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One crucial aspect of creating a fantasy dungeon that can make the difference between a great one and a mediocre one is its location. Too many people gloss over the location, choosing instead to put their full focus on designing both the outside and the inside and at the end of the day, they just stick it in a place they think will work. No, you want to put it in an area that not only makes sense, but the environment naturally funnels you towards it. This especially applies to the steel dungeon.
While not a member of the elemental dungeon family, the steel counterpart is a sharp departure from the norm in that it revolves around man-made objects instead of nature. This industrial dungeon is rarer than its elemental brethren, especially in fantasy worlds where the industrial revolution hasn’t arrived yet.
The industrial dungeon is far more flexible than many others since it comes in many different designs and there’s no specific location that it belongs in. This gives designers great leeway in crafting one without having to adhere to a certain set of guidelines.
Exploring the inside of the dungeon, you’re amazed at everything you see. From the assembly lines to the humming noises of machines moving around, you can’t believe how your world’s advanced in terms of technology. This makes you want to leave no rock unturned!
For a dungeon that features industry, you see far more machine-made monsters than organic lifeforms. Just because they’re made of machine parts doesn’t mean they’re any less dangerous than their breathing counterparts. Quite the opposite, they’re more lethal since they’re programmed to eliminate outsiders.
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Location plays a great role in setting the mood for a dungeon. Exploring the area outside it gives you a preview of coming attractions. The goal here is to integrate the steel dungeon with its immediate surroundings.
The industrial dungeon prominently features industry, both on the exterior and interior. This is because steel isn’t something you can find in nature. Instead, it’s created from iron. As such, its designs ought to reflect that it’s man-made.
How does one go about designing a dungeon that revolves around steel? One way is to make it true to its roots. Go with a factory or industrial-like plant that has smokestacks belching gases into the air. In this vein, it could be considered an industrial dungeon. The factory/plant is a popular variation of the steel dungeon.
Another key design of this dungeon type is a storage facility, akin to a warehouse. It’s a massive building that takes up quite a bit of land which means it’s rather hard to miss. In some cases, it’s guarded by a gate that restricts access only to authorized personnel.
There’s even more different styles than the ones covered here. In some worlds, steel is synonymous with industry so designing one that has a manufactural component will suffice so the sky is the limit there!
What are the best places to put a steel dungeon? After all, steel is created from something else so the dungeon ought to be near a major resource source like a forest or mountain. You could even put it in the mountain and have the whole dungeon be a factory showcasing the whole production chain from the beginning to the end!
Put it in an area that makes sense and where your audience feels like it really fits there. It’ll make them more immersed in your world and that ought to be your primary goal.
Moving into the inside of the steel dungeon, you want every inch of it to feel man-made, not natural. This should be evident right at the beginning, when you first enter it. This industrial dungeon showcases the advancements in technology your world’s made.
There’s a roaring sound of machines or other contraptions which can also represent the sounds of progress. Things are put together faster than ever before. You see raw materials undergoing transformations as they travel up and down conveyor belts which you can travel alongside with, taking great care to avoid being ground to a pulp.
The industrial dungeon is always busy and it never stops. There isn’t even one moment to rest, for everything is constantly on the go with no signs of slowing anytime soon. Between fending off the monsters and avoiding the machines as they piece things together, you have no time to catch your breath and before you know it, the door leading to the boss is in front of you!
All the constant activity going on in the steel dungeon highlights how dangerous this place is. Besides all the machines, you have to contend with fast-moving conveyor belts that can cause you to lose your footing in a number of seconds and volatile, combustible chemicals that are used up in creating the product where if you touch it, you’ll regret it. Every now and then, something will malfunction which will cause things to fly in many directions. There’s nothing more dangerous than a shard of metal flying across the room.
In some ways, this industrial dungeon feels cold and impersonal. Production never ceases, which means there’s no break time. As you progress through the dungeon, you see nothing but machines creating things with no signs of humans around. The walls and rooms have no windows which means the only light in these parts are coming from the fluorescent bulbs on the ceiling.
You realize you’re in a soulless environment where everything revolves around assembling and shipping out products. Whatever feeling or emotion there was in this place no longer exists, having been replaced by a never-ending assembly line that has no emotion nor the ability to think.
Machine-made monsters rule the roost in the steel dungeon. While there’s a few natural lifeforms here and there, they pale in comparison to those made of machine parts. This makes exploring this area more of a challenge since it’s harder to take down machine monsters since they have few weaknesses.
One type of baddie you definitely will see in the industrial dungeon is the robot. Even though there’s many different types of robots, the bottom line is that each one has a set of instructions to carry out. Most likely, you’ll fight those assigned to guard or patrol duties and they have a wide repertoire of weapons at their disposal from swords to laser beams.
Another type of machine minions is those that resemble tools. Nuts, bolts, and screwdrivers are just some of the monsters based on tools who hang around in the rooms and corridors of the steel dungeon. Their attack style varies by what type of tool they are. Some like the nuts and bolts simply headbutt their target whereas some like screwdrivers or scissors fly towards their foe, hoping to hurt them.
Some organic lifeforms have managed to settle in and inhabit the industrial dungeon. They lurk in dark areas, far away from the watchful eyes of the machine monsters. Though they may be few in number, they still pose a threat to you.
The lifeforms you can count on seeing are bats and bugs. Bats hang way up high on the ceiling and only attack when the machines aren’t looking their way. Insects like little scorpions or bees live in soft ground or on the walls and only pounce when someone encroaches upon their territory.
And finally, there’s the boss, the big bad of the steel dungeon. Most of the time, it’s a machine, not a larger variant of a brute you’ve battled throughout the area. Instead, it’s something else like a robotic security system for the dungeon or a machine that performs a crucial function like packing. For the few times where the boss isn’t a machine, an organic lifeform is used instead. It’s a vicious beast that guards it from interlopers and can be a larger cousin of a bat or bug or something wholly different.
In the final analysis, the steel dungeon is a place filled with danger at every turn. If you don’t have your wits about you, you’re liable to get flattened like a pancake or cut into pieces and we’re not talking about the monsters roaming this place.
The industrial dungeon gives you great flexibility when it comes to location placement. There’s many areas where you can put it and it’ll feel right at place there! Just remember to have it near resource sources like mountains or water. A little tweaking of its immediate surroundings goes a long way but the payoff will be worth it!
From the moment you first step in the steel dungeon all the way to the boss chamber, you’re in a man-made environment. You see it in the cold, metallic walls and concrete flooring. Danger is everywhere, from the machines to conveyor belts to the monsters, and you can’t afford to drop your guard, even for a second!
Machine monsters populate the industrial dungeon and they’re programmed to destroy all intruders. Should you cross paths with one, expect a fierce, ferocious fight for it’ll use everything it has to eliminate you!
For stories that feature dungeons as key settings, the steel version is one that works in certain situations. It’s excellent in worlds with advanced technological levels or futuristic ones. Not so in worlds where magic is dominant or pre-industrial revolution.
The question you ought to ask yourself is: are you ready to craft a steel dungeon that towers over many others?
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Sunfire
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