2010-02-05 Quality Dungeons

What do I personally like about small dungeons? The kind that keep us busy for a session or two? The kind that would make appropriate entries into the One Page Dungeon Contest 2010?

One Page Dungeon Contest 2010

• A handfull of named NPCs with goals and quirks to interact with.
• Potential allies for the more politically inclined players.
• Maybe even a third party beyond the party and the enemies.
• Relations between these NPCs in a sentence or two. A is hiding from B. C really hates D. E escaped from the prison run by F.
• Factions that these NPCs belong to. Actions will have long term consequences if factions are involved.
• Intelligent opposition. If the monsters are too stupid, no amount of trickery will help.
• If monsters are not intelligent, make them interesting. Slimes are more interesting than low-level undead because we’ve seen so many of those.
• Good looking maps. A good looking map appeals to the referee and says “Pick me! Pick me!”
• Notes on the map itself make it easier to get an overview of the place.
• Multiple entrances for players to choose from.
• Multiple exits for referees to append to.
• A map that suggests multiple goals. Rescue prisoner here, kill boss there, find hidden treasure over there. That adds replayability.
• A map key that is easy to skim by using *bold keywords* for monsters and other stuff of prime importance to players.
• A setup that can be exploited in combat by tactically minded players. A bottleneck, a ledge, a bridge, a fortified position, a sally port.
• An opportunity to spy on enemies for the stealthily minded players. A murder hole, a grate, a tiny tunnel, a scrying ball.
• A map that could potentially work as the beginning of a campaign. It suggests greater things beyond its edge.
• Memorable magic items. A rod of thunder and lightning is better than a *something* +1
• Stuff to interact with for players who like to experiment. Add suggestions for possible reactions.
• Traps that trick players such as finding amulets from a faction and the suggestion to wear them somewhere, and then realizing that an opposing faction built a trap for fools just like that.
• Opportunity for long-term change to the player characters. Getting a title, an extra arm, the blessing of a god, a fancy familiar.

These thoughts culled from my comments on some of my favorite submissions in last year’s contest: 2009-07-01 Personal Favorites, 2009-07-02 More of my 1PDC Favorites, 2009-07-19 One Page Dungeon Contest Favorites, and 2009-08-23 The Last Bunch Of Favorites.

2009-07-01 Personal Favorites

2009-07-02 More of my 1PDC Favorites

2009-07-19 One Page Dungeon Contest Favorites

2009-08-23 The Last Bunch Of Favorites

Do you agree? Do you have other preferences?

PS: There’s still time to submit your entry to the One Page Dungeon Contest 2010 – we have tons of prizes and I have only received two submissions until now. You still have a bit more than *three weeks* to work on it. Deadline is the first second of March 1, 0:00 GMT (careful about the timezone!)

One Page Dungeon Contest 2010

PPS: Don’t let the list intimidate you. I’m just one of the seven judges. And my own submission to last year’s contest was in no way close 😄

​#RPG ​#maps ​#1PDC ​#advice

Comments

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I like finding +1 items, they’re real workhorses!

– Blair 2010-02-06 00:48 UTC

Blair

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Related links:

• Factions, Telecanter’s Receding Rules and me 😉
• Qualities of a Great Old School Module, Telecanter’s Receding Rules & Guy Fullerton
• 12 touchstones of old-school modules, Tran Eskoor an Doon
• One Session Dungeon Template, Telecanter’s Receding Rules & T. Foster

Factions

Qualities of a Great Old School Module

12 touchstones of old-school modules

One Session Dungeon Template

A nice collection! 🙂

• Update*:

Interesting additions by another blogger:

additions by another blogger

• a secret that the players can figure out about the dungeon itself, or some similar concept.
• interesting terrain to make things more memorable and more challenging.

• Update*:

2012-11-17 How To Build A Dungeon

– Alex Schroeder

Alex Schroeder

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Elementary Principles of Dungeon Drawing.

Elementary Principles of Dungeon Drawing

– Alex Schroeder 2017-02-19 21:56 UTC

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Allandaros posted the following list on RPG Net:

on RPG Net

• Jaquaying the Dungeon
• Node-Based Megadungeon Design
• Jewelbox Design and Broken Bastion, The Risk Economy, Exploration Play
• Megadungeon Thoughts, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
• Dungeon Design and Stocking - with examples!
• Dungeon Checklist
• Pointcrawling Undercities
• Interesting and Useful Dungeon Descriptions

Jaquaying the Dungeon

Node-Based Megadungeon Design

Jewelbox Design and Broken Bastion

The Risk Economy

Exploration Play

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Dungeon Design and Stocking - with examples!

Dungeon Checklist

Pointcrawling Undercities

Interesting and Useful Dungeon Descriptions

– Alex 2021-03-19 20:18 UTC

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I just read a blog post by W. F. Smith on the Prismatic Wasteland blog:

The worst encounters play out like vignettes where the referee reads aloud a little scene, and the players say “uh, okay” or “huh, weird” and just press on, ignoring the encounter completely. If you’re able to answer “yes” to at least a few questions below, your encounter is more likely to be something that either cannot be ignored or (even better) something the players would never dream of ignoring. – Encounter Checklist

Encounter Checklist

W. F. Smith’s list:

• Is the encounter something that happens to the player-characters?
• Can the player-characters “play” with the encounter?
• Are there multiple possible solutions or no solution at all?
• Do the player-characters want something from the encounter?
• Does the encounter have a motive?
• Does the encounter have a means to accomplish its motive?
• Is there a consequence to ignoring the encounter?

Good stuff!

– Alex 2022-07-18 12:15 UTC