My first game

i just mocked this up right quick. I'm going to send my players through this semi dungeon with no real story in it. I'm a very new DM and i wanted you to have a look over and whatnot.

uhm, I'm going to be here for awhile to answer any questions. i dont think i should post my entire page of DM notes because of tl;dr so ill be available to answer any questions.

uhh off the bat i have to say that i feel theres a lot of wasted space in this dungeon, like its going to just add walking for no reason, but i wanted a dungeon that seemed real like this isn't just a bunch of corridors in one direction. but i didnt want to put too much stuff to wear down the players so they wouldn't be able to fight the treasure guardian.

i also wanted to put rewards in here but i couldnt think of anything since this is going to be a one time session, so rewards seem silly.

lastly i was considering some sort of healing fountains or something so that they can recover about half their life so they can go through the whole thing.

any questions or thoughts are very much appreciated. oh the party setup is also
- Necromancer w/ Familiar
- Barbarian
- Martial Artist
- 2 Undelcared

Other urls found in this thread:

thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon
dnd.rem.uz/Advanced D&D (unsorted)/DMRG1 - Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide.PDF
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

shit i forgot to mention the red dot beneath "5." is a large roaming enemy that moves every time they do, so it might come across them if they rest (i was thinking about it either having minions with it, or if it was good at singling out players)

and forgot to mark down the hidden wall on the left side beneath "3."

sorry, I'm very new to this.

Hey retard, what fucking system?

Great criticism here, let me break this down

>Hey retard, what fucking system?
____^____ establishes him as a total faggot who can immediately be ignored because hes got a fucking cactus up his ass.

>Hey retard, what fucking system?
Where as ______^___________ establishes that he doesn't understand basic terminology of "DM" standing for Dungeon Master which directly correlates to dungeons and dragons where as GM is the more universal term.

> what fucking system?
ALSO establishes that hes so much of a faggot that he can't come up with anything that all, that advice for running games ONLY correlates to the system, that basic design and advice couldn't possibly translate past the barrier that is the 100,000,000 similar systems out there.

in conclusion
(you) is the gay

What sort of enemies are you using, and what's your party level?

Whats sort of traps are those?

How long do you have until game?

And where'd you get that map?

Enemies: Orc looking things of generic ness, BUT they use strategy and dont just charge forward angrily. (do you think theres too few enemies?)

Party level: 3

Traps: Various traps, mostly runes that shoot magic bolts at the players, exception being the one that disorients the players by spraying smoke and locking them in an almost maze (top right corner)

time: long enough, we dont have a start date.

Map: i stole it awhile back from some guy who said he uses deep night, i use it too but i like the one they made more.

Looks neat, good mix of symmetry and avoiding symmetry.

Could use more loops though. It's hard to explain without keyed rooms, but why not have those corridors south of #4 link up with the corridors/rooms to their north? Even if you don't mind walking for no reason, that's a very roundabout way to get from one room to another, and an extra link means there's another route for monsters to ambush PCs (or vice versa).

Give this a read:
thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon

In addition other terminology they missed was the classes and the direct use of the term "Arcana Check" which directly correlates to D&D/Pathfinder.

so they just didnt even read and decided to shitpost, or they CANT read and are lashing out because their redneck brain was infuriated

>"DM" standing for Dungeon Master which directly correlates to dungeons and dragons where as GM is the more universal term.
OD&D, Bx/BECMI/RC, AD&D/2e, Player's Option, 3e/3.5/3.pf, 4e, Next/5e are radically different* games. 5e is pretty similar to 3e tho
The OSR systems aren't of the same paradigm as the d20 systems, and 4e (while very good) arguably isn't a roleplaying game.

I suppose we can discount OD&D since it calls it's DMs "referees", but there are 6 systems that play differently and use the term DM.
Also, DM *is* a universal term. GM is a bandaid other publishers use to avoid lawsuits.

>that basic design and advice couldn't possibly translate past the barrier that is the 100,000,000 similar systems out there
The head and tail of the D&D IP are far enough apart that "basic advice" on either end is "awful advice" on the other.

that logic only works if you're talking mechanics, theres a shit ton of advice that works for every system and genre.

dont over power the party with too many enemies
dont put too many traps or the players will check under every stone in every room and waste time
dont be a dick GM, sometimes the rules come secondary to fun.
if combat is going too long have the enemy take a fall and end it early.
if one player is missing think about lowering the number of enemies.
try and get into character more as a GM, you'll be uncomfortable at first but it really works out. even give enemies little things to make them more alive.
for the "boss" monsters, make sure theres never just one, the players can easily over power one single target.
make the traveling interesting in some way, even if its describing scenery and random things you notice.
listen to your players during and after the game for ways you can improve, if they say they wish there was more combat then add more combat. if they are bored during combat, cut some of it or spice it up.
ambient lighting + music can go a long way.

do you need more? you're a complete fucking moron, theres a ton of advice that works for every tabletop regardless of system. all of this is usable advice for every end of the spectrum.

fundamentally a bad design. Why? Because you have too many open rooms and corridors. It's probably overemphasized by the fact you don't footnote the rooms to say what they are. This is the sort of map that works well in video games but not in role-playing games. Players want more interactabillity than wide, wandering spaces

thats a good point, i agree. hmm, i wonder if OSR has books on helping name or note what rooms might be in a dungeon.

Not OP but thanks

wtf? too many open rooms?

That shit doesn't matter one fucking bit unless you throw down the battle grid. And even then it's nice to actually involve bows for a bit.

You bring up a good point w/ the footnotes but I think it'd be safe to assume that the guy has notes with the descriptions of rooms.

Should this not be the case, then yeah you want to have descriptions of the rooms, even if only just a sentence or two.

OP, can confirm I'm not smart enough to have room notes. for every room at least, I'm missing 3 rooms that are pointless.

Okay, room sizes are perfectly fine. Maybe get the dimensions of your room to get a sense of scale. Move around it for a bit to get an idea of how much space there really is to move in it.

Or just throw in numbers and laugh with your party should they come up with some bonkers sizes.

Either way, have 1-2 sentences about each room. Try to make them unique. The layout has the feeling of a lived in place, so plan out who lived there and such.

Lots of walking isn't a problem since unlike a videogame, the walking isn't done in real-time.

"You walk a short way down a curving hallway."
"You pass through what may have been a common room long ago."
"The passage ends in what may have been a small chapel, though there appears to be nothing of value."
"The hall leads to a small chamber without notable characteristics beyond two pillars and sconces for torches. There are passages that lead north and south."

You have a pretty good spread of "shit happening" that a few rooms with nothing won't bore players and even have potential to make the setting feel more real.

>dont over power the party with too many enemies
OSR doesn't always agree.
>dont put too many traps or the players will check under every stone in every room and waste time
How about you arbitrate searching in a sane manner?
>dont be a dick GM, sometimes the rules come secondary to fun.
3e disagrees.
>if combat is going too long have the enemy take a fall and end it early.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
>if one player is missing think about lowering the number of enemies.
OSR disagrees.
>try and get into character more as a GM, you'll be uncomfortable at first but it really works out. even give enemies little things to make them more alive.
4e disagrees.
>for the "boss" monsters, make sure theres never just one,
I'm not even sure where to start on this. Why do you even have "'boss' monsters"?
>the players can easily over power one single target.
That's system dependent.
>make the traveling interesting in some way,
Fair.
>even if its describing scenery and random things you notice.
But that sounds obnoxious.
>listen to your players during and after the game for ways you can improve,
Fair.
>if they say they wish there was more combat then add more combat. if they are bored during combat, cut some of it or spice it up.
Why so combat centric?
>ambient lighting
Is always obnoxious. To everybody.
>+ music can go a long way.
I find ambient music distracting. But I know people who like it at the table.

>I'm arguing for the sake of arguing, irrelevant of the initial disagreement

such the contrarian

Paul Jaquays coauthored a book of DM tips and dungeon design.

dnd.rem.uz/Advanced D&D (unsorted)/DMRG1 - Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide.PDF

>dont be a dick GM, sometimes the rules come secondary to fun.
>3e disagrees.

what asshole fucking disagrees, if you disagree you're a bad GM. you're here to have fun, why else play games.

>We can't give enough advice without a system.
That advice isn't system agnostic.

>not having a dragon guard your hoard of loot
or getting mad at calling the dragon a "boss", either way, I've fallen for the classical bait.

Wow I skipped over that part. Goddamn that triggered me too.

Tomb of Horrors is a pretty crappy dungeon by all accounts, but would you consider Acererak a boss?

did you tag the wrong person mate?

How is this relevant in any way to the point made?

There are plenty of monsters that would make for a "boss" of a dungeon both mechanically and with lore.

i think they were just trying to ask a question, if Acererak was a "boss" monster. because we were discussing "boss" monsters?

I don't see how that is the case given the structure of the sentence. That is certainly an interpretation but there is certainly an implication.

Although I suppose the poster could be an autist with no sense of context.

>How is this relevant in any way to the point made?
In mechanics, lore, and position, he seems like a boss. But he isn't.
He's just one more trap to bypass. One of the easier ones to bypass, too.

The point I was making to is that you should just grab the hoard of loot then leave.

I assume is OP, but the response holds regardless.

Nope, random user. I'm OP. not that i wouldn't want to have a conversation about what makes a boss monster and how to guard your mcguffin/loot.

but could i still get some help on the dungeon? currently I've got tips for the infrastructure, but i would quite appreciate some more help please.

Have you already finished ?
I'm pretty sure that'll cover you.

no i have not yet (if you're that user, thank you) but i have read through some of it. its been helpful so far, even with some stuff outside of the game i hadn't thought of.

I'm going to sleep now, only so long i can stare at a screen before the reading is just to read and I'm not absorbing anything.

i hope this is still up when i get back so i can at least see what others think.

user from earlier just bumping so I can steal some stuff

Fun's gone if you realize DM's playing along not letting you die.

Risk of dying / losing your character is part of a good PnP experience. MMO/Diablo-clone's "always winning, always bigger numbers and more loot" fun last longer the dumber your players are but always ends with a whimper. Better go off with a bang.

Are you the same user that's trolling? Again, that doesn't relate to Whats being said at all.

At what point does saying the rules can sometimes come secondary to fun equate to the GM saying the players can't die.