What are some good ways to create a dungeon setting in RW?

[Madmaxneo]

I am looking to create a dungeon within RW. I went into RW looking for an area to put this in and found "Adventuring Area", but it did not seem to be what I am looking for.
Is there a simple place that I may have missed that has a spot for a dungeon?
I will need to add a map then sections for room numbers and the room descriptions. I am basically designing this as I go along by area or room by room so do not have a map just yet.

FYI, this will be a dungeon designed for high level characters and was inspired by the Tomb of Horrors (though this is not D&D or any of it's clones, it is HARP). I was actually thinking of using the Tomb of Horrors with some changes to fit the game system and my campaign background.

 

[daplunk]

I usually start with a Storyline. In that I put a Smart Image containing the map.

Under the storyline I use 'Encounter' topics to create opne topic for each room.

I pin the topics to the map.

 

[Madmaxneo]

I usually start with a Storyline. In that I put a Smart Image containing the map.

Under the storyline I use 'Encounter' topics to create opne topic for each room.

I pin the topics to the map.

Awesome idea!
I was looking at other areas for something like that. Thanks for the idea/inspiration!

 

[Silveras]

My structure:

Source
__Storyline (Chapter 1)
____Adventure Area (Main Location)
________Smart Image (linked to each Level)
______Adventure Area (Level)
__________Smart Image (Linked to each Room)
________Location (Room)
__________Encounter A (Encounter) (On the way in)
__________Encounter B (Encounter) (On the way back out, for example)


Alternatively, for places that might be re-used in whole (for example, the PCs take over and make it their campsite or headquarters)

For example, if the adventure site is in town, I would put the non-adventure-specific location information in a Location topic under the Town, then add nested Locations for "Floors" or other sections. In the body of those, links to the encounters would be added.

The adventure-specific stuff *such as encounters) goes under a Source for the main adventure (Tomb of Horrors, for example), with nested GM Synopsis and Additional Information as needed. Then an Adventure Area for each Level, with the map linked to the both the room descriptions in the other "tree" and the nested encounters under this Topic. Each Encounter cross-links back to the room it occurs in.

 

[kbs666]

I do it mostly how Silveras does it.

Adventure areas are meant to be dungeons. This is where I put the smart images. Locations are meant to be rooms in dungeons. Scenes can be useful for creating encounters that do not precisely conform to a specific location.

Generally I try not to have the encounter info in the location because PC's might come back to a location any number of times and do who knows what there. Better to leave it as blank a slate as possible.

A scene describing a room as the PC's first enter it including monsters or what not can easily be contained under the location.

It all depends on how much time and effort you want to put in and how long your players will be spending in the dungeon.

 

[Madmaxneo]

My structure:

Source
__Storyline (Chapter 1)
____Adventure Area (Main Location)
________Smart Image (linked to each Level)
______Adventure Area (Level)
__________Smart Image (Linked to each Room)
________Location (Room)
__________Encounter A (Encounter) (On the way in)
__________Encounter B (Encounter) (On the way back out, for example)


Alternatively, for places that might be re-used in whole (for example, the PCs take over and make it their campsite or headquarters)

For example, if the adventure site is in town, I would put the non-adventure-specific location information in a Location topic under the Town, then add nested Locations for "Floors" or other sections. In the body of those, links to the encounters would be added.

The adventure-specific stuff *such as encounters) goes under a Source for the main adventure (Tomb of Horrors, for example), with nested GM Synopsis and Additional Information as needed. Then an Adventure Area for each Level, with the map linked to the both the room descriptions in the other "tree" and the nested encounters under this Topic. Each Encounter cross-links back to the room it occurs in.

Interesting. I started to do this but wonder if I set it up correctly.
Is it possible you could post a screen shot just to see how you got it set up?
Thanks for your help so far!

 

[kbs666]

There is no "correctly" in RW. There is a way that works well for you.

Try setting up the dungeon however feels right. Try running it. See what works. change what doesn't. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Madmaxneo]

There is no "correctly" in RW. There is a way that works well for you.

Try setting up the dungeon however feels right. Try running it. See what works. change what doesn't. Rinse and repeat.

I get that. But the structure doesn't seem to fit right. I asked for a screen shot
because there might be something here I can learn about RW. For that matter there is a lot I can learn about RW but I barely have the time to develop my campaigns.......

 

[daplunk]

I understand the query as I have pondered it myself.

A dungeon is a place, so why is it not in the location information?
A dungeon is also a part of the story so should it go with the structure of the story?

Ultimately it's up to you.

I tend to put them in the story section because I tend to run modules. I therefore put everything together in the same structure of the book. This make's it easier to run IMO as I know Chapter 9 contains the dungeon and can easily locate that within the tool.

The parent article has the Smart Image containing the map.

In this screenshot I am working with a module. The dungeon appears in Chapter 5 so instead of moving it I left it in the same place it's defined in the module. This make's it easier to use IMO because I'm running a book module.

As you can see I create a Storyline as a parent topic and contained within the parent are topics for each room within the dungeon. I always create extra names for those rooms to match the code that is assigned to the room as it's common for modules to refer rooms in the text by these codes and I want linking to work.

I also use a Prefix on each to ensure the rooms are sorted in the same order as they appear in the book.

The map is pinned and linked to each topic.

The reason why I do this is so that I can use the smart image as a navigation pane. So running the dungeon looks like this.

Now you can obviously contain dungeons within the locations section. Setting it up is much the same. Ultimately it doesn't matter what category you use. I like the Storyline and Encounters one because I like to make all my modules match.

In the example below I have located the Tome of Horrors into the location section. This was not part of a module but an individual dungeon that I placed within the campaign world so it made sense for it to reside here.

 

[Vargr]

Thank you for the look into how you do it.

Always nice to see others' work and how they set it up and be inspired (sometimes also known as outright theft )

 

[Madmaxneo]

@daplunk That is a really good setup you have going there! I learned a lot from those screen shots, one thing being I need to organize my RW data better...lol.
I thought there was something I was missing in my layout but it seems I was not doing anything wrong just yet.
Regardless that was inspirational for me to get cracking on my campaign, thank you very much for the screen shots!

 

[daplunk]

Nps mate. If you want to see more I keep a collection.

Daplunk's Imgur Album's

 

[MNBlockHead]

For me, a dungeon is almost always an adventure area. For many, all the information will be in a single AA topic, in others I have lots of associated scene topics.

AAs are generally contained in other location topics. Generally, story lines and quests will link to AAs but not be parent containers of AAs. If I will ONLY use the AA for ONE storyline or one quest and the party is unlikely to return and it is unlikely to be used in future campaigns (unusual for dungeons in my campaigns), I *may* have it contained under a Storyline or Quest, but it would still be an AA topic. Only the most simply dungeons would be entered as a map and text in the Storyline or Quest itself.

MORE likely is that I will have the AA contain a number of possible quests related to it.

To give perspective, my campaign is fairly sandbox. I have multiple possible storylines and the party may be involved in more than one at a time, which I riff on and often find they merge an morph into new storylines. Since story lines in my campaign are fluid, they make for poor anchors for other content.

So, for me, it makes more sense to take a geographical approach and place the adventure areas in specific locations.

That said, I do have a number of drop-in dungeons and drop-in adventures that I can place almost anywhere. I have these organized using the "Other" topic. So I will have, for example, a "Drop-in Communities: Any Human" list that has a number of settlement topics under it. After I use one in a game, I then pin it on the appropriate map and file it under an appropriate parent place topic.

Other examples of this that I use is: "Drop-in Inns: Generic", "Drop-in Dungeons" (no subcategories, just try to make the names descriptive enough), "Drop-in Merchants", etc. I also do this with adventures, organized by level. Some are completely created from scratch, but many are material from ENWorld En5ider, DriveThruRPG and DMs Guild Material, that I like but do not have an immediate use for. What is nice is that if the party goes completely in a new direction that I have not planned for, I can pull up something quickly.

 

[Madmaxneo]

For me, a dungeon is almost always an adventure area. For many, all the information will be in a single AA topic, in others I have lots of associated scene topics.

AAs are generally contained in other location topics. Generally, story lines and quests will link to AAs but not be parent containers of AAs. If I will ONLY use the AA for ONE storyline or one quest and the party is unlikely to return and it is unlikely to be used in future campaigns (unusual for dungeons in my campaigns), I *may* have it contained under a Storyline or Quest, but it would still be an AA topic. Only the most simply dungeons would be entered as a map and text in the Storyline or Quest itself.

MORE likely is that I will have the AA contain a number of possible quests related to it.

To give perspective, my campaign is fairly sandbox. I have multiple possible storylines and the party may be involved in more than one at a time, which I riff on and often find they merge an morph into new storylines. Since story lines in my campaign are fluid, they make for poor anchors for other content.

So, for me, it makes more sense to take a geographical approach and place the adventure areas in specific locations.

That said, I do have a number of drop-in dungeons and drop-in adventures that I can place almost anywhere. I have these organized using the "Other" topic. So I will have, for example, a "Drop-in Communities: Any Human" list that has a number of settlement topics under it. After I use one in a game, I then pin it on the appropriate map and file it under an appropriate parent place topic.

Other examples of this that I use is: "Drop-in Inns: Generic", "Drop-in Dungeons" (no subcategories, just try to make the names descriptive enough), "Drop-in Merchants", etc. I also do this with adventures, organized by level. Some are completely created from scratch, but many are material from ENWorld En5ider, DriveThruRPG and DMs Guild Material, that I like but do not have an immediate use for. What is nice is that if the party goes completely in a new direction that I have not planned for, I can pull up something quickly.

Also great ideas. Another one is using Scene for an area.
One thing I wish RW had is the ability to drag and drop whole sections to other areas. I currently have all the races of my campaign world listed under Group: Ethnic because that was the first place I found that it would fit. I don't think each race is it's own ethnic group as there can be different ethnic groups for each race. So all my races should be under a race section. I found a better place for them but it will not let me move them under another group as part of the tree. But that is nothing compared to needing a calendar system....lol.
For a calendar I am currently using Aeon Timeline but it is a pain because it is a separate program entirely, so there isn't much to it yet. I wish there was a way to sync it up with RW....

 

[MNBlockHead]

But that is nothing compared to needing a calendar system....lol.
For a calendar I am currently using Aeon Timeline but it is a pain because it is a separate program entirely, so there isn't much to it yet. I wish there was a way to sync it up with RW....

Hey a chance to talk about calendars again!



I downloaded, installed, and tried Aeon, but just didn't find it helpful. I can see it being useful for outlining for a novel or history book, etc. But I can do that in RW, as long as I use the Gregorian system.

And that is what I do.

I simply decided that in one of the realms in my campaign, the Rasane Empire (Etruscan/Roman inspired), it was the same date as the date I started my campaign. In other words the empire was founded 2015 years ago from the date I started creating my world.

Then I built my time line from there. All dates are entered based on that.

I also maintain a spreadsheet where I log in broad strokes what the party has been up to. The spreadsheet has five calendar systems that I calculated based of the Gregorian. So, if I want to paste conversion into a topic, I just have to copy the relevant cells and paste them in.

After a session, I also complete an "in-game dates" snippet for important events, scenes, places visited. This helps keeps a nice, detailed time line in RealmWorks.

After this campaign ends, I'm going to take a break from it and play some published APs, but I plan to come back to it in the future with a new party where the events from the prior party are now part of the history. Realm Works makes this process pretty easy.

My main issue is that if I want to calculate dates in the far past or far future for the other calendars, my spreadsheet won't help. I just manually entered in the calendar dates for year and repeated down the column for several years. I have not had the time to figure out the calendrical calculations to convert any date, future or paste, from Gregorian to one of my other calendars.

And, I really doesn't matter. None of the players really care. I'm fine using the Gregorian system. But I still look forward to having support for multiple calendars because it would provide an easy way to give more flavor to a campaign. Also, if I had the ability to easily convert within RW, I might build adventures and puzzles where calendars are more important. Not that I want to frustrate my players with calendrical calculation—I would hope the player view would also support switching calendars. Even if I have to do it for them as a DM, just the fact that they have to think about it, adds some flavor to the game.

 

[Greebo]

Hey a chance to talk about calendars again!

Jippie!

I downloaded, installed, and tried Aeon, but just didn't find it helpful. I can see it being useful for outlining for a novel or history book, etc. But I can do that in RW, as long as I use the Gregorian system.

Sounds interesting, even though Aeon is - at least for my current budget - a bit pricey.

I also maintain a spreadsheet where I log in broad strokes what the party has been up to. The spreadsheet has five calendar systems that I calculated based of the Gregorian. So, if I want to paste conversion into a topic, I just have to copy the relevant cells and paste them in.

(...)

My main issue is that if I want to calculate dates in the far past or far future for the other calendars, my spreadsheet won't help. I just manually entered in the calendar dates for year and repeated down the column for several years. I have not had the time to figure out the calendrical calculations to convert any date, future or paste, from Gregorian to one of my other calendars.

I have been using spreadsheets for quite a while now. And they are cumbersome at best. Beside the problem with distant events you describe, I have another layer of complexity due to different year lengths and calendar systems used within my gameworld.

So, if I set up e.g. an underground necropolis (or any other site vaguely resembling a "classic dungeon"), which I do strictly as a place (for later revisits and the like), most of these sites tend to have been used over - at least - several decades. But many of those were used, one way or the other, by different cultures as well. And sorting discontinous dates within different calendars (solar, lunisolar, lunar based on the large moon, lunar based on the small moon, cylce-based...) is a real pain...

And, I really doesn't matter. None of the players really care. I'm fine using the Gregorian system. But I still look forward to having support for multiple calendars because it would provide an easy way to give more flavor to a campaign. Also, if I had the ability to easily convert within RW, I might build adventures and puzzles where calendars are more important. Not that I want to frustrate my players with calendrical calculation—I would hope the player view would also support switching calendars. Even if I have to do it for them as a DM, just the fact that they have to think about it, adds some flavor to the game.

That is exactly the reason, why I do things like that. One of the ideas I am currently pondering is to integrate an evil spirit with a Maya-inspired background (with a cycle based Maya-like calendar) into our science fantasy campaign (with a solar calendar).

 

[Lexin]

Sounds interesting, even though Aeon is - at least for my current budget - a bit pricey.

It does look as if it could be helpful, but I blanch a bit at spending £42 on a calendar for one of my worlds - only one of mine has a non-standard calendar. I'll wait patiently for RW to bring in calendars.

 

[Madmaxneo]

Hey a chance to talk about calendars again!



I downloaded, installed, and tried Aeon, but just didn't find it helpful. I can see it being useful for outlining for a novel or history book, etc. But I can do that in RW, as long as I use the Gregorian system.

And that is what I do.......

And, I really doesn't matter. None of the players really care.

Some of my players do care, or at least did at one time. I even had one party member volunteer to keep track of dates and the timeline. I dropped the ball on that one though. Having a date system adds color to the game and will help in future games when referencing events that happened in the past. At least 3 game systems I have use their own date system.

It does look as if it could be helpful, but I blanch a bit at spending £42 on a calendar for one of my worlds - only one of mine has a non-standard calendar. I'll wait patiently for RW to bring in calendars.

I got Aeon for less than half price through Stack social, consequently I also got Scrivener for about half price. There should be another sale on both of those coming up soon on there. Keep an eye out for them.