…Well almost done.
I am going to sleep on it and take one more read through to make to catch any lingering items, and then I will submit it tomorrow. Once the deadline has passed, I will be posting it on my blog. The current title is “The Dwarven Tomb,” which I may change to “The Dwarven Hall,” as there are no crypts in it, although I was originally planning on having 2 crypt areas. I designed it using excel and power point, and I am happy with the overall dungeon layout. I was able to do just about everything I wanted to. Even though it is basically one level, I was able to create vertical separation in the level, which I think adds an extra element to a dungeon level. I was also able to add a color key concept that would create a bit of a puzzle for the players. The challenge with a one page limitation is that the designer has to keep the design tight, especially considering that the dungeon layout takes up a significant bit of real estate on the page. I suspect that tomorrow I will try to add some last minute content into an already full page.
I will be the first to say that this is a hard dungeon, and is probably a bit harder than I was initially thinking. My gut feel says that this is for 10th -12th level characters. There is a wide range of encounters, with some easy ones and some very challenging levels, which I am very happy with. Also, as a bonus I added a wandering demon grue into the mix, which the GM can have some fun with. As I am writing this, I think I will add another comment in my write up on this as it is just too fun not to.
Looking back on the contest, I had fun creating it, and we shall see what the judges think. I am very interested to see what everyone else is creating as I imagine there will be some very creative designs. My thanks go out to Chatty and team for creating the contest. My personal thought is that this is exactly the type of thing that WotC should be running to generate interest in the game. Paizo doing something a little different as they are running their RPG Superstar contest which is a great way for them to find new talent for their own in house projects. For a design house that needs to stay lean, they need to makes sure that they have a steady pool of designers to tap into. This one page contest is perfect for the fans to get involved in, as it is fairly easy to create. I suspect that this is the first of a number of contests that will in the offering as summer comes along, which I think is great.
