Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #371
Alternative Dungeon Environments
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
Alternative Dungeon Environments
- Example Alternative Dungeon - The Swamp
- Apply The Dungeon Format To Alternative Settings
- Pick A Location-Based Theme
- Offer Clear Connectors
- Other Example Alternative Dungeon Ideas
Readers' Tips Summarized
- Three Levels of NPC Creation
- Let PCs Set Their Own Traps
- How To Make Your Players Paranoic
- Let Rumours Get Misinterpreted
- World Idea: Spontaneous Genesis
- Keep Things Interesting: Try Higher Power Levels
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Return to Contents
A Brief Word From Johnn
Watch X-Files With GMing In Mind
My wife and I picked up X-Files season one on DVD recently
as it was steeply discounted at a local store. I had
forgotten that it was such a fun show. Effects are a bit
dated now, but I feel it still offers good models and ideas
for GMs of any genre.
In addition to the Art of the Evasive Answer,
the show demonstrates good weaving of episodic content with
a background arc, cool NPCs, and a variety of locations. It
offers many examples of how PCs with massive resources can
still be challenged and stumped by clever antagonists,
internal conflicts, and manipulative NPCs.
Reader Request: How to Create Postcyberpunk Campaigns?
Here's a reader request that stumped me as I have not
dabbled in this genre. If any GMs out there are familiar
with this in their gaming, please let me know if you have
any tips:
"I stumbled upon this postcyberpunk article.
It describes the current, evolved form of cyberpunk:
(slightly) less dystopian and technologically more
realistic. Do you have any tips on how I can properly
infuse my game with a postcyberpunk atmosphere
(story-wise, event-wise, description-wise)?
Greets,
Ronald"
Cyberpunk GM tips in general would be great too, as the e-
zine hasn't featured many of those and I know there are a
legion of Shadowrun and other game system fans out there.
Cool Idea - PowerPoint Session Intros
Read how one GM uses PowerPoint to kick off game sessions.
He creates slides that include campaign information, a theme
song, and credits. He even features each PC in "star of the
show" type credits. Neat!
Have a game-full week.
Cheers,
Johnn Four,
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
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Return to Contents
Alternative Dungeon Environments
By Garrison Sutton
(with overwrought filler text added by Johnn Four)
I've been experimenting with alternative adventure settings,
and by that I mean dungeons that aren't underground (I'm in
the D&D world). Below are some ideas I've had, and I'm
hoping Roleplaying Tips readers might write in with
similarly-structured alternative dungeon environments ideas
of their own.
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1. Example Alternative Dungeon - The Swamp
Recently, I created a swamp setting where each "room" was an
island surrounded by marshy water. I drew the islands as
large rectangles and asked the players to suspend disbelief
enough to pretend that the edges weren't perfectly square. I
told them the regular lines on the map only showed places
where the ground was firm enough to stand.
I had narrow paths running between islands, which worked as
hallways, and semi-submerged paths that were difficult to
spot, which acted as secret passages.
Of course, the use of water between islands wasn't always
enough to keep non-armored characters from wandering where I
didn't want them, so I put schools of piranha in the water
that would arrive in 1d6-1 rounds from whenever a character
entered the water.
There was also enough low brush between islands to prevent a
long-jump, and marshy fog let me limit visibility. I also
used quicksand in place of pit traps in a few places.
It made for a very interesting adventure setting.
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2. Apply The Dungeon Format To Alternative Settings
The dungeon format won't appeal to every game master;
however, it does offer several advantages that make it
appealing:
- Map-based. For visual thinkers, maps help tie everything
together to making planning and GMing easier.
- Compartmentalized. Each room is a seperate entity and
encounter, which also makes planning and GMing easier for
some.
- Dungeon think. GMs raised on dungeons have the style burnt
into their brains. Modifying other environments to be like
dungeons helps such GMs run games more smoothly with
familiar modes and pathways.
- Game strengths. Some games thrive on dungeon-like
environments, and a few are built entirely around this
structure.
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3. Pick A Location-Based Theme
Start with an interesting location or environment that will
serve as a unifying theme for each "dungeon room." A good
theme will:
- Have strong hooks and cues to feed player imaginations and
environment visualization. For example, a cloud-based
dungeon where each room is located on a different cloud is
easy to picture and potentially interesting to play.
- Be distinct from other themes. Players get great enjoyment
when a campaign consists of many and varied environments
that don't blur together.
Bad: "Where did we encounter the dwarf with the map? Was it
the grey cloud dungeon, the blue cloud dungeon, or the red
cloud place?"
Good: "Remember the dwarf with the map? He was in that crazy
garbage dump where the piles formed walls and we had to work
through a maze of garbage-fed monsters. That was just before
the cool cogs crawl in that giant clock."
- Offer a variety of ideas, features, and opportunities to
make each room different while still following the theme.
You don't want every location to offer the same challenges,
puzzles, and rewards. Your theme must provide a rich variety
of options to stock your dungeon with.
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4. Offer Clear Connectors
Dungeon hallways and passages serve as connectors between
encounters, and sometimes offer up their own encounters as
well. Your alternative environment should have connectors
that:
- Are clear and understood. You want to make travelling
between rooms possible and easy. Imagine if your design was
too clever or abstract, and the characters got stuck in the
first room because they couldn't figure out how to leave or
where to go next.
- Have boundaries. Dungeons have a flow (i.e. levels, room
positioning, pathways) and without connector boundaries any
designed flow gets cancelled by random access. In
traditional dungeons, passages have walls, floors, and
ceilings that funnel PCs along their chosen routes. They are
usually opaque to preserve surprise and create a sense of
drama and mystery as players wonder what's beyond each
corner or behind each door.
- Aren't easily circumvented. Don't hesitate to reward
clever gameplay and ideas from the players, but your design
should anticipate ways the PCs might bypass connectors and
ruin any design effect you were trying to achieve.
For example, the PCs might be in a misty realm of giant lily
pads. Each giant pad is a dungeon room, and they are
connected by stepping-stone smaller pads. The mist prevents
characters from seeing what's on surrounding pads, though
sounds travel well enough to give forewarning or eerie
atmosphere.
Your design gets circumvented, however, because the clever
priest has a windy spell memorized, which blows away the
mist to reveal several of the dungeon rooms from afar. Then
the mage casts fly and levitate on party members, and
suddenly any lily pad is fair game.
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5. Other Example Alternative Dungeon Ideas
Here are some additional ideas for settings that could be
converted to dungeon format:
- City
I've also tried city campaigns, but with less success. The
characters wandered down streets and alleyways, and fought
in courtyards and town squares.
This idea was less successful than my swamp campaign,
because my players bypassed entire encounters using Spider
Climb to go over buildings (which would have been like
passing through a wall in a normal dungeon).
- Swamps
I'd be very curious to see other swamp ideas. I know that
mine works, but I bet my players find a way to break it
before too long, so any ideas that others have would be
welcome.
- Sky
I've thought about aerial environments, but 3D environments
seem complicated. A campaign set mostly in the clouds around
a giant's castle might be fun. If the characters had a way
to walk on the clouds, the GM could set up caverns of clouds
with a castle at the top...though that doesn't feel very
original.
- Plane hopping
I've given thought about an adventure on the plane of
Pandemonium. I was reading descriptions of the different
planes and one described an area very much like the Ways in
The Wheel of Time series, with several clusters of islands
connected by bridges, and the up/down left/right axes making
no logical sense. This feels tricky to GM...and to map.
- Below the sea
An underwater campaign might be fun. Perhaps the lair of
aquatic ghouls or aquatic elves, or maybe a black dragon.
The GM could use kelp with razor-sharp edges or poison to
confine the players to hallways and rooms... though I don't
know how to keep the players from going too far up/down.
- Hall of mirrors
As I'm brainstorming, I'm coming up with an idea that's like
a hall of mirrors. Perhaps a dungeon with invisible walls.
The monsters know what paths they can take to attack the
party, then safely retreat, but the party would be hampered
because they couldn't see the invisible walls.
- Spider crypt
An idea I played with for a while that worked moderately
well was a crypt overrun by giant spiders. I used high
ceilings to keep the spiders out of melee reach, and
included an element of tainted magic gone awry to give some
of the spiders spell casting abilities. This let me have
spider tanks, healers, and buffers.
I designed the crypt, then put in tunnels through the walls,
floor, and ceiling that the spiders could use to quickly get
from place to place. The PCs couldn't use those same tunnels
because they were lined with webs...and burning the webs
would risk damaging any loot and would certainly announce
their intended direction of travel.
This idea worked well till I discovered that my players
didn't have a single ranged weapon. They were getting picked
apart and had to run.
- Plant realm
Another idea I've thought of is based on the concept of
living walls that we saw in the Aliens movies. But, instead
of using a secreted "skin", I thought of using plant life.
I am considering making a dungeon that is outdoors, or
mostly outdoors, where all the floors, ceilings, and walls
are covered in plants. The entire dungeon is controlled by a
hive mind that knows where they are at all times because it
can sense them through their interaction with the plants on
the floors, walls, and so on.
I'm considering using ju-ju zombies - living plants - and
giving the boss monster the ability to absorb victims and
learn to use the victim's natural abilities. The villain
eventually "grows" elements of itself with new features.
Thus, if the hive mind captured a live manticore and a live
red dragon, it could eventually grow a quadrupedal plant
that could throw spikes from its tail and breathe fire.
* * *
Reader Request: Dungeon Themes
I was wondering if you could ask readers to offer
suggestions for alternate dungeon environments and describe
elements to make them effective.
Thanks for your column, it's great to get input from
friends.
[Johnn: thanks for the cool ideas, Garrison. Readers, if you
have tips or ideas for alternative dungeon themes, ping me
at johnn@roleplayingtips.com - thanks!]
Return to Contents
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Readers' Tips Of The Week:
Have some GM advice you'd like to share? E-mail it to johnn@roleplayingtips.com - thanks!
1. Three Levels of NPC Creation
From: Todd Hill
I have found that three levels of detail help quite a bit
when deciding how to create my NPCs:
- Basic
- Fleshed Out
- Major Personage
- The Basic NPC
This level is boiled down to what the players see: the
physical traits. I use this level for general NPCs who don't
have a real place in the current adventure, but may have
more face time later. After all, not everyone is the same.
Generate a few lists of names, traits, and small
descriptions to make each NPC stand out. For example
Names |
Trait |
Description |
Gunthar |
Loudmouth |
Small scar on chin |
Lydia |
Impatient |
Lazy Eye |
David |
Braggart |
Stiff Leg |
Once the players meet an NPC you can quickly throw together
a distinct description by randomly pulling an idea from each
list.
Gunthar - The loudmouth braggart at the bar turns to look at
the characters when they enter. At least, it seems he is
looking at them - one of his eyes seems to be looking more
to the left.
- Fleshed Out NPC
This version adds background to the NPC. From the previous
example, Gunthar has a lazy eye. Why? This level tries to
figure out why the NPC looks the way they do, or why they
are in their current situation.
Gunthar is a loudmouth. At one time he was a low level
adventurer, but his mouth got him in the end. Mouthing off
to a cleric on why his way was the correct one, the offended
NPC cursed Gunthar with a lazy eye. The curse has
effectively removed any further thoughts of adventuring from
Gunthar's mind, which has left him toiling in a menial job
in this town. Gunthar is an angry and vindictive person now.
- Major Personage
This fills out the NPC's background even further to define
what motivates the NPC to do what he/she does. Let us take
Gunthar a little further.
Gunthar had a father who was a hard man. "Strength is
power," the old man would always say, and Gunthar would get
beaten whenever he showed weakness. Over time, Gunthar would
boast he could do anything, and since he had some skill with
a sword and gone on a couple of adventures, the townsfolk
would often cower before Gunthar. His ego swelled.
Then a cleric passed through town on a pilgrimage. Since the
cleric was of a different religion than Gunthar's, Gunthar
decided to tell the cleric how wrong he was. After an
argument, the cleric cursed Gunthar with a lazy eye. The
townsfolk, tired of Gunthar's bullying, did nothing to the
cleric, which Gunthar has resented ever since.
Since the "Lazy Eye" incident, Gunthar has slowly become
more and more angry at the townsfolk, but will be grateful
to anyone who can remove the curse. This will not get any
thanks from Gunthar, other than that he will try to help the
PCs in the future, and he will go back to bullying the
'lesser' people in town that stood by and did nothing in the
past.
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2. Let PCs Set Their Own Traps
From: Tim Roberts
Some groups have people who prefer creativity over dice-
rolling, but unfortunately aren't too good at the
creativity. To satisfy this urge and give them a sense of
achievement, the GM could set up traps for the PCs to use to
their own benefit. The GM could add certain things to the
environment to be used against enemies, such as spikes on
the walls or a catwalk above a chandelier that allows PCs to
cut the chandelier down and fall onto unsuspecting enemies.
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3. How To Make Your Players Paranoic
From: Eduard Pascual
If your players think there is a secret hidden somewhere,
they will pay much more attention in the game. So, this is
my way to make them paranoic:
- Use a table screen. Some people think it's not needed,
but a screen gives you privacy and creates mystery. It will
be even better if you put a lot of sticky notes over the
screen. I mean a lot. Put so many notes you must move one to
look at another. During gameplay, search sometimes between
these notes, as if you had a surprise prepared. Your players
will think you are hiding a lot of stuff there.
- Someone said once: "dice are only for making noise behind
the table." Probably he was saying a master must ignore
rolls that could break the story. But there is another
meaning: you must do dice noise behind your tables. If the
players hear you rolling dice, they will be sure something
is happening.
- "Are you sure?" "Yes...why...?" "Ok, ok, don't worry." A
dialog like this, followed by a smile and some hidden rolls
will awake the interest of any player. Also, write something
on a new sticky note.
- Description. When your players get a new item, enter a
new room, or interact with a new game element, choose a
detail of that thing. Make your description, as usual, but
give a lot of information about that specific detail.
For example, the characters enter a room, and in a wall
there is a blood stain. Even when this stain has nothing to
do with your adventure, give a very detailed description of
that stain. This will make the players worried a lot about
the stain.
- Give some great surprises to your players. If all the
time they worry, it is a false alarm, then they won't worry
more. But if there is any possibility that something is to
happen, the players will try to know what is, when will it
happen, etc.
Beware! If you use all of these techniques, you are in
danger. Your players could become more paranoic than you
wanted. I know a player who does no more than to look and
listen at every wall in a dungeon now. Use these methods
sparingly.
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4. Let Rumours Get Misinterpreted
From: B P
It has always amazed me how rumours can be misinterpreted.
One time I had a player who wanted to gather rumours on
things that might be interesting to do. Since the world is
not going to have only rumours that are level specific, I
gave him a number of stories about possibilities - some
reasonable for his level, some that (I thought) were to be
filed for later.
He made lots of notes on what stories he got over a couple
of evenings in taverns, and there were about 10
possibilities in all. Four of them were appropriate for the
level of the party.
When he presented his findings to the group, and what he
thought they should go after, I did not know what he was
talking about. With only one degree of change, with a person
taking notes, I could not figure out what plot hook he was
even attempting to follow, and that was with one degree of
indirection. I had given true leads that became
unrecognizable after one re-tell by a player character.
He lead the party to a place I had to prepare on the fly.
The place was related to an area for an encounter to be done
much later (and he had the info on it given to him), but he
had put it with a completely different encounter (sort of -
his story was nothing I could figure from anything I had
given him).
If rumours that were entirely true were corrupted so much by
someone taking notes while getting them, one should not be
surprised they have so little to do with the reality in a
campaign when one gets them thirdhand instead.
From my experience, a kobold will become an ancient dragon,
and an arch devil will become an orc.
Mind you, using this reality makes a DM's job harder - there
should be many rumours about what could be done, and most
will be useless. Some will sound level-inappropriate, but
they might be. Some will sound right, but will not be. Many
will be so confused they cannot be followed.
This is reality. It depends on your DM style whether you do
this. Many DMs only give true rumours that are level
appropriate to characters, but this is weird from a reality
position.
Hope this can be used by someone.
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5. World Idea: Spontaneous Genesis
From: Tommi H.H.
Have you ever had trouble explaining why orcs continue to be
in your world no matter how many of them your players mince
to munch? Spontaneous Genesis might be your answer.
If certain "materials" are present in huge number, their
very presence will spawn other types of "materials."
If a forest has a certain size it will have a certain amount
of nuts. If there are enough nuts, there will be squirrels.
Enough squirrels will spawn falcons, and so on.
In addition to normal breeding methods, everything has a
creation-backup. This backup system might exist because the
gods of creation want nothing eternally gone.
If the world is covered with deep forests, a chain of
spawning elements might lead to the creation of dragons. The
dragons would burn down the forests, creating waste plains,
and human settlements would rise from the fertile farmlands.
In the end, the plains become plant-covered city ruins
filled with ancient treasures, and the deep forests would be
back again....
Let this philosophy seep through in a scenario involving
mythologies and different stories of how the world came into
being, and then in the next scenario, when the players are
travelling through the swamplands, they witness an orc
being spawned from a combination of fog, rain, and swamp
rot. The green lightning-like energy of the gods pour into
the wretched creature, and the players can see a short sword
take form in its grotesque hands. Then let the thing charge
them. They will slaughter it, but they will always remember
their first meeting with raw creation.
If you are devious, let someone point out that the PCs
themselves might be spawns. Nobody can really tell, because
once a spawn is inside the world it will be as if it had
always existed, except to those who have witnessed its
arrival.
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6. Keep Things Interesting: Try Higher Power Levels
From: Jack the LumberJack
If you have been playing a campaign for a while, and your
party is getting a little bored of the normal stuff,
(goblins, weapons +1, gold gold gold), I think it is a good
idea to "beef up" the items and experience a bit. Getting to
a higher level is a fun aspect of games, plus it gives the
GM more chances to put in bigger monsters and better items.
(Monster to make the GM happy, items for the PCs.) This
keeps both sides of the game happy, as well as opens new
doors to the game by bringing in new elements.
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