversary HP for visual damage calculations. It lets me jump to any combat quickly to keep the game moving, especially if there's a bunch happening and I'm starting to get confused.
Battle cards are a great idea! I've been using the official D&D monster cards for stats but then I usually have to prep an index card to keep track of hit points and powers/spells. There's a massive library of one-page dungeons out there! Very inspiring!
@@savevsjustin In all honesty, card is figurative here. I really use a pape from a grid composition notebook. They squares are smaller, closer to 10 per inch, and I usually can fit an entire session on one page. The notebook was a leftover from a mistaken purchase and I finally found a use for it.
@@rufuslynks8175 I'm sure the grid helps keep everything organized!
I usually type up my notes and put monster stats in there too and use a notebook for combat and hp with ac .
For stats I tend to use the monster cards published by Wizards along with an index card to track hp and spells. One thing I love about my digital games using Roll20 is how all the monster stats are automatically linked to their tokens.
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:12 📝 The speaker distills their D&D game notes down to one sheet of paper with visual cues inspired by one-page dungeons to streamline their game sessions.
01:10 🗺️ For Dungeon Crawls, the speaker uses sticky notes with key details placed close to each location on a printed dungeon map, allowing for quick at-a-glance reference during the session.
02:19 🏰 The concept of one-page dungeons challenges DMs to include everything needed to run a dungeon on a single page, often using artwork to inspire and tell the story.
03:14 🎉 The speaker and their son participated in the one-page dungeon contest, creating a dungeon called "Yay We Won, So Now What?" with a collapsing, treasure-filled dungeon to escape from.
04:23 🎨 The speaker utilized the free version of Dungeon Scroll, an online app for creating old-school style dungeon maps, to build most of their dungeon. They also mention their preference for Photoshop and layout tools for artwork and layout.
05:32 💬 The speaker asks viewers about their game note-preparation techniques and encourages discussion in the comments section. They also provide links to Dungeon Scroll and their own dungeon entry.
Made with HARPA AI
That's awesome! Thanks!
Great video! I've been wanting to design a dungeon since I've already seen my fair share of Dragons over the years, but very little in the dungeons department. "Dungeon Department" sounds like a fun name for a dungeon themed around a dungeon construction service, actually. Like an Ikea for dungeons. Hmm... I'll certainly take your tips into account here.
Anyway, I did have one question: Is Dungeon Scrawl free or paid?
I'd play Dungeon Department! Designing a one page dungeon is certainly a great way to start designing dungeons. Doesn't take too long and you have a 'low commitment' adventure you can try out with your group right away. Dungeon Scrawl is free! The Beta (which I used) is completely free. The 'full version' can be used for free but if you want to use your dungeons commercially you need to pay for a license.