Making Dungeons for Dungeons and Dragons

The 5-room model allows for nearly infinite variations in storytelling. It has been used to great success by game designers and dungeon masters for years. We will work as a class to make an adventure where students will vote for a variety options for thematic elements as well as room details.

The model is as follows:
1: Guardian/Entrance - This room contains something that bars the way to the other rooms. This could be anything from a guard to a secret entrance.
2: Puzzle / Roleplay Challenge - This room is for puzzle lovers and adds some needed variety.
3: Trick / Setback - This room creates drama by adding a low point. With it, the climax will be higher and the resolution will be sweeter.
4: Climax / Boss Fight - This room resolves the main conflict of the dungeon. This is where Indiana Jones stole the idol in Raiders of the Lost Ark and where players may fight the evil wizard they've been looking for.
5: Reward / Revelation - This room is the resolution to your story. It can be as simple as a pile of treasure or as complex as new information for an on-going campaign. This can also be a twist where there is another dungeon to go to or another level of this one.

Learners will learn these rules and how to bend or break them in order to create an engaging narrative. While doing this, we will use the themes the learners voted for to pull it all together and make it a believable place.

Please note: the intention of this course is to focus on the narrative elements of a dungeon. We will be using a fantasy fiction framework for our story, so the final product would be right at home in a Dungeons and Dragons adventure. That said, we will skip much of the "mechanical" aspects (how many of which dice to roll) which would tie our work to any one game. This gives us the freedom to focus on the storytelling within the dungeon.