 |
| THE FOUR HALLS Please click here to see this evolving dungeon |
THE OLD GODS HAVE RETURNED
- Judging from Ben L's #dungeon23 round-ups, a lot of the foundational OSR blogs are firing back up to participate in d23. I am very excited to see that happening because I think watching a step-by-step act of creation by these members could be very instructional.
WHAT I LEARNED WITH WEEK 1
- Geomorphs work great. Especially since the 10 x 10 square format comfortably houses 6-9 "spaces" easily. This is also good because each geomorph then conforms to BX stocking procedures.
- So instead of working room by room, I'm more looking at 6-7 areas as a whole. This seems to be suggested by Arnold K and In Places Deep. Matt Finch also suggests this in Tomb of Adventure Design and Ava of Permanent Crainal Damage also remarked once that a 50-room dungeon is really just 10 five-room themes.
- Whatever makes geomorphs "good", I don't know if I quite have it down yet. I am neutral on the one above but it serves the purpose of a starting area.
- After reviewing some mapping of Nightwick Abbey, I think there are some unlaying principles that elevate a 'morph to "good" from "serviceable". Let me see if I can express them here
- Good geomorphs...
- Contain at least one single interesting "thing",
- then you can create 6 variations on that thing. An idea for the types of variation could involve the BX stocking procedures: monster, monster (+ treasure), trap, empty, empty (+ hidden treasure), special
- Room in 'morphs should mostly be connected in a Jaquays'ed fashion
- But not always, if you have 7 'morphs with connected rooms, but 2 'morphs with very disconnected rooms this can really add variety to various configurations
- Most 'morphs have 8 doors per 10 x 10 area, PC should mostly be able to travel for the most part from one door to its diagonal counterpart (not necessarily easily)
- Not all doors should be left, long unbroken hallways camouflage a 'morph and create long travel routes
- Feels like 30x30ft or 30x40ft rooms are some sorta optimal but not all 'morphs should be symmetrically laid out
- Asymmetric morphs can be fun, but also terrible
- Or I could be completely wrong. Certainly, it varies with what you write but I think there are some underlying principles.
DO I LIKE MY FIRST WEEK'S EFFORT?
 |
| Great advice from In Places Deep regarding mega dungeon building |
- Dunno. But the key, I think is to just keep moving. I did happen to just sit down and draw 9 additional quick 'morphs focusing on "fantastical garden area" and I think I came out with more exciting 'morphs.
- I did want to rate each morph using Arnold K's Dungeon Check List but maybe I'll wait on that because I don't want to become too critical of myself.
- Here is what I did accomplish with this 'morph though:
- The "thing" this 'morph is centered around having the players make a choice and have somethings to fiddle with
- It provides two early challenges: a locked door and a trapped archway
- There is a choice that has to be made as to where the party wants to go: four halls
- Each hall has an environmental descriptor- its not just "pick a door"
- There are some enemies to fight- not hard but could pose a problem
- Something to rig up, a lever behind the locked portcullis
- A talking set of statues
No comments:
Post a Comment