Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
First time making a "serious" dungeon! How do you do it?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7023411" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>[MENTION=6801286]Imaculata[/MENTION] Thanks for taking the time to explain your design thinking – that's exactly the sort of stuff I was hoping to engender discussion of. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Great map design too!</p><p></p><p>Actually, in your layout I didn't see many empty rooms, just the one at the beginning. I guess I think of "empty room" as meaning "room with nothing for the players to interact with that's meaningful to the overall adventure/campaign." So, traps/tricks, monsters, puzzles, and interaction encounters definitely fill a room. But so can a lot of the exploration stuff you've included like your levers/wheels and the campaign-relevant map; for example, maybe a player casts an <em>unseen servant</em> or similar spell to wait by a lever until he/she gives the command so they can test out gates in real-time rather than backtracking? That's a meaningful choice.</p><p></p><p>And maybe that's hinting at some principles of dungeon design? </p><p></p><p>[SECTION]1. Use the <strong><em>first room</em></strong> as a threshold to build suspense, which may or may not mean it's empty, but any built-in action here should be softer/lesser than that found in the rest of the dungeon. Anything you put in this room, keep it simple to just one thing.</p><p></p><p>2. Fill rooms in a <strong><em>variety</em></strong> of ways to allow for good pacing to emerge through play.</p><p></p><p>Maybe?[/SECTION]</p><p></p><p>The only question I have about your dungeon are the three blocked off water-filled rooms to the east. There are no labels on your map, but since it looks hard to access I'd assume you'd either want to put a treasure/secret here or use passing through the rooms to build tension to some hidden monster/threat?</p><p></p><p>-----</p><p></p><p>Now, that idea of the <strong><em>first room</em></strong> being less intense / emptier than subsequent rooms is great in a dungeon with one entry/egress. What about when there are several possible entry points?</p><p></p><p>This is very work-in-progress, but the arrows indicate possible entry points...</p><p></p><p><img src="http://i.imgur.com/D13aPew.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></p><p></p><p>None of these really strikes me as an "empty" space, and some definitely aren't simple thresholds...</p><p></p><p><strong>Bridge of the Asuras.</strong> Definitely has a guardian & some sort of test meant to insure only Brotherhood members use it.</p><p><strong>Gate of Mysteries.</strong> Definitely has two guardians. Also is used regularly by slave mining labor & mamluks doing drills/patrols, as well as by new initiates being welcomed and the rare caravan.</p><p><strong>Glassteel Cavern.</strong> Actively mined for obsidian, with magical brass gongs protecting from incursions from worms below.</p><p><strong>Infernal Hall.</strong> So much happening here, as it is the Bonfire's (BBEG) throne room / audience hall with bodyguards, pets, an artifact throne, and the <em>golden mirror</em> used to scry/gate.</p><p><strong>Portal of Fire.</strong> Definitely has guardians, but also used for initiation rituals sending initiates out, exploration parties, and receiving efreeti ambassadors.</p><p><strong>Teleportation Circle.</strong> Definitely is spell-trapped/warded. May have other defensive measures.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7023411, member: 20323"] [MENTION=6801286]Imaculata[/MENTION] Thanks for taking the time to explain your design thinking – that's exactly the sort of stuff I was hoping to engender discussion of. :) Great map design too! Actually, in your layout I didn't see many empty rooms, just the one at the beginning. I guess I think of "empty room" as meaning "room with nothing for the players to interact with that's meaningful to the overall adventure/campaign." So, traps/tricks, monsters, puzzles, and interaction encounters definitely fill a room. But so can a lot of the exploration stuff you've included like your levers/wheels and the campaign-relevant map; for example, maybe a player casts an [I]unseen servant[/I] or similar spell to wait by a lever until he/she gives the command so they can test out gates in real-time rather than backtracking? That's a meaningful choice. And maybe that's hinting at some principles of dungeon design? [SECTION]1. Use the [B][I]first room[/I][/B] as a threshold to build suspense, which may or may not mean it's empty, but any built-in action here should be softer/lesser than that found in the rest of the dungeon. Anything you put in this room, keep it simple to just one thing. 2. Fill rooms in a [B][I]variety[/I][/B] of ways to allow for good pacing to emerge through play. Maybe?[/SECTION] The only question I have about your dungeon are the three blocked off water-filled rooms to the east. There are no labels on your map, but since it looks hard to access I'd assume you'd either want to put a treasure/secret here or use passing through the rooms to build tension to some hidden monster/threat? ----- Now, that idea of the [B][I]first room[/I][/B] being less intense / emptier than subsequent rooms is great in a dungeon with one entry/egress. What about when there are several possible entry points? This is very work-in-progress, but the arrows indicate possible entry points... [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/D13aPew.png[/IMG] None of these really strikes me as an "empty" space, and some definitely aren't simple thresholds... [B]Bridge of the Asuras.[/B] Definitely has a guardian & some sort of test meant to insure only Brotherhood members use it. [B]Gate of Mysteries.[/B] Definitely has two guardians. Also is used regularly by slave mining labor & mamluks doing drills/patrols, as well as by new initiates being welcomed and the rare caravan. [B]Glassteel Cavern.[/B] Actively mined for obsidian, with magical brass gongs protecting from incursions from worms below. [B]Infernal Hall.[/B] So much happening here, as it is the Bonfire's (BBEG) throne room / audience hall with bodyguards, pets, an artifact throne, and the [I]golden mirror[/I] used to scry/gate. [B]Portal of Fire.[/B] Definitely has guardians, but also used for initiation rituals sending initiates out, exploration parties, and receiving efreeti ambassadors. [B]Teleportation Circle.[/B] Definitely is spell-trapped/warded. May have other defensive measures. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
First time making a "serious" dungeon! How do you do it?
Top