# 7 Room Dungeon System As the name implies this system aims to create dynamic, but short dungeons. Instead of having a detailed map this packet will show you how to build out a diagram and then detail the dungeon. ## The basic rooms that make a dungeon While not all of these rooms show up in every dungeon, these are the basic rooms this system will use to build each dungeon. While these rooms are listed and described, that does not mean each room is only one type. You can have a combat trap, puzzle boss, or a hidden treasure room for instance. Think of these descriptions as tools and suggestions not hard rules and law. The spirit of the system is to make interesting dungeons usable in short sessions (3~4 hours). ### Entrance The first room of a dungeon. If you have dungeons that lead to other dungoens tie all the entrances together in some way, to speed up the process of revisits. The second entrance can be locked and need some kind of key or test, but do not put an entrance to a dungeon, deep inside another dungeon. ### Combat This is a very simple room. There's monsters to fight in here. ### Empty This room may not have anything important lore, combat, or thinking wise, but can be very useful for setting the tone and atmosphere of a dungeon, or providing breaks in action, or a place to rest. The empty room is powerful because despite serving no purpose to you the DM, the players will run wild with these. ### Lore This room has something in it that explains why the dungeon exists, it's purpose in the world, or some sort of hint about the boss or dungeon. It's important that the world be coherent and sensical. This room can be as subtle as you want, but without this room, your dungeon is just some rooms near each other. ### Trap This is another simple room, there is a trap of some kind here designed to slow or hurt the party. ### Puzzle These rooms take a lot of time, but are important to the design of a dungeon. Not every dungeon has a puzzle, but ones that do should include some empty rooms to make up for the time. \columnbreak ### Treasure Riches, equipment, resources, or people may be found in these rooms, this is what most players are here for. ### NPC In this room is a person, they are friendly enough at first. They can become adversarial, be part of a quest, etc. ### Hidden This room is hard to find and hidden from sight. These rooms usually require either a puzzle to be solved or a skill check to be made to detect ### Boss This room has the big fight in it, this is the one that you've been likely building up to, though not every dungeon has a boss. ## Building the diagram Here are the symbols used to build a dungeon diagram. The diagram just lays out the general layout of the dungeon, and helps quickly show what rooms lead to others in space efficient way. ``` Immediately accessable room connections │ ┌ ┐ └ ┘ ├ ┤ ┬ ┴ ┼ Locked, hidden, or otherwise not immediately accessible room connections ═ ║ ╔ ╗ ╚ ╝ ╠ ╣ ╦ ╩ ╬ Combination access ╒ ╓ ╕ ╖ ╘ ╙ ╛ ╜ ╞ ╟ ╡ ╢ ╤ ╥ ╧ ╨ ╪ ╫ ``` ## Rewritten Dungeons For the most part dungeon rooms are static, and even if the location remains the same for other uses, those should be written as a separate dungeon. Write each one as an encapsulated piece. For instance if the dungeon on the next page is the generic dungeon, but somewhere else there is a quest that changes either what is in the dungeon, how the dungeon functions, or the rewards, this system encourages you to copy and paste what you need, title the dungeon something descriptive (The Plains Crypt: Huntsman's Quest) and change the details a dm would need for that quest, this allows each location to be infinitely useful, without cramming conditionals and exceptions into dungeons, making them much easier to run and prep, at the expense of page space. \pagebreakNum ##### Dungeon Diagram ``` 5 │ 1─┼─2─3═4 │ 6═7 ``` ### Creatures | Room | Amount | Monster | Source | |:-----:|:------:|:-------:|:------:| | 1 | 3 | Possessed Pillar | Tomb of Beasts | | 3 | 1 | Medusa Abomination | Monster Manual | | 3 | 4 | Living Wick | Tomb of Beasts | | 3/5 | 1 | Idolic Deity | Tomb of Beasts | | 4 | 3 | Skeleton | Monster Manual | | 6 | 3 | Zombie | Monster Manual | ### 1. Aqueduct Cave Entrance Leads to: 2, 5, 6 To get into this dungeon the party crosses over a large unused aqueduct that spans a chasm. At the end of the aqueduct is a cave, and at the back of the cave is the entrance to this dungeon. Guarding the entrance is a Possessed Pillar that challenges the players to a fight. If the players beat the statue it stands aside and lets them through, if the players lose they are left unconscious. There are 3 doors in the halls beyond the statue. If they somehow get past the statue into other rooms before defeating it, the statue pursues to fight to their deaths for trespassing. ### 2. Bridge Trap Leads to: 1, 3 This room is long but only about 25 feet wide, an at least 40 foot long bridge that is only 3 feet wide spans the room. Along the far left and right walls are statues that look like they are blowing. While the players move along the bridge decide an interval or trigger, and the statues will try to blow them off the bridge. The bridge is 20 feet off the ground. \columnbreak ### 3. Medusa Altar (Boss) Leads to: 2, 4 (locked) A Medusa and 4 Living wicks lay in wait for the players. If the players haven't dealt with the idol from room 5, he is also be in the fight. The Medusa has the key to the next room hanging around her neck. Once defeated they may loot the Medusa's bow which is +1 and deals an extra 1d6 poison damage on hit. The Medusa can use a bonus action to detonate one of the wicks before the wick has died. ### 4. Treasure Leads to: 3 This room is full of treasures, in coin, and art totaling (1d12 * 100) + 3000 gp. ### 5. Lore Leads to: 1 This room has a large tapestry depicting the trickster lord who lies here. There are 3 stands on the left and 3 on the right, each holding a bowling ball sized clay statue of the lord. If the players succeed on a DC20 they will spot that one of the idols moves when it seems like no one is looking. Should they not spot the idol, when they leave the room, the idol moves to room 3. ### 6. Combat Leads to: 1, 7 (hidden) This room seems like it used to be a crypt for the followers of the lord here, but they have risen and stalk this room. There are 3 zombies and 3 skeletons here. There is also a hidden door in the back wall leading to an armory DC25 perception or DC15 investigation of the wall. ### 7. Armory Leads to: 6 This armory holds the arms that the followers used to defend their lord in life. There is an armor here with the +1 rune, and the silver rune. There are various mundane weapons, one of which also has the +1 rune, and another with the minor fire damage rune.