Brief keys

15 Feb, 2026

0.

I've been reading some of Tamás' dungeons at Eldritch Fields, such as the Underground Station, Long Abandoned.

This dungeon has 12 rooms. On average, keys are 25 words (not including the title), or 170 characters each. That's just a little over a tweet¹.

Sean's keys for November & December Dungeon23 were even shorter: ≈10–11 words (≈70 characters) per room.

1.

I asked Tamás about this knack for concise keys. His reply:

So I only put in the keys what is absolutely necessary + any good phrase or description that I find worthy during writing.

One phrase or sentence above what I would get from a random generator.

I love that as a guiding principle. This has inspiried two training exercises:

1. Set a limit of 140 characters per room.
2. Write a dungeon in pen & paper.

I made this Notion page for challenge 1. Duplicate the template and practise.

Reach out

#else #eng