Dungeoncrawling 101, Class 02: Flesh Out Your First Dungeon!

Now that we have a rough draft of our dungeon, let’s give it a second pass and flesh it out!

Great work today on the stream! Here’s the rundown of what we came up with. If I missed anything, please add it to the thread or remind me so I can add it in!

Dungeon Roster

  • What factions live here? Goblins and Undead.
  • What other creatures live here? Giant centipedes, what else?
  • How do these factions and creatures relate? The goblins and the undead are antagonistic.

Fleshing Out the Dungeon

  • think about the connections between factions
  • think about the layout-- can we amp up our designs, can we emphasize the 3-dimensionality, unorthodox linkages within and between spaces?
  • create multiple access paths (loops)
  • use motifs, patterns – establish patterns and then break them to call out to special details.

Motifs

“Eternally I gaze above at what lies below.”

Statues gaze up at something symbolic above which represents a real thing below that area.

  • broken statues-- put the right head on the right statue to find the correct gaze spot?

Water (from culture? religion?)

Cleansing, purifying, fountain, water-based mechanism (touch with wet hands)

  • Offering bowls – fill with water to calm undead?
  • Is the midden pit a destroyed fountain? Is that how the goblins got in originally?
  • a “locally” magical ewer?

Layout

  • midden pit becomes destroyed/repurposed fountain; central “holy” room to the tomb complex?
  • expand galleries – longer, taller, alcoves-- pattern to statues in alcoves?
  • cavern beneath fountain/midden pit that connects to sprung pit trap – underground river/spring?
  • more small tombs for minor family, servants, pets, etc.
  • integrate goblins areas more with the formal tomb complex