I like Chris’s procedure for its simplicity. I also like John’s procedure, but it’s too complex. Chris loses something for its lack of complexity — it requires a little too much of my input, and I want to be able to restock on the way home when I have a migraine. John’s is the opposite: I don’t ever want to spend this much time on checking whether the dungeon has changed. Can I smush them together?Addendum: Mid-this post, Prismatic posted this restocking procedure. I also like this. It adds new complexities that I incorporated into the process.

Firstly, a basic overloading principle. I want the chance of restocking, the new contents (these two being simplified from Chris’ version), and the story of why it’s restocking (John’s theme table), all to be generated in one roll. The most logical and simple solution: Roll 3d6. Dice order, doubles, triples. 5 outcomes, 1 roll, keeping in mind that the roll is weighted — lowest dice will display 6s less, for example.

For chance of a restock, Chris uses “lower than the dungeon level”. This basically means that on a d10, the chance is 10% per level. On a d6, this maxes out our dungeon at 6 levels. Not many dungeons I run or write have more than 6 levels, but if I had a 9 or 12 level dungeon, I’d just say 150% or double your roll.

Roll 1d6 for each area. If the result is less than the level of the dungeon, or less than the HD of the monster or challenge that was here originally, restock the area.

What’s an area here?

An area for the purposes of restocking is any group of rooms “owned” by one faction or group. Neutral areas may transfer ownership at the world’s discretion. If most of the faction or group remain, consider restocking and have them at war (1-3) or allied (4-6.) with the new inhabitants.

Next up is story, adapted from John’s themes, but different: I’m looking for reasons the monsters or traps might change due to the power change. We do this next so we know why or who the new contents are there. I’ve arranged them by weirdness.

Roll 1d6 to determine the story behind the restock: 1. The same monster, reinforced or stronger; 2. The same monster, having discovered a strong bargaining chip; 3. Paranoia: All but one monster are replaced with traps; 4. Neighbouring monsters move in; 5. Mind-control, religion or infection changes the monsters; 6. Refugees from distant lands or other worlds move in.

For contents, I’ll just use Chris’ version. Theirs is simpler than John’s, and that works I think for me: Because I’ll rely on the theme more than anything else to decide what these are. I don’t need the specific table.

Roll 1d6 to determine what moves into the room: 1-2. Monster; 3.Monster & Treasure; 4-5. Trap; 6. Treasure (2-in-6 chance it is concealed).

Now, there are a few obvious instances here where you’d get more utility out of a larger die, such as hidden treasure, and number of dungeon levels and HD. If I had 12 stories, I’d probably just change the die size to that size, and adjust how long between restocks. If you’ve got other ideas, comment below!

Now for overloading and combining. The obvious additional information is doubles (8% chance) and triples (3%). I’ll modify the previous lists, so that doubles indicates a major change in faction. What’s a more major change in a dungeon? Layout, I think. John has this as standard, but I think it should be rarer.

Roll 3d6 for each area in the dungeon that has been cleared. An area for the purposes of restocking is any group of rooms “owned” by one faction or group. Neutral areas transfer ownership at the world’s discretion.

If the highest die is less than the level of the dungeon, or less than the HD of the monster or challenge that was here originally, restock the area.

The lowest die determines the story behind the restock: 1. Reinforced or stronger; 2. With a strong bargaining chip (magic item, resource); 3. Few, but paranoid: All but one are replaced with traps; 4. Returned, but undead; 5. Physically changed by infection or mutation; 6. Objectives changed through mind-control or religion

The final die determines what moves into the room: 1-2. Monster; 3. Monster & Treasure; 4-5. Trap; 6. Treasure (2-in-6 chance it is concealed).

If you roll doubles, the cleared area were the last of their kind in the area. Replace them with a new faction or group: 1. Neighbouring; 2. Refugees from distant lands; 3. Colonisers from other worlds; 4. Hunters; 5. Merchants and smugglers; 6. A wizard, oracle or sage.

If you roll triples, the cleared area has changed or is rearranged. Replace the area with a new area of dungeon, or reroll the exits and passages randomly: 1. Unlocked; 2. Locked; 3. Stuck; 4. Collapsed; 5. Pit or ascent to another level; 6. Secret to a distant room.

That’s my overloaded restocking procedure. I like it. Streamlined unlike John’s, but not quite as minimal as Chris’s. FYI, you can switch highest and lowest die without much impact, if you want a higher likelihood of restock, you just need to reverse the order of the theme/story list. Tweaks or suggestions?

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