IS THIS DUNGEON IMPORTANT?

Some locations in your game will naturally be more important than others. The evil sorcerer's tower in which he hides the Crystal of Balance? That's certainly more important than the sewers connecting the capital to the countryside, and yet both might be turned into dungeons.

• If a location will be a key part of your session and you know about it in advance, simply decide the style of exploration (scenes, detailed, or interlude) and prepare accordingly (see next page).
• If a location is important and you have to improvise it, only mention the most important details and cut to the chase. Interlude scenes are your best friend, and you should focus on the core reason the Player Characters are here: if there are obstacles in their way, ask for a Group Check and use it to determine whether the PCs reach their objective unhindered or must overcome a challenge. Keep things short and maybe end the exploration with a challenging battle against a Villain!

Still, if you feel like this location deserves more attention, you can pause or end the session and explain that you need some time to prepare.

• If a location isn't particularly important and you have time to prepare it, carefully consider whether you should do so. You will often be fine describing how the heroes traverse the location (a) and maybe calling for one or two Checks — failure might mean getting lost (especially important if the heroes are in a hurry) or encountering some hostile creatures.
• Finally, if a location isn't important and you have to improvise, you should keep things as simple as possible. Just describe the place and have the heroes confront a challenge — a mechanism, a negotiation, or a battle — in order to reach whatever is hidden here.

As you might have noticed already, the core elements of a dungeon are:

• Its style and aesthetics — what it looks and feels like.
• What can be found inside — an objective or a threat.
• What obstacles must be overcome in order to traverse the dungeon.

This is true regardless of the chosen exploration style; the difference lies simply in the level of detail and complexity.

Philip Forlenza (Order #)