Tags
Dungeon, Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Isometric, Labyrinth Lord, Maps, Old School Essentials, OSE, OSR, RPG, Weird, Weird Fantasy
“If you’ve done 6 impossible things this morning,
why not round it off with a fetchquest at Escherways,
the Dungeon at the End of the Universe?”
This is what happens when the lich lord fails to follow the Ikea directions for the flat-packed dungeon assembly. There are multiple places in this dungeon where you can climb up three flights of stairs only to finish off in the same room you started in. Or turn the corner and find yourself in a room 10 feet lower than the one you started in.
I can’t stress this enough – I say it about my dungeon maps in general, but seriously – DO NOT SHOW THIS MAP TO THE PLAYERS. Do not draw it for them, do not present it through a VTT with fog of war, etc. Describe it and if the players want a map they draw it themselves. Then they can look bewildered as they discover that two parallel corridors 20 feet apart finish 10 feet apart in the next room over. Or that they can chose to get from room A to room B by either going up stairs, or downstairs (hint: it is less work to use the down stairs when given this choice).
Obviously this is the kind of place where you go looking for the Mc(Escher)Guffin that exists outside of time and space as we know it – that can open doors to other realms, or seal them. And don’t forget the lich who can’t follow Ikea directions, but does still know a bunch of high level spells.
Now imagine that the lich cast Guards and Wards in here…
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VTT be damned, make the players map!
Hey D. Besides being a shadow Nazi, back in the day, when I was doing flat dungeons, I had been prompted by your “13 stairs” comment. And now I’m a stair Nazi. I love this. If I wasn’t moving, it would be fun to do in 3D. If you are going Escher on us, take it one (or two) step further.
I’m reminded of my first attempt with isometric paper, about thirty-five years ago. Except that wasn’t intentional, and didn’t work out anywhere near as well as this! 😀 I think I’d have trouble drawing this without channeling Bowie in Labyrinth!
I like how the entry area is apparently normal — it’s only when you commit and go up either set of stairs that you journey into madness.
Reblogged this on DDOCentral.
Love it!! The players will be perplexed.