Overview#
Dungeon Crawl is a spiritual successor to the legendary Roguelike Dungeons mod. It focuses on the procedural generation of massive, multi-level underground dungeons that offer a high-difficulty exploration experience. Each dungeon is unique, featuring randomized layouts, tiered loot, and increasingly dangerous enemies as the player descends deeper into the earth.
The mod is designed for the Overworld but can be configured to generate in other dimensions. Its primary goal is to provide an endless variety of combat and looting opportunities within a structured, architectural environment consisting of rooms, corridors, and secret galleries.
Dungeon Structures#
Dungeons are divided into two main parts: the surface entrance and the underground layers.
Surface Entrances
Players can identify a dungeon by locating specific surface structures. These serve as the only entry point to the labyrinth below.
- The Tower: A tall, ruined stone brick tower, often found near villages or in plains biomes.
- The House: A small, unassuming wooden or stone building that contains a bed, a chest with basic supplies, and a spiral staircase leading down.
- Ruined Castle: A larger, more dilapidated stone structure indicating a high-level dungeon.
Underground Layers
Dungeons typically span 4 to 5 floors, each with a distinct theme and increasing difficulty:
| Layer | Theme | Primary Materials | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Basic Dungeon | Stone, Oak Wood, Cobblestone | Easy |
| Level 2 | Reinforced | Stone Bricks, Iron Bars | Medium |
| Level 3 | Deep Labyrinth | Deepslate, Obsidian, Mossy Stone | Hard |
| Level 4 | Nether Influence | Netherrack, Soul Sand, Quartz | Very Hard |
| Level 5 | The Core | Obsidian, End Stone, Bedrock (floor) | Extreme |
Each floor is connected by a single spiral staircase. Players must explore the current level to find the exit to the next depth.
Mobs and Entities#
Dungeon Crawl does not add new mob entities but significantly modifies vanilla mob behavior and equipment. Mobs within the dungeon are spawned via high-frequency spawners hidden in walls or placed in the center of rooms.
Dungeon Variants
| Mob | Behavior | Equipment/Stats |
|---|---|---|
| Dungeon Zombie | Aggressive, spawns in groups. | Often wears enchanted Leather or Iron armor. |
| Dungeon Skeleton | Ranged support. | Equipped with enchanted bows (Power/Punch). |
| Dungeon Spider | Ambushers in narrow corridors. | Standard stats, but high spawn density. |
| Creeper | Trap-based spawning. | Frequently found in 'Trap Rooms'. |
| Enderman | Rare room guardian. | Found near rare Enderman Spawners in deep levels. |
| Wither Skeleton | Elite guardian. | Found exclusively in Nether-themed lower levels. |
Spawners
Spawners are the primary source of danger. Unlike vanilla dungeons, these are often placed in clusters.
- Enderman Spawners: Highly valuable for pearl farming, found in specialized 'End' rooms.
- Wither Skeleton Spawners: Found in the final layers, providing a source for Wither Skulls.
Blocks and Items#
The mod adds a small set of blocks used primarily for the construction of the dungeons. These blocks are generally resistant to explosions to prevent players from easily bypassing the labyrinth.
Blocks
- Dungeon Brick: The primary building block. It has high blast resistance.
- Cracked Dungeon Brick: A decorative variant found in older or damaged parts of the dungeon.
- Mossy Dungeon Brick: Found in damp areas or overgrown rooms.
- Dungeon Pillar: Vertical decorative blocks used in large halls.
Items and Loot
Loot is randomized using tiered loot tables. The deeper the floor, the higher the quality of the items.
- Tier 1-2 Loot: Bread, Iron Ingots, Leather Armor, basic Tools.
- Tier 3-4 Loot: Diamonds, Enchanted Books, Golden Apples, Iron/Diamond Gear.
- Tier 5 Loot: Netherite Scraps, High-level Enchanted Books, Potions of Regeneration, Rare Music Discs.
Mechanics and Generation#
Procedural Generation
The mod uses a custom algorithm to generate layouts. It first determines the 'Layout Width' and 'Layout Height' (the grid size of the dungeon), then populates the grid with:
- Rooms: Rectangular or circular areas containing loot, spawners, or workstations (Crafting Tables, Smithing Tables).
- Corridors: Narrow paths connecting rooms, often blocked by Iron Bars.
- Secret Rooms: Hidden behind walls, containing high-value chests.
Difficulty Scaling
As the player descends, the following attributes increase:
- Spawn Rate: More mobs spawn per minute.
- Equipment Quality: Mobs are more likely to spawn with Diamond armor and high-level enchantments.
- Trap Density: Increase in TNT traps and pressure plate traps.
Configuration#
The mod can be configured via the dungeoncrawl-common.toml file located in the /config folder.
| Option | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
layout_width |
5 | The horizontal size of the dungeon grid. |
layout_height |
5 | The vertical size of the dungeon grid. |
min_levels |
3 | Minimum number of floors generated. |
max_levels |
5 | Maximum number of floors generated. |
spacing |
40 | Minimum distance between dungeons (in chunks). |
separation |
8 | Random offset for dungeon placement. |
Note: In version 1.18.2 and later (including 1.20.1), many placement settings like biomes and dimensions are handled via Datapacks.
Datapack Integration#
Dungeon Crawl is highly customizable through the Minecraft Datapack system. This allows server owners to add custom rooms, change loot tables, or create new dungeon themes.
Updating from 2.2 to 2.3+
If you are using custom datapacks from older versions of the mod, you must update the folder structure to remain compatible with version 26.1.2:
- Old Path:
data/dungeoncrawl/dungeon_layout/... - New Path:
data/dungeoncrawl/structure_layout/...
Custom Themes
Theming is now biome-dependent. You can map specific biomes to custom themes using weights in the theming folder of your datapack. This allows for 'Sandstone Dungeons' in deserts or 'Ice Dungeons' in snowy biomes.
