The Depthcrawl
Entering a place, where strange rules will lead to stranger locations
The Depthcrawl
The Depthcrawl is a method for generating exploration-oriented pointcrawls with a sense of progression into a vast, unknowable domain. It was created by Emmy Allen for use in The Gardens of Ynn and The Stygian Library. These two books have caused a significant influence on newer books coming out like This Ship is a Tomb by James Hanna.
It can be applied to various settings and genres, such as feyish, liminal spaces. And consider Arcanum Studio’s special interest with games such as Liminal Horror, Kult, Mörk Borg and Mothership, the Depthcrawl is a concept worth exploring.
To prep for a Depthcrawl generator, you need:
Locations: core element of each point in your pointcrawl. Can range from generic labels to detailed descriptions and maps.
Details: add to or twist the nature of locations, can be individual elements or thematic.
Events: active elements happening or will happen in the location, avoid specificity for repeatability.
Encounters: random generation tables for NPCs or creatures the players may encounter. Keep these procedural and not specific, to make them usable in different situations.
These elements will be listed on separate random generation tables, which can vary in size and number of entries depending on the desired scope of the Depthcrawl and the specific procedure used. To create a more immersive experience, additional generation tools may be used such as objects or characters, but these are not necessary and can be added depending on the scenario's needs. It is important to note that the organization and entries of the tables should be carefully planned to ensure a smooth and coherent experience for players.
The Depthcrawl generators creates unique experiences by combining locations, details, events, and encounters. Each combination of these elements leads to multiple possibilities, resulting in a vast number of options.
How to Run the Depth Crawl
Roll for a Starting Location, Details, and Events when players first enter.
Map out the location and mark it as Depth 0.
Give players options to Stay in the current location, Go Deeper, or Go Back.
When players Stay Here, roll for Events every turn after the first.
When players Go Deeper, draw a line from the current location and roll for a new Location and its Details with a new Depth modifier. Then roll for Event.
When players Go Back, they travel back up to a previously visited location.
Players can Stay Here, Go Back Again, or Go Deeper again from a previously visited location.
Going Deeper and Going Back both take a turn as the players search for pathways.
The location and details change each time the players enter.
No need to roll for locations in advance as they exist in a state of quantum uncertainty until explored.
Every visit to the location is unique, roll for new starting location each time.
The Depth
To run a Depthcrawl, you need to track the Depth of the players' progression into the unknown. This can be abstract and can represent different things like distance from the start, or how deep underground they are. As the players progress deeper, the rolls on the random generation tables will be affected by the Depth.
Event rolls may not be affected by Depth as they usually flow depth-affected content, such as random encounters, into a generic event type. The deeper the players go, the higher the depth value becomes. A basic version of generating a new Location is a die roll + Depth value. This can be anything from 1d8 or 1d20 +Depth.
Consider the typical depth an adventuring party will reach and how many entries you want to have on each table. For example, if you have a location with 12 Depths and roll a D20, any result between 1 and a maximum of 32 can be an outcome of the roll.
Justin Alexander muses more about this in his own article about Depthcrawl:
A Depth Check is a way to measure the progression of an adventure by adding the current depth to a die roll. Alexander uses a more streamlined naming for the different components of the Depthcrawl which were not as codified in Allen’s original writing.
A Depth Strata refers to the range of possible results based on the group's current depth. As depth increases, the range of possible results changes, creating distinct strata that overlap with other depths. A Depth of 10 and 11 are very similar with many overlaps while the difference between 5 and 15 will be extreme or even absolut, depending on what die size is rolled.
Depth Increment refers to the rate at which depth increases. Instead of increasing by one point, it could be increased by a larger value such as 4 points, which would rapidly shift the group through the distinct strata of the Depthcrawl.
Depth Pool refers to a technique where instead of a die roll + depth, a number of dice equal to the depth is rolled. This rapidly increases the average depth result while keeping lower results possible. For example with a roll of 1d6, 2d6 and 3d6. This was something I used in the past while still playing GURPS and wanted to generate an Exploding Encounter Die.
Depth Cap value is the maximum value that can be achieved on the roll, determined by the size of the die and the maximum depth. It can be set to be a maximum effective depth or an endgame result.
Getting Lost
A normal exploration procedure includes moving carefully, drawing maps, taking note of landmarks, following paths and be considered with noise.
But PCs have the option to flee a fight, chase something, move blindly, or to be foolish. Or are forced by getting captured, suffering a catastrophe, or be unwillingly teleported. (Allen writes that Teleport Spells don't work in both her locations, causing random teleportations unlinked to previews locations)
When fleeing, PCs lose track of their depth and go d4-1 layers deeper
If maximum roll is reached, step up dice size and roll again, adding result
For each extra dice rolled, PCs take 1 damage from minor accidents while fleeing
The PCs end up in an unlinked location with the new Depth.
Finding something
To search for specific information, people, things or locations in the Depthcrawl, track the party's progress using a single Progress Score that encompasses all relevant factors such as cross-referencing, following rumors and deducing the layout of the locations and so on. Set a target value for how hard it is to find the target (e.g. 20 for a basic target and 40 for something extremely rare or hard to find).
The PCs will find what they're looking for when their Progress Score is equal to or higher than the target value and they are at a depth equal to the target value minus 20.
Increase progress by 1 for visiting new locations, talking to knowledgeable people, getting an accurate information about the location of the target or finding related clues.
Decrease progress by 1 for misleading information or getting off track.
The GM can adjust progress based on events and encounters, and players can also come up with their own ideas to pursue their goal.
Repeated locations
When re-rolling a location that has previously been rolled and placed, there are two options: either it's the same location and the players have ended up going in a circle, or it's a similar but different location. You can choose one option or the other, or use a random method to determine which one to use. This can vary based on the type of location and the situation.
Returning to the Depthcrawl
Alexander suggest several additional ideas how to approach a return to the Depthcrawl after visiting it once already, while Allen assumes that it is a newly generated Depthcrawl each time:
Tabula Rasa: is when the previously generated map is discarded and you start again from the beginning.
Persistent Map: is when the Depthcrawl map is kept and the navigational knowledge the PCs have gained persists.
Ever-Shifting Ways: is when the paths between locations are uncertain and may change each time the PCs revisit them, causing them to become lost or stumble into a different location. Some special locations could be static in their location in relation to each other, such as unique locations or story relevant ones.
Conclusion
I really loved this approach since Gardens of Ynn was published and used it many times in my own game sessions. Later addition had combined Oracle Tables from Ironsworn to use a more flexible and less specific approach for generating locations.
One of the core ideas of our upcoming adventure Dreams of the Promised Land will be a Depthcrawl. Reading up and thinking about this Procedural tool has helped immensely to have a clearer idea on the adventure and I am eager to test this out even more in future publications.
Best regards, Jack Arcanum