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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 7900364" data-attributes="member: 6801286">This reminds me of the time one of our players wanted to check the king's throneroom for traps, and we all joked about how inconvenient that would be to the king and his messengers.Messenger: Your worship, I have important-- THOOONK -Ack! - drops deadBut you ask, "why bother?". Well, I'm not suggesting that your dungeons should be absolutely realistic. But when some degree of thought leads the design, this leads to better design. It also means you are less likely to leave out important rooms. It would be odd for example to have a large castle that does not include a kitchen or bedrooms. But I think more importantly, when you think about how the location might be used, you're more likely to connect the various spaces in your dungeon in a way that also serves game play better.For example, a throneroom should probably have more than one entry point, and possibly a special entrance for the king that connects to his private rooms. This then effects the flow of combat, and how enemies might enter this space and from what angles of attack. It also helps with immersion, when the dungeon seems like a series of believable spaces that could exist. And it allows your players to navigate your dungeon with a better understanding of their surroundings.I'm often reminded by the Half-Life 1 level, Residue Processing, where the player navigates an extremely far fetched obstacle course that seems to only exist to make the player jump a lot over hazardous nuclear waste. Not only does it look absurd, but you don't feel for a moment that this is an area that could actually exist in any secret underground laboratory. I think when you're designing a dungeon, you have to seek a balance between believability and gameplay. Not everything needs to be realistic, but it helps if some semblance of believability guides the design process.</blockquote>

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