Sunken Fortress: Oakhurst
A Worldbuilding Document and more Inspiration
Main Page — Main Index — Share — Comment — Guilded — Ko.Fi
As I mentioned previously, even though this is made for Sunken Fortress, I still use the ‘Four-Dimensional Spreadsheet’ style of worldbuilding documents for the brainstorming stage. I’m used to using the 4-D Spreadsheet to get my ideas from my head through the keyboard—and I have a splash cover for my Logitech Wave keyboard just for this occasion—and into Microsoft Office. As the material in the 4-D Spreadsheets continues to develop, as revisions, additions, and corrections occur, they will in time transfer to the campaign documents like the one with the previous article.
So in this light, I have here the Oakhurst Worldbuilding Document. The URL is here: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AjNYReLtj6OIoS-tip8zF7HURcU3 . Like with the subsequent worldbuilding documents, it will be a stepping point on the way to their place in the campaign setting. The next article will have another worldbuilding document on Wintersplinter, the villain of this module, and then the one after that would be the dungeon itself, which is what I want to talk about here, not just about the thought processes I have addressing the dungeon, but also to share videos about dungeon design.
Granted I would still use some of the descriptions, creatures, traps, puzzles, and scenes taken from Sunless Citadel, the total of which I will call ‘Dungeon Content,’ I will not leave the dungeon stock from the Wizards of the Coast version, especially the first level, known as the Fortress Level. In Wizard’s version, the first floor of the dungeon has so much stuff in there that I find it a bit compressed and packed and hard to manage. It also by way of TSR’s precursor to some good ol’ Patrick Rothfuss Bee Ess, the fortress sunk down and remained more or less a single piece. ‘What-ho?!’
I wanted to change the Fortress Level so that it can be split into more manageable chunks, known as blocks, add some verticality to the dungeon, and add some realism with the descent. In my version, as the fortress sunk into the ground, it broke apart, and parts of the fortress stopped at different elevations. I’ll keep part of the Bee Ess and claim that the pieces it broke into remain structurally sound. It is now connected by cavernous slopes with occasional rope bridges, ladders, and in some cases steps carved in place out of dirt or stone. The following illustration will show what I’m looking at.
I will also include a secret passage that will lead from the Grove Area through to the Foyer, used not just by Wintersplinter but also by Spurg, who wants to make a discrete way to the surface with the fruit in hand.
As I worked on redesigning the dungeon to suit my tastes, I also wanted to incorporate what I picked up from various videos, especially the ones from The DM Lair that talk about good dungeon design, which I want to put into practice.
Some dungeons as created by Wizards of the Coast, and penned by professional cartographers, would sometimes make you wonder what Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins have been smoking. And don’t get me started with dungeon generators that use the canonized D&D rules as an algorithm in their code. You will be joining in with Luke here wondering if any actual dungeon builder in all of D&D would ever make a dungeon like what you’d get from donjon. Fortunately for me, I never consider myself content with leaving anything stock. Or straight from a Rando, for that matter. (‘Rando’ is what I call a Random Generator.)
When I continue redesigning this dungeon, I’ll keep in mind the points Luke here talks about, and I’ll make some comments on each item here.
1. The Map should Make Architectural Sense. Even in pieces the way it is here, the rooms from the fortress retain their original architectural style. The interconnecting sloped corridors made out of caverns will contrast with these areas to show what this dungeon has gone through.
2. The Map should have Multiple Entrances. This is the main reason why I’m reworking the Fortress Level, to provide for multiple entrances and passageways. Granted, there is a single starting point at the top of the Ledges, where the party discovers and reaches the site. But the Ledges would have two paths to the Foyer. The Foyer would have three passages as well: The main one to the Hall Block, and two smaller ones to both the Kobold and Goblin blocks. And the Kobold and Goblin blocks would have some interconnecting passages between them and the Hall Block. There is only one path from the Goblin Block to the Grove Level, and the secret passage would connect the Grove Level, the Goblin Block, and the Foyer.
3. The Map should be Non-Linear. I noticed that, even though they tried to make it so that there are a lot of branching paths, there is a distinctive single path through each of the sections in the original Fortress Level, which is another thing I wanted to address in its remaking By breaking the floor into separate blocks, I can add passages between them, so that everyone can go from one block to another. There will also be interesting nooks and crannies to explore so they won’t feel too railroaded. And that’s not counting the encouragement to Town Portal back and forth.
Note to self: Find a way for players to learn a Town Portal spell because I have the feeling that someone would want to try it. Also, in future campaigns, have one of the side quests be helping a quest giver set up the Teleportation Circle required for the scrolls. Sunken Fortress already has this feature set up by Corkie, but that won’t be the case for everything.
4. The Map should have Ceilings (of an appropriate height.) Most dungeons from Wizards of the Coast include a box of general features that has information on the ceilings, the type of material used, whether or not it’s lit up and other things that can be assumed unless noted otherwise. When compiling it in the OneNote version of the module, I might have such a block on every page associated with the dungeon. That way, I can include more specific information on a particular area.
5. The Map should have Interesting Features. I’ll be porting room content from Sunless Citadel to Sunken Fortress so that I’ll have plenty of material for what I’d call ‘Dungeon Content.’ The same goes for several other modules I’ll be converting, such as the Phandalin series (Both the Starter Set and Essential Kit,) The Keep of the Shadowfell, and when I return to Amaunator-themed content, Castle Chronicla. This will make for some vital practice for future original campaigns.
6. The Map should have Secret Doors and Areas. Even with the things I’m porting in, there are going to be a lot of additional secrets to the dungeons I make. As I said, I never leave anything the way I found it.
7. The Map should use Elevation and 3D Thinking. That wouldn’t be a problem with this dungeon.
8. The Map should have Light Sources (or not.) The majority of the denizens in this dungeon have Darkvision, but not all. Wintersplinter doesn’t have darkvision, so he’ll be needing light, especially in the places where he studies. I might also have it that some parts of this dungeon are so commonly used by everyone that some passages, especially the Foyer and the Hall, would have some light set up to make life easier for everyone involved. They’ll also be traveled so often—the Kobolds and Goblins use different paths so that they won’t have to cross each other—that groups carrying torches or light cantrips aren’t that noticeable…until someone hears an unfamiliar voice, that is.
9. The Map should be Designed with Interesting Encounters and Combats in Mind. And that also includes all the puzzles, locks, traps, chests, points of interest, people to contact, people to rescue, and all the other ‘Dungeon Content.’
I’ll also be addressing some things I’m such a stickler to when it comes to maps of any kind. If there are monsters in the dungeon, what would their home in the dungeon be like? If there is a bad guy or a bad guy party, where and how would they live there? Is there a need for air shafts or running water or—and here I say it again—toilets! Is there an underground stream? What do they do with any runoff from rain? How do they deal with refuse? These are what I’ll be thinking about when I design—or remix—a dungeon map.
10. The Map should have Doors. Luke makes a compelling case for doors, and no, it’s not because it’s freaking hilarious for the party to have as much luck with doors as Vox Machina. I will always put in doors in my dungeon, if for no other reason than to ensure that the party would have a place to barricade and secure if they need to…If for nothing much than to keep a Town Portal safe.
Master The Dungeon also has plenty of material to study with my Dungeon Content research, but there’s a series of videos that I’ll use when I’m creating dungeons from scratch, based on several Nintendo games, Metroid, Super Mario, and Zelda. Once I start making my own dungeons, I might use some themes and tropes from these games and others. I’ll also consider other games, such as The Room series of Puzzle Games, and the Zero Escape series for escape rooms.
I often have an idea about a training dungeon where soon-to-be adventurers learn how to adventure, which is a multi-leveled escape room. It starts simple enough with a small room with puzzles to solve, but instead of the locked door leading out, instead a wall slides away and the escape room becomes a larger escape room, where the puzzles expand on the original escape room. And then there is what I’d call the Reverse Escape Room where the goal is to get inside the room, perfect for dungeons where the goal is to test those who get in there to see if they’re worthy of the treasure inside…with dire penalties for those who don’t pass muster.
But then there’s a game that I would definitely style my dungeons from: Zork.
This will especially come into play when I start making dungeons from scratch. I’ll take the old-school text adventure approach where, instead of the party traveling along corridors from room to room, the dungeon will be a series of areas linked to each other. In the module (especially the OneNote version) each of these areas will have its own section and therefore its own page in the OneNote book. An area might be a room, but it could also be a corridor, a hallway, or an intersection. Each of these areas will have a series of exits—listed in the module—that will link to another area and therefore another page. These links might be a door, but they could also be another hallway or even further down the hallway where there is another door or intersection. Moving from Area to Area through a link will constitute a Standard Action performed by the group and I hope by God that they don’t split up.
And now my brain came up with an idea on how to work in random events like encounters or regular patrols or a time limit, which will be an alternative to having to roll on a table. I’ll use a percentile dice known as a Transit Counter. Whenever the party enters the dungeon, the Transit Counter starts at 00. It goes up by one each time the party does something important. Be they move from Area to Area, survive an encounter, pick a lock, open a chest, solve a puzzle, interact with that important thing, and anything else you’d want the party to do. The page on the module will have instructions on what might happen if the Transit Counter reaches a certain number. It might concern itself with a number on one digit, or at a certain range, or even when it reaches or is above a certain number. I’ll talk about it more in my next article on developing Swifttail.
Also, since going from Area to Area takes one Standard Action regardless of speed, it takes out any need to be concerned about distances until they’re in a battle grid or using an Event Deck. And it’s possible for the need for an Event Deck, even if it’s the case of the ‘we defeated the big bad and now everything’s shaking let’s get the eff outta here!’ trope.
But just because I’m going to be building a dungeon like Zork doesn’t mean that the map is going to be ugly:
Enter Dungeon Scrawl. I’ve experimented with various dungeon mapping tools, and I have stated that I will even go as far as to use Illustrator, Photoshop, and—gasp—hand draw a good chunk of the maps you’ll find here. What can I say? I can’t always rely on having just the asset I need in just the right style I need, and I don’t feel like drawing one up and then working it over in Photoshop every time I need an asset I can’t find. Which I can legally use for free. But I do want my dungeon maps to be pleasant to look at with all those Dyson-esque style hatch marks which are a pain to make good. And besides, I don’t want to put in any major detail in my ‘Dungeon Scope’ maps. I just want the layout with the areas and the passages, thank you so much.
Dungeon Scrawl is fast, it’s free, it can put in just enough detail that I need, and it does those hatchings. What’s not to like about this program? You’ll be seeing me use this a lot.
The Progress
And by now I’m used to adding this, the current progress.
I have more articles in the Planning Stage. Universally Preferable Behavior and Spelljammer are still here. But I have two items that I can work on sooner. There is the Sunken Fortress Dungeon Worldbuilding Document, which is the next big document to work on, and then there’s the notework I’ll be making as I expand on the mechanics I put in Swifttail.
Some projects go back a step, and Amber of the Woods, Episode 3 is one such item. Some of these scenes are getting a major overhaul, which caused them to go back to the First Draft Stage, alongside Swifttail Ruleset, Volume 1.
The next article will be part of the Inspiration Series where I look at existing Wizards of the Coast books to find out how I’ll address certain items. This time, it’s about Villains. This is where the Wintersplinter Worldbuilding Document will go into, which is at its Final Draft Stage.
Main Page — Main Index — Share — Comment — Guilded — Ko.Fi
Tales of Penumaria is Copyrighted ©2022 David “David Foxfire” Gonterman, and is licensed under the ‘BY-NC-SA’ Creative Commons License. All Dungeons & Dragons related material is available under the Open Game License from Wizards of the Coast. Follow this link for credits and details on the licenses.