Childlike Dungeons

[TRP]

Inspired by Dungeon Dork's post in the Anyone reading any fantasy novels? thread.

I was working on a dungeon map and she kept asking which room was bilbo's and which room belonged to the goblins.
She also made me roll her a character which she insisted was a "bad wizard" and that she wanted to turn Bilbo into a bunny rabbit.
I'm also commanded to roll dice and report to her how many points she gets which is always responded to with "Aw, Man!" no matter how good she rolls.

Dork, you should totally let her stock your dungeon. I mean literally. Don't fudge what she says to make it "fit" into a "real" game setting. If she says "Bilbo goes here", then Bilbo Baggins himself goes right there. And, if the bad wizard tries turning everyone into Peter Cottontails, then so much the better.

Has anyone ever tried this? I mean, w/o editing the child at all. Not one tiny bit. Mine's a teen with a little RPG experience, so that experiment is blown for me.

[Flambeaux]

I haven't tried it, yet. But now I might just. I seem to be in need of a dungeon that a certain party has just started exploring...

[Juju EyeBall]

Here is a room she helped me design:

I drew it in pen and marker and then she "finished" it with crayon



The text is small but here is the gist of it:
The Cave of the Majick Chair
Deep in some forgotten cave is the Majick Chair.
If you can climb down the rushing waterfall without being impaled on
the stalagmites below you can climb the steps to the shelf of rock
where the Majick Chair is.
Behind it is a locked door.
The chair will only function if there is one person in the room.
My daughter says the effects of the chair are as follows if the chair
is sat in:

1. A bunch of spiders come out.
2. You pop out of the chair (?)
3. A man comes out and he is a monster (?)
4. You turn into a rock (I decided these are all the stalagmites, a
keen observer will notices they seem to have screaming faces)
5. The stairs turn into mud
6. The Majick Door opens.

It still needs some refinement but I think it has potential.
It reminds me of the kinds of rooms you find in solo-adventure books.

[Abacus Ape]

That is absolutely fantastic!

[JCBoney]

Yes, it is... and it's also more imaginative than 99% of the 2e and 3e crap I've seen over the couple of decades.

[TRP]

Yes, it's terrific!

Also, that's a nice perspective drawing you have there, Dork. You show something like that to the players, give them rough HxWxL dimensions and let 'em have it.

[Juju EyeBall]

Thanks guys, I'll let her know you liked it.

[JamesEightBitStar]

Hmmm... so in short the only way to open the Magick Door and get to go through it is to let the Chaotic Evil thief sit on the chair.

[jgbrowning]

Hmmm... so in short the only way to open the Magick Door and get to go through it is to let the Chaotic Evil thief sit on the chair.

Sheep. That's why you bring sheep.

joe b.

[Eric Kile]

Oh! the chair list should be kept as it is! When you pop out you of course get thrown onto the stalacmites? tites.. whatever!

I myself have been creating a monster manual from the mind of my 6 year old daughter.

So far we have the:

Red-eyed fly
big as a cat (10-12lbs), glowing red eyes, and will do anything to get at food stores or rations in packs!

The Night walker
it lives in vegatable patches, has a head like a pumpkin, is semi-invisible, only attacks under cover of fog.

[/quote]

[Juju EyeBall]

Also, that's a nice perspective drawing you have there, Dork. You show something like that to the players, give them rough HxWxL dimensions and let 'em have it.

Thanks, I do these sometimes for a little added flavor...

Heres a trap thats already done its job.



I'll put up some more sometimes, I've got stacks and stacks of these scribbles laying about.

[WSmith]

So young, but so old school.

[Wheggi]

Do you mind if I put this in my megadungeon? I'm serious. It would be a perfect fit.

- Wheggi

[Philotomy Jurament]

That's great stuff. I love that the chair only works with one person in the room; that's a really nice old school touch.

My oldest daughter and her cousin made their own RPG, and I've kept some of the character sheets and maps and such. I'll have to scan them in, at some point. My oldest son has been running a Labyrinth Lord game, recently. It's been fun for me to play. I'm a magic user with horrible stats, and I've been having an absolute blast. I named him Ferdinous the Fortuitous, but since I'm always holding a lantern, I've re-named him Ferdinous the Luminous. My nephew (who plays a Thief named "Lightning," but who everyone has taken to calling "Rat-man") was making fun of my bad stats until I pointed out that I had four (charmed) NPC fighters under my influence, so I get four "attacks" a round. (heh heh...and they questioned my choice of charm person as my only spell...)

(You should submit some of your art to Fight On! and Knockspell.)

[Matthew]

Very entertaining. I wonder what else is behind the magic door...