🪴 Write rooms in pairs

When writing rooms for a 🌰 Dungeon (it doesn't have to literally be a dungeon–🌰 Everything can be a dungeon), it's easier to think of them as pairs, and structure their contents around this. 🌱 Writing rooms in pairs halves the ideas you need to come up with.

This will also naturally increase the dungeon's Interconnectivity, and make it more believable, since the rooms will feel less like a random assortment of unconnected things. 🌱 Writing rooms in pairs means writing sequels and prequels to other rooms and 🌱 Writing rooms in pairs means thinking of them as setups and punch lines.

In this way, 🌱 Ecological interactions can convey the meaning of their environment isn't true only for the Overworld.

🌰 Plot and narrative need conflict and development, and 🌱 Dungeon narratives should be archaeological delves, or crime scene investigations. Whereas 🪴 In a survival narrative, the workings of the environment are the drivers of conflict and development and 🪴 Fiction about survival ties plot to facts about the environment, 🌱 In dungeons, players should be asking "What happened here?". Writing rooms in pairs makes it easier to implement this interplay of setup, anticipation, and reveal.

That's why dungeon-style structures can work really well for Horror games: 🌱 Running horror RPGs depends on building tension, and 🌱 Horror encounters should be preceded by two or three omen or aftermath rooms. This is something that comes almost natural when you create small Networks of rooms.

Links

🌱 Writing rooms in pairs halves the ideas you need to come up with
🌱 Writing rooms in pairs means writing sequels and prequels to other rooms
🌱 Writing rooms in pairs means thinking of them as setups and punch lines
🌱 Horror encounters should be preceded by two or three omen or aftermath rooms

Concepts

Dungeon Crawl, Writing, Adventure Writing, Interconnectivity, DM Tip, Networks