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From: richl@daemon.UUCP (Rick Lindsley)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: How do you write a dungeon?
Message-ID: <273@daemon.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 14-Jan-85 04:06:01 EST
Article-I.D.: daemon.273
Posted: Mon Jan 14 04:06:01 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 16-Jan-85 04:49:39 EST
References: <2173@nsc.UUCP> <190@dspo.UUCP>  <233@calmasd.UUCP>
Reply-To: richl@daemon.UUCP (Rick Lindsley)
Distribution: net
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 29
Summary: 

I've found that the right mixture of puzzles and hacking can be the most
fun. The puzzles should not be so tough as to cause the party to come to
a standstill to figure it out before they proceed. They should be more
of the type where all of a sudden one character will go "HEY! I've seen
that symbol before!"

So I try to think of a central theme ("why should these adventurers WANT
to do this??") and balance it out with sufficiently tough monsters to
warrant what they may find. Occasionally it is useful to add an element
they CANNOT defeat without great loss; give them experience points for
recognizing that and not trying!

I've found that while a map of the dungeon is a must, all a DM need beyond
that is a general idea of the story he wants to tell. Because as DM that's
precisely what you are. Remember stories where everybody gets killed and
stories where everybody gets rich are boring. If you had written down that
there should be 3 trolls in this room but the party has diminished to 3
through unfortunate attrition, it doesn't really have to be 3 trolls. 3
orcs, or 1 troll, or something suitable.

I made one definite mistake in my first dungeon, and that was planning TOO
MUCH! As somebody else has pointed out, your plans will always go astray.
I sent a mother bear and two cubs after a party; the party killed the
bear and tamed one of the cubs! I boobytrapped a chest with 3 or 4 different
traps and filled it with 20000 gold pieces. They (unwittingly!) bypassed
the traps and made off with the gold! (Boy were THEY happy!)

Rick Lindsley
...!{ihnp4,decvax,allegra}!tektronix!richl