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Dungeoneering 101: Dungeon Design Basics

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Back on April 24, Nerdarchy released a video about Dungeon Design Basics.

This was a sponsored video by ArmorClass10.com,  who happen to be the vendors of the shirts our illustrious Nerdarchists are wearing in the video. By the way, it’s not all D&D stuff over there, they’ve got at least one Doctor Who reference and one about not stepping on a Lego that gave me a good chuckle.

That said, today we’re going to talk about Dungeon Design. The video mostly talks about dungeon concepts and what does and doesn’t make sense in the dungeon itself. I’m going to try to break things down a little farther.

The Dungeon Entrance

dungeonAlright, folks, the writers among us are going to be intimately familiar with the concept that your story’s first sentence is an invitation. It is the first impression a reader gets of your tale, an open door, and a tone. It dictates how willing they are to continue on in.

Similarly, the door of your dungeon is your first impression. It tells your players a little bit of what is to follow.

A cave with two kobold guards armed with spears and re-purposed colanders for helmets stationed on either side of an open entrance will give your players a very different impression from a twelve-foot-tall set of jeweled double doors with menacing demonic ruby-eyed imagery staring down at them.

Take a little extra time to think about your entrance and that moment the party goes from world to dungeon. You don’t have to make it grandiose. A barely visible hole in the wall makes as much of a statement as a swirling violet and gold portal. Think about what your dungeon is about and what it feels like. Make the door match or mismatch that as needed.

Tricks and Traps

Once your party gets into the dungeon, some of the major things they will have to worry about are puzzles and traps. These are the kinds of things you really need to tailor to your party. In my experience, it is one of the most varied points.

No two groups of gamers are going to respond to puzzles the same way. Some really love them and will gladly sink four hours into running around backtracking, retrieving gems to open a door while others realize a puzzle is happening, groan and just don’t want to do it. I know the people who set up all these defenses weren’t thinking about that when they made the dungeon in the first place, but the meta is important here. The first and last rule of D&D is making sure everyone has fun.

One of my favorite non-combat challenges I’ve ever encountered as a player was engineered by my fiance, Josh. There was a room filled with toxic mist and to get to the door required at least one Con save. Our fighter charged right through and slammed into the door and couldn’t get it open.

At that point, we were all freaking out a little bit because he had a crazy high strength score and if he couldn’t do it, there was no way the rest of us would, but then the rogue got it on his first try. Justifiably, the fighter flipped out.

It turns out, the door was enchanted so that the DC to get it open was equal to the strength score of the PC trying to bash it. We all got a good laugh about it after the fact. It was a good example of an easy puzzle that didn’t frustrate anybody, but still had a trick to it that vexed us for a little bit.

If your party is more puzzle oriented, another good route to take is to put the final door right at the beginning of the dungeon, but make them go explore the rest of it to retrieve the enchanted gems that open the thing. Borrow from dungeon puzzles in some of the video games you’ve played, but make it the ones you liked and not the ones that drove you crazy. I’m sure no one wants to play the Legend of Zelda Water Temple again in tabletop form.

Discord and Discourse

Social encounters are also a must. And when I say social, what I really mean is ‘combat,’ at least a good chunk of the time. If your party likes to talk their way out of fights. I’d say let them do it. It’s definitely the way I’d go about it, but don’t get frustrated if they want to slash their way through. It is a dungeon, and if anywhere is the time and place for that. it’s here.

In the video, the Nerdarchists discuss what sorts of monsters make sense in a dungeon. Squatters, constructs, gelatinous cubes, the kinds of things that would settle down in a place like this. We’re all familiar with that standard level one quest of clearing a mine of its goblin infestation, right?

Something to keep in mind, though, is that your PCs are going to expect a boss fight, and it isn’t a bad idea to theme the encounters that come before it to build up to that.

If they’ve been fighting golems up until the end, the boss fight might be one insanely large golem. If they’ve been fighting spiders, making it to the nest and finding a drider there or a much bigger spider that keeps spawning smaller spiders could be a compelling fight for them.

Don’t be afraid to play with unusual mechanics. Those of you familiar with MMO-style play might take a leaf out of the book of some of the raids you love. The PCs might need to keep moving so they don’t get hit with massive damage in areas the boss is flooding with acid or fire. Maybe each limb has its own health bar. They could be fighting a burrowing creature with a much higher AC when its head is underground than when it is exposed.

Today, You’re a Dungeoneer

Pick a theme, and use it as a skeleton to fill out everything else about your dungeon. This is a guideline and not a hard rule, but it certainly does make thinking of things far easier. Let your framework give you direction but don’t stick to it like sovereign glue.

Do what you and your party have fun doing. That’s far more important than it making sense that there’s a bugbear down in this abandoned mine shaft. And hey, if you really want something present that just doesn’t make sense, half the fun is thinking of a way to make it make sense. You may get a whole adventure hook out of it that you never realized you had.

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Robin Miller

Speculative fiction writer and part-time Dungeon Master Robin Miller lives in southern Ohio where they keep mostly nocturnal hours and enjoys life’s quiet moments. They have a deep love for occult things, antiques, herbalism, big floppy hats and the wonders of the small world (such as insects and arachnids), and they are happy to be owned by the beloved ghost of a black cat. Their fiction, such as The Chronicles of Drasule and the Nimbus Mysteries, can be found on Amazon.

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