So, we have this idea that there is a chunk of our dungeon called, for example, Day 3. And because encounters are measured in XP and that XP is really a measure of resource expenditure, we could create an equivalence between days and encounters and space in the dungeon. And we did that by understanding what a day represents within the space of the game.

After all, we basically redefined the entire concept of day from a unit of game time to a chunk of adventure space. When you get down to it, this project – which it is becoming increasingly clear was a stupid, dumba$& idea thanks to my ridiculously high standards for quality design – has required us to think in some really abstract ways. Now, even though I spent a lot of time clarifying my reasoning about encounter sizes in the Week that Never Was, I think it’s important to discuss one more idea: what IS an encounter space. But, as we’ve seen in The Week That Shall Not Be Named, we need to take some intermediate steps.īut it’s important we think about things in the right way first. Not in terms of abstract days but in actual rooms with sizes and shapes. With all of that in mind, our goal now is to start building the basic map of the dungeon. Large encounter areas have at least 144 squares of space (being roughly 12 squares by 12 squares, 60 feet by 60 feet, or 3,600 square feet). Medium encounter areas should have at least 100 squares of space (being roughly 10 squares by 10 squares, 50 feet by 50 feet, or 2,500 square feet). We concluded that small encounters should have at least 64 squares of space (being roughly 8 squares by 8 squares, 40 feet by 40 feet, or 1,600 square feet). In addition, we made some basic conclusions about how big an encounter area should be to provide a fun combat experience. If those four spirits can be appeased, they will provide the means to open the final gateway and allow access to the trapped demon. The final area (day 26) is sealed by the power of four elven priests whose spirits have been bound by the traitor spirit. Black areas (days 21 through 25) are cursed with powerful necrotic energy fueled by a vengeful spirit of a betrayed elven hero and can only be accessed when the spirit has been laid to rest. Brown areas (day 20) can only accessed when the entire party can fly. Purple areas (days 18 and 19) are sealed by doors that also project magical walls of energy and can only be dispelled with a certain magical artifact. Blue areas (days 16 and 17) are accessible only one the party gains the magical ability to create magical gates between two nearby points they can see. The aquamarine colored areas are accessible only after the party changes the position of the floodgate so as to drain the lower levels of the dungeon and restore the flow of water to the canals in the upper level. Green areas (days 11 and 12) are accessible through underwater passages that require the party to use magic to allow them to survive and fight underwater. The roots wither and die once the party kills the toxic plant monster strangling the great tree. Yellow areas (days 8 to 10) are blocked by thick thorny roots that exude powerful poisonous gas.

Orange areas (days 6 and 7) require a more powerful magical key that can also remove arcane locks. Red areas (days 4 and 5) require the party to discover a mundane key to unlock doors too strong or complex to break or pick. Light gray areas (days 1 to 3) are areas accessible from the start of the adventure. While we’re at it, let’s review the colors. The little colored push-pin like thingies on some of the days represent optional encounter spaces accessible with certain prerequisites. The lines coming off those days represent the path that we expect the PCs to follow from one day to the next. The color refers to the prerequisite item or plot event needed to access that area of the dungeon. Each “day” of adventure – and remember that the word “day” now refers to a collection of encounters and dungeon spaces which provide the right balance that a party could reasonably explore them without needed a long rest – each day of adventure is represented as a colored bubble. Disregarding the nonexistent Week of Disaster, two weeks ago, we came up with a map of the critical path of our adventure.

Ultimately, remember, we rolled our work back. Happy Megadungeon Monday! Now on an actual Monday!Īfter discussing last week’s debacle, we’re going to pretend it didn’t happen.

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