05-04-2024, 11:26 PM
When one is designing a small dungeon or short RP, one could use the 5-Room Dungeon design instead of having to plan an elaborate adventure. The 5-Room Dungeon is more of a story-telling element that can be imagined as going through a short dungeon, like a mini-adventure in a campaign. That is, the 5-room design can be applied to a bigger or smaller dungeon as well as non-dungeon locations or mechanics. For the sake of the explanation, we'll pretend that this will be a standalone adventure.
1. Entrance/Guardian - This room is the entrance of the dungeon, which serves as the transition from the normal world to this adventure so it is ideal to ready the setting here. However, one may have to ask why people don't just go in (or out) so easily; the main reason would be a "guardian" to limit access to the place. The guardian can range from patrols to refuging creatures, but it can also include other barriers like a key or perilous environment.
2. Puzzle/Challenge - While the previous room may have a fight, this room is more about using your wits. Use this room to introduce a bit of dungeon lore, and you can use that to piece together clues to solve this room or chat with a NPC that'll open the way. While the puzzle can apply pressure to the players, the non-combat approach should foster growth with the team.
3. Setback/Trick - This room has a twist to make the adventure a bit more complicated. This twist can range from finding out the true purpose of this dungeon to weakening the players for the next room. Please note that it would be bad manners to make the player feel guilty for their actions (ie if the earlier monsters were only protecting their young).
4. Boss/Climax - This is where you'll fight the bad guy of the dungeon, or more specifically, the fanciest battle in this dungeon as you'll start with a bit of roleplay to set the scene. The boss knows this room better so they could unleash traps and backup, and reward the players with a bit more roleplay after the fight.
5. Reward/Revelation - Now, it's obvious that players would like to be rewarded after completing the dungeon, but this room can also reveal another twist that would lead them to the next part of their adventure. And again, there's not really a reason to punish the players for completing the dungeon.
Here's an example of a 5-room dungeon with a pyramid: 1) There are signs that raiders already opened the tomb with a few waiting outside. 2) With the original path collapsed, you eventually translate the hieroglyphics and figure out that one of the nearby coffins has a keybearer for a locked passage. 3) The passage gases you into thinking that they are servants of the pharaoh... 4) The pharaoh wants to make you his concubines; the battle revolves around breaking out of this illusion and stopping the gas from reinfecting you. 5) Profit (with treasure from the tomb).
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Now, here are a few more things about the dungeon design. First, the dungeon's layout does not have to be physically linear even though the 5-room dungeon sounds like everything is in order. For instance, you enter a manor and can enter any of the four rooms, though one room will contain an item to invoke a spirit hiding in another room and so on. And as mentioned earlier, there does not have to be 5 physical rooms for the 5-room dungeon, so it could be possible to combine the Setback room with the Boss and Reward room just as it is possible to have multiple Puzzle rooms.
1. Entrance/Guardian - This room is the entrance of the dungeon, which serves as the transition from the normal world to this adventure so it is ideal to ready the setting here. However, one may have to ask why people don't just go in (or out) so easily; the main reason would be a "guardian" to limit access to the place. The guardian can range from patrols to refuging creatures, but it can also include other barriers like a key or perilous environment.
2. Puzzle/Challenge - While the previous room may have a fight, this room is more about using your wits. Use this room to introduce a bit of dungeon lore, and you can use that to piece together clues to solve this room or chat with a NPC that'll open the way. While the puzzle can apply pressure to the players, the non-combat approach should foster growth with the team.
3. Setback/Trick - This room has a twist to make the adventure a bit more complicated. This twist can range from finding out the true purpose of this dungeon to weakening the players for the next room. Please note that it would be bad manners to make the player feel guilty for their actions (ie if the earlier monsters were only protecting their young).
4. Boss/Climax - This is where you'll fight the bad guy of the dungeon, or more specifically, the fanciest battle in this dungeon as you'll start with a bit of roleplay to set the scene. The boss knows this room better so they could unleash traps and backup, and reward the players with a bit more roleplay after the fight.
5. Reward/Revelation - Now, it's obvious that players would like to be rewarded after completing the dungeon, but this room can also reveal another twist that would lead them to the next part of their adventure. And again, there's not really a reason to punish the players for completing the dungeon.
Here's an example of a 5-room dungeon with a pyramid: 1) There are signs that raiders already opened the tomb with a few waiting outside. 2) With the original path collapsed, you eventually translate the hieroglyphics and figure out that one of the nearby coffins has a keybearer for a locked passage. 3) The passage gases you into thinking that they are servants of the pharaoh... 4) The pharaoh wants to make you his concubines; the battle revolves around breaking out of this illusion and stopping the gas from reinfecting you. 5) Profit (with treasure from the tomb).
---
Now, here are a few more things about the dungeon design. First, the dungeon's layout does not have to be physically linear even though the 5-room dungeon sounds like everything is in order. For instance, you enter a manor and can enter any of the four rooms, though one room will contain an item to invoke a spirit hiding in another room and so on. And as mentioned earlier, there does not have to be 5 physical rooms for the 5-room dungeon, so it could be possible to combine the Setback room with the Boss and Reward room just as it is possible to have multiple Puzzle rooms.