C7.
This is part of the #Dungeon23 challenge in which you make one room to a dungeon every day for a year. In an effort to link my memories to the creation, I am also writing a personal journal entry with each room that may or may not be related.
You don’t have to read that part.
C7.
The floor in this room slopes at an absurdly steep angle west to east. The stone here is smooth and cool to the touch.
Basically the room is like a giant slide.
Climbing it is difficult and require some equipment or creative thinking. Sliding down it is easy and fun to do.
That’s it.
3/7/23
I wanted a room that gives the players a different impression depending on which way they enter it. Today’s room is probably the simplest example I can give of that.
If they come from the east - it’s a hill to climb. If they come from the west it’s a slide to go down.
I also wanted a room that players could recognize as a possible problem - which means debate among the party.
“Do we go down?”
“What if there’s something down there and we can’t get back up?”
I think it’s important to design simple complications that inspire the player’s imagination, without immediate stakes. Something that makes them say “What if…”
The most basic of these tools is the closed door. What’s on the other side? But I think because there are so many doors that have to be crossed, their mystery is taken for granted.
Roll perception to see if anything is on the other side.
Roll investigation to see if there are any traps.
Roll for stealth to sneak in.
It’s procedure, which is anti-imagination.
But a slide room. It should hopefully give one pause. A pause filled with fear. What’s the catch?
There may not be one - but that isn’t the point. The point is to get players thinking and talking and treating each other like they’re really in an adventuring party - where even simple decisions can lead to terrible repercussions.
See you tomorrow.
-jae
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