Making caves enjoyable in Roleplaying
Caves are more than just a boring backdrop for fights and traps. This is a collection of ideas to make caving sessions actually thrilling.
Ok, so here we are… The party is chilling in front of the entry to the caves below the Town of Birinas and discussing whether they should go in or not. After some time of the usual indecision, they decide to take the risk and start to delve in. That’s the point where I did what every GM would do and ended the session. Well… I did not end it right away, of course, that would be boring. Instead, I sprinkled in some fun. And with “fun”, I mean a cliffhanger of course. Not just to annoy and delighted my players but also to set the tone for the next session.
I have designed many, many, many boring old “5 Room Dungeon”- Caves before, and I knew that I wanted to do something a bit more delicate this time. So, let’s go ahead talk caves. I am a bit fascinated and scared of caves and I assume everyone is. For some reason, people are thrilled by going into caves. But why? Most caves are empty after all. There are no traps, no treasures and probably no ghosts. Thus it cannot be the content of the cave which creates the thrill. It must be the cave itself.
Sadly if I play in a game that is set in a cave, I most often simply imagine the following: A hole in the ground having roughly the shape of a horizontal ellipse. The walls are of stone — because it’s a cave you know… And I guess there is a lot of space and something exciting has to fill that space. However, in reality, caves don’t look like that. In fact, they most often do not even closely resemble what I described. Caves are dangerous places, many people have left their lives just because caves are dangerous. And mind you, the cave itself is dangerous — not something that lurks inside. Here in Austria, we got many small little caves and a lot of them were given oddly creative names like “Teufelsloch” (Devil’s Hole), “Teufelshöhle” (Devil’s Cave) and so on. That’s because caves seem menacing. Caves can be small, steep, tall, submerged in water, impassable, crumbly, and labyrinth-like. They are mysterious. They are more silent than any night could ever get. They separate you from civilisation. They trap you. They haunt you. They take your soul and they consume your body.
Okay, maybe I got overly dramatic in the last paragraph… but caves are frightening, and we as Gamemasters can use that to create an immersive story. So let’s get going and design a cave that is more than a simple in-out dungeon delve.
Let’s brainstorm! Why are caves scary at all? They somehow let you feel separated from civilization… lonely… maybe even abandoned? When you hurt yourself there’s no one there who can help you. And there are lots of possibilities to get hurt because caves weren’t built to be passable. The deeper you go the higher the stakes go. Every obstacle that you overcome will return on your way out. Maybe later it’s even more difficult because you are injured then. You are dependent on your equipment, if your candle fails, you are lost. There are so many points of failure and every one of them could mean that you will not leave this cave again. And of course, there’s always this haunting feeling that you are venturing into the unknown… Maybe even into the territory of something that lies yet undiscovered and knows these caves like the back of its hand.
Ok… I see three major points: The exploring of “Impassable and treacherous terrain” poses “many points of failure” that could likely end fatally because you are on your own and “separated from civilization”
Impassable and Treacherous Terrain
A thoughtless Gamemaster (which we all probably are and strive not to be) could describe a cave just like an underground path. Like a tunnel, one could even say. That’s because we are used to traversing more or less comfortable terrain. Or maybe it is because caves in most computer games look like that… But caves weren’t made to be explored and we shouldn’t design them to be.
One factor that I want to see eliminated is that the players can “just go outside" and get new resources if they run out. Leaving a cave should be just as difficult as entering it. Therefore many obstacles should work both ways. A slippery slope is dangerous to go down and poses a completely new task to get up again (especially if the players forgot to attach a rope..). Extremely narrow passages are always neat. You cannot carry large equipment through. The risk of getting stuck is obvious. And of course, squeezing through is a slow process. Only one can go at a time and injured people probably will have a hard time anyways. The worst-case scenario is that someone breaks a bone inside the cave and the party has to split up to gather the things needed to heal him inside the cave. And of course, such a small slit blocks their route of escape if they have to run. One doesn't have to actually be locked in to feel trapped in the cave…
Speaking of interesting terrain, I would really like to address the material of caves. Stone is not like Stone. I often consult a List of Rock Types and assign different materials to parts of the cave. This allows me to describe the environment more vibrantly than just “Gray Rock". These different coloured surroundings also enable me to create different feelings — particularly creepy passages can be made up of a darker stone and so on. Also, some of these materials are softer than others, and the players might be able to carve their way through a particularly narrow passage. Or the cave just collapses… who knows…
Points of failure
A very obvious point of failure in the real life is the light source. Batteries can die, candles can go out and so on. Sadly this is not so much of a problem in Pathfinder or DnD and similar games because the “Light”-Spell is pretty mighty and magicians can create a nearly infinite supply of light. But I am not giving up this fast. First of all, this light is not an ultrabright construction spotlight and protruding rocks and stuff still cast shadows which can be used as a great tool for storytelling. I like to describe the light from spells as a cold and impersonal light, which does its part in letting the cave appear eerier.
Ropes! Every adventurer has a rope, and some of them even feel uncomfortable having no rope. A steep slope at the beginning of a cave can be a great opportunity to take this rope away from them. We can create cliffs and slopes where our players have to leave their ropes in order to get back up again. And where are the ropes attached after all? Players can get really stressed out if “the rope seems to be affixed kinda secure for now”. And who knows, maybe one failed Climbing-Roll later the rope falls down to them and they have a problem. Ropes can also work as a sort of riddle. The party has 3 Ropes. After attaching all of them they reach another cliff and now they cannot continue in this passage. They continue to explore a smaller passage until they realise that this is actually a “shortcut” to a part of the cave, which was only accessible using a rope before. I especially like this one, because instead of rewarding players with money or treasure, they are rewarded with the fun of being able to continue exploring and playing — which is one of the best rewards in my opinion.
Another thing that’s pretty fun to roleplay is getting lost. I have pondered a lot about how the maze-like structure of a cave can be brought into a roleplaying game without being boring. Most often the players have an accurate map of their surroundings anyways so how could they get lost? Well… what if their map stops being that accurate? Let them roll a Perception Check now and then, and if they roll too low, leave out one passage in your description. Things do not look the same from both sides, and if they leave the cave again, suddenly they can see two passages where they believed to be just one.
Separation from Civilization
This one is mainly a matter of good narration and really crucial for the players to feel immersed. Make them feel like they are separated and alone. Explain how slowly every single thread which connects them to the outside world is cut. Describe how the warm and welcoming light from the entrance slowly ebbs away and is replaced by the cold and hard light from the mage’s staff. Describe how the muffled sounds of the city get more and more dampened by the unimaginable mass of rock above them.
We have already talked a lot about how to make the cave itself interesting, and now we can sprinkle in some real danger. Hint that there is something dangerous in these caverns. It knows the caves like the back of its hand and the players know they will have a hard time fighting it here. The only sounds the players hear are their own… And these sounds carry far in caves. The unknown horror hears that and starts to show reactions. After they get too loud, a single pebble rolls down from one of the dark passages ahead. And if described correctly its sounds will hit the players louder than a drumbeat.
How do you make a child cry? Give him a Lollipop and then take it away again. After the players have hurried out of an uncomfortably angled crawlway where they were followed by an unknown source of sounds they are suddenly met by a safe haven. Through a small hole, they can smell fresh forest air and a dim ray of sunlight reaches down to them. Sadly they cannot stay here. The hole is too small to escape and their only paths are either forwards or back to where the horrors lurked.
Have you ever been to a scary place (e.g a ruin of a castle) and after evening fell and you made your way back home you realized that you have forgotten something important there? If you go and get it the place might seem even scarier now. If you leave it there to get it another time, your subconscious still feels somehow tethered to the place and leaning back and relaxing gets difficult every time you think of that item. A tiny crawlway or a part of the cave which is underwater might force the players to do exactly that. Make them leave their backpack here “because they have to go back here later anyway”. But what they do not know is that later on they actually find a far easier way out of the cave. Now they can decide to either leave their stuff there or face the unknown dangers once again. A perfect dilemma.
Some positivity
After hopefully scaring the players nearly enough to have to flee to the bathroom they should be rewarded for their bravery. Yeah… I am not a big fan of treasure and money, so let’s think. Hey! We are in a cave and caves can be oddly beautiful. Grottos, Stalagtites and -mites, crystal clear lakes, archways. Strange and peaceful flora and fauna just wait to be discovered. No amount of money (… well… depends on the people, I guess… ) will give the players the satisfaction of having discovered a fungus that glows when in contact with water. And they can even use it later on.
The players do not enter the cave to fight what’s in it to gain some reward that’s in the cave. They enter the cave to fight the cave. And even their reward can be the cave. Focus on the environment instead of using it as a generic drop-in background.
What now?
I have talked a lot and I am sure that your keen mind has had many follow-up ideas that I would really love to hear. If you are having a hard time getting the inspiration to take boring “caves” and spice them up with aspects of real caves then I recommend watching documentations on Speleology and just jotting down things that come to your mind. Take your caves, rotate them, squeeze them. Take your cave walls and give them personality. Do not create rooms that are connected via pathways, create sections of the cave that flow into each other. Go three dimensional! Let your creativity flow! Take your players down into a world, buried beneath thousands of tons of stone. Haunt them. Trap their souls under cobblestone and let the cave consume their bodies.
