Designing a Legend of Zelda Inspired Dungeon for D&D
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- Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
- Learn how to build dungeons inspired by The Legend of Zelda for your D&D campaigns. Find more dungeon ideas and DM tips at www.masterthedungeon.com/
00:00 Intro
00:47 Branching Paths and Dungeon Maps
02:11 Universal Keys
03:32 Key Items
05:41 Spacial Awareness and Navigating a Dungeon
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A possible solution if by some mistake you do end up with too few keys - Having the door be opened from the other side by a monster whose going to do a grocery run for the dungeons inhabitants. Even skeletons need their vitamin D
Skeletons, Vitamin D. 😂
"Grumble, Grumble...."
The fact that this is so ridiculous yet so realistic is absolutely awesome 👌
I mean, calcium doesn't settle down in our bones unless we have vitam D in our body, it makes sense that the skeletons would make sure to get plenty of vitamin D and calcium to keep healthy and strong
@@mrb5940 But how would they process it? xD
The channel Game Maker's Toolkit has a series of videos analyzing Zelda dungeons game by game. It's called Boss Keys. There's also a video on designing puzzles. The channel is very focused on video game analysis, but some of the content might still be useful in a tabletop game.
Love Mark Brown's videos.
Thanks
Remember to account for the fact that in D&D, a locked door is not always a dead end! A jar of acid, a good strength check, weapon damage, a knock spell, teleportation, gaseous form, or even filling a lock with water and freezing it are all ways players might try to "brute force" a door. The constraints that make a Zelda dungeon fun can make a D&D dungeon feel like it's on rails, so take care in how you set up and describe your locks!
(As an aside, consider that some locks may NEED to be brute forced!)
One issue I considered is that players may try to pick the lock or force open the door rather than search for a dungeon key. I compensated for this by giving keys a secondary benefit: if the players used a key to unlock the door, then it also disables a trap somewhere later in the room or further in the dungeon. This rewards the effort to find and use the keys. If the party instead uses skill or brute force to open the door, I allow it, but it does mean that there is a potential trap waiting for them later. This makes sense in context of the dungeon builders-- those with the keys likely belong there and can move safely throughout. Those not using keys are likely intruders.
Yeah, the dungeon has to be fit for the party. Standard locked doors would work fine for a party of up to 3rd level, almost nobody would be able to break a dc25 stone door. Once they get higher levels, the dungeons should have nastier tricks for them. A door that's actually a wall of force, dangerous mimic doors for which the key acts as a pacifier, trapped doors that block off paths if forced, etc. Once they get to like 10th level, I'm a fan of just making an "impossible" random dungeon and letting them rip it apart. There is hardly a door that can stop a determined party at that level.
This can also make it more interesting since the players aren’t limited in their solutions.
They literally gave you the solution to this in the video however. When they said the bit about not making them literally keys. Make it a "magical door" that only opens with when the right kind of "magical gem" is put in a socket. Works exactly the same mechanically except now it can't be brute forced and you aren't just telling your players no to something it would seem like they should be able to do.
This is truly the key and really is the difference between an old school mindset and a new one. Older dungeons are just crazy, long, and outright bleak and confusing often most things in them don't make sense and don't adhere to a theme. They were used to test the creativity of the player and not the skill on the sheet. Newer D&D however takes a far more limiting approach to a dungeon. Heck one person with enlarge and reduce can mitigate the whole dungeon unless you handwave and make things anti magic all the time which simply doesn't work and looks railroady as all hell.
Interesting idea: "Gloves of Rune Lifting"
In a certain dungeon, players are able to unlock doors by locating and 'carrying' glowing arcane glyphs that match the indent nearby each locked door. This glove is given to them by the mini guardian after a more-or-less straight-forward path. In order to unlock the mini boss room and exit, they must use the glove to pick up a glyph from the monster's sword and 'slot it' in the little indent near the room entrance, unlocking the door and allowing the players to leave.
Suddenly they realize they can open almost all the doors, and the glyphs they stumbled across earlier are actually the keys. One catch: The glove can only hold ONE glyph at a time. However once a door gains its key it should be unlocked hence forth.
After the boss fight, the players now have a fun little glove that can actually interact with the seemingly useless Arcane Mark spell. In addition to gold and other magic gear like weapons and armor, they have a wearable item to remember a rather clever dungeon design.
*yoink*
Ooooo. Cloister of Trials style dungeons. Neat.
Another alternative to the Key Item Problem: It's a variation on the solution provided, but let's say you had some more of those "Handprint Rocks" in the world outside of the dungeon. If done this way, you could still have the key item be useful in certain situations, and also allow the players to not feel too stifled once they leave. It also emulates Zelda in this fashion.
Perhaps give Keys items a potential use outside the dungeon? Maybe have the rock glove suddenly work in another dungeon could be a cool way to tie some lore and mechanics together.
If an ancient civilization created one dungeon full of rune-marked objects manipulated by a magic glove, they probably made more than one. The party may very well have encountered these rune marks numerous times during the campaign, before discovering a magic item that could affect them. It suddenly becomes worth it to backtrack to old dungeons, looking to see what their new ability opens up.
This also works more like the actual Zelda games, as you aren't stuck using your items in a single dungeon, or even just in dungeons. For instance, the Hookshot is used all over Hyrule after you get it.
DM: "I made this cool dungeon with universal keys rewareded for puzzles, so you can progress through locked doors in a structured and interesting way."
The Rogue with +17 Thieves Tools:
"It doesn't work because... uh... it's magical."
The (Arcane Trickster) Rogue with +17 Arcana:
The small keys don't have to be literal keys; they could be like Doom's colored skulls, which get inserted into various sockets that cannot obviously be lockpicked.
"I'm sorry, without a specialize tool or key, this lock is impossible to pick safely"
I'd argue that there don't always have to be enough keys to open all the locked doors. Say your game is like Majora's Mask, where you could theoretically reset a dungeon and play it again. It might be worth it to have the dungeon be a few keys short so the players have to make decisions now and come back later to explore the other branching paths. Furthermore, a dungeon reset mechanic makes screwing yourself out of solving the dungeon a lot less of a problem.
"This is the right way"
*points to the right hallway*
Ahh, but what if we take three lefts? That could also be right.
Even just the basic formula of "the dungeon is hard until you beat the miniboss and get a specific magic item that is also the end boss's weakness" is a satisfying system for D&D.
I like this Ocarina of Time type of dungeons, in which the final door is right in front of you, but you just don't have the boss key, because having the main room easier to access makes much more sense if the place is used for anything other than hiding a treasure
This was a great video. When making a Dungeon I always ask myself, "Would the players just have more fun playing Zelda than dungeon crawling through this?" I find it really funny that we would not have original Zelda if not for old-school D&D and now it has come full-circle that I feel modern D&D can be improved by taking inspiration from Zelda and other videogames.
I love Zelda dungeons! One can also learn a lot from them regarding the flavoring of the interior.
I was going to say basically the same thing.
I had an idea for a fun puzzle. A smaller dungeon size shaped like a clock with 12 branches, each with a lever at the end, from the center where a magical barrier or secret door waits. Some sort of word puzzle tells them which levers to pull with wrong levers spawning a monster. It also must be done quickly or it resets, forcing the party to split up. They wouldn't be too far apart but, if the grab the wrong lever, that monster would have at least one round (probably two) of 1v1 combat. Once the proper levers are pulled (possibly all of them in a certain order) the barrier/secret door in the central chamber opens up and let's the part go to the next floor.
I've been looking for a video like this for ages. RUclips algorithm is a blessing and a curse. Thank you! Your content is really well made and creative! Video quality matches some other huge RUclipsrs too! Can't wait for this channel to blow up
Thanks! If you like this one, check out tomorrow's video for more video game inspired dungeon advice.
You mentioned Link’s Awakening! That’s my favorite of the series and why this video caught my attention.
DM: This is one use key, it will snap in two, after you open a door.
Player: Cool! I use *mending*!
An idea for dungeon, an ancient abandoned artificer guild, the keys being specialized explosives, in the key items being ancient ways of interacting with artificer tech
Raising and lowering the water level in a sewer is one of my favorite steals from Zelda.
Some great ideas and tips here. I really like the ‘flow chart’ idea with making the dungeon.
I'm glad I'm not the only DM that likes to borrow from the Zelda dungeons. As a child, the Ocarina of Time dungeons had a major impact on me and I always try to carry some of that philosophy over into DnD. I'm not always successful, as DnD is often open for sequence breaking events (The Cleric uses a spell to melt the stone walls way, as an example). But, the sequence breaking stuff is also fun as it might lead to confusions on the party's side on how to solve the puzzle of the dungeon itself.
It's always amazing seeing what players will do when they don't have the tight restrictions of a video game. Video games, especially the Legend of Zelda, have so many structural lessons DMs can absorb and use in their own games. And that doesn't mean just dungeons. For example, thinking about how quests are structured in video games can give you an excellent template for your own quests.
6:45 *Has a PTSD flashback of Mark Brown's dungeon graphs for Boss Keys* The horror... THE HORROR...
Haha, you're not wrong. It was heavily inspired by his video.
My only regret is that I have but one like to give to the drawings in this video. You guys outdid yourselves making this one.
But then, I shouldn't be too surprised. You can't tell me that nobody at any of your tables have ever at least wanted to respond to picking up an important key item by holding it over their head and singing, "I GOT THE THINNNNG!"
This is a really good and useful video. Thanks.
EDIT: This actually reminds of another video about how Super Metroid designs its levels. A lot of the same principles are in play.
I've watched this video so many times, just trying to make dungeons for my game. My setting is actually a variant of Hyrule. Thank you for keeping me sane.
Thank you for this video. I have been looking for ways to essentially replace some of the dungeons in a module we're working through and these ideas are exactly what I had in mind!
You're very welcome!
Keeping this concept in mind, I have recently been developing a minecart puzzle that sits in a mountain which was loosely based off the Mt Crenel Mines. The map itself has 12 different triggers that allow the minecarts to move forward the next time they ride them.
One of the most pragmatic video i've seen on DMing for a long way. I liked it very much.
"Evil in a can"
I love it!
Don't forget you party may have magic, skills, or brute force a door. Brute force should be a option for most doors if the party is willing to alert everything in a dungeon.
That's cool! Might want to use it for reference...
Another way to deal with the key problem, by the way, might be to make them unusable or consumed in the process of opening said doors, though this does depend on the theme snd type of dungeon
Great, now I got to do this with my sea based campaign, I can figure someway to make this sea worthy.
I got it, I will use this layout as I rip off Assassins' Creed: Under the Black Flag scuba sequences.
Really good video. I like how simply but comprehensive your explanation is.
Thank you. Glad to hear it was easy to understand!
Something else you can take from Zelda dungeons, especially the 3D ones, is hidden loops and shortcuts. Zelda dungeons (especially from Windwaker on) often are designed so that once you’ve fully explored one half of the dungeon it will quite naturally wrap back around to the central hub.
This makes backtracking way less of a pain in the butt and gives a bit of direction to the players.
Often I find in DND dungeons a branching path just ends in a dead end and suddenly the party is either fumbling around in the last room looking for a secret door that doesn’t exist, or they end up backtracking through boring rooms that they already cleared, or I as the DM end up just narrating them back to the central hub anyway, so by designing the dungeon so it automatically loops back around you can save yourself and your players a lot of headache and stay immersed in the dungeon without switching to passive narration mode.
This also can allow for or create fun shortcuts through different sections of the dungeon, which can really add to navigational puzzles if you put some thought into the overall layout - maybe the first “dead end” they found actually also contains a switch that they can only activate with the key item, and with the new looping shortcut opened its now easier than ever to hop back over there and check it out!
Thank you for this useful video.
I'm currently creating my own Zelda-based escape room and I'm looking for good ideas and general guidelines in designing levels.
Glad we could help! Let us know how it goes!
That drawing of 4:40 honestly does feel a lot like Legend of Zelda. And by that, I mean a Breath of the Wild speedrun.
This video is absolutely fantastic, will be sharing down the road, and i have joyfully subscribed
The Zelda item concept is meant to create a growing skillet and power creep so that by the game's conclusion you are indistinguishable from the beginning. While challenging it is possible to replicate in D&D with a small party and with limited casters and careful planning. You get to use the really cool, obscure, items from the DMG like the decanter of endless water!
A similar game feature that may work to the same degree in d&d as the keys in Zelda dungeons was the Sorcerer's Ring in Tales of Symphonia. It was used to solve puzzles, changed in each dungeon based on what it was exposed to, and was useless in combat. It's the perfect mechanic for something like this!
Now if you were to make a Jaquay Zelda dungeon, you wouldn't emerge for a month, but it'd be one super dungeon!
Fantastic video with a lot I can apply right away. Thank you!
Glad you liked it!
this is legit the baest dnd channel, link me other channels like this guys
Really enjoyed your video and will definitely use this as inspiration!
Thank you, glad it was useful!
thank you this is really cool
You should do a video like this on the dungeon design of etrian odyssey
I love this. I have a Rougeless party, but a Wizard AND an Artificer so I enjoy the concept of single use keys that aren't traditional locks and big brain puzzles
an interesting thing about the "key items" is to also think of the "item shaped key hole"
for example, a party exploring the ruins of a very old let's just say dwarven temple encounter a sword in a pedestal, just laying there as if in a museum, an investigarion check revelas that it is just a +1 shortsword with a name and a passage in dwarven that says "the hero of stone" or some title like that. later in the dungeon the ended un discoverying that they could open a door to some nice loot or to move the plot forward if they just leave the sword in the hands of a dwarf statue near but as soon as it is removed the door closes again, a clever party may discover that the dm prepared a way to let them keep the loot and the sword with some specific action chain, but breaking it may ended up needing to restart it or just destroying the sword entirely.
Thank you!
This advice unlocked some stuff in my brain that I badly needed.
I love this - good analysis!
Very nice video! Great tips and well explained. Having the doors open by taking the item Is great. Going to work on my new dungeon now.
New sub
Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
The thing with video games is I'm perfectly happy resetting over and over to check things, or even reading exhaustive descriptions in advance. With a table top group, the most important resource isn't gold, spell slots, or hit points. It's the time of the other people at the table. I've never been a fan of puzzles for this reason, but if your players enjoy working together on puzzles, with multiple people taking the time to trade ideas and weigh their options, I think this can work. I've never had a group with more than one person that enjoys puzzles, and always at least one person who feels mostly excluded whenever the puzzles come up.
This is great inspiration
Great topic!
I used forsaken fortress from windwaker to make a pretty badass dungeon not long ago.
I'm now thinking of a "key" being a small black metal "dung beetle" that rolls certain stone sphere's into sockets. These sphere's could be small or much bigger, but the beetle can always roll it into a particular hemispherical socket. Hmmm.
This Is really helpful, a Dungeon i want to recreate, well especially the mechanic would be a Stone Towers Temple Dungeon from Majoras Mask. I haven't begin to design it but i want the mechanic that the players need to turn upside down the Dungeon to progress to the end.
That would be a really interesting mechanic to implement. Let us know how it turns out for you!
Great video.
That thing with the keys that expend as a ticket you spend, I could make a puzzle where your key to door ratio is low. So you players need to think about what doors they need to open and what keys to pick up and spend. There is at least one solution but not all combinations will work. Of course I'll have a magic button that resets the key's placements and doors will be locked again (having players teleport back to the beginning or making a panel require all players to stand on).
A huge inspiration for dungeons traps and puzzles for me has always been Skyrim nothing made me more excited in that game than exploring a fun new dungeon.
Especially how the end of dungeons almost always lead you back to the entrance.
For a homebrew world/setting/region, this has me feeling like doing something based on the original Zelda's and Link's Awakening's overworld, and referencing the dungeons from Link's Awakening, Ocarina, and Majora. Shoot, let's not forget Awakening's dungeon entrances.
Love it
4:50 This is untrue. The best items are the ones that provide a permanent buff to link that can also be used outside the dungeon to reach areas you couldn't before. The flippers and power gloves are a good example of this. Those items are exciting precisely *because* of the possibilities of their use outside the dungeon. If you give your players bombs, create combat encounters that require bombs. In dnd, players should be rewarded for thinking outside the box. It's only when they create an exploitable, and even worse, predictable way to solve problems that is an issue. If the players use bombs to solve every problem, you've got an issue.
I have an idea for a new title….
Legend of Zelda: The Beacon of Hope
The game would have a dark western cowboy theme like twilight princess but have the vast open layout like breath of the wild and Tears of the Kingdom. The land will be scattered with different ranches, animals, characters, etc… Basically, instead of scattered shrines you will have huge ranches, farms, and villages scattered throughout the land that will be apart of the main story but also used for side quests and item fetching for certain goods that you will need throughout the game. Link is considered an average worker until the story and game progresses and by the end of the game he becomes a real cowboy that saves the land from outside intruders. Dungeons will take place outside of the mainland and into certain areas like forests, mountains, swamps, lakes, caves, etc… Lastly, it will have a dark western theme. Like a combo of Zelda and Red Dead put together!!!! First M rated Zelda game that uses pistols, shotguns, fist fights, blood, gore, profanity, nudity, etc… and new enemies would include alligators and snakes in the deep swamps and giant polar bears in the high snowy mountains. Opening cutscene will have Link getting his ass beat in a fist fight by the toughest rancher and he has to go back to work the next day with a black eye. In the middle of the game Link will have a rematch which will establish him as head rancher and that moment will be the equivalent to him growing up in Ocarina of Time by pulling the master sword. I know this might sound kinda stupid but these were just some thoughts I had LOL but let me know what y’all think??? ⚔️ 🤠
Since being able to cast spells as a way to avoid using certain items or gadgets is one of the problems. Makes me wonder if it's possible to make a dungeon be a "No Magic Zone" where spells can't be used. I imagine you would of course have to explain why but that would also help with making them follow the more Zelda like style of the dungeon you had in mind.
Imagine if the keys acted like a assigned compass to progress, I know that not all scenarios would work for it and the rhyme or reason would need build up but still
For a magical dungeon you could have spell slots be used a keys
I end up relying on dungeon generators too much and not incorporating enough fun mechanics similar to those found in Zelda.
It's easy to do. There's a lot of prep DMs have to do and it's faster to cut corners just so you can be sure you have an encounter done for your next session.
Not a game but I’d kinda like to see home alone houses as dungeons.
algorithmic punch!
Combat verticality of doom
I think it's great for fans of games like Zelda, but it's always struck me as odd that a dungeon would be so logically laid out like a puzzle to be solved. It breaks my immersion to see things like that. Take for example quest items. The reason I like random trinkets in D&D is because it makes them feel more real. Some of my new players got really wrapped up in why they found a red egg on one of the dead goblins. I had just rolled it up on a random trinkets table.
Having said all that, thank you for this video; it's good food for thought about how to create a dungeon.
I think there's a lot of suspension of disbelief that needs to happen for most D&D games. Just think about how world breaking a cantrip like Prestidigitation would be to most societies. While yes, it would be ridiculous for anyone to incorporate a riddle or puzzle into the architecture of their building, we have to remember that it IS fun, and that's what most of us are aiming for. Great comment!
A Zelda dungeon is always going to have a contrived nature to its design. This doesn't have to be a negative if you give your dungeon's history a little thought. Zelda uses the trope of dungeons being a hero's test to ensure you're ready for the final fight. Using similar logic for your own game, maybe this dungeon was constructed by a wizard long ago to protect a particularly dangerous magic item. They created the dungeon with a labyrinth of puzzles not to seal it away forever, but to ensure that whoever does claim it is just as capable as the wizard was. This sort of environmental storytelling can go a long way in getting your players excited for the treasure and feel like increadibly capable adventurers!
Hearing the idea of locked doors in as Zelda style dungeon makes me cringe knowing robes in their ability to just pick any lock. I feel like it would be cheap to have a high DC for the lock unnecessarily to make sure they find the right key. My mind goes to how final Fantasy 10 did the Temple trials. Each Temple had a unique sphere to that temple which ones gathered inside would open another door to another part of the trial. I would implement a unique Lock and Key system like that to force the players to explore and use their heads. I'm all for players using their minds and their abilities wisely, but for dungeons that have a goal in a feel, I would absolutely go for this system.
Lovely video, but I have yet to come across an adventuring party that required a key to open a locked door, or a band of monsters that left keys conveniently distributed around their lair.
Don't be too litteral with "keys" and "locks", its an abstraction of a barrier to progression and a way to overcome the barrier. It could be a litteral locked jail cell with the key in the warden's office, or it could be a wall of force powered by a crystal in another room to be destroyed, or a keyfob like my push button to start car. (Bring magic item near the door and it now opens effortlessly, otherwise you had to spend a level 5 dispell magic and then manhandle the stone door open)
Just be careful with how "modern" the key and lock are (a thumbprint scanner is probably a no go), and with how difficult to bypass with the key the lock is, too difficult and its basically a railroad and too easy and why bother. (A one off puzzle isn't a railroad, a pattern if them can quickly become one. Sometimes there is realistically only 1 solution, but that isn't every time.)
@@jasonreed7522 good answer. Thanks
This probably won't be seen due to how old this video is. But another series with brilliant puzzle box dungeon design is God of War. There's a lot to pull from there.
Uhhh...Weird question but how to make a Call of Cthulu style dungeon or adventure? D&D has a lot of nods to the works of lovecraft and I feel like those could really be used to make a unique campaign and/or dungeon. I know it's possible because mindflayers and other aberrations are iconic to D&D I just have no idea how to execute that idea in any way.
When it comes to survival-horror, setting a mood is way more important than any other normal RPG elements. Slowly building paranoia instead of immediately throwing gross monsters at your players is your best bet. Make them feel uncomfortable by hearing things they can't see or having things be there one second and then gone another. Discomfort is something that has to be slowly built up in order to have the greatest impact.
@@masterthedungeon6094 Thanks! I'll try to incorporate that.
@@vaaccuummcleaner9214 to expand on wht MtD said, its all about the cycle of tension and release. You need periods where tension is rising as you hear creepy things like loons (innocent and beautiful birds that are very loud and creepy at night) and have players slowly stumble upon grisly clues, a corpse that is all twisted up is way more terrifying than just dropping jn whater monster is responsible for spagettifying people.
However, just as important as the tension and build up it the release, the satisfaction of finding out what is up and putting an emd to the mystery/boss monster.
To learn how to effectively do this look up videogame design channels on youtube and browse their horror playlists. Also OSP has a video on Lovecraft's works, the short of it is he was an idiot, racist, and scared of the ocean/unkown. (Focus on fear of the unkown and how fear leads to paranoia and it should help get that twisted lovecraftian vibe we all love)
Great content but I had to nope out from the looping circus music :c
Interesting white paper, but counterpoint: Ain't nobody got time for that. Railroad them. Lie to them. Fudge the dice. You're the DM. You're not running a world simulation. You're herding cats. You're players are going to miss the things they need to pick up on, and fixate on things that have nothing to do with anything and spend an hour at the table trying to dig a hole through the wall next to the door instead of exploring further for a key. Your rogue is going to be pissed that he can't just pick it with his +20 to lockpick. Don't build a maze. Build a place that feels real. No one builds a hallway to nowhere. The best maze for a cat after all is a paper bag stuck on it's head.
This seems like a good idea but requires a lot of heavy lifting by the DM since this type of dungeons requiere a lot of visualization or 3D thinking that doesnt always translate right into DnD with out the proper visual aides
Then again , isometric or perspective maps are not that complicated to make but do require a lot of time for people without knowledge on those skills
Isn't this design the equivalent of leaving the magic keys under the doormat?
i mean, i love me some zelda and i understand the point of the vid but what about rogues? i can see something like an antimagic field protecting a massive iron door to prevent bruteforcing from other classes but as a rogue not being able to do what my PC is designed to do would feel...unfair..ish? maybe put the keys in locked chests but then again it feels a bit weird to do a check in order to retrive an item that you'll use to bypass that same type of check
Don't be too litteral on a key and lock, the key could just be something to help solve a puzzle that the party isn't well suited for. Maybe its a set of rings of waterwalking that let you cross an otherwise uncrossible river (too dangerous to swim, no boats/bridges, cieling too low for the party to fly, or the party just cant fly anyway). As a bonus the key is now viable outside of the dungeon and worst case can be sold for a pretty penny later.
@@jasonreed7522 dunno, i feel the best part is using stuff that is working only for that dungeon otherwise you riske to either give up too many magic items or break the economy around you
Making a Zelda like dungeon is so much easier in GURPS.
I'm not even trying to shill the system, just the fact that the party just doesn't have magic means I get to make obstacles that they won't be able to pass without the correct tools.
A big chasm is suddenly impossible to cross without Fly or Jump and the party has to go, grab the Key item.
Would you believe me if I told you this will help me for my Mario fan game?
what if the dungeon was magic and intelligent, so it rearranges itself to confuse the players?
That sounds like the Labrinthe in Percy Jackson (in myth it was just a maze housing the minotaur, in the books its now a living everchanging maze that is also a potential shortcut between any location in the world, or atleast North America)
One of my favorite ideas for the structuring of the world in D&D is to have depth indicate what layer you are on, in decending order: surface, underground (mines), labrinthe, under dark, underworld (afterlife, if you enter you are considered dead by the creatures running the place and they will try to abduct you to your appropriate afterlife, but you can also rescue dead souls if you dare). If this sort of layering is used then underground races like dwarves, goblins, drow, ect will have an instinctual sense for when they are getting close to one of the layer changes. (Its evolution to not walk into hell on accident) Also the labrinthe isn't the entire layer, it just mainly exists around the boundary with specific entrances cropping up in all sorts of places, it should be easier to enter than to escape, and on exiting it should be mostly random where they come out if they don't have the required items to force/find the correct path through the maze. (Entrances are mostly static on the surface, so you will always be able to enter from a given tavern's cellar for instance)
I highly recommend that you shamelessly steal and refine ideas from all aspects of fiction if you think it will make your game more interesting.
I very nice idea, I will use if the theme of the adventure fits the mechanics. It has to feel real enogth so the players don't have the feeling to play in a video stile game. My playyers at least would not like that, I guess ☺
I do not agree with the zelda way of building a dungeon, sometimes the goblin warrens are just that. A series of tubes and some just don't do anything or go anywhere. I can see it working but sometimes a dungeon just has to be confusing.
Another possible game to borrow from is the Xenoblade chronicles series.
I have novice Blender skills. I can probably make a simple model of the Dungeon and then just move the camera through it, while my laptop's screen is mirrored on the TV.
Description isn't my strong point. And my players are getting lost a lot.
This type of design works great for puzzle based video games. With that said, when employed in a Pen & Paper RPG (not necessarily a Table Top RPG) this really just limits player-character choice while dressed up as options (you can go left OR right! see options). Rhyzvanic has the right of it when they mention the world interacting with the dungeon. This is a dynamic solution to a static problem created by bad design. This kind of solution is exactly what Pen & Paper RPGs are best at doing and where pretty much all other game types falter (currently at least). Creative problem solving is the name of the game, and it is strongest when used liberally by both the DM and the Players Old school RPGs do it best as this is baked in to the ruleset.
locked doors are boring in DnD, use magical effects instead !
Or deliberately hide too few keys and let the players come up with creative solutions.
You do not need to make sure the dungeon is solvable. In my experience, players never think of the same solution you had in mind any way. It is a DM's job to create problems, it is a player's job to create a solution. The DM just has to be open minded. This video would have been helpful if it had engineering tips to create dynamic dungeons like the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time. Keys? That's all you got? Have you ever played D&D? It is not Zelda. You can pick locks, smash doors and cast spells. Keys are optional.
The problem with this type of dungeon design is it's so meta that you feel like your playing a video game. This can work for a Mad Mage esque type of scenario, but most dungeons are not meant to be funhouses or escape rooms, they are usually repurposed forts or natural caves taken over by a local tribe of monsters. Who the fuck builds doors with magic keys to house small treasures. Magic doors and keys have more value than what they protect. A good dungeon should make story sense in your characters' world not to make the players feel nostalgia for old video games. Sorry to come off like an asshole, I love most of your videos, but this one got under my skin.
Perhaps take a breath?
The vid isn't saying create a dungeon *exactly* like a LoZ one
It's saying, take inspiration, ideas, not copy
You get that now, tho - right?