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[arscott]

Does designing a good dungeon involve designing a good map? No. In fact, it involves designing a crappy map. And I'll tell you why.

You've clearly spent a bit of time making those charts. But they're fairly usless as far a gauging the adventure goes. You've eliminated the crooked hallways, the superfluous twists and turns all thats left are basically straight lines connecting the encounters.

But the encounters themselves are not indicated, except in the broadest strokes. And it's the encounters, not the hallways, that make or break the dungeon.

There's a saying that my parents are fond of: "Getting there is half the fun"
That saying is a lie. Getting there is Boring and Painful. Being there is fun.

Any fun trip is a series of 'being there's The fun isn't in getting to getting to San Francisco from La. The fun is in being in Santa Barbara to visit your old college roommate. The fun is in being at Solvang, buying their touristy things. The fun is in being at Pismo Beach, Enjoying the waves. The fun is in being at Hearst Castle, enjoying the art and history. Or, sometimes not. Solvang isn't for everyone. But it's the beings that define the trip for better or worse. The gettings just get in the way.

And adventure maps, no matter how carefully planned out are all getting. The being is in the encounters. Mazes of twisty passages, all alike? They're getting in the way of the interesting stuff. And the more complex the maze? the less fun it is.

Things are in the adventure so that the players can encounter them and interact with them. Nobody wants to pay good money for an adventure module and then not get to use half of it because the players took the left fork first. A simple "Point A to Point B" structure is the simplest and most efficient way of giving people a chance to experience the full breadth of the adventure.

Saying "In order to reach your destination, you have to get past the Dragon" isnt' railroading. Railroading is saying "In order to get past the dragon, you must fight her with the obsidian weapons you found in room 3".

It's not about the players making choices--It's about the players making meaningful choices. Deciding whether to fight the dragon, to bargain with her, or to sneak past her is a meaningful choice. Deciding whether to go left or to go right is a waste of everybody's time.