Travelling, an Abridged system

Nirrum Travels often.

I, on the other significantly less functional hand, cannot travel much anymore

Beautiful view, Isn't it? I took this photo when half of my treacherous limbs still worked. This is what adventuring should look like. Constant reminders of the grandeur of the land, the smallness of the person, and the wideness of the adventure itself.

Far in the backgrounds of each of these two pictures, you can see where I took the other one.

   Unfortunately, This is now how Adventuring feels in tabletop.

   In Tabletop Adventures, Travel is mindnumbingly repetetive. The DM is torn between trying to negotiate the dissonance between such beauty and the attention span of someone who needs to listen to them describe it. A person can see a hundred rocks in the time it takes to describe one. It takes just a small fraction of the time to imbibe the views in person than it takes to even construct a rough facsimile with words. A great bard might take three pages to describe the qualia of a single breath. A Better one might only need a few sentences.

   Travel is, thus, one of the hardest things to DM. Intuitively, one expects to describe some semblance of path, hope the PCs follow it, hope they engage with the environment, hope they actually remember to bring rations, to gather firewood, to have a tinderbox, to *succeed*  in the like what, five rolls they're gonna need to make. What happens if they fail? Do they die? Exhaustion? What does it take to avoid exhaustion checks? To come back from them? What did they matter? Are you going to force a random encounter? Predictability ruins drama.
   So then, I suggest truncating travel. You know only a few things about the travel that's about to take place. Most importantly, you know it has a start, and thereafter there is a destination where it will end.  The Intent of this section is to cover the distance between a decision to travel and it's destination. Once your players decide to head out, no part of this travel should give them cause to change their story, elsewise, you've reached the end of your travel and the beginning of another chapter.

    Actors:

The actors of any given scene are perhaps the most influential aspect, while being the least important to plan around. Groups can be taken as one, but keys must be taken individually.

    

The Citizens - Xenophobic, Afraid

Damien - trying to survive

The party :

Branwen - Worshipper of the raven queen, Rogue

Four Ythree - The strangest lich

Trizane Finrae - A Fiery Sorcerer

Ferd - Fallen aasimar blood hunter

Brandy - Tiefling Brewer and blood hunter

Fargrim - Dwarf Cleric of Pelor

Arthur - Warlock of the Citadel

Aldrin - Paladin, Exiled heir of Quire

This section is one of those that reminds you what people are there for. Despite its role-call-esque nature, it serves the purpose of creating exigency. It describes things the cast will have to deal with among themselves, which works particularly in your favour if you intend to use any description to cause *drama* at any point in the journey

The setting:

    The layout of the setting is really a table of contents for each section within. This is actually where you set your rising and falling actions in order. Describe in a sentence the simplest version of your setting. "Dark tunnels into catacombs" as an example

A section and its heading

    Describe here at the beginning of your notes, the reason for this place being in the story, being part of the adventure at all. This is often not described to your audience or players. This is for you, to keep your mind on the task.

The Path: THIS is where you put all of that description. What does the ground look like, What color (or types) are the rocks? What does it sound like, what does it *smell* like? Is there any particular qualia that one might feel simply being in the path, The oppressive quiet, the claustrophobic walls, the endless feeling of an infinity just out of view. Here is where you take the picture in your mind and you tell your audience what senses and qualia it should invoke.  They'll often do the work. The grandeur of the rugged and jagged coast is obscured by the sea-scented fog. Conglomerate stone stands purple against the green of the moss and trees and the tawny brown of the pathway carved along the Staggering cliffs. In the distance, a single light by the tower to the north marks the homeward path. The sagging sun casts ghostly rays, erasing the distant city, reminding you of the coming cold of night.

The same sun that shone cold a week previous brings the bright bask of summer. A sense of pride as you gaze toward the tower, this time from the north side, how high the hills have been, and how sweet the landbreeze drifts in the warm wind. The Scent of flowing sap, juniper and fir waking from their wintry slumber brings peace to your tired body as you head to the next tower, across the summery highlands, the trees low, or absent in the presence of exposed rock, and the view grand.

This is all you need to describe the entire scene until someone asks you to elaborate on any part of it, then you can describe the smooth pebbles that seem to make each rock, the abundance of berries, the calls of birds. But allow those feelings to die. Distill what you need to say about the setting and then bring out only the salient points when the actors need to know about them. The only times that needs to be brought up is when the setting suddenly matters again, when your microscope dials in a little further to zoom in on another fractal branch of this entire system, such as combat, camp, clues or Conversation.

This can also be an excellent point to have Events happen. Sometimes Sequence demands consequence, and players can be Driven to travel by the path itself.For example:
  Nearly immediately upon entering The tunnel, there is a massive rumble which stops briefly before the party is blinded, as the tunnel behind them lights up, as their eyes adjust they see as the citadel behind them crumbles into the newly formed blackwater crater, boulders crash down the hill, unsupported by ancient stone. It is a lovely sunny day. A loud BANG deafens everyone until they can get magical healing. People begin screaming, though no one can hear them. Two Kholirahi ships fall into the crater and the airships withdraw rapidly. It is a crater about half a mile deep and seems to have had the epicenter of the event just below surface level. Two airships break off, one headed south, the other headed east.

The deafness was a great tool later down the tunnel, it made the party stick together, learn sign language, and really allowed the cleric to shine, while also taxing his much-needed spell slots.


Win Condition:

    This is the end of travel, this is what *stops travel*, and it is really the crux of this formula. This is a single sentence, or one for each method by which the troupe ceases travelling.  "Make it through the black door. Get to the Next Tower. Get to the next tunnel." Each sentence should mark the beginning of a new chapter, even if that chapter immediately involves more travel. The Key is that characters will have an opportunity to make decisions again when they win at travelling. A chance to explore an area can include the necessity to move on, so you can easily apply this idea to bubbles of exploration such as towns or even dungeons provided the understanding is that the content within is entirely transient.

Treasure: 

   Do I even need to explain? The rewards for searching, the benefit to the story or to the purse. In a game, this is the reward for exploring, the reward for engaging with the setting. I recommend against rewarding the end of travel, I recommend for rewarding those who allow the setting to be more special.  You want your characters to believe in their agency,  and believe that exercising it will lead to their reward (and it will, just not in the way they think). They will truly be rewarded with a better experience, and not the trinkets, treasures, and secrets that you sprinkle around to deliver it to them. This is more part of the setting than it is of the challenges.

Twists:

    Alas, no journey means anything without Drama. In IPV6, strings of Zeros can, once an address, be represented by two colons. 1134:1134:0000:0000:0000:0000:3457:3435 becomes 1134:1134::3457:3435. Those Zeroes are travel without drama, stories that did not need to be told, and an expression of the pointlessness of keeping them there. To make travel have a point, there must be a Twist.

    "One Kholirahi Elite follows them into the tunnels and Enjoys the chase, stealing away people if he can."

   "A monkey attempts to steal their food"
   "The path before them has collapsed into the sea"
   "The Spirit of the mountain has questioned their worthiness, and seeks to challenge them"

 

The most important part about twists is that they're not encounters or events themselves, but a literary reminder to you, the gamemaker to account for their existence as you describe the world and the events that occur during travel. This is a great opportunity to remember to telegraph threats  which get addressed in the next Part

Enemies and Encounters:

   Most of the time, this is just filled with grunts, and I recommend every travel have at least one sign of creatures that the party can interact with, but really this is simply a list you can choose from to add to any of the twists above. A twist is addressed and dealt with in an encounter or event, and this really marks the so called "end" of travel, there should often be a section break after this, a chance for the party to recoup energy as you repeat the formula. 

  This section can be as simple as

• 8 Giant crabs in a river
• 9 stirges
• 1 Hobgoblin skeleton wielding a Hobgoblin Kastane (1d8 slashing) And a lance (1d12) and Riding a Zombie Warg

Or as complex as
    At one point a week in, the pathway stops above a 384 foot drop into a cold and shallow river. The pathway on the other side is largely covered with a large pile of loose gravel. Landing on the gravel requires an acrobatics check with a DC of 10 to not fall backwards into the ravine. For an added problem, the cieling is covered in 20 darkmantles who attack if there are sudden movements.

• the river contains fish which can be collected with rod or net with a DC 11 check, advantage if any bait at all is used. there are 1d60 fish in the river and they replenish after a week
• The wall of the crevice contains a large slab of Labradorite, which if mined is worth 100 gold/lb
• Darkmantles are edible if eaten (5lb)
• if they descend into the chasm, the temperature seems to drop a solid 10c

One way or another, in this part in your notes, you zoom your microscope in and you prepare to describe a challenge they face and the way their setting affects that challenge.



After this, you describe how their setting changes, even if their travel isn't finished, the setting must change shortly after an encounter, otherwise, what was even the point of the last challenge? This is an important pacing measure that I feel holds true for all adventures. The setting can be as simple as a change in elevation, a shift in the type of Plants around, a change in the rock of the tunnel they're heading through, so long as it's Different enough.

Setting:

• The path
• Win Condition
• Treasure

Twists:

•  Enemies
• Encounters

Then change the setting and repeat. 

This is a technique I'm still working on, but it works well in the moments I've used it.

As always, Shor Hiar'u L'a
   -Nirrum the Mad

Manar Lyssar'ke: My first attempt at a Constructed Language

Nirrum speaks Fluent Manar
I, on the other hand, am not done inventing it

Language shapes our world in ways that we don't understand too well until we delve into its history, its context and the differences between two languages or dialects. When making my world, I had come up with many words that were just... made up. Made up places, made up names, and made up similar-sounding names to dodge potential copyright claims. If you look at my map on one of my older posts it still says Khaliras when it should say Kholira. As any creator, especially fans of webcomics go, if something goes on long enough, it changes drastically. What was once a copy-and-paste from the Night Angel's Trilogy's Khalidorians had morphed into the Rather distinct Kholirahi. The only Vestiges that remained were the root-themed skins, the fratricide, and the plot to take over the world by the godking. I was in an interesting position at this point. I had already refered to the people of Manaharamu as Manarahi, and now I have the Kholirahi. As any amateur etymologist would realize, these two word must be related. At least in my world, where they weren't before, they were now. Rahi, to me, clearly meant people. That was the beginning, other words and places contained the hints of a language, "Mana Ulla" meaning magic well gave me certainty as to what Manaharamu was. Mana was magic, or at least power.and energy The mountain itself, Mohara, gave me Hara as Mountain or hill. Mu then, must be town, city, or place. I had it. Manaharamu, the energy hill place. If you wanted to be dramatic, I guess you could call it the Magic Mountain Town.

So I had a few bases, and immediately I added a few more. I'm extremely simulationist, so I asked myself what were the first words uttered among the Manarahi? Their origins were universally extraplanar, having come here as a result of experimentation or Magic going wrong, Unable to escape the prison plane's magic when they got there. Most of them ended up being stuck underground in caverns purpose-built to contain the worst creatures. I got them to establish the most important things. Fire, Water, Giant,Sky, Rest. Pipir, Alag, Cuukiku (which gets funny later), Oowa and Pruwa. all of them onomatopoeic. The popping and hissing of fire, the gurgling of a subterranean river, the stomping of a terrifying giant, and the sound of a deeply relieved dragonborn when they find a cave to house their new, growing family. Racially, the Manarahi might be considered half elf, but in those lonely sparse caves, if it could breed, it did. It is not to be a surprised if one of their descendants is a sorcerer from a stranger bloodline. Utar, sarcasm, came next. I wanted something that had the drip of an english curse, the ability to say it with unfortunate passion. A moment later, I realized I should probaly round out the elemental trio with Brek for stone. Wind was not yet a big factor in the minds of the early manarahi. Time to get to work explaining those bases though. Kholirahi became Kholi and rahi, the something people. I made it a dual meaning. Poetry or injustice, poetic irony, cosmic irony. One of the beautiful parts about language, is that if someone asks how you tell which meaning of the word they're using, just say "Context." Now, Kholi is a decently long word, it's got a modestly complex Kh and pretty big vowel shift, it probably has etymology of its own. Kao, now meant thought and li came from leeg, and both meant "lies". Pileeg and Aleeg, Pili and Ali, burning lies (from pipir) and flowing lies (from alag). Both have their dangers after all. Pileeg, lies as we know them, take work to keep up and are liable to destroy everything you have worked for....buuut a well-maintained lie can keep everyone warm and be a useful tool. Stories, or aleeg, are great to pass the time, they tend to do their own thing and many can benefit, but there is danger in drowning in them. At this point, I look at two of my bases, Manar and Utar, both of these roots refer to speech, Ar, which became language.

Originally, Manar was spoken in a vague Eastern-European accent, butt as it developes and phonemes begin to coalesce out of its decently consistent etymology, it begins to take on a life of its own. I mention this now because at this point in the language, I settled on 'n, an, and ne as negative prefixes, which in the very first instance of their use, betray how much the manarahi care about certain forms of pronounciation. 'nli and anleeg both mean "truth", depending -I suppose- on how fast one is speaking, or how long wants to draw out a poem, or how quietly one wishes to mumble. Mumbling is important in a language, they've all developed their own ways to do it, and nearly half of the bullshit that happens to a language over time happens because of mumbling.

The Conjugation was a fairly simple thing. The Manarahi self-identify as multiracial. Functionally they are predominantly elf and human, but the people's history is one of strong unity between any race that decided to play nice during their time underground. Because of this, not all of the Manarahi were sexually dimorphic, plenty of shardmind, warforged, dopplegangers and many things such as devils, dragons, and angels all found a reason to use the Manarahi to stay alive. As such, the conjugation contains no gendering, and indeed the words for "Male" and "female" are very much later additions to the language. I will use "ra" as the noun, meaning "thing" and used very much the same way as it is in english. Apostrophes indicate a glottal stop, like the T in batman
   Ra'a -Me, I am

   Ra'i - us, we are

   Ra'u - You, you are

   Ra'ta - Singular they, them, another

   Ra'ti - Plural they, them, others

   Nera - Not

These suffixes are universal, and combine nicely with a Peculiar but convenient trick in Manar. Verbing. Any noun can be appended with one of those suffixes and it becomes a verb that describes the most contextually relevant action associated with that noun. It works far better with esoteric nouns like "quiet", than it does with concrete nouns such as "goblin" but in some cases, we do the same in English. Try it with the word "Fish"

Noteworthily, there is no plural "you," as it is expressed in a bit of a longer format "Ra'u sho Ra'ti," "you and them" or in some cases, not at all

Another Suffix that matters is Tense. Manar has three Tenses, Past, present and future, and they are appended onto the verb to indicate its position relative to the context preceding the verb. The present and the infinitive are identical, as the idea of being one who does things belongs partially in the past, and there is another word devoted to that outside of the suffix. The two are as follows
-'lo in the past
-'ab in the future

Betlyss'u'lo, for example means "(darkgood) Good night - you -future" or "You (will) have a good night,"

This brings us to basic sentence structure. While Conjunctives work more or less the same way that they do in english, the sentence structure is drastically different. A sentence in Manar is organized from most passive and furthest abstracted to most active and concrete. Indirect object, Object Predicate-Subject followed by any description of the subject. This can be nested complexly with any subject becoming the object of another clause. So far it has been sufficient.

Pluralization has ended up being a very late addition to a language, and it was bizzare to deal with the idea of making more than one pig for example. I wanted a solution that would allow loanwords and weird sequences to be relatively easy to understand. By using Ra'ti (thing, multiple others, they) before a word, one will recognize it as referring to multiple distinct objects.This does run an interesting issue of multiple things that are the same thing doing things. Ra'ti can be replaced with any similar verbed noun.  Pep'ti Lor. Hopping they Rabbit. Multiple rabbits are hopping.


That's all I'm going to cover for now, this blog post took too long to even get to this point and I apologize for the wait! I've been busy with a campaign of such a large scope that I haven't learned too much from it yet! I've got an idea for another post already so that might be coming up very soon!

English hiar'u, Manar hiar'u'lo, Petiar'a'ab Jatira Hiar'u'ab, Lirano'u dal'a Ra'ke. English you are reading, Manar you will read, Anything that you have read that I have written, a gift from you for me it is.

-Nirrum The Mad

Magic.JPG: Setting precedents on the extended reaches of a world and system

Nirrum can make spells that others haven't seen yet

I, on the other hand, can make a mean Veggie Stirfry

In My context on levelling, I mentioned  King Fleet-Admiral Lazarus Honoré Dorian Tibeaux-Avisen. Tibeaux is almost unhittable, in part due to an item that allows him to put 5ft of distance between him and any effect, Nullifying Melee and ranged attacks and potentially dodging spells entirely. But who made this item? Could a player make this item? Today I'll be talking about how I handle players doing things that aren't exactly in the level description.

Does it have to be a bag?

The wizard who made Tibeaux's cape doesn't have a name yet, but they're an expert with the magic that a bag of holding uses. With what is perhaps the most iconic Item in dungeons and dragons, the ubiquitous bag of holding has Two tricks, it's bigger on the inside but it always weighs the same. You can turn it inside out for some interesting effects but rather importantly, The bag of holding is not a natural part of the world. A Creature, sapient and experienced, had knowledge that allows one to craft such a device. The implications are profound. Bags of holding have come in different forms over the years, from satchels to messenger bags. The Quiver of Ehlonna, Robe of Pockets, Portable hole, and Handy haversack all just permutations on the theme. What this tells us is that the magic isn't so rigid as a hard pre-coded spell, but is in fact, shapable. There is now precedent that people can make things that are bigger on the inside and things that nullify weight. The bag of holding and its friends are referred to as having demi-planes within them, portals to somewhere else that isn't really anywhere at all. I'm sure the math works out. When Making the cape, I started with a bag of holding and asked "How wide can the mouth be?" Being the dungeon master I said "fuck it" and made the "bag" just be one spread out piece of fabric. It's not capable of holding things and it'll make you sick for a day when you first put it on while you get used to space being warped around your arm and half of your body, but indeed, you get used to it.  Precedents are the handiest tool you can use when making new spells and items. Let us take another example. There is a common trend that there tends to be a wand for many type of spells. Rather, it is a wand that has the same effect as a spell. There are also wands of other effects, wands of secrets and wands of binding and the like. This precedent is simply that the wand is a rechargable option for Magic.jpg. Make a wand of "Turn one specific person's guts inside out", or something from a class feat "Wand of subtle spell" with charges to turn something into a subtle spell.

Actual cool Magic

Pay close attention to what other things can do. Setting up traps that don't correspond to any spell other than wish, having magic abilities that no one else does. If it can be done, then it can be done, no reason to limit it with unobtainability. Having your Audience capable of learning these things provided enough investment into the game. Let research happen, let shenanigans occur, Provided they take the time. I like the idea that any setting is a minimum of 20x larger than the representation. 20x more people, 20x more distance between locations. Taking this 20x factor and applying it to spells, something that's 20x as powerful as a regular spell you learn on the fly in the run of an adventure and it takes 20x as long to learn and 20x more resources and 20x longer to cast. 20 year long rituals for something that wish can't accomplish. Time Taken outside of an adventure is time you can use for research on Generic magical things. A first level wizard, capable of casting Silent Image and minor illusion, should probably be able to produce, given a few weeks, the equivalent of a Movie, provided some resources. A wizard capable of casting wish should, given a few weeks, be capable of taking over a city with any sort of effect, give a few months, a country, given a few years, the world. Uninterrupted of course. The downside of such downtime is that an interruption could ruin quite a lot of effort, which is why such beings as Acererak from the tombs of Annihilation and Horrors, takes many saturday morning cartoon level pains to prevent people from interrupting his work.

The Balance Problem

The only balance to Magic.jpg is that it can be interrupted, slowly dispelled, and at the worst moments, wished away. The ultimate truth of Magic.jpg is that, like the spear, the bow and arrow, and the gun IRL, it's a better option than not having it. You can't get hit if the enemy is too far away to hit you back and with magic, There's no physical work equivalent that would be able to counter the most efficient use of the two things that can truly break a system. Time and Economy. Keep adventurers handy for just such an occasion.

Deep Lore Redux

I am so simulationist that honestly, I struggle to have the system of Magic.jpg ready for any given system it operates in. I haven't yet thought of the grid of materials and conditions that would allow one to put together the effects of spells and magic yet revealed in, say, 5e. That said it can be done, and when time permits, it will. The more narrativist designers will have an easier time, but might back themselves in a corner if one ingredient is too abundant. Like blood, everyone has blood, and it sets a murderous precedent, especially if the counter is something like rubies. Not everyone has rubies

Betlyss
-Nirrum

Post Script

Updates may be a bit more infrequent coming up. Not only am I running out of things to say (gods be praised) but some health issues are doing a major number on my creativity, it took me over a month to write this and it's not up to my usual standard. Apologies to all!

Mixed Signals: Obfuscating options, Rewarding the stubborn

The easiest way to fight Nirrum is appetite suppressants

The easiest way to fight me, on the other hand, is with a punch or two

I've talked a bit about the mutability of the world, how by definition, things can be changed if they have been made. Some settings get around this by saying that the knowledge is lost or that a god has hard banned the most powerful of magic which is needed to undo the curse found in your average "unforgettable hat". Personally I like to take a different approach if I don't want something broken.

Misdirection

Consider this quote from the temple of the world spirit

  The dungeon has black doors inlayed with gold filligree in the shape of a poem in abyssal, describing how the world-speaker should stay out of the way of the yuan-ti. The words are charged with magic that prevent the door from being damaged while it is in the feywild. The doors are large and their frames are hexagonal. They have no hinges but a handle on one side allows the door to be opened by rolling it sideways. Opening doors requires an action with a DC 11 Strength(Athletics) check. The doors are well-balanced but are mechanically Driven to close. Keeping them open for more than one round causes the DC to increase by 5 for every round that passes up to a maximum of 30, If the door is held open past this point, it breaks and remains open. Undoing the Door's Magic requires two checks, a DC23 arcana check to learn how to pause the magic and a DC15 Sleight of Hand to scratch the appropriate lines. The doors feel glassy with obvious changes in texture where the writing is.  

Pretty sturdy overall. The walls however,  have this description

The Dungeon has Green Serpentine (Of course) Walls, with snakes in relief. The walls seem to smell of blood, or copper but none is present. The walls are nearly a meter thick at least. (but not indestructible if someone takes a pick to it, go to 20 if they escape). The walls feel glassy in all places where the carving has been finished, though occasional imperfections in the material will create a void or a small rough spot

Notice the bold text, which indicates the intent. This part is not described to the players, and when I ran it, they almost noticed anyway. Almost. This is a pretty typical misdirection. One of these two aspects of the dungeon is disproportionately reinforced and it's the one that is in the way the most. Players tend to assume that the door, which is an experience of egress, is the weakest aspect of the dungeon's construction. You can still get around it after all. The door's strength is indicative of the effort put into the least permanent, the most targettable  and thinnest point in the wall. The walls are oft seen as immutable in their own right, Surely if the door is that reinforced, the walls must be doubly so.

Ma, Mishliatab ra kao'u. Eh, One could think that.

Building up expectations of how the world works and then the subsequent subversion of those expectations is comedy, it creates and releases tension. Not releasing those tensions obviously makes them build up. Your choices, Drama and Comedy, are a win-win narratively. These walls are obviously an expectation. The expectation is that it's faster to go around, that the walls are harder than the way forward. For those that have experienced a dungeon, a level, or a setting for too long can tell you, there's often a better, quicker way in retrospect. I talked about rewarding exploration before, and this is an extension of that, you can now reward players for their choices by allowing those choices to matter. Tunneling through a wall in the middle of a siege has its own issues and challenges, but don't be afraid to experience "your" puzzle being defeated by 6 munchkins with a cart. The degree of importance of any given challenge will come with rather telegraphed defences for the most part. Thick walls, sentry patrols. Just about everything that they'll come up with has been tried historically. A quick google search of what was done to defeat a tactic will give you plenty of results.


As mentioned in my post on Random Dungeons, Tedium is your only real enemy as a dungeon master, and We should keep that in mind as we continue.

Obfuscation.

Many dungeon masters have made good use of obfuscating an easy path to increase drama. Six guards wait outside the door, each armed, wary and attentive. Their armor is thick and they are disciplined.  Upon witnessing a disturbance, one guard knocks on a small grated window and shortly thereafter, a patrol of five comes out to deal with the disturbance. Six hours of throwing rocks and conscripting and fighting locals, the bard finally decides "Excuse me, could we go in?" would be a good way to attempt ingress. If they haven't made an enemy of the guards by now, the answer might likely be "yes, just sign in at the guardhouse and leave your weapons there, you'll have to register if you're a caster, security reasons and all that." Bonus points for a cheeky "it's been a rough night out, best watch yourselves"

Twelve standing stones, each with a different symbol begin to glow as you approach. A mountain-sized monster glares your way as head toward it, following your movement closely. You stand in a room, and upon the wall is the word "overthinking" (NSFW link, by the way, very entertaining though). All of these things are methods of obfuscation without slowing the player down, because until they get in operating range, nothing is going to happen. Compare this to the hypercube dungeon, or worse, the new monster that is a penteract dungeon in which the obfuscating factors are hard set and more of an impediment, slowing the players down and removing their flow. The first group represents a far more easily digested circumstance while the latter two are Dick moves.

The Fear of God

Your players might catch on to a lot of these and begin to breeze through them, let it happen a couple of times before manifesting what should have been their fears rather directly. It makes for great drama and is a sustainable power-release gambit, in that your players will always get complacent given the chance. Have that giant throw a rock, have those standing stones zap them into the plane of suck.

N'hikao, hialo
-Nirrum

Example "Dungeon": Mohara Mountain Trail

Nirrum lives at the base of Mohara, in Manaharamu

I, on the other hand, live at the inconvenience of my government, in destitution.

When I first began designing dungeons after studying game design, my first attempt wasn't actually the temple of the world spirit. I had in fact done one previous "Dungeon" in anticipation of my party going in the complete opposite direction that they did. A literal 180 degree difference. They still haven't done this dungeon, and there's a chance they will see it before they do it, but thankfully, the ones who pay attention are the sort of metagamers who will follow the obvious path. This dungeon is very Videogame-friendly, as it features a rare "you can't go that way" mechanic. I'm eager to try it myself, and I'm happy with what I think it is. This is the sort of thing you run when you want that Ukiyo-e feeling, but gritty and slightly grim.

Mohara

Mohara, Manahara, the home of the Manahararahi. This wide and imposing mountain range (of one) has a comparatively low peak in comparison to the aegis mountains. Dumohara, the northern peak is the tallest in the range and is where Sylvanus stood when he corrupted the work of Pelor. Mohara is an ancient place, the oldest mountain on the plane, composed of foreign Quartzite.

The Surprise here is that the Mohara Mountain is a puzzle Dungeon, built by the world spirit in co-ordination with the fey. Landing on and taking off from Mohara is easy enough via Airship, the magic breaks enough, but walking along its surface is what triggers the magic the most. Mohara's journey will tend to begin from a mountain trail, frequently the Mohara mountain trail inside the university walls.

Mohara Mountain Trail Ascent,

The party has the option of taking a guide up the mountain but only if they show up early in the morning before the circle of the mountain druids have left. This makes the trail up to the druid "grove" spectacularly easy, such that it should be a DC13 constitution save made with advantage to avoid exhaustion. Exhaustion gained this way can be removed with a short rest. The journey with a guide takes half an hour, an hour if someone fails the constitution check. The guides take the time to tell the party to watch for aerial predators. The druid circle is ten level 3 druids and the head of the circle of the mountain.

For those who don't take the guide, the journey is an hour, and the constitution save made without advantage. The air is hot but becomes slightly breezy once they climb for half of it. If the group has less than five people, Two wyverns attack. If the group has more than five people, once the Wyverns are down, three Griffons attack immediately following the most recent initiative.

This section functions as an antechamber, letting the party know that aerial enemies are going to be prevalent. The trail is marked by posts driven into the ground and is well worn, Steps occasionally allow navigation over the more impassable rock obstacles.

Grove of the Circle of the mountain.

This druid grove is less of a grove and more of a platform, Situated some three hundred feet above Manaharamu's tallest buildings. The trail continues upward past this refuge but this is a safe spot to rest. Small mountain plants, Scraggly pines, and small bushes line this clean stone circle in the middle of which is a standing stone inscribed in Manar. Those who know Manar will be able to translate the poem, people learning Manar might be able to read aloud the script.

Naba'ti
oonwa'ta olopi
Sho ba'ti
Meikalo dal mish
Dalo ra'i ranoru'ta Hara ra
Newa'u'lo wanwilo wa mishlia'u'lo
Wa'u'lo wanwilo newa mishlia'u'lo
Wanwilo Newa'ti tira Wa'ta Hara ra
Wanwilo Newa'ta Hara, wilo Newa'ti'lo tira?
Nabrekao'ti netira'i

It is quiet
the sun rises
Then It is loud
The Mountain shows us
The dichotomy of change
Do when you should not
Do not when you should.
The mountain stays when everything moves
When the mountain moves, will everything stay?
Not all things are certain

The view is astounding, as the Kavir'e-namak and Grass Road stretch off to the horizon, while the great civilization of Manaharamu is dwarfed by the mountain from which it gets its name.

Classes for the circle of the mountain take place here, and depending on when the party leaves, there might be a class ongoing. The Druid Acolytes and novices are willing to cast a version of "Ceremony" called "Walkabout" that grants the party advantage on survival checks to forage for 72 hours.

Manar is a beautiful language, a little clunky, but beautiful, and with a far more pleasing alphabet than english. 

Power plant Trail

Druid Guides won't accompany anyone past the grove, but the trail is still well maintained, as it leads to the Power Plant and Monastery. The gate to the monastery is guarded by two Androsphinxes, Og and Maj. Passing either ones test allows entry into the Monastery. Attacking either one results in a one-way trip to the Awl Inn, where the attacker must remain for a day before reappearing at the bottom of the mohara trail. Manaharamu police are frequently called in to deal with such people. Og and Maj require a quest for someone to enter the Monastery. Og Requires a Scroll on a turquoise roller that is currently In the ruins of Font in Ganglegrove. Maj requires a bell of masterful beauty that has been dipped in the waters of the secret river Acheron.

This section does not contain the power plant/monastery internals, but there is a good opportunity to put your Shaolin or Wudan Analogues within. The names of the sphinxes are representations of Gods they echo, Oghma and Majere, Knowledge and Discipline

Mohara Summit trail (Lvl 7 Area)

This is where the fun begins, about twenty minutes walk away from the powerplant.

There is very little vegetation on the summit of Mohara. Assuming it is still daylight on the first day, then the sky is pale blue and the sun is fierce.
At night the stars are awe-inspiring, the moon visible becoming slowly more distant in the north sky.

This is the time for the DM to do some hot bullshit with spirit journeys, sudden reclassing and prophetic dreams.

The trail winds up one small peak that serves as the beginning of the summit trail, where the party is now above the toroids that make up the power plant, and the ground is mostly rock. The wind here is extreme and it makes travel difficult, slowing the party considerably.

This disguises the fact that the summit of Mohara doesn't seem to be getting any closer, and it is considerably poweful magic that is having this effect. Trying to move off the side of the mountain seems entirely unsuccessful, as after descending, one will have to conquer a small rise that leads them back to the trail. If someone is flying, they'll always seem to get turned around, distracted from their careful measures to not have this happen, but a sufficiently large group taking off at once can break the magic until they return to the surface. The party is in a part of the world that is very close to the shadowfell, the border between the planes is weak along this stretch.

When the party realizes this, a laughing creature, a Korred, makes its presence known.

Of course the mountaintop isn't getting any closer. You're not asking it to stay put! [greenDick voice, Idubbz]

If the party tries asking the mountain to stay put, the korred laughs again

Fool! Idiot! You don't speak mountain, only mountains do! Maybe it will be more willing tomorrow!

The Korred disappears and party has the option of wandering around for a bit. As they wander, fog rolls in from the east, Tainted beige by the desert light. This gives the fog a sickly look and dims the light. Darkvision isn't needed to see but the sunlight sensitivity of Drow, Kobolds, and other creatures loses its potency and they are no longer at disadvantage. No creature can see past 120ft without truesight as the fog begins to obscure the landscape. The wind remains extremely high blowing from north to south, forcing creatures to spend 3ft of movement for every 1 normally spent if they move against it. Creatures moving with the wind gain an additional 10ft of movement provided they are on foot.

Each group of the party is attacked. A separate encounter for each group if they are split, just the one if they are not.

Two cow skulls are visible at the edge of the fog, green light shimmers against the fog. A wisp of cloud passes to reveal that the skulls are attached to their skeletons still, which are roughly humanoid. They weild massive Ornate dane axes.

They are so large that they have a reach of 10ft and Multiattack 2, 80 hp all other stats remain
The Minotaur Skeletons attack quickly and try to throw the party off a small cliff that is 60 feet high. When they are defeated, their bodies fall to the ground far too quickly and slam to the rock with such force that a small cloud of dust is kicked up. When the dust clears 1d4 rounds later, A flat relief carving of half of a pathway lies where the bones should be. With both minotaurs dead, the carving should resemble a complete section, though it is obviously incomplete

Simultaneously (either the one group or one of the other groups) the pitter patter of running bare feet is heard. From the fog near you runs a Lost Sorrowsworn

when defeated, the sorrowsworn becomes a relief carving of the Sun but with a somewhat round chunk of it missing.

If the party tries to return to the main trail, the Korred has set up a bit of a gate across it made of thin Mithril. The gate is a thin web that fits the carvings.
Players need to search for puzzle pieces
Everything has to make the players feel small
The area has four notable features. On the south east side there is a hidden spring with purple smoke issuing from it, on the north east there is a ruined camp, on the south west side there is a small temple and on the east, a craggy crater arena.
In each area the players fight something that gives them part of the mosaic. But at the end they need to put the springwater in a bowl from the temple, place it in a stand from the camp and put a crystal from the fight pits inside the bowl

In the spring they fight a Marid that looks like most other water elementals and two Air Myrmidons. After they beat the elementals, then a Lonely Sorrowsworn shows up to pull them back

They leave corner pieces of the carving that contain parts of the sky, including clouds and

In the camp they Fight Four Shadar-Kai Gloomdancer Skeletons (immue to poison, blind, charm, deaf, exhaustion, frighten, poisoned, stun, Unconscious, Resist Cold, necrotic, and nonmagical Physical) and another Lost Sorrowsworn.

They leave the carvings of the central mountain the bottom of which is missing

In the Temple they fight an Eidolon With two Sacred Statues, one of which Grapples, the other of which Breathes a cone of fuckin ghosts that works a lot like an Adult Dragon's Breath.

The sacred statues leave each of the bottom corners showing the mountain on each side of the pathway

In the Crater They fight one Hungry Sorrowsworn and 6 Wretched Sorrowsworn

These leave only tiny fragments, an Image of the part in extreme detail as well as an image of the whole gate, which yes, contiains an image of the whole gate, though the second image of the gate lacks the adventurers, magic only goes so far guys.

Each attempt at a long rest prompts a 75% Random encounter with an Angry Sorrowsworn, and by 75% I mean the first two attempts are Automatic. Punish that shit

When the gate is completed, there is a small flash of light vertically along the center of the carving, which slides apart, as it does, the fog clears, revealing the summit, beckoning in the pale morning light. Looking around, the party will notice they really aren't far at all from the power plant, the two sphinxes clearly visible as they wander around the sides, A DC12 survival check reminds them that it is a long way to the summit. A Kirin Crosses the trail, stops for a moment to look at them, and then darts away across the sky, granting everyone present a Charm of heroism as described on DMG228. The gate fades and the Korred appears briefly behind the party to laugh a bit as it too fades. In a matter of seconds, it's as if the whole thing never happened though the land features such as the camp are still there. At each one, if the party goes back to look, are single large Gemstones.

Each Site is themed with either breath, bone, flesh, or spirit, A reference to my favourite book series, the lighthouse duet. 

Mohara Summit

The trail past the gate is remarkable only in its view, As the summit draws closer and manaharamu moves further away, the party will need to find ways to procure water and food as there is none of it on top of the mountain. The weather is extremel cold though snow does not tend to build up until a few days up the trail. If a creature does not have a way to stay warm, they require a DC 10 constitution check every hour in order to avoid levels of exhaustion. Creatures who are resistant or immune to cold automatically succeed this check, as do creatures wearing cold weather gear. In Most cases, Heavy armor is considered cold weather gear. Ask your player to describe what their armor looks like and judge fairly. Three uses of prestidigitation is enough to sustain the warmth of one creature.

On the way over the top, the Party will run into a pack of 6 wolves. Whenever a wolf reaches 0hp, it turns into a Kholirahi Elite Rudmage.

Mohara Summit is of course the nesting ground of a Roc, which has built its nest but hasn't found a mate yet, but that journey is days of walking and camping away. If the party is above level 13, then this Roc is an Ancient Red Dragon instead. Good luck. When either is defeated if the party returns they will find am Ancient Silver Dragon roosting there instead.

Dumohara is not a difficult climb, and is just a footpath along loose rocks, shattered by the elements. This part of the trail gives them a plothook to the armies of the north while also giving them a proper reward in the form of an appropriately leveled hoard.

Mohara Trail North

The Trail on the north side of Mohara is easily one of the most gruelling trails in the world on the way up and one of the most pleasant on the way down. Descent from the peak side of the Mohara Range takes about two hours.

The east coast trail in St. John's Newfoundland has a spot near Fort Amherst which is a delightfully cardiorrific 30 degree slope.

Ar Lyss'ta Manar
-Archbard, Dal Kaolok Nirrum

A Big Mistake: Random Dungeons, and a note on dungeons in general

Nirrum knows how to scry and teleport

I, On the other hand, know Ctrl+F, Ctrl+N and Shift+Home/end. 

For whatever reason, your party has begun heading underground or into a walled area that they're unlikely to try to tunnel through. You want it to be interesting so you hop onto Donjon, Find the appropriate generator after an hour of mucking around with some others, and you set it up to more or less do the biggest, most labyrinthine, most secretive, obstructive, and monster-filled cavern your players have ever laid eyes on. You have made a mistake, and it's going to suck. 

Great Dungeon Dai-Chungus and its immortal weakness

In game design, one pure truth rings out like a sickening bell. Players hate going slow. Or Rather, players hate when their actions don't reveal new information. It's the reason the water levels in so many games are reviled. I see the door, let me get to it without having to look at the same barely shifting screen for a minute. In map design, this means something different, If each room looks the same, then there's no reason to think about each room. When you get stuck in the fugue of "did that do anything? No?" it really sucks. Thirty Azers and fire salamanders later, you've got nothing to show for it except a bunch of brass and spears.  The big map thus shows its flaw. It's not actually big. Not conceptually anyway. Your players have already figured out this dungeon, they already know more or less every challenge that faces them, so suddenly, every locked door is the same locked door. Didn't I unlock this already? Oh good, another trap.The shape and import of the dungeon inside of the player's mind is homogenizing, and maddening as it does.

On Dungeon Size

There isn't actually an answer to how big a dungeon should be. I've been in dungeons for literal months, and felt fine. Similarly, I've run dungeons that ran less than a session that my players were 130% done with when they emerged.The lore was there, the traps and theme all had reasons, but even then, It sucked. So what gives? As mentioned in my previous post on Map Size, a good designer can do a lot with a little. A bad designer does little with a lot. The amount of prep time, care and consideration that you put into your dungeons matters more than how big they are or what's in them. A friend of mine, who hit their stride as a designer right away says "Two sessions maximum" and seems to lean between 6-10 rooms at a maximum. The largest dungeon I've ever made that was fun was the temple of the world spirit that had about 13 and some change for hallways and secrets. The most Notorious dungeon ever, the tomb of horrors is pushing 30 and it's modern counterpart, the tomb of annihilation, has more than that in the first three floors. There isn't a real maximum number provided your players know what they're getting into, but I'm going to go with my friend on this one, keep it short

On Dungeon Content

I've talked before about keeping verisimilitude, that things are places for reasons. A dungeon should really be no different. Why have puzzles when you can have traps? Why bother having a "solution" to any of the puzzles if you want to keep something out? Acererak, everyone's favourite saturday morning cartoon villain lich kept the power of the people who died in his traps, trying to figure out his puzzles, so it suited his purposes to have them. The worst dungeon I've ever run had a similar excuse. It was the honor of each hobgoblin to die while building a room to make their artifact-house that much more confusing (and unfun). A dungeon's content, in my minor experience with them should be a series of rapid-succession, high-damage encounters that can be done in four sessions at maximum,  or,  to be a bit more broad, it shouldn't last much longer than an hour in-game time (of actually doing. And remember, Never use riddles.

The Dungeon has a long an interesting history, but conceptually it runs into what is in retrospect an obvious weakness. Gamers hate going slow. A puzzle is an obfuscation of the path forward, and confusion is such a thing as well. These things have their place in designing a dungeon, but only when they're not expected. Traps on the other hand, traps make dungeons worth it. They're fast and they happen because of carelessness. Crank up the lethality and status effects on those.

Narratively speaking, there are two types of dungeon that I have found work. Ones that the party chooses to go to, such as the old tomb of horrors, or ones that they have to go to, such as the tomb of annihilation. In both cases, the party has a goal. In the first case, there's a good chance that doing research about their location will reveal details about it's layout (either a floorplan or a description written by someone who was there when the location was being built or in use). In the second case, there's a good chance that it will be quick, as their goal should be straightforward and exclusive.

I never did understand why the tomb of annihilation wasn't approached by a romanesque army, literally carving a pathway through chult in a straight line, Cutting down all trees in their path and retreating into formation if they're attacked by any of the jungle's denizens. I just feel that a party of 100 would have an easier time. Upon entering the tomb, a ready supply of clerics and paladins would be a massive asset that you can rotate regularly. One guy's job could easily just be Gentle Repose.

This context changes a bit for Videogames, where the solving of the puzzle comes with tangible and immediate reward, but even then, the Ocarina of time water temple, one of the best designed puzzles in the game is infamous for its slow progression. Puzzles are great but if they're too hard,  that obvious pathway forward becomes a very pretty wall. A wall of frustration and incompetence. I relieve my players in letting them know that Picks, chisels, and shovels are things that exist.

A final admonishment

The end of this is to tell you that random dungeons, especially big ones are not ideal in any situation I've encountered them in. Aside from laziness, they serve nothing to the players narratively and are frequently paired with the reduction of choice. It's a perfect storm of boring, frequently linear (two unknown paths does not constitute a choice), time-consuming and narratively pointless.

Vorbet neshta'u'lo
-Nirrum the mad

The Fear of God: Fierce, Fair, Fpowergaming and its Fplace in your Ftoolbox

Nirrum's most powerful attack involves recursive time

 

My most powerful attack on the other hand,  

So! Your group of localized adventuring forces has hit upon a positive feedback loop or a Powerful combo, and have become a bit much to deal with if you're being fair. But you have an edge that even they don't get access to. Unimaginably well trained harmonies in other things they're going to face. As a designer, a true mark of integrity and fairness is using only the tools that your audience can interact with as well to build encounters and tension against them. You of course, get to cheat in being so fair that they'll probably not even notice how fair you're being. So fair.

The secret is being a god.

The jist of this post is that, as is expected of most designers, you're going to throw more than one challenge at your players. This is taken so much for granted that they won't notice that the reason your ever-so-fair lethal challenges against them are so well-constructed is that you have so gods damned many opportunities. In most cases, their build and team is static, in some cases, less so, but it is still dependent on the co-ordination of multiple people. As a designer, your "party" on the other side of the encounter gets to cycle out literally every encounter.  Your narrow "loss" is arguably the ideal tension for an encounter (depending on your plots).

What this means is that you have the opportunity to come up with and exploit every character combination, that the system you're using would allow them to do as well.

Teamwork makes the Dream work

I don't like saying no to my groups. My driving question is "why not?" and the answer is never "the story would suffer." As touched on in my post on balance, they can't really do anything that I can't fix, and if they do something I like, I can take it. I can specifically make a team that functions on the mechanic that I like, especially because they are disposable. I believe it's the mark of a good actor that they find a way to boost the mechanics of their teammates, and concordantly, I believe that this is an idea that a designer should use when building challenges against their intended.

Consider the following, in 5e, One of my players managed to pull a staggering 999 damage in a single turn, with three turns prep.  Explosive, single-target ANNIHILATION. Rules as written, he could kill a warship with a pin. His bane? Two shootyboyes on horses. Battlemaster fighters in 5e  can grant eachother advantage to hit, and sharpshooter longbowmen do a lot of damage from very far away. Any feature, regardless of source, that applies to other party members for the benefit of the party should  be considered, provided action economy can be preserved. There's nothing quite as aggravating to a wargamer as using an action to make someone's attack better, when you could have just attacked and done more damage than you boosted, but if you can dole out your buffs, grant superior positioning and shield your team  all while achieving your objective directly? You're doing a good job. I like Battlemaster fighters the most for this, especially when fighting against parties of players. Enemies that move together and remove their opponent's control are enemies that are worth planning against.

Bards Stack

Anyone who ever went to a party knows that one guy who always brings a guitar. Where I live, just about everyone plays an instrument or two, so one time when we were camping, we ended up with two guitars, an improvised set of drums, a melodica, an ocarina, and just about everyone with a free mouth was singing or drinking. It was fantastic. Bards, it turns out, stack. One of the biggest pitfalls in planning battles and wargaming is underestimating the efficacy of redundancy. if something was good once, ask yourself, what would it be like if it was twice as powerful, if you had twice as many chances, or twice as much effect. That's the effect of having two of those things. The idea of building up synergy isn't excluded to the players, but they sacrifice versatility, a sacrifice that you don't need to make. As a designer, whether you're working with premade tools or making your own, always consider the option of five of any one thing in a row. Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Thief, Ranger? Weaksauce Party. Five Different Paladins? Unstoppable sauce. Who cares about springing traps when most of the time they don't even hit you and when they do, they do inconsequential amounts of damage in comparison to your ensemble of divine healing powers?  What  force of politics could hope to stop five bards who have a political agenda? Five barbarians walk into a bar. Who is walking out?

One of the examples I've used is this Team from the Danzuishanese military

The Eight-Spears General Loka Mastani(ENFP)(Two Hundred Hearts)(Fighter 13 Battlemaster)

A Punchy Green General Who's Never Alone

Age: 50
Hieght: 6'9
Weight:300

Loka is an effective fighter. There's no denying she is already a threat. What Makes Loka terrifying are the Seven other Dragonborn she will always have with her. She has hand-chosen these warfriends and they work with seamless teamwork, Using their battlemaster tactics to reposition and reallocate their resources. The eight spears of Danzuishan have always had a place in the military, and indeed were the first example of the ideology of The Echoing Immortality, but it has remained more of a badge. This particular batch of fighters isn't as effective as the others individually, but their teamwork is unrivalled. The crew all use dwarven plate and have spears that function as swords of wounding. The designs on their armor are striking Blue streaks over polished steel, with Loka's armor having gold trim. She finds people fantastic so long as they don't impede her, and has had more than one fight with the other spears because of this, but their brawling has served to strengthen their bonds.

• Temuza Lituja (Red, Fighter 11 battlemaster, Two Hundred Hearts)
• Manbalu Maheer (Brass, Fighter 11 battlemaster, Two Hundred Hearts)
• Cor Meum (Gold, Fighter 11 battlemaster, Two Hundred Hearts)
• Munani Oramakandra (Silver, Fighter 11 battlemaster, Two Hundred Hearts)
• Tempi Oramakandra (Silver, Fighter 11 battlemaster, Two Hundred Hearts)
• Katkame "Chief" Pamchar (Copper, Fighter 11 battlemaster, Two Hundred Hearts)
• Heze Morveni (White, Fighter 11 battlemaster, Two Hundred Hearts)

These guys use one of the Battlemaster feats to move each other around so they can maintain formation and harry their targets, working their way through them like mercury through aluminium. Who needs healing when your enemy is dead?

The blood of the Covenant is thicker than the water of the womb

Your position as the master of ceremonies to the game means that, as mentioned in previous posts, no person stands a chance against you. Though Damage hoses, supertanks, and those pesky talky-types might throw a wrench in your plans. Building teams to specifically target that player makes it easy to allow other, less-broken players to have fun in saving their problem solver from your devious trap. No matter what they do, you can have better synergies by tailoring those synergies to the situation.

Mishlia Pinralysraha Ra'u
-Nirrum