Recently, the OD&D Discussion Board saw some excellent discussion on the topic of dungeon creation, with a focus on the various types of dungeon that the referee could create for use in their old-school D&D game.
Some of the server’s “learned scholars” were getting stuck in to a lively back-and-forth conversation on this matter, and it was awesome to see this exchange of thoughts and insights taking place in real-time.
As I read through the discussion channel, I found that each post I saw was sparking a new chain of ideas in my own head. Before I put forward my own contribution to this topic, I wanted to put my thoughts in some semblance of order.
As I wrote up my response, I felt like there was something more to be said on this topic, more than I felt was suitable for a Discord message. So, I put together a blogpost on this topic, which you can read below.
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One of the main aspects that I observed in the aforementioned discussion was that there was a perceived dichotomy between two main types of dungeon that referees would make use of in their old-school D&D games.
The first type was referred to as “lair dungeons”. Generally speaking, these lair dungeons were described as being smaller in size (5 - 15 rooms), and as being more coherent or uniform in terms of theme and aesthetic, usually only being inhabited by a single type of monster, or a smaller number of separate monster types. In this latter case, these separate types are typically presented as having enough ecological / cultural synergy with one another to form a cohesive group.
In terms of player engagement with these lair dungeons, there was a perception that these locations could generally be “cleared” by the player characters in 1 - 3 sessions. One poster noted that after “clearing” the dungeon, further exploration of the location would cease, and the player characters would move on. The same poster mentioned that these kind of "lair dungeons" had presented some of the most interesting and memorable play experiences that they’d been a part of.
From a player’s perspective, I felt like one of the recent games that had taken place on the server was a perfect example of how engaging and exciting this kind of lair dungeon could be. The referee for this particular game session incorporated a number of interesting factors into the game scenario, which greatly increased the level of player engagement and immersion. I’ll outline these factors below.
One of the main things I noticed as a player was that the dungeon was very dense in terms of the amount of evocative, gameable content that was presented to us as players. There was no “filler content”, no aspect of the scenario that had been included in order to “pad out” the gameplay experience.
In the course of the game, we were only able to explore a small part of the dungeon, but within that relatively small physical pace, there were a significant number of highly-engaging “set-pieces” that we as players could actively engage with in the course of play. Owing to this high level of content density, this game truly gave the sense of being “all killer, no filler”, and I mean that as the highest possible compliment.
Another aspect of this game session that I think is worth taking note of is the inclusion of certain “named NPC’s” within the dungeon itself. These named NPC’s had their own goals that they were actively pursuing during the events of the game session, and in the course of working towards these objectives, these named NPC’s came into contact with the player characters.
From a player’s perspective, this was hugely engaging! Getting caught up in the machinations of these NPC’s added a layer of natural narrative depth to the game session, and the direct involvement of our player characters presented a number of interesting “decision points”. As a whole, this aspect of the game felt very rewarding, and agency-affirming. It was like a “lite” version of faction play, where a smaller group of players could have a more direct, more immediate impact on the larger game world.
Finally, another factor that I felt contributed to the success of this session was beginning the game with a distinct “hook” beyond treasure-hunting alone. The inclusion of a more specific objective, one that’s directly tied to the objectives of the NPC’s inhabiting the dungeon, facilitates a game session where the player characters are encouraged to get involved with the various dungeon factions from their first foray into the dungeon. This in turn leads to the dungeon feeling much more alive and dynamic.
With these factors considered, it’s obvious that this “hand-crafted” style of dungeon design is effective in creating desirable gameplay outcomes. However, there are some limitations to this “hand-crafted” approach to dungeon design. Owing to the already lengthy nature of this post, these limitations will be further detailed in a follow-up post.