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The Lightning Dungeon: An Interesting World Unlike Any Other
Sunfire
CONTENTS
Introduction
The major dungeons in a story are found in prominent areas that play an integral role in the war between good and evil. Part of the hero’s journey is to travel to each area, converse with its people to find out what’s going on. Putting together all the disparate pieces of information, he concludes that the dungeon is his next stop. The lightning dungeon is part of the story, which means the hero has no choice but to travel there.
Each dungeon comes with its own set of challenges but the lightning version takes it to a new level. It introduces obstacles and enemies that have the power to shock or electrify the hero. The potential of being electrocuted adds a layer of difficulty, since the hero must constantly avoid that while fending off dangerous enemies and solving tough puzzles.
The lightning dungeon is interesting in that there’s no area in the world that’s associated with lightning. This means it offers a lot more flexibility in where you can place it since you have plenty of options. The same applies with designing one, since there’s no specific set of rules that come with it.
While the outside gives you a lot to work with in terms of design, the inside is quite different. The ambience of the lightning dungeon is well, shocking. You want to showcase the power of lightning and you can do so in different ways to create an unique experience.
Not surprisingly, the monsters the hero encounters are those imbued with lightning powers. They’re far more dangerous than many others since they can take you out from afar. Interestingly enough, the monster variety in this dungeon is more diverse than many others.
This is the ninth in a series examining the different kinds of dungeons. Interested in reading more? Why not check out our blog page?
Unusual Lightning Dungeon Designs
There’s many different designs that can be used for a dungeon based off of lightning. The wide array of designs means there is no singular one that can be attributed to this elemental dungeon like a tree for the forest, volcano for fire, and so on. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing! If anything, this is one of its strengths.
The reason why all these designs are one of the lightning dungeon’s major advantages is because there’s no set area in the world that’s associated with electricity. As such, where it’s found heavily determines how it’ll look.
You can place the lighting dungeon in many locations and as long as it fits in with its surroundings, it’ll not only look great but feel right in with everything around it! Put in in the desert? Make it a large tomb. Put it in the sky? Have a great tower. There’s many different possibilities when it comes to the design!
In many cases, the lightning dungeon doesn’t entirely revolve around electricity. Instead, it fuses lighting with something else like fire or steel. Let’s look at the two examples from the last paragraph: the tomb and the tower. Using the former means you’ll have a mixture of lightning and sand which is always a fantastic combo! As for the latter, you have a combination of electricity and wind, which doesn’t get along very much which means exploring it will be interesting, to say the least.
Since there’s no certain style of design that epitomizes the lightning dungeon, you have a golden opportunity to craft one that leaves a lasting memory for your audience. The best variations of this type of dungeon not only illuminates the power of electricity but ties it with something else that complements it perfectly. Take advantage of this opportunity!
The Lightning Dungeon’s Shocking Ambience
Many elemental dungeons’ atmosphere reflects the areas they’re found in. Not so with the lightning dungeon. Regardless of which part of the world you place it, it has one overall ambience: it’s brimming with the power of lightning.
Even after entering the first room, aside from seeing electricity pulsating through, you feel the electrification in your bones. You then realize that this is no time to rush headlong into danger. There’s no way of knowing what enemies and traps lie in wait. You just know that you’ll have to manipulate lightning to make it to the end safely.
The electrified atmosphere makes for a charged experience. The monsters, puzzles, and traps aren’t the only thing you have to worry about. Even the floor, walls, and the ceiling present a threat to you, for they can shoot out bolts at you or make traversing quite harrowing!
You don’t have to to just go with the shocking ambience, which isn’t bad in itself. There are ways to take it to a new level and it involves fusing lightning with another element. Remember that this dungeon can be put in many different locations and you can combine electricity with something else to come up with something unique!
There’s many different possibilities but only a few will be covered here. Consider mixing lightning with fire. The two elements both give off heat, which means using both gives you an atmosphere teeming with sizzling electricity so hot you’ll need something cool just to stay alive!
What about lightning and water? It makes for a very dangerous ambience since even just the smallest drop of water can shock you if hit by a bolt. Imagine the tenseness in the air as you navigate through, not knowing if that puddle on the floor in the distance has an electric current flowing through it?
Electrified Foes
While exploring the lightning dungeon is fraught with peril, the beasts that you fight in this place are far more menacing than those outside. They have the power of electricity coursing through their veins, which means they are not to be underestimated at all.
The monsters of this dungeon come in far more shapes and sizes than those in other dungeons. This wider assortment of beasts increases the challenges of traversing the dungeon, since defeating each one of them is a puzzle in itself.
You have the usual organic lifeforms like bats who can shock you if they touch you. Lizards are another prime candidate, though their attack powers are higher than that of the bats. You can also include fish, jellyfish, and birds here as well. It’s no fun swimming underwater when you have a group of fish trying to electrocute you.
Inorganic objects like spheres or robots who can shoot bolts at you from afar are common in the lightning dungeon. Many, not all, of the monsters in this group are machine-made and are immune to lightning attacks. This makes fighting them a challenge since you have to figure out what their weak spots are and use the right weapon to take them out.
Another group of monsters involve enemy soldiers who carry weapons pulsating with electric power. Whether it’s a sword, axe, or even a bow and arrows, being hit by one will cause you to drop your weapon, thereby giving the savage brute another chance to try to finish you off. You’ll have to defeat them while avoiding being electrocuted.
Mages and sorcerers are common in dungeons, since they possess elemental powers, of which lightning is included. They’re annoying to fight since they can appear and disappear at will.
It wouldn’t be a lightning dungeon if the boss didn’t have electricity. Typically, the big bad of the dungeon is a larger variant of one of the monsters running amok in the place but it doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. You can opt for a wholly new creature, thus giving the dungeon a signature enemy which means figuring out how to defeat it will be different than what you’ve dealt with thus far.
Tying it all Together
The lightning dungeon is an area where you must be hyper-cautious. There’s nothing that will protect you as you work through it. Even the walls and the ceiling conspire against you for if you stand in the wrong spot, you’re liable to get struck by an electric current and dart out in pain. And the enemies are no better.
One great advantage this dungeon has is that you have a lot of options when deciding to place it. Such placement options gives you greater leeway in crafting the design, since you’re not beholden to following a certain criteria for how it looks. Come up with a memorable design that only invites awe and makes your audience clamor for more of!
The charged atmosphere within makes for tense adventuring. You have no idea what’s around the corner or in the room you’re about to enter. You just know electricity will somehow play a role, whether it be fighting baddies or solving a puzzle. It’s not one of these places where you can run willy-nilly into danger and not get penalized. Patience is a key virtue and moving at a deliberate speed is vital to successfully reaching the end.
Monsters with the power of lightning have the run of the place. No matter what fiends you cross paths with, one thing is for certain: they’ll use their powers to take you out which means you must tread carefully with fighting them.
The lightning dungeon is a must-have for stories where dungeons play an integral role. Exploring it may be tense but it makes for great drama, for you’re always on the edge, uncertain of what you’ll soon face. If you play your cards correctly, you just might make it to the boss without being shocked though the big bad of the dungeon could very well pose the greatest threat to you…
Will you create a lightning dungeon that gets everyone talking?
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Thanks for reading this and until the next time,
Sunfire
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