Dungeon-Crawling
Roll for initiative and an unforgettable experience on a shoestring budget
By Andrea Nash-Boynton
Photos: Kankuk Kamps
With furrowed brows, the six campers consult each other in hurried whispers. Coming from all walks of life and ranging from 8 to 17 years old, they are locked in a battle for their lives . . . well, their characters’ lives. There are multiple, fervent glances at the nearby staff member, who smiles innocently but reveals nothing. The campers quickly return their attention to the immediate problem and map out their strategy.
Photo: © Can Stock Photo / edna
“I roll for…” says the eldest camper.
“Wait, I need to buff you first,” says the youngest camper, who frantically rolls a set of dice before going through the casting motions with a hand-carved wand. “Fifteen. Do I succeed?”
“You successfully cast the spell,” the Game Moderator (GM) responds. At those words, the young camper quickly explains the bonus that the eldest will now gain. The group members pump their fists in the air before returning to their adventure. While actions have consequences, the party knows its success will be achieved by relying on each other’s specific talents and skills. This feeds into their confidence.
A casual observer would never have known that some of the campers actively struggled with their communication and even disliked each other at the start of the week.
Coming To Life
Dungeon-crawling is a role-play adventure. A group of three to six campers develop and act their character while a staff member narrates the adventure and makes the world come to life. Dungeon-crawling increases communication, promotes long-term strategic thinking, requires teamwork, stimulates resourcefulness, encourages ingenuity, and teaches conflict resolution. The beauty of dungeon-crawling is it can be done either virtually or in-person. The necessary budget depends on how complex a camp wants the game to be. A low-end budget would be $2 per party to purchase a deck of cards and dice for the party to share. Campers record their characters’ stats and spells in a notebook they have brought, while staff members draw the dungeon on a piece of paper. A higher-end budget can be more than $2,000 to outfit 250 campers with their own dice rollers, laminated spell cards, loot bags, ingredient cards, reusable-map tile sets for GMs, etc.
While there are existing systems (e.g., Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowrun), it is important to double-check any system’s copyright information before implementing the game. Many systems do not allow for mass-group implementation without possessing a commercial license before distributing copies of required books. However, it is very easy for a camp to design and implement its own system. Those who have never designed a combat system should do some research on role-playing video games and tabletop systems. The designers will discover commonalities as well as likable and unlikable features. The ideal system will be one that allows campers the greatest freedom of choice on their character concept and is not math-intensive. Remember, the system can always be expanded once the camp population gains a better understanding of the basics.
Once you know which combat system you will be using, you will then want to choose a dungeon-crawl module. There are plenty of free modules on the internet, or you can design your own. YouTube has a host of tutorials on how to design an effective dungeon-crawl. The length of time a party has to explore a map will directly correlate with the size of the dungeon. Plan for two to three rooms per hour. Furthermore, a camp has a golden opportunity to relate the dungeon-crawls back to the overall camp story or theme.
For Best Results
Photo: Courtesy Of Andrea Nash-Boynton
There are several tricks that will help implement a dungeon-crawl:
Prepare as much as possible before campers arrive. An online survey can be administered to help campers develop their characters, which allows campers to begin playing immediately upon arrival. If you go that route, consider asking campers if you should complete the sheet for them based on descriptions of their characters. First-time players may prefer this option, since describing a concept can be less daunting than filling out a form with unfamiliar fields.
Create a player’s handbook that briefly explains dungeon-crawling 101, and how combat will work. It is recommended that examples be provided in the handbook as well as the making of video tutorials. Families may appreciate a video showing staff members playing through a short dungeon-crawl in order to see the game in action.
Provide hands-on tools to help campers. Having different color beads on a sliding string helps illustrate how many “hit points” a player’s character still has. Spell cards, potion cards, and stat cards help remind campers of what options they have if they get stuck. Tangible loot encourages trades and teaches resource management.
For the more-experienced campers, allow them to run different “shops” during free time. Campers can turn in their loot for in-game coins, purchase upgrades for their character, make trades, and even re-spec for a fee.
Still, staff members need to be cautious of some potential pitfalls. The first is having dice in an open container. They will easily fall out and may become lost, and there is no guarantee a flat surface will be available when acting out a dungeon-crawl on trails or around activity grounds. Cheap plastic containers can easily become scratched. Clear specimen cups with a lanyard that is pulled through the top will create a durable dice roller that can last for a season. The second pitfall is having only a few people who are responsible for the dungeon-crawls. Even if other staff members are not slated to be a GM, they should have an understanding of the combat system and the adventures so they can help with questions. Their enthusiasm is contagious.
Here are some additional recommendations:
Test dungeon-crawls with other staff members before the season begins. This not only will give staff members time to experience the stories as a player will before leading the campers, but it can also double as a team-building exercise.
Use a more inclusive and gender-neutral definition for the abbreviation of GM. Some possible examples to consider are Game Manager, Game Moderator, Guide of Mayhem, or even Guardian of Mystery.
Pair staff members into teams. A staff member may be nervous if he or she has never GM’ed before. Partnering staff members allows one to serve as lead GM and the other as a Logistics Officer (LO). The GM’s job is to focus on the storytelling, while the LO assists new campers with 1:1 help, dispensing loot and monitoring the integrity of dice-roll results. This allows the LO to gain confidence as the dungeon-crawls occur. If no one on the team has been a GM before, YouTube has a lot of tutorials, and practice is the best tutorial of all.
Andrea “Ash” Nash-Boynton is the Camp Director and Founder of Trefoil Academy in Virginia. She has over 13 years of experience in the camp field and 19 years in live-action role-play. Trefoil Academy is a live-action, role-play camp dedicated to providing a safe place for individuals to discover and explore their passions without fear of negativity. She is also the author of “101 Ways to Strategically Shift Your Camp Culture.” Reach her at trefoilacademy@gmail.vt.edu.