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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9184640" data-attributes="member: 7026594">Nothing's wrong with using the term linear.&nbsp; I don't think anyone's opined that there is.What a few of us (and <a href="https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/xandering-the-dungeon" target="_blank">JA's original article</a>) have explained is that saying &quot;make your dungeons nonlinear&quot; is a bit vague and doesn't really capture all the cool features Jennell Jacquays' dungeons have, which provide more options and meaningful decisions in exploration, allow areas to be encountered in different ways, different contexts, and in varying sequential order.&nbsp; Charlequin summarized some of those a few posts ago...Jacquays used and innovated so many different cool design elements, so early in the history of published D&amp;D, that it's really noteworthy and impressive to a lot of us.&nbsp; I think it made perfect sense to recognize her innovative creativity with an eponym.And anyway, &quot;make your dungeons nonlinear&quot; still seems kind of wrong.&nbsp; Sometimes linear dungeons are appropriate or make sense.&nbsp; But, especially if a DM or their group is finding dungeons or exploration a bit boring or unengaging, it's worth analyzing layouts and maps to determine whether the dungeons one is using are in fact too linear and predictable.&nbsp; And if one IS trying to make the exploration elements of a dungeon more interesting and meaningful, Jaquays came up with a bunch of techniques and features one can imitate to address that issue. Yes, the original article uses a <a href="https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/45711/roleplaying-games/xandering-the-dungeon-addendum-how-to-use-a-melan-diagram" target="_blank">graphing technique (building on its usage by another OSR designer) </a>to explicitly illustrate that point with diagrams.I'm really confused by what you've written here.&nbsp; What negative meaning do you think the invented term has?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 9184640, member: 7026594"] Nothing's wrong with using the term linear. I don't think anyone's opined that there is. What a few of us (and [URL='https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/xandering-the-dungeon']JA's original article[/URL]) have explained is that saying "make your dungeons nonlinear" is a bit vague and doesn't really capture all the cool features Jennell Jacquays' dungeons have, which provide more options and meaningful decisions in exploration, allow areas to be encountered in different ways, different contexts, and in varying sequential order. Charlequin summarized some of those a few posts ago... Jacquays used and innovated so many different cool design elements, so early in the history of published D&D, that it's really noteworthy and impressive to a lot of us. I think it made perfect sense to recognize her innovative creativity with an eponym. And anyway, "make your dungeons nonlinear" still seems kind of wrong. Sometimes linear dungeons are appropriate or make sense. But, especially if a DM or their group is finding dungeons or exploration a bit boring or unengaging, it's worth analyzing layouts and maps to determine whether the dungeons one is using are in fact too linear and predictable. And if one IS trying to make the exploration elements of a dungeon more interesting and meaningful, Jaquays came up with a bunch of techniques and features one can imitate to address that issue. Yes, the original article uses a [URL='https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/45711/roleplaying-games/xandering-the-dungeon-addendum-how-to-use-a-melan-diagram']graphing technique (building on its usage by another OSR designer) [/URL]to explicitly illustrate that point with diagrams. I'm really confused by what you've written here. What negative meaning do you think the invented term has? [/QUOTE]

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