5-Room Dungeons and other Dungeons

[Polyedit2000]

Well, the traditional dungeon would be part of the Travel-Town-Dungeon cycle. The exact order of that cycle varies, but essentially the Travel or Town serves as a break between dungeons.

Anyway, what you are trying to explaining leads into another type of dungeon called the Megadungeon, dungeons so big that they can be the campaigns themselves. Some fantasy animes like the current Dungeon Meshi and the older Danmachi and Sword Arts Online feature multi-level megadungeons serving as the setting with the goal in some of them.

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So first, let's talk about designing a megadungeon. The easiest way and the method used in most anime/game is giving each part a region. Some megadungeons are so big or so separated that each floor can have its own ecosystem. It's also possible that some NPCs can take over a floor whether they are floor guardians or warring factions, and through that they can also affect the floor's theme.

Another design of the dungeon is how to gate the contents. This is to ensure that players have the appropriate stats and abilities to get through that wing. Locks and switches are rather common, but when dealing with picklocks, it may be wise to introduce harder locks or present the keys when they learn that skills. Some parts are controlled more by the dungeon such as the flow of water that can flood and drain certain rooms. Sometimes, the best move is not to link every room together; some players may find a goal in the minimum/maximum amount of rooms in a connected grid, yet making a route with some branches can have the player reach the goal with a balanced run with only a few rooms added for choosing the wrong branch (and reaching the maximum number of rooms in very rare occassions).

And of course, it's ideal to have the players return to town every now and then. Rather than force them to return each time a checkpoint is reached, try to introduce them as a side quest (appraising artifacts or escorting a survivor).

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Since I was talking about 5-room dungeons in megadungeons earlier, this is what I mean:

-You have an overall "dungeon" that serves as the main layout of the megadungeon.
-Each "room" of the megadungeon is its own dungeon. Clearing the mini-dungeon will take some time.

Example A: A linear Megadungeon with each floor guarded by a boss. To reach the boss, players need to search sideways in each floor to find the keys. The first floor introduces you to this format but the second floor could introduce other obstacles besides enemies. Further treks means being able to skip the side sections. (ex: Mario 64's Peach's Castle and Abyss Cave). Think of this as a Railroad map with Crosses in each room.

Example B: A linear Megadungeon with some branches to get the treasures, but heading deeper mean taking the central path, with big bosses blocking each section. (ex: Kirby Superstar's Great Cave offensive). This is a Railroad Map with mostly Railroad sections.

Example C: A big door is sealed behind four seals. Each wing hosts a boss you have defeated and are decorated to resemble that boss's turf. (ex: Kirby's Dreamland's Dedede's Castle and Rogue Legacy's castle). In other words, a Cross map with either Railroads or Crosses in each adjoining rooms.