Speaking of which. After watching someone play The Legend Of Zelda (1985) on Twitch, it reminded me that it is the first ever Dungeons & Dragons port from tabletop to video game
Zelda was great, but it missed out on being the first by more than 10 years. It wasnāt even the first on a home videogame console.
Iām talking about what D&D would look like on a console (graphics, not text based games)
Also, Kingās Quest III loosely reminds me of The Legend Of Zelda
Zelda as a dnd port?
1985?
What are you on about mate? Do you wanna play dnd or what?
Jion would be the Tommy Wiseau of party members.
Iād play with him.
After playing Zelda back in the 1980s and watching it recently on Twitch, Zelda reminds me of Dungeons & Dragons. You got the mission then you got the dungeons (labyrinths), etc.
But where da tavern wenches, doe?
Huh. Never knew there was an actual D&D thread. Iāve been DMing a 4e campaign for the last few months, but my playgroupās about to branch off into a 5e game as well. Actually excited to play after having to manage the rowdy fucks.
Oh the joys of being a DM. Itās like having kids with ambitions you donāt ever want them to realize. 
Iām trying to remember my mythweavers shit. Also deciding between what to make.
So far I have Samurai Jack/Onimusha Samurai, Turok wannabe, and Tenchu Ninja ideas.
Thatās about it, man. Though, I feel like the amount of people Iāve gotta deal with makes it a bit of a pain in the ass. Got about seven motherfuckers playing, but only about four of 'em consistently pay any attention to whatās going on.
Once the 5e campaign is set up, itāll be refreshing to actually control a PC in a smaller group. Sometimes ya boy just wants to be the one to slay some dragons.
So far I have a player who only pays attention during battle and one who like to do everything. Trying to get the battle guy to do more outside of it, but heās a first timer and picked a paladin thinking he would get to spellcast like a wizard. The other one tries to murder everyone.
Itās been a struggle.
The group artificer is definitely the āget invested during battleā guy of the group. The wizard just kinda magic missiles every turn. Seems a bit of a waste, since homeboy has at least has some other options. We recently had a new guy join the group as a shaman, but heās been having a pretty hard time getting a hang of the rules. That seems to be more of a fault of not paying attention on his part, though.
Yeah, thankfully Iāve been working with my guy and heās gotten better. So have I actually, this is my first campaign as a DM.
I need to create better dungeons though.
First time on my end as well. The partyās been travelling cross country for a bit, and Iāve yet to throw an actual dungeon at them. I plan to within the next session or so, but Iām iffy on the details. Whatās your process for putting one together?
If you havenāt had much experience designing dungeons this might be a bit above your head, but thereās some really good information here about creating non-linear dungeons that are fun to play. If youāve never played the dungeons that he references, I suggest downloading and reading them. I think a couple of them are even availible on Wizardās old website for free.
That said, make sure your design includes the following:
- A purpose for being there. Sometimes you can get away with āirresistibly coolā as a purpose. Indeed, that is often the dungeonās first trap!
- A builder. Something made this place; a creature, a being or some force of nature. Design accordingly and stick to the locationās intended purpose.
- The correct inhabitants. Creatures require food, water and living space. Be sure that the location can actually support the creatures you populate your dungeon with. Donāt forget other adventurers who have already been to the dungeon (or may still be there!).
- Donāt forget that traps and hostile inhabitants must be dealt with by anyone entering the dungeon, including itās owner. This means that they have some way of disabling or bypassing them which your PCs might be able to utilize as well.
- Multiple solutions to encounters. You never know what your players will think about the situations you present them with, so if there is something that absolutely must be done within this dungeon, then make at least 3 fairly obvious ways to accomplish it. Sneaking past guards, befriending/bribing denizens, etc should all be incorporated into your dungeonās planning.
- Non-linear lay-out. Part of planning is allowing the PCs a way back out of the dungeon should they somehow be unable to leave the same way they gained entrance. This is important because, again, you never know what the players might decide to do.
- Clues to everything that is important. I cannot stress this enough. For every important thing within the dungeon, add no less than two clues about it. If you donāt, you can be 100% certain that the entire party will completely miss the clue dangling right in front of their eyes. I usually include one big giant whopper of a clue and two minor clues for each discovery that I want the players to make. Clues donāt have to be about important plot discoveries, either. Your clues can lead to information about a monster further in the dungeon, or simply provide additional lore that otherwise might have gone unknown.
As far as actually designing the dungeon goes:
- Make a theme for the dungeon (ancient crypt, abandoned temple, thievesā hide-out, etc).
- Stick to a few theme-relevant encounter types and elaborate on them instead of trying to add in multiple things that just happen to fit within your themeās ecosystem.
- Give each encounter type a ābossā or āleaderā encounter. Most social creatures have a pecking order that they follow to get things done. Make sure your leaders and bosses act accordingly with their position. Build up to these encounters. Remember to use clues. Have the underlings run to big brother for help just when theyāre about to be defeated.
- Zone out the dungeon logically. This is more important in large dungeons than in smaller, single adventure dungeons. Make sure that opposing factions set up bases far away from each other, not forgetting to take any strategic advantage possible along the way. If a creature feeds on a certain type of dungeon resource (a particular type of creature, fungi that grows only in dark areas, etc.) then they should linger in that area. Doing this helps your PCs keep track of where they are and be able to gauge the level of danger and potential hazards in the area. āMarkā each territory accordingly in a logical way (this or that side of a stream running through the dungeon, Natural stone walled areas vs. hew stone walls, etcā¦) Most importantly, your random encounter table should reflect this reasoning too, only allowing creatures to appear in areas where it is appropriate for them to.
- Keep the difficulty levels in check. This kinda ties into the multiple solutions thing above. Encounters are supposed to exhaust the partyās resources, not necessarily just beat them up or kill them. In order to make an entertaining succession of encounters for your dungeon, you must ensure that the party has just the right amount of resources available to them at the right time. Too many resources and the adventure wonāt be challenging enough. Too little and it could prove to be frustrating and deadly. Feel free to use the multiple solutions and logical zoning tips to ensure that the party has the resources they need. Perhaps one or two of the fungi growing in the dark areas of the dungeon are a food source, or even a source of healing. Or maybe a previous adventurer dropped some rations that havenāt quite spoiled yet; or a potion fell out of his backpack. Use your imagination, and cover over any areas that you may be unsure of by adding resources, or including encounters that exhaust them.
Just remember that the most important thing is that everyone has fun. I love designing dungeons and donāt mind sharing them with you guys and/or helping you design yours. Thereās probably some stuff I forgot about, and if I think of anything important Iāll be sure to pop back in here and post it.
:tup:
Oh yeah, the Five Room Dungeon technique is really good for cranking out quick and effective dungeons. Check it out!
:tup:
Thanks @Manx. Iāll try starting off with the 5 room tech.
I read the Tome of Battle and made a Yuan-Ti NPC who specializes in Maneuvers. I think she turned out good.
Tbh, I miss the days when death was a real problem. I havenāt played in 5 years but I remember 4 being terrible because I just John Cenaād everything because death wasnāt nearly as much of a problem.