Building a Dungeon is like Decorating a Christmas Tree

Happy Holidays to friends and readers!  Today I thought I would share a Christmas tree inspired method for building a dungeon.

When decorating a Christmas tree, one starts with a natural structure -- the tree.  The tree is grown (or made to resemble) a natural form.  Over top of the tree, we add lights as a structure to pull our view from the bottom to the top of the tree, highlighting all the character we will add in between.  Next we add garland to spread the lighting more diffusely and to add color.  Then we add ornaments that give us points of interest on the trees.  Some may be generically the same, while others are unique.  We add tinsel over the ornaments to increase the twinkle.  Finally the tree is topped with a special angel or star to finish the look.

In our dungeon, we also need to start with something natural.  What was this area originally?  Was it an underground mine?  Was it a prison?  Was it a series of smugglers caverns?  Whatever the original purpose of the area was, will give use the basic layout, size of rooms, and how they were originally used.  This is the tree part of our dungeon, that we would usually sketch out.

Like the lights on our tree, we need something for our dungeon to draw us into the dungeon, pull us through it, and help us cover the whole thing from edge to edge.  For this we need to build a bit of lore.  Why would anyone come to this dungeon now?  How would they enter or exit the dungeon?  What obstacles would cause the adventurers to search through the dungeon areas?  From this we start to add entrances, exits, obstacles, and some idea of a goal with perhaps subgoals for specific areas.

Garland is next as a way of diffusing the light throughout the tree.  By this, we mean to soften the edges of our previous step.  We ask other questions like who is using this dungeon now?  What are they using it for?  How would this have changed the original dungeon?  What would have been added, removed, or stolen?  How would time have changed things?  All of these details let us start to fill in interesting details that may either add to our original view of how the dungeon will be played or may further complicate how it might be played.  This step is often the most fun for players because it adds detail that isn't necessarily related to the main story arch.  This type of detail gives the dungeon a real feel because not everything defined is important.

Ornaments come next, and the ornaments of a dungeon are it's encounters.  Now we're breaking out our books of monsters, traps, treasures, and puzzles.  In some dungeons you may have repeated random encounters or encounters of the same type.  In others, the encounters may be all unique.  Keep in mind that encounters are a snapshot of the state of the dungeon that need to be connected to the dungeon's structure and story.  They should make sense.  The dungeon should have either symbiotic or predator-prey relationships between it's inhabitants.  These relationships can even be used to make more complex multi-faction encounters.

To add the final sense of realism to the dungeon, we add the tinsel, the little details for flavor.  The details should be things to make the dungeon memorable.  The should capture all of the senses.  Examples can be smells, textures, light levels, feel and temperature of the floor and walls, elevation changes, drafts and breezes.  Statues, books, furniture, and non-encounter creatures can also add to the full picture.

Finally, much like we top our tree with an angel or star, we need to top off our dungeon with a boss encounter.  The encounter ties back to the goals, structures, and other encounters to complete the picture.  The boss encounter should be a challenging fight and should reward the players with critical information, a critical plot piece, or some valuable treasure.

Tying all of these pieces and parts together, much like a Christmas tree, will bring a wonderful thing to life that will give your gaming group hours of joy.