
There are two primary sources that I draw upon when designing Mini-Dungeons. The first is the concept of the “The 5 Room Dungeon.” The good folks over at Nerds on Earth have a pretty good summary, and it’s one I keep in my back pocket whenever it comes time to sit down and bang out another example of the genre. Sing along with me if you know the words:
- Entrance
- Puzzle
- Setback
- Boss Fight
- Reward
âFloor is Spidersâ follows the formula to the letter. The dungeon entrance is a door + trap combo, representing a classic âguardianâ encounter. Get past the initial âspidal waveâ and into the dungeon proper, and youâve got a combination roleplay encounter / skill challenge. Players have to negotiate the puzzle presented by untrustworthy NPCs, as well as a bizarrely arachnid mechanical bull. Next comes the setback, as staying in the spiderâs saddle for the full eight seconds brings trouble rather than entry to the boss chamber. The party will have to hustle for a key item hidden in one of the âlower leg crypts,â taking out low-level monsters before they can combine into an overwhelming threat. Whether the party sneaks in through secret doors or completes the dungeonâs central lock-and-key puzzle, the dungeon climax comes as the party faces off against their demonic tormentor in a standup boss fight. Finally, the blessings of the Spider Queen wait at the altar, providing a suitably spider-themed reward for all who have proven themselves worthy.
Itâs all conventional, but these are some extremely useful conventions. If youâre a DM, youâve likely heard about 5 Room Dungeons before. Chances are youâve designed a few yourself. Theyâre a perfect bite-size serving for a typical four hour game night, and they follow a lovely narrative arc: exposition at the entrance leads to rising action in the challenges and a climax in the boss chamber.
I mentioned a second source of inspiration though, didnât I? I hope youâll bear with me, because this oneâs more obscure. And even if youâve got a binder full of 5 Room Dungeons in your game room, Iâm willing to bet youâve got fewer encounters featuring the âmake-believe theory of representation.â
This second source of insight stems from my background as a game studies scholar (wish me luck knocking out my doctorate this semester). You can get the full summary of this aesthetic theory at Prop Theory in a Nutshell, but the TLDR (courtesy of game designer Chris Bateman) is this: âRepresentations are props in games of make-believe that (via certain principles) prescribe specific imaginings as to what is true in the fictional world the prop thus establishes⌠This general formula remains the same for childrenâs toys, works of art, and for games.â
Philosophically, this is known as âkind of a lot.â So let me clarify what is meant by âprops in games of make-believe.â
Letâs begin by imagining a tree stump. Suppose it looks vaguely like a bear. In the âgame of imaginationâ we play with that stump, it represents a bear. And so, for purposes of prop theory, Monetâs blobs of paint suggest water lilies in much the same fashion. Theyâre all âimaginary gamesâ that we conjure with the props at hand.
With me so far? Good. Because TRPGs function as props too, serving as they do to conjure imaginary worlds. But hereâs what makes TRPGs particularly interesting within this framework. Rather than richly and vividly representing, TRPGs are rife with lacunae. Just look at any blank character sheet or rough-sketched session outline waiting to be filled with player hijinks and unexpected detours. That fill-in-the-blanks quality serves an important aesthetic function. Thatâs because deciding who gets to fill in the blanks is an important question. Itâs the difference between authorized and unauthorized games.
When my cartographer pals at AAW Games hand me a map, it becomes a prop in my personal game of imagination. Because Iâm the author of âFloor Is Spiders,â the words Iâve written and the encounters I describe become part of the mini-dungeonâs authorized game. Think of this as roughly synonymous with the canonical version of âFloor Is Spiders.â When you run my Mini-Dungeon exactly as-written, youâre participating in that same authorized game.
Hereâs where things get fun though. The minute you add the secret Chemical X of player agency, youâre producing your own unauthorized game. Everything thatâs unique to your playthrough â the PCs and their backstories; ad hoc rules calls; the homebrew setup that leads your campaign to the doors of Yx’larakâs spider-themed gauntlet â becomes a part of your unauthorized âFloor Is Spidersâ playthrough.
The implications for game design are endlessly intriguing to me. Where conventional media relegates your participation to fan fiction status, roleplaying games straight up DO NOT FUNCTION without your input. That means my job as a designer is to authorize your unauthorized game. Itâs my sacred duty as an adventure writer to give you props to play with, just like I was given a map to fill up and make my own. In that sense, weâre all participating in a single sequence of imaginative play. When you sit down to run my Mini-Dungeon, youâre playing in the same game of imagination as me. That happens to be true for every module on the market. Itâs just that the workflow of AAWâs Mini-Dungeons (get map > fill map with encounters) happens to make the similarity uncommonly clear (get Mini-Dungeon > fill Mini-Dungeon with gameplay).
I may not be in the room chucking dice with you. You might not accept all my ideas into your campaign. But if youâre taking bits and pieces of âFloor Is Spidersâ and adding your own spin, weâre still creating a new world together. I sincerely hope itâs a good one⌠even if it happens to be full to bursting with spiders.
Claire Stricklin is, in no particular order, a California native, planeswalker, Ithaca College grad, warrior poet, arts advocate, greyhound enthusiast, and Game Master. Sheâs penned a number of adventures for AAW Games set in the great trade city of Hordenheim, developed the monstrous continent of Trectoyri in The Veranthea Codex, and writes the Handbook of Heroes webcomic. She is currently a PhD student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which she has somehow tricked into letting her write a dissertation about TRPG podcasts.