Arrange areas/rooms
Look at your rooms and areas and think about how they're arranged. Where else can you get to from each area? What (if anything) lies between them?
To represent the site's layout, you might…
- … group them by region or zone;
- … create a list of areas/rooms that you'll either pick from or roll on;
- … write down the "exits" for each area or room, and what each connects to;
- … make a flowchart or nodal diagram;
- … draw a representational map; or…
- … use some variation or combination of the above.
Which approach you use will depend on personal preference, the complexity and size of the site, and how "concrete" you want the site to be.
As you arrange your site, you might realize that something is missing, or decide to add a new room or area as filler or connective tissue. Or you might realize you have an idea for a new danger or discovery. Or that something you thought of earlier no longer fits. So be it!
If you're arranging your site concretely, with specific connections between areas, then think about the order in which the PCs are most likely to explore them. How will that shape the experience?
Linear connections (room A leads to room B leads to room C) mean the PCs must visit those areas in that order. Linear sites also constrain how denizens react or where they can go when the PCs approach.
To make a site more dynamic, with more decision points for the players and more ways its denizens can respond, include:
- Multiple paths through the site
- Loops, where areas/rooms connect to each other from multiple directions
- Different levels and sub-levels
- Multiple entry/exit points
- Hidden, difficult, or dangerous paths
- Paths that the site's denizens can use but the PCs can't
Such additions make a site more interesting, but also more complicated to prep and run. And multiple paths, levels, and so on don't always make sense. Sometimes a simple, straightforward site is best—there can be plenty of exciting moments and meaningful decisions in a linear site!
I've been picturing the Green Lord's tomb as a series of halls and chambers encircling the inner tomb, reflecting its dome-like shape. I start by listing the areas and rooms, like so: