Gameability in Dungeon Design

Every Gamemaster will try their hand on dungeon design at least once. With the white paper staring at you, it’s difficult to determine where to start. Combat? Puzzels? Intrigue? Today, I hope to provide a useful tool to help with that.

Choices make a Game

Having options makes a dungeon interesting. The kind of option can be divided into 5 categories.

Gameplay How to reinforce Gameability
Combat (see your character sheet)
  • Use monsters with different abilities
Factions Managing your relation to different factions
  • Add multiple faction
  • Give each faction (conflicting) goals
  • Let each faction offer something good
Resources How en when to use your resources
  • Add (one-time) usable resources
  • Give them diverse purposes
Environment How to conquer obstacles or solve problems using the surroundings
  • Create an interesting dungeon layout
  • Create changeable surroundings
  • Add usable environmental elements
Time Players can’t do everything thus have to prioritize
  • Give the dungeon a deadline
  • Use a random encounter table

Each of these categories is part of every dungeon, although some will change in importance from dungeon to dungeon. A best practice is to link the different categories. How does the environment influence combat? How do the factions utilize the resources? This makes adventuring spicy.

Example of Gameability

How to form a dungeon from these categories? Start with your goals: why make a dungeon at all? Then, determine which of the categories fits that goal best. Start writing. Your first category will flow into the next. And the next. And…

Conveniently I designed one recently that can serve as an example. Its setup was “Colony with huge ants spirals out of control”.

Factions

This dungeon focusses on ants and their relationship towards ladybugs and greenflies. Each of their goals is simple: survive (unfortunately the greenflies provide sustenance for the others). How players navigate these factions determines the kind of obstacles they’ll face.

Combat

Ant and ladybugs differ greatly, and players might face either depending on the path they take. However, within the ant species there’s variation possible as well. This helps create different kinds of challenges in each area.

Resources

Smell is the main gameable element of this dungeon: ants communicate through it. Typical smells (cinnamon, blood, smoke) are linked to command, so players are able to mimic and utilize them. Throughout the colony they can find hints to link smells to these commands.

Environment

The colony has three entrances, and even within it divergent paths are possible. It’s also located within a tree; wood is a multifunctional material that could be cut or burnt. Both the layout and material of the environment provide options this way.

Time

There’s no hard clock in this dungeon, but two situations will develop over time: ladybugs attack daily, and the ants are (initially) inhospitable hosts. Without intervention, either situation will spiral out of the player’s control.

Conclusion

This tool helps Gamemasters add gameable elements to any dungeon. It’s not the best or only way to build one, but certainly an effective method that I’ve used several times myself. Maybe it can be of worth to you.

Cheers,
Willem-Jan

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