Dungeons Inspired By Immersive Sims

Adam is fully immersed

    

What is Immersive Sims?

First, some clarifications! What is immersive sims? Immersive simulations is a term used about a certain category of video games. Games like Deus Ex, Dishonoured, Prey, System Shock and Thief all fall under this category. This Game Maker's Toolkit video gives an excellent overview of the genre, and its connection to rpgs.

Immersive sims and roleplaying games have a lot in common. Most immersive sims are based on the same principles found in rpgs: Give the player(s) options and tools to explore and solve problems. Don’t force them down a single path, but give them a wide array of options and see what happens.

This is a pretty common way of DMing (at least for the DM’s I know). However, what I really want to focus on in this post is the level design of immersive sims, because I think that DM's can learn a lot from them.

Why are immersive sim level design so interesting? Well, mainly because it has to facilitate a lot of different approaches. Take Prey, one of my favorite modern immersive sims. In that game the player has a lot of different options for traversal. A hacker can use terminals to hack open doors, a character infused with alien tech can polymorph into small objects and squeeze through gaps, a strong character can move heavy objects to open blocked paths, a clever character can use a dart gun to shoot at buttons to open doors, etc. In short, there are a lot of different character options that need to be designed for! This is something I think we can use when designing dungeons.

Previously I posted a dungeon creation checklist (link). I am going to use that checklist, and add some points that will (hopefully) help you in creating more complex spaces that facilitate more player choices. This time I had some help from Sigve, from Revenant's Quill.

We created this checklist with a space station in mind and focused on areas of the space station. However, it should be fairly simple to adapt this into a fantasy or post apoc setting. The main difference is that the list will create an area that someone lives (or lived) in, whereas a dungeon can be created to be sealed away.

Okay, so I just bolded the word area - why? That’s because this checklist will help us create an area in a larger complex. By area I mean a collection of rooms, created with a purpose. For example the recreation section of a space station, or the engine rooms of a spaceship. Think of areas as dungeon levels, although they don’t have to be on different levels, or each area can span several levels.

Allright! Lets go!

What and Where

This part is mostly the same as in the previous blogpost, but with some alterations. We need to find out some general things about this area.

1. Where is this area placed? At the top of the space station, in its core, on its own
2. What necessary function does it serve? Power plant, green house, medical sector, housing
3. Who lives here now? The main inhabitants of this area. Monsters, scientist, androids, nobody
4. How many rooms are there? Around 5 is a good start.
   
   Zones: Split the area into several zones, based on function or access level. There are often 3 different types of zones:
   

   Primary zones (normal access for everyone)
   Technical zones (restricted access for selected personnel)
   Function zones (sewage, machine rooms, life support hubs)
5. Why should anyone travel there? Resources? Knowledge? The entrance to something larger? Revenge? Does somebody there need help?

Things to include

This is a list of things you must have in each area:
You can have multiple of these in each room or zone.

1. Someone who lives or works here. Create at least 4 persons. They can be dead, be in this area, or be in another area. However, there must be traces that they were here. Post it notes, audio logs, equipment or clothing, etc.
2. Multiple ways into each room. There must be at least one secret and one obvious way into each room within the area.
   
   I know this can be hard, but if you are having trouble it’s okay to bend the rules. For example, creating multiple ways to open a door counts.
3. A terminal for critical functionality. A computer that controls surveillance, ventilation, doors, machinery, or similar objects. The computer can control only one system or multiple. Whatever makes sense.
4. A storage of handy items. Turrets, medicine, guns, parts to fix stuff, etc. This will open up a lot of options for the players.
5. A tool to open new paths. Something used to hack doors, something that can cut through steel, something that helps with lifting heavy items, something explosive. You can make it limited in its number of uses.
6. Player handouts. Audio logs is a common trope within the genre. Handouts like key codes, passwords, post it notes, and recordings helps to make the area more lived in and believable.
1. These handouts can easily be combined with the previous steps, and can for example open something locked, or be a small part in a bigger puzzle.
   
2. They can also tell the story of the area. A point of view from the people that lived or worked here.
   

And now, things you should include in the area:
You can include multiple of these in each room or zone, or one in each. You don’t need to include them all, but each room should at least have one.

1. Something obvious. The way out, the way onward, a gigantic hole in the floor, a statue.
2. Something locked. A door, a chest, an elevator, a cart to another section. These can for example be locked by a key code (for example 0451), or need a tool to open. If this leads into a restricted area, guards can serve as the “lock”.
3. Something dangerous. Traps, monsters, other adventures, exposed electricity, the void
4. Something that changes you. Alien technology, disease, horrifying stuff
5. Something hidden. A secret room, a hidden treasure, a secret exit
6. Something weird. Something that does not belong here. Is it from another planet? From another galaxy? From another dimension?
7. Something valuable. Treasure, how to defeat a bad guy, a prototype weapon, knowledge long forgotten, a map