How to Play Dungeon

The Dungeon Players' Guide

Exits

Exits are the physical connections that allow you to move from one Room to the next.

In Dungeon, there are ten cardinal directions: North, NorthEast, East, SouthEast, South, SouthWest, West, NorthWest, Up, and Down. You may or may not be able to move in any of these directions from your present location. It's the presence of an Exit that makes this possible.

Exits can be physical things like doors, windows, or whatnot. But you should think of them in more abstract terms, because they can also be portals transporting you over vast distances. Maybe the best approach is to think of an Exit as lack of impediment which would prevent you from moving in a particular direction.

Not every Room has obvious Exits. Not every Exit may be visible to you. Not every Exit may allow you to cross it. Exits may be blocked or closed. They may be locked, or they may require magic to open.

You should note that in Dungeon, Exits are inherently one-directional. And, the geometry of the World is frequently irrational. This means that, although you can move through an Exit from one Room to another, you should not expect that you'll necessarily be able to move back to the original Room again. You might, you might not. Frequently, you won't. That's part of the puzzle.

Unlike TriadCity or Midgaard, Exits in Dungeon are not automatically displayed. To find them you'll have to try moving in each possible direction.

Most of the time an Exit will take you somewhere geographically intuitive. Keeping an overall sense of where you are and how that location relates to others is very useful.