Exploration

An issue I have had with solo dungeon crawls is that usually there doesn't seem to be much reason where the dungeon decides to unravel. You usually move to a unexplored edge and lay a new tile/card and then you have a new part to the dungeon. Conceivably you could just move in one direction forming a huge snake of rooms and tunnels.

Another solution is to use an existing drawn map and trigger random events/encounters as you step into each room. But I find that the feeling of mystery and exploration is lost in this method.

After wrestling with this is a bit I've come up with a solution I think that I like. In the detail deck are 3 aces and 4 kings. The aces represent dead ends while the kings represent "splits". Whenever a king is drawn the path is divided or split. When this happens 2 detail and 2 obstacle cards are place faced down on one path and the another 2/2 cards are placed faced down on the other path (see below). So you can choose to follow one path but either that may lead to a dead end (ace) or you will miss out on whatever are on those cards. This could be the Boss monster, adventuring goal, treasure etc.





Another idea I have for ensuring a dungeon doesn't snake it's way off your table or desk is to have a general idea of the dungeon/cavern structure. Maybe a d6 role on a table. 1-3 square (no more then 7 cards across and 7 up), 4 rectangle, 5 L shape, 6 something else. I might try to think of some rule to have path connect to earlier ones.