I want to write 52 rooms this year (one for each week), that could be dropped into any dungeon or location and work on their own. This is primarily to personally use while running games, but maybe something more GMs could enjoy.

In this blog, I record my thoughts for the rooms made. Previous entries:

January + February

#9 Webbed Man

A staple that I myself first encountered in Skyrim. Webs are always interesting materials, and I’m actually tinkering with some other ways to explore them as well. They also indicate the presence of spiders, and although this room doesn’t contain one, the webbed man will fuel the party’s arachnophobia.

#10 Buried in Sand

Purely environmental obstacles are rare. It’s a fine line communicating that the party hit a dead end, and that they can overcome the obstacle barring the way. In this case, the stair descending into the sand should indicate that the path continues down. And… further digging into the sand might return some nice trinkets.

#11 Floating Rug

I’m familiar with two kinds of magical rugs; floating and smothering ones. This room / encounter combines the two. It presents itself as the former, but reveals itself to be the latter. Hopefully the environmental elements clue the party in.

#12 Hibernation

This room is completely avoidable. It’s a dead end with no real reward, except maybe for stealing the trap. It’s an exercise of foreshadowing, where the type of trap signals the type of adversary the party is about to meet. That same trap hints at their weakness as well.

#13 Chilled Out

I like an obstacle that tells a story. In this case, the story is an easy reward as well. It’s important to not have every situation be a “gotcha” to the players, as they might stop to engage with uncertain situations. The ice barrier is a safe obstacle, although probably a time-consuming one.

#14 Chandelier Swing

Mimics are a classic. The trope has them often disguised as treasure chests, but it's always fun to let them embody other objects as well. Monsters hanging from the ceiling provide their own challenges as well. The broken mirrors should hint the party that something’s up, especially since the chandelier itself seems undamaged.

#15 The Portal

While there’s a lot of pathways available already, it’s always fun to let a room create some more. This portal will lay a connection to a random other location. To make it even more dynamic, the portal also has the potential to return its users back home! Or… to another world entirely.

#16 Treasured Find

I have fond memories of Indiana Jones trying to switch out a piece of treasure on a pedestal, hoping to avoid disaster. That’s the scene that this room tries to recreate. Instead of a rolling boulder though, we have some cannibals: they use this room as a food supply.

Now Get Lost!

That’s it for the past 2 month’s rooms. Follow me to tag along with the project. If there are any specific rooms you’d like to see, don’t hesitate to comment down below! Otherwise, I hope to see you around next time

Cheers,
Willem-Jan

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