Dungeons and Dragons – Dungeons & What they Mean to Me – Part 1
Nelson of Infinite RolePlay here.
Spiked pit traps to impale the wreck-less adventurer, sharp steel saw blades spinning out from a wall waist high to cut you an half and acid, bubbly bubbly acid . . . . poor Aeofel.
Those and much more can be found in one place and one place only. The dungeon! Dungeons across the scope or RPG’s everywhere & so are the plentiful pitfalls and traps that fill them. It may just be me but I’ve been feeling that dungeons are so much more than just a place to put simple “run of the mill” traps.
Even the more elaborate traps that fill dungeons are something that I just don’t connect with. To me it’s always fealt that the approach to dungeons was simply to have a place to put these pit traps, flying blades, giant rolling stone sphere’s and whatnot. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy those traps, to a degree but they are overused & often, at least to me, the focus of the dungeon.
O.k., lets take a step back and look at some of the actual definitions for the word “dungeon”.
How do You Use Dungeons in Your Dungeons and Dragons Game
noun
1. a strong, dark prison or cell, usually underground, as in a medieval castle.
2. the keep or stronghold of a castle; donjon.
Hmm.. ok so far we have a dark underground prison of a medieval castle. Often our dungeon delving doesn’t take up into a prison, though it does often take us underground. Let’s see if we can find any other ways the word dungeon is” defined”…
“In the world of video-games, a huge area, usually indoors, which houses multiple rooms, puzzles and enemies. The player must navigate his way through the dangerous place and face the dungeon boss (much harder than the regular dungeon enemies), to receive a reward and progress further into the story.
The most famous dungeons are the Legend of Zelda ones, where you can earn a new weapon/item/etc. at some point in the dungeon and you usually face a mini-boss (with difficulty between one of a regular enemy’s and the boss’s)”
—Urban Dictionary –
How do You use Maps in Your Dungeons and Dragons Game
O.k. now we’re treading on more familiar territory! Huge areas that have rooms filled with monsters, spiked floor traps, crushing walls and puzzles galore!!! Oh yea, that is totally familiar! Now, I DID grow up on Zelda & we’re not talking that 3D stuff.
I’m talking about the old school Zelda when the environment, characters and monsters were nothing more than a handful of pixels on a screen. Before the N64.. even before the animated cartoon! Now if you know what I’m talking about, god bless you!
Let’s push further into finding out what this word dungeon actually signified though…
In RPG terminology, a closed environment, usually full of enemies and loot. Caves and ruins are among the most common forms. In some less open-ended games, outdoors environments might be considered dungeons as well.
—Urban Dictionary –
OOOh I like that definition! A closed environment full of enemies and loot. It even says that the dungeon can be outdoors! Now what that says to me is a dungeon is just about anything with enemies and loot. Not much in the way of limiting how you define or build your dungeon & I love not limiting myself.
With those example definitions out of the way, I’d like to talk about how I define what a dungeon is. It’s not to far away from the above definitions and you might already share the same outlook as me. I feal like a dungeon is an area that limits the players movement in some way. Most often it’s via some type hard surface but I don’t see why that “limiter” can’t be a high plant growth, fire or rows upon rows of statues. As long as it portrays a sense of claustrophobia.
That to me is the most import part of what a dungeon is. The next thing is that this claustrophobic area be filled with DANGER! The danger can take the form of a traditional trap, monster & my personal favorite, an environmental hazard.
You can check out Infinite RolePlay for more on maps.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of Dungeons and Dragons – Dungeons & What they Mean to Me tomorrow.
Until Next Time, Stay Nerdy!
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