Dooming Your Dungeon
DOOM-ing Your Dungeons. Lessons in Dungeon Design from Video Games.
Sample file By: Irene D. B. DOOM-ing Your Dungeons.
The essay you are about to read is the Credits culmination of almost twenty years of my life experiences. It is not a magnum opus, but my Written & Laid Out by: Irene D. B. first foray into codifying a philosophy that I have been bouncing around in my head for Interior & CoverArt by: Irene D. B. the past two years. That philosophy is that our dungeon design can only be improved by Cartography by: Irene D. B. understanding the language of the similar field of level design for video games. John Romero Quotes provided by: Tiogus of Helldorado The most clear example of the intersection of these two fields can be found by looking no further than the work of Jennell Jaquays. Not only is she considered one of the best dungeon designers, with herDark Tower adventure being nominated for the 1979 H.G. Wells Award for Best Role-playing Adventure, but she also has a very successful career as a video game level designer. This is no accident.
I hope that you come away from this essay with a new eye when it comes to designing Sampleyour dungeons file
2 Using This PDF You know what’s wonderful? Technology is wonderful. We’ve gone from painting on walls to using light and subatomic particles to share information. And it is thanks to these innovations in technology that we are able to click on hyperlinks in our PDFs. So, whenever you see textLike This that means you can click on the text and it will take you somewhere. Go ahead, try it on the previous page.
The Olivia Hill Rule One more point of order. This essay isn’t for fascists.
“If you're a fascist, you're not welcome to use the techniques in this essay. It's against the rules. If you're reading this and thinking, "You just call everyone you disagree with a fascist," then you're probably a fascist, or incapable of drawing inferences from context and acknowledging a dangerous political climate that causes the oppressed to be hyperbolic. Don't read this essay. Heal yourself. Grow. Learn. Watch some Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood or something.” -RPG Museum
Sample file
3 Introduction That’s why I decided to write this essay.
Picture this. It’s a Saturday morning in 2002. You’re wrapped up in aSmurfs sleeping bag, curled up at your mom’s computer. You pop in DOOM (1993), and like always, you lose yourself to the way the levels twist in on themselves and the hypnotic beats of the synth sound track. You happily blast away through the labs of Mars, though you never can finish the game. You spend many years of your life not really thinking about it all that much, except in fond memories. In that time, you play many more, different video games, and develop a deep love and appreciation for the art form.
Fast forward ten years. You’re a senior in high school. Your pre-calc teacher runs an after school tabletop gaming club. You finally join after one of your friends asks you several times, since you’ve always been kind of interested but not really sure where to begin with tabletop games. And you gethooked . Your teacher runs aD6 Adventures game, and you have a blast. You meet new people there, and one of them, a friend of your friend, invites you to aDungeons & Dragons group that is forming off campus. You decide why not?And that begins your deep dive into an obsession that would shape the rest of your life.
8 years later, and you’re still playing table top The Maze of Tarot was roleplaying games, though that group has an early commission long since drifted apart due to various piece of mine. Note how reasons. You are constantly seeking ways to much wasted space improve your dungeons, and you stumble there is on this map with upon an article on Jenell Jaquays’ work as a the maze itself. I doubt dungeon designer calledJaquaying the the players visited all Dungeon. You read through it and then do parts of this map. This some research on your own and discover that was not a very good Jaquays not only did tabletop dungeon dungeon in my opinion, designs, but she also worked extensively as a though it does feature level designer for many video games, at elements of Jaquays’ studios like id Software - the same studio that techniques, such as producedDOOM (1993). It was then that it multiple routes and clicked with you. There is an intersection loops, and some of between the two things you loved – video Romero’s techniques as Samplegames and table top role-playing games. You well. file realize that you could sharpen your skills as a dungeon designer by picking up the skills and the tricks of the trade as a level designer.
4 Part 1: Foundations better understand the 3D space of the level. So, how exactly do the philosophies of 8. Create easily recognizable Romero and Jaquays intersect? Well, we landmarks in several places actually already have some examples that you for easier navigation. can play right now, at this very moment. We 9. Golden rule of level have video games that are based off of design – the “Horseshoe” tabletop role-playing games such as the layout. Baldur’s Gate franchise, which takes place in 10. Build your first level the Wizards of the Coast’s Forgotten Realms last. setting, and the direct adaptation of Paizo’s 11. Don’t constrain player Kingmaker adventure path inPathfinder: movement (aka don’t let Kingmaker. In fact the reverse is also true, detailing get in the way of and we need look no further than online to gameplay). see a plethora of unlicensed adaptations of 12. Use fullbright textures. video games such asStreet Fighter or Pokemon into tabletop role-playing game The main rules I want to focus on however systems. So, the idea that video games and are rules 4-11. Rules 1-3, and 12 are table top role-playing games can intersect is specifically for creating video games and are not a new one. But, I do not think I’ve seen not necessarily helpful for dungeon design, many things discussing how we can take level though 1-3 can be summed up more or less as design ideas and apply them to designing our “Consider ways to make your dungeon dungeons.After all, when you look at it on visually interesting by varying the materials paper there is very little difference between a the dungeon rooms are made out of”, and 12 video game level and a dungeon. InS1, E5 is entirely about lighting tricks in video of Devs Play of DoubleFineProd’s games. Youtube, Romero outlines the following 12 rules:
1. Alwayschangefloorheightwhen changing floor textures. 2. Use special border textures between different wall segments and doorways. 3. Be strict about texture alignment. 4. Use contrast everywhere in a level between light and dark areas, cramped and open areas. 5. Make sure that if a player could see outside that they should be able to somehow get there. 6. Be strict about designing several secret areas on every level. 7. Make the level flow so the player will revisit areas Another early map I designed, several times so they will The Fire Giant’s Castle.I originally drew this map on stream as the finale for my “Joy of SampleCartography” series.file E’s represent entrances, while As represent areas. You can see some of Romero’s rules in play here - several secret doors, and loops. 5 Use Contrast Everywhere In my own dungeon crawl,The Bone Daddy’s House of Fun, I intentionally made each room Of John Romero’s advice, this one is that the players came across shaped slightly probably the most important one and is the different, with different challenges in the foundation of his entire philosophy. Rules 1-3 environment. are all about contrasting the textures of your levels, and rule 12 is specifically about The first room was a simple room with two making things appear to be emitting their own doors and the corpse of a famous dragon- light in the darkness. Contrast is also an fighting plumber. One of the doors opened to incredibly easy way to create landmarks to a hallway that led to the next room, while the navigate with, as you are more likely to other door opened to a closet with a cartoon remember something that contrasts with its punching glove that would spring out when surroundings. There are even multiple times the door was opened. The second room where, during hisDev Plays segment with featured a tight rope across a pool of lava, DoubleFine Prods, he talks about how he which when I ran this adventure for a group prefers asymmetrical maps. Part of this is of players and a former player who had because he considers symmetrical maps lazy, previously run the dungeon was listening in but the other part of it is because it is yet on, prompted an “Oh god not the tightrope again, an extension of his contrast philosophy. bridge.” - this player had an incredibly The left side of the level should be radically difficult time crossing it due to bad rolls on different from the right side of the level, with her part. few exceptions. However, it was clearly a very memorable So how can we apply it to our dungeons? part of the dungeon. The next part was a dark That answer comes to us from Jaquays maze, which contrasted not only the previous herself. In her design notes forTerminal rooms which had no darkness, but also by the Moraine, she had this to say: nature of being a maze, it was no longer the straight forward affair it had been before. “I started map development by There were also a lot of dart traps that wore literally copying and pasting a down their hit points. Finally, the last room large chunk the Alpha Base ruins was an admittedly boring combat room, in a into one corner of the map. This 30 by 30 square room. But it was also the established a particularly unique most difficult one, as thanks to triggering landmark in that corner. These every trap in the maze room, several party large landmarks in skirmish maps members were low on health. help players immediately know where they are and let them The combat room contrasted everything that navigate from point to point by in- had come before on account of the previous game visual references. Ideally, rooms being some sort of skill room or each “corner” of any skirmish map environmental challenge. I decided to keep is visually unique, and this was my the combat room simple as a result. design goal with Terminal Moraine.”
“Each corner of any skirmish map is visually unique.” What this means is that you can easily contrast each sector of the dungeon from one another with a unique Samplevisual identity. file
6 This is The Bone Daddy’s House of Fun map. A1 is a simple room with two doors, one of which is trapped. This is contrasted by A2’s tight rope challenge with one door, which is then contrasted by the slightly more complex trapped maze in A3. In the game I described previously, I had a party of 6 players so I decided to run three additional enemies in A4, so three is the minimum.
If you want a copy ofThe Bone Daddy’s House of Funwhich is compatible with SamplePathfinder1 st edition, send me an email at file [email protected] with the subject line “Bone Daddy’s House of Fun” and I will happily send you a copy of it for free.
7 If They Can See It, They Can Go to It Be Strict About Designing Secrets
This advice is incredibly important for two This is one of the many places where Jaquays reasons. The first it enables you to use an and Romero directly intersect. DOOM (1993) architectural technique known as “Denial and and its many clones are filled with secrets on Reward” – they can see an objective, but every single level. These secrets are either can’t quite reach it just yet, so they take a side shortcuts or items that the players discover, passage which puts the objective out of view, and some of them are even traps that the and later gives them the reward of accessing game springs on them. Jaquays herself is well that objective. The most relevant example of known for creating secret & unusual paths in this isDOOM (1993)’s E1M1, which features her dungeons. They let your players feel an armor pickup that you cannot access until incredibly clever when they discover them, you figure out how to get outside. It and can often be used to bypass entire effectively creates a divided level – a part of challenges. While theBone Daddy’s House of the dungeon which cannot be traversed fully Fun does not contain any secrets, one without going through another part of the example I do have is in one of my higher dungeon first. level dungeons that I ran for a group of players, called Assault on Castle Noth Ordak. The second is that it helps you keep in mind the limitations of your players abilities at that In this dungeon, there was a secret route time. How are they going to get to this between the villain’s throne room and their objective? A lower level party generally has war room that would have allowed the party no access to spells like fly or ways to teleport to potentially sneak up on the villain and to reach high places, while a higher level surprise attack him from behind. party does. So it forces you think carefully about how you design the paths to reach the Unfortunately for my players, they decided locations. For example if you look at the map the best route was the direct one and the forThe Bone Daddy’s House of Fun you will villains instead took advantage of this secret notice that it is fairly linear. The tightrope route to flank the party and harass them bridge itself best represents this, and is one of between both rooms practically unchallenged. the most difficult rooms in the entire This wiped the party out, and we had to call dungeon. It presents a very straightforward our session early. The dungeon also featured way of getting from one end of the chasm to several alternate entrances, such as a hole in the other, but clever players from past groups the dungeon’s outer wall caused by a boulder have also used grappling hooks on beams in hurled through it, and a secret sally port that the room’s ceiling to swing across. I hadn’t led to the kitchens. If they had taken either written in anything about ceiling beams in the one of those, they would have successfully adventure, but added it in because it made circumvented the big battle in the courtyard sense. The players resorted to this because that helped drain them of a lot of their they were having a difficult time crossing the resources. bridge. So, make sure that if its important for them to go forward, you give them the tools required to go forward. This can be in the form of “fail forward” tests, or allowing them to solve the skill challenge in a way different than you intended, such as the grappling hook Sampleand the ceiling beams. file The eponymous villain ofAssault on Castle Noth Ordak, Noth Ordak himself. He’s a death knight and the traps in his throne room would also heal him and damage any party member who was not undead. 8 Returning toThe Fire Giant’s Castle, every single hallway and room is accessible to the players. This map showcases both of the techniques described on the previous page. A2a is a balcony with stairs up to it that connects A6 and A5.There are even shortcuts in the form of secret doors and two entirely hidden rooms, one of which E3 connects to in my notes for this map. I modified this map for Assault on Castle Noth Ordak and added a secret door inA4 to the tunnel behind it, creating even more loops. The only thing I would probably change, aside from clarifying certain details is Sampleremoving two of the traps in A4. file The eponymous villain ofAssault on Castle Noth Ordak, Noth Ordak himself. He’s a death knight and the traps in his throne room would also heal him and damage any party member who was not undead. 9 Think About the Flow of 3-D spaces Create Recognizable Landmarks
Previously, I had mentioned the idea that if a One incredible tool that we as dungeon player can see a space, they can access it. designers have at our finger tips are This is repeated again here, with this piece of landmarks. They not only help players orient advice. You want to encourage your players themselves in dungeons, but a good to return through areas a few times so that landmark will make any encounters in those they can build a better mental map of your areas all the more memorable. In E1M9 of dungeon in their head. It is also important for DOOM (1993), you begin in a hub area with a you to keep this in mind yourself, as we map box of enemies in the middle of it. This out the initial dungeon. There are several creates an instantly memorable landmark, ways that one can achieve this effect for their since it was unlike anything else you had dungeons. One is to create a hub, another one encountered previously in the game. Both is to create a loop, and finally the third is to Bone Daddy’s House of Fun andCastle Noth divide the level in some way, typically by Ordak features a bridge over lava. While the using the denial-reward concept mentioned two areas both feature lava as the main previously.Castle Noth Ordak features a component of the landmark, they are both courtyard, barracks, a first floor in the castle memorable for different reasons. InHouse of with and a foyer up to the second floor with Fun, the difficulty the players had crossing the throne room and a few other rooms. The the tightrope led to a former player listening central hub of the dungeon was the courtyard to another group’s session exclaimed, “Oh and the foyer. The players could go through god not the tightrope bridge”, whileCastle the courtyard to the barracks, clear out the Noth Ordak, the lava was memorable because barracks, and then go up to the first floor and one of the party members cast grease on it, explore the foyer and the other rooms.An causing several enemies to slide off and into example of a loop was the war room to throne the lava below, instantly taking care of them! room and its secret passage way. While Castle Noth Ordak didn’t feature a denial- While environmental hazards are always a reward section, it could have. Suppose there good example for landmarks, there are other was a rug that was part of a puzzle that excellent ways you can create recognizable required the rug to be viewed from above to landmarks. In another dungeon known asThe solve. Additionally, what if instead of the Temple of Eld, I decided that I wanted the foyer having a set of stairs up to the second dungeon to feature a large stain glass floor floor, it had a balcony that overlooked the that resembled a giant eye. In this dungeon I foyer and the stairs were in another room? also included parts of several rooms where They would be on the first floor in that area, the stone had been changed into flesh. There and then they need to find the stairs in a was even one room that was entirely flesh. different part of the room, and then return to My players certainly remembered that room! the foyer on the balcony and look down to solve the puzzle. You now have created not just a loop, but a denial-reward section, and a hub all in one room. Sample file
1 Area 3 (left) featured a raised dais that was covered in bits of flesh. You can see the dais as the octagonal pattern in the middle of Area 3. It also features an inscribed symbol that reappears in Area 5 (right) later as a stain glass floor inlay. Area 6 was the monks’ cells of this temple and it had been changed entirely into flesh. Sample file
11 The Horseshoe Layout Build Your First Level Last
The Horseshoe refers to a map that is laid out Romero began working on E1M1 first and similarly to a horseshoe – the path from the then put it down to develop the middle parts beginning to the end wraps around a bend in ofDOOM (1993), and the ending, so that by the middle, and technically the end and start the time he came back to E1M1 to finish it, he are in a similar part of the map. This had learned all of his techniques and tricks technique is useful for creating dungeons that and was able to show them off to create a seem much bigger than they actually are, and strong first level that would teach the players can help add some neat secrets that create how things would go later. While this is loops and shortcuts. If you take a look at the broadly speaking, better advice for whole map for E1M1, you can clearly see it is a campaigns, you can easily apply it to a single horseshoe with rooms branching off from one dungeon as well. Give yourself the general section to another. While none of my shape of your first few rooms for this dungeons have personally made use of this dungeon, but then put them down to work on technique, it’s something that I’ll be using in the middle and end first. This way you can the future, as it is a very easy way to create a create a cohesive theme for the dungeon denial-reward. going forward.
You could for example, feature a window that A good example of this is that when I looks out across a canyon or some other originally createdThe Bone Daddy’s House of impassable obstacle that shows you the Fun, I had a punching glove trap in the first ultimate reward for the adventure, whether room, a tightrope walk over a seemingly that be a treasure or the villain’s throne room. bottomless pit, the maze, and then the combat room. The first room was intended to create the expectation that you couldn’t really trust anything to be what it seemed, and this was done by having the doors be painted red and green, with the green door being trapped and the red door not being trapped. That was the most interesting feature of that room, and I suspect that in many respects, it failed to convey the theme effectively due to that.
In the next room, bottomless pit was actually not bottomless, it would just teleport you back to the start of the tightrope. The last two rooms, the maze and the combat room, were still the same as they are today. This particular dungeon has gone through three Here we have a5-Room iterations, and each time I’ve tweaked Dungeon outline for a future something in the beginning. The tightrope dungeon known asThe Inverted bridge became a bridge over lava in the Tower.TheInverted Towerisa second iteration, and in the third iteration, the traditional wizard tower that has first room with the punching glove trap now been designed so that the roof is includes a body that telegraphs the trap as on the ground and the entrance is well. in the air (the trick). It is sort of a horse-shoe layout on paper, But more importantly, these rooms helped set though in practice it looks much Samplethe stage that this dungeon wasfile truly an over- different.
12 the-top fun house designed by a lich with the Don’t Let Details Get in the Way of Play very loosest of definitions of what constituted a “safe” environment. Probably the second most important part of Romero’s advice is to consider how your As my skills as a dungeon designer has players might best interact with the dungeon evolved, so too has my ability to create in ways that only improve their experience. In interesting and memorable landmarks and Romero’s Devs Play interview, he says that how I can use them to tie the rooms to the initially the team wanted to include a poker dungeon’s theme. This brings us to our final table and some rolling desk chairs like the point. ones they had at the studio during the opening sequence of E1M1. However, Romero scrapped the idea as it would get in the way of the players maneuvering through the first area. I touched upon this inIf They Can See It, They Can Go To It, with the example of the player who swung across the tightrope bridge.
They had created their own solution (and thus game play) that worked just as well and kept the game moving forward. I hadn’t initially planned for there to be a solution like this, but I didn’t stop them from using it because it was an interesting solution that made it easier for them to get through the dungeon and continue playing.
I’m planning on revisitingThe Temple of Eldand updating it with a better understanding of the techniques outlined in this essay in order to make it more interesting. Keep an eye out for it! Sample file
1 The essay you are about to read is the culmination of almost twenty years of my life experiences. It is not a magnum opus, but my first foray into codifying a philosophy that I have been bouncing around in my head for the past two years. That philosophy is that our dungeon design can only be improved by understanding the language of the similar field of level design for Samplevideo games. file