I found this post over on Above the Flatline really interesting.
How I’m Organizing My Megadungeon
The gist of it - establish multiple up and down connections as well as horizontal connections in the dungeon. Allow for some chokepoints, but otherwise give a lot of choices of movement.
That's something that doesn't exist so much in Felltower, which has a series of chokepoints. That was deliberate, since I needed to contain the players within areas while I built out the dungeon. But it's constraining on actual play, since it means those chokepoints continually limit choices, travel, and decision paths even after I've made the dungeon. It's nice to see someone understanding the value of a well-connected many-choice dungeon in three dimensions from the start.
Hmmm, perhaps we can use shape earth and such to create a secret passageway down to a certain level.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a hell of way to spend a session.
DeleteWow, Shape Earth really would make dungeons into swiss cheese. Hopefully it doesn't wreck the structural integrity...
DeleteI say it's time for an earthquake to open a pit that bisects the levels all the way down....
ReplyDeleteYou can add multiple paths to a choke point dungeon.
DeleteEye of the Beholder had a system of portals to move around the dungeon. You still needed to start from level 1 and head down, but once you got the keys you could go between the gates at will.
The Half Life series often has Gordon Freeman running around a level with doors that once open allow Gordon to avoid having to backtrack. The doors weren't open initially, but once open they allow the player to 'skip'the level.
I have something similar in my mega dungeon
There are more ways to get around than the players realize, but as much as I don't love the chokepoints, I do love some of what it's forced the PCs to deal with. I won't be cracking the dungeon in twain or putting in a series of gates to get them out of those decisions.
DeleteIn terms of the pros and cons of chokepoints, I feel like the Dark Souls reference shows the way to one solution: routes that start out closed or hidden but can be opened during the course of play. Secret doors and tunnels that are obvious from the other end, paths that are locked (whether by physical or magical barriers) until you find the key inside the dungeon, paths that are merely hidden until you know the lay of the land and see how things connect, one-way teleportation, routes guarded against all trespassers by monsters until the guardian is defeated or negotiated with, hazards that are technically open but unpassable until you find the right countermeasures, etc. I feel like there have been a number of these in Felltower, actually, even if "unlockable Jaquaying" may not have been your specific intent while building it.
ReplyDeleteThat stuff in Felltower is directly copying Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord with it's Blue Ribbon needed to operate the elevator!
DeleteGah. its, not it's.
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