Consider Removing Doors From Your Dungeons (Dungeon Design Tips)

We've all had that moment in a dungeon crawl where we find ourselves at a door, asking whether or not to open it. After all, doors represent the possibility of risk. It might be trapped. There might be an ambush on the other side of it. There might be a hoard of treasure. Or it might just be an empty bunkhouse, a derelict kitchen, or a broom closet.

However, doors also serve another purpose we don't often think about as Game Masters... they segregate the arenas where things take place. After all, ask yourself when was the last time a monster opened the door instead of the player characters? When was the last time something occurred  that drew enemies, curses, or even allies from beyond this current room/location when there were doors present?

While doors have their uses, this week I want us all to consider what might happen if we take a few of them off their hinges, and ask how that would change things in the games we run.

Consider, for example, the archway and its implications.

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What Happens If You Remove The Doors?

Consider, for a moment, the humble door. At its most basic, this door represents an action sink; it typically takes some kind of resource for someone to open the door, leaving them unable to use more of their turn (especially if an ambush occurs or a trap goes off once the door is open). It also, as has been mentioned, functions as a kind of boundary (in our minds, if not on the board). Because yes, we might be academically aware that the thin, wooden door isn't going to stifle the sound of a barbarian's roar of bloodlust, or the blast of the gunslinger's weapon, but nine times out of ten it doesn't matter how raucous the combat is. As long as no one opens the next door, nothing is going to come to where the party is because it's out-of-bounds in our minds. Sure, monsters might hear a commotion, but they'll just set up an ambush behind the door, and wait for the party to come to them.

Who knows what the hell is behind these doors?

Now take a moment, and ask yourself what would happen if you put your players in a dungeon that didn't have doors in it... or at least had significantly fewer doors. Perhaps there were once doors, and they've rotted out in the dank. Maybe the doors were smashed out during a previous siege, or maybe the location merely has grand archways that never had doors in them at all. You might have hanging curtains for privacy, or even chains and beads, but nothing really separating one room from another.

Do you have that image clearly in your head? Good. Now ask yourself what kind of dynamic movements this lack of doors offers for your game.

Take your traditional setup for a dungeon, where the party comes in from the south to a big, square room that has additional doors to the north, west, and east. Think of it almost like entering a dungeon in Legend of Zelda. Instead of just dealing with whatever the threat in this main chamber is, unconnected from anything else, your party is now acting in an organic environment. Can they sneak past the goblin guards in the main room, angling themselves into the side chamber? If they begin combat, what will it take to draw the interest of any other forces in the complex? What kind of patrols of monsters exist that they have to be concerned with?

And, most importantly, how will the party (or their enemies) use these open doors to their strategic advantage?

Does the paladin stand in the doorway behind his tower shield, protecting the ranger while they ply their bow? Does the rogue duck into the shadows, sneaking from one archway to another to stab unsuspecting foes in the back, or to fire their crossbow unseen? Does the dynamic space make the ability to shape the battlefield with illusions, smoke bombs, or other forms of concealment more powerful? Does the party genuinely have to contend with size restrictions, using narrow spaces to thwart larger foes, or grappling with smaller enemies who retreat into crawlspaces that leave bigger characters easy prey?

These are all questions we don't really think about when we're sectioning off the parts of a dungeon in our minds, and constructing specific arenas that have specific, laid-out challenges for our players to deal with. But when we open up the entire dungeon, and treat the whole thing as one, connected, Rube Goldberg device that's ready to go off with movements the party can only partially stop, it can become a much greater challenge.

So Where Should There Be A Door?

Now, it's perfectly possible to build an entire dungeon without a single door in it. After all, hallways, thresholds, stairs, and other locations are still perfectly viable locations for traps, ambushes, and so on. However, doors do still serve a valuable purpose, and there are several places they should be. But their presence should feel organic, rather than taken for granted. For example:

- Exterior Doors: These doors keep out invaders as well as the weather. Whether the doors are huge, like castle gates, or relatively small like postern doors, these are meant to be serious barriers that are not overcome lightly.

- Security Doors: Typically found at a choke point, think of the sort of doors you'd find at the entrace to a cell block in a prison, or for gaining access to a deeper part of a castle or fortress. These doors are meant to be defensible, and difficult to pass through without a key, the proper tools, a spell, or some combination thereof.

- Vault Doors: The ultimate door, a vault is the highest possible security. Whether it's defending some great treasures, or it's keeping unfathomably dangerous beings locked away, these doors are typically strong enough that you can't just smash through them with brute force even if you have time to try. They require a combination, answers to a riddle, or even proper spells to open.

Now, other than these big three categories, ask yourself why interior doors are necessary in a given location. Because if access is meant to be free and easy (such as between the back and front of a shop or a tavern), then chances are good there will just be a curtain, or at most a swinging, batwing-style door. The doors of an inn are likely to be closed off to give guests privacy, and the doors of a prison are locked and barred to prevent escape. But will the huts and cottages in a village even have interior doors? Or exterior doors, for that matter? Would an aging castle exposed to the elements for centuries still have doors now, even if it once did? What need for privacy would a crypt have, especially if there was nothing valuable buried inside the vaults? Would a place meant to be open to the public, like a church, have more than a handful of doors to ensure only specific people could easily access specific locations?

Again, whether a door does or doesn't belong on the map is a choice that's ultimately up to you. However, it is worth stopping to ask how we let the presence of doors funnel us into one-challenge, one-arena thinking, which can make an RPG feel far more like a game, and far less like an unfolding experience for your players... good or bad.

However, if you do want to have doors in your dungeons, consider using some of the following resources:

- 100 Doors To Find In A Dungeon (as well as a Pathfinder version)

- 100 Secret Doors To Find In A Dungeon (which also comes with a Pathfinder version)

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