Scribbles and Horrors

This post is a formal description/advertisement for a new collaborative Untitled Underworld Project. The project is currently active in Phase I, which will run through December 31st, 2026, and is open for joining.

Shy Owl’s map of Section A, for the first phase.

The basic premise of UUP is that it’s a succession fort, but for pen-and-paper underworlds. Each participant in UUP is caretaker of a dungeon section for a period of months, and while it is in their care the participant has full creative control over that section: mapping, keying, running game sessions, writing fiction, composing laws, developing rules systems, re-stocking, simulating, editing, revising, censoring, updating, retrofitting, preserving, letting go stale, whatever.

At the end of the phase, the section gets handed to someone else, who will themselves have full creative control. The idea is that it’s a growing and living corpus of dungeon-making, a collage of creative styles and aims: a living document. (to use a tired but useful phrase)

UPP is inspired by the authority Microscope gives its players over objects in events and periods (near total control) and the iterative-patchwork qualities of Jerry Gretzinger’s Map.

Phases are 3 months. It’s a long and gently paced project. My projected lifespan for the project is maybe 5 years or so; lots of time.

Being a caretaker for one phase shouldn’t commit someone to caretakership for any other phase, and also it’s not necessarily incumbent on participants to “produce” a great deal. It will be good for regions of the underworld to be dormant or slow-altering.

Untitled Underworld Project is open for new participants! Reach out to me if you’d like to claim a section. I suppose my capacity for managing is about 20-30 or so.