Kilan Larsen
DnD Map Design 3
What Happened?
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During the third playtest of my updated map "The Crawling Caverns", Valerie and Elliot chose to play as a rogue and a warrior. This time, they started as weaponless prisoners locked in the back of the cave, unaware of the recent alien outbreak. They watched a quick scripted event where a prison guard fought the crawlers (teaching about the 'alien' enemies and their behaviors), and then he died next to their cell allowing the players to loot the guard for items and unlock the cell door. The players grabbed the torch on the wall and proceeded forward carefully. The warrior briefly attempted to swim in the underwater passage, but the complete darkness drove him back towards the first checkpoint. They then found and killed the crawler nearest to the prisoner on the left side of the cave. The prisoner beckoned for them to save him, but the players refused until he offered his pickaxe in return. After releasing the prisoner, the players forced him to walk in front and help search for crawlers, which he did reluctantly. The crawler next to the boulders was discovered and killed, and the boulders were broken up by the pickaxe. The players looted the two guard corpses, and moved towards the boss. Once again they forced the prisoner to scout the area, and he was quickly attacked and killed by the boss. The players pulled through with little trouble though, and made a successful escape.
The Map
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Because I needed to change the map to have a 'prison break' theme in an 'alien post-apocalypse' setting, I decided to change the start of the map from the cave entrance to the deepest part of the cave within a locked cell. This changes the goal from "adventure inwards" to "get out", while keeping most of the rest of the level's design intact. Because of this change, I needed a new method of teaching the players about the crawlers, and a method for them to escape from their cell. I combined these two needs into a quick cutscene/scripted event in which a prison guard fights off some crawlers and gets killed in the process, allowing you to loot the keys and some weaponry off his corpse. This maintains the semi-linear gameplay that I had in version 2 of the map, as players are forced to see and do certain things, and then they are left to tackle the rest of the map however they like.
Player Flow & Choices
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For the start of the map, the first forced path and key event makes sure that the players know what the enemies can do, and that they have the weapons to defeat them. Then the map opens up and the players can choose a multitude of paths to get to the end. They are rewarded for exploring with optional items that can help them in the upcoming fight.
The second forced path ensures that the players find the antidotes required to fend off poison damage, and fight the boss (who can poison them). It also provides a great spot for a checkpoint in case the players die against the boss. Once the players prove their skill against the boss and defeat it, they are rewarded by being allowed to escape from the cave and complete the level.
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This style of semi-linear design worked really well to keep the level interesting and enable the players to do what they wanted, while also maintaining some control over things.
The Monsters, NPCs, and Environment
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The monsters needed to be scaled up in order to compensate for the increased attack power, defense, and health of the players. I roughly doubled most of their stats which seemed about right. I also tripled the boss's health, as dying would now mean resetting back to the last checkpoint rather than total failure of the mission. However the boss's low attack value was no match for the high defense of the warrior and it was unable to deal much damage. Additionally, poison was less threatening since the players had a larger health pool.
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The addition of an NPC in the map was a small but very welcomed change by the players. They enjoyed negotiating with the prisoner, and (cruel as it may be) liked being able to manipulate him to help search for crawlers. I definitely think his presence helped flush out the world-building and interactivity of the level quite a bit.
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Because the players could no longer cast a 'light' spell at will, I made sure to place torches throughout the cave which they can grab and take with them. This provided a solid replacement light source in the form of an item. It also makes logical sense that a cave being used as a prison would have some sort of artificial lighting in it, so that the guards could see what the prisoners were up to.
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Improvements to Make​
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This version of the map was just as solid as version 2 if not better, although it could use some balancing of the monster stats and placements to provide a little more challenge. In addition, I think the cluster of boulders across the water may be seen as too risky for players to attempt, or the reward too little to make it worth it. Additionally, without a magical light source the underwater tunnel is too dark to be much of a viable path, and likely needs its own source of light to entice players to use it more often (perhaps an iridescent plant in the water?). Other than that I'm quite happy with how the play-testing went!