So a while ago, I wrote a blog post on dungeon design and my approach to building dungeons. I have been talking about it a lot on the EH server since folks were asking, and eventually I asked if folks wanted me to do a workshop since I was coming up on needing to make a dungeon for MoaH. And so, a little impromptu, I did!
This is kinda roughly edited from the workshop since it was largely a tech demo, mostly just cutting out technical errors, but I hope it helps! Plus, spoilers for book 8 of MoaH for anyone interested in that.
Adventure Fantasy | General | AO3 & Wattpad | Complete*
Synopsis: Hyrule has only ever dreamt of an end to the resurrection of Demise. With the returning of an ancient power, that dream could finally be fulfilled. Can the Hero of the Fourth Goddess save Hyrule once and for all?
For me, GoS is a classic Zelda fic with amazing storytelling that rivals the games. The worldbuilding stays faithful to the game series but also brings new life to it in fun and interesting ways. Every time Link visits a dungeon in this story, I can easily imagine exploring it in a game. This fic is full of enjoyable and lovable characters, from Link's expeditious guide to the many unique side characters that accompany Link on his journey to the temples. This fic is a must read for any Zelda fan interested in reading an original Zelda story. - doubtfulloser
Familiar and original characters collide in a Hyrule that is far-reaching. Extensive world building paints each region in bright technicolor. With the help of a mysterious guide, Link journeys to explore all four corners of Hyrule, conquering monsters, solving puzzles, cleansing dungeons of evil and unlocking his true potential as the Chosen Hero. Gripping storytelling and descriptive writing pulls the reader into the thick of things right alongside a Link who isn't afraid to speak the truth. Add a strong-willed and capable Zelda who takes an active role in the action makes this story a real treat to read. - Mistress Lritgar
Goddess of Secrecy was one of the first Zelda fics that I read that I actually enjoyed. It has all the workings of an original Zelda and then some. Massive world, lots of characters, so much lore [I love lore so much, and this one has no shortage of that]. Amelia herself is a wonderful author, truly bringing Hyrule to life through the eyes of Link, Zelda, and Endeavor. Goddess of Secrecy is a classic, action-packed, and absolutely amazing! - The Nameless
This is a very expansive fic, but I've really enjoyed what I've read of it so far! The writing just oozes charm, and even the characters I haven't known for long are bursting with personality. Despite taking heavy inspiration from Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and a few fantasy novels (I can smell the Ranger's Apprentice here) it stands apart enough to feel unique. It's super fun to imagine playing a game like this! - waterglider
A love letter to the LoZ franchise, GoS masterfully weaves its own unique tale while seamlessly incorporating and combining concepts and lore from the games that existed at its time of writing. It follows the classic game formula but still remains an entertaining read, with dungeons and items you could easily visualize working in an actual game!
The characters, while many, are well-developed and I found myself quickly falling in love with them. This Link's journey is both classic and new; starting from nothing and ending a Hero - but in his own way and with all the struggles that come with it.
This work has made me smile and laugh and cry - and I can't recommend it enough! - Anonymous
My interpretation of @amelias-calamity-quintet ‘s character Endeavor from their Zelda fic Goddess of Secrecy, they play the role of Link's expeditious guide
A take on @amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet ‘s concepts for unique forms for Journey based off the goddesses! Wasn’t able to fit the Hylia or Reechka versions in this though.
Link to their concept sketches under the cut. The Din form is based on a different image I couldn’t find a link for.
Back when I was still planning to not only write the main story of GoS but also all of the side quests I'd headcannoned for the game (we've
Rules: list your top 3 most popular pieces of writing (fanfiction or original stories, you can choose whether you list them by views or likes/kudos—trad or indie books count, too!), then tell us something you and/or other people like about each one and share a little behind the scenes of writing them! Positive things about your work only, your writing is more than worth it and so are you. It's time to give yourself and your writer friends some love!
Thank you @mistresslrigtar for the tag! Since I was tagged on my main, will be including somethings multiplatform for both fanfic and original works.
Goddess of Secrecy
AO3 - Wattpad
While the whole story is now available on AO3, GoS is by far my most popular work due to its popularity on Wattpad. Currently sitting at 300,000+ reads, GoS is in the top ~20 most read LoZ fics on Wattpad. That fact that my original legends, barely Zelink, first fanfic retains that spot after 13 years is wild. GoS made me as a writer. I wouldn't have become the storyteller I am without it, and it is the primary motivator I had in starting @expanding-hyrule to help other OLs find their readers. Clearly there is a readership for these kinds of works. Just gotta help folks connect.
Mark of a Hero
Book 1: AO3 - Wattpad
While the first book was also crossposted, MoaH is undoubtedly more popular on AO3 (which says something I think considering how much harder it is to get hits on AO3 over reads on Wattpad). Sitting at 5,757 hits, MoaH is the first work I've posted to AO3, as I've now been on the platform for just a little over a year (again, I think says something about the work). If GoS was my journey of becoming a writer, MoaH is the showcase of the skills I gained. There is so much I've had to learn to make this series what it is and it has been an absolute delight to grow alongside it. I am thrilled for what folks are going to get to explore as we're headed into book 3 and on.
Word Walkers - Stolen Secret
Because of the fanfic inclusions, I am not linking this one here, but you can find the direct links on @wordwalkers (it should be pinned). The first book of the series is available on Amazon, B&N, and most places you can buy books these days in hardback, paperback, and ebook. Word Walkers is my first book publication, third publication overall. It is a self-published new adult fantasy novella in a series that was prepared to continue after its 2019 debut. I was all set to send it to editors at the start of the new year to get the ball rolling and then the funniest thing happened. In any case, while book 2 is currently backburnered due to funds, writing this series has pushed me so much as a creative, both in the process of creating and also in expanding my skillset to go on to publish. It is hard to compare the successes of fics to published work as they are fundamentally metricked differently, but at the time of release, I had about 100 followers on Instagram and I sold about 100 copies at release, which is an exceptional statistic. I think most people will tell you to expect only about 10% of a following to buy a product you sell. I would say that certainly is a metric to contend with my other two. Also, don't let Amazon lie to you, this work does not contain erotica. I have nothing against the genre, but Amazon continues to do battle with me over this incorrect metadata after 7 years and I don't want anyone to be misled about its contents.
As for tags, I'm not tracking very well who has and has not been tagged, so: @karama9, @doubtfulloser, @sillylildude, @stevenpartridgequill, @sillydillybean, @centeris2, and anyone else who would like to do this tag.
So I've been told that my work list looks daunting. I think a lot of people see the Calamity Quintet+++ series and think they need to read the whole thing but this is not the case! While some of my works share connected timeline business for the Calamity Quintet's overarching story, all of my Original Legends are standalone! Hopefully this chart helps you pick one to start with!
Beyond that, the commonalities are that all of these works are "Classic Quest" Original Legends, they chiefly feature Zelink (though a few have some other additional romances like Triforce Trio in RA, the all Sages polycule in SotS, and Zelimpa for TotG), they all aim to generally fit Nintendo's style and tone, and they are all long.
Alt text and links under the read more.
Where should I start with the Calamity Quintet++?
Do you care about the Quintet's timeline?
Yes -> Goddess of Secrecy
No -> Long or Really Long?
Long or Really Long?
Really Long -> Mark of a Hero (Try On Your Mark for a sample!)
Alright, one of the regular compliments I get on Goddess of Secrecy and now on Mark of a Hero is on how my dungeons feel like they could be in the games. It's still one of my strengths, so I figured I'd actually try to write thoughts down. I have never documented this process so please understand a whole lot of it is just ✨ vibes✨ and then piecing that together into something coherent.
Not to give homework, but I think the Deku Fortress (the first dungeon of GoS) still holds up roughly to my current standards and it's a quick read to get to relative to the other examples in my repertoire. I also have a particular naming convention for my works, so you can very easily jump to Dungeon Chapters & Boss Chapters via the index.
Concepting
I talked a lot about in a post I made on MoaH's dungeon design what I think the point of LoZ dungeons should serve as but I'll sum it up here. A dungeon has three goals narratively:
Advancing a local/character plot
Advancing a regional threat arc
Advancing the grand quest arc
If you want a really good example of this in games, Dragon Roost Caverns from WW is a prime example. I talk about it in the linked post above as well.
Starting your own, I recommend picking two of three things before you get into it:
An aesthetic
A boss and/or mini boss
The dungeon's relic
These things should inform each other and are the barest place to start before design. The aesthetic will generally decide the vibe of exploration, while the bosses determine the means of combat and likely your minions throughout the rest of the dungeon. The relic will engage with both as a puzzle solution. And typically if you can figure out two, the third will follow after.
Debatably, dungeons through an original legend should be concepts to connect together as a series of trials to build your hero up towards their final fight. It also depends on if you want to imply whether the dungeon order is linear or not how that will turn out. Having solutions only focused on general mechanics/exploration can lean more open world, while puzzle solutions that use focus on items or require items from previous dungeons will lean towards a linear narrative. Both are valid, but it's good to decide on one or the other before making a dungeon list and order.
Designing
I cannot emphasize enough in this step, but make maps. They don't have to be detailed maps, but figure out your spatial stuff. I wrote all of GoS without any maps and boy, let me tell you. The jump to having them for MoaH was night and day.
Generally, the recommendation here is to look at TTRPG dungeon design or escape rooms. If you got stuck doing this puzzle with other people/reliant on other people's pacing, what would be enjoyable to follow? Because unlike in the games where you are the player, in books, you're limited to the pace of the POV character.
There is also the limitation in writing of the reader's imagination. Complex puzzles are great and all in games, describing it in a way people can imagine is harder. Without the visual and interactive elements of games, easier puzzles are better because most people can picture the basics. As anyone who has played a TTRPG before can tell you, a puzzle for a 3rd grader will absolutely stump an adult if the setting or size of the puzzle makes them miss the important elements of it. You do not need to design complex traps and puzzles (in fact it will often go poorly).
This is also where that aesthetic decision can help. A relatively simple dungeon can absolutely be carried by an interesting location. Are there lore drops to be found in the dungeon? Is it just a cool space to explore? Is the means of backtracking post-relic something the reader can piece through as the character(s) explore it the first time? There should be hints on how these aspects will link together before the end.
I will get into this with relics as well, but it's a good idea to keep an inventory of your character(s)'s abilities before going in. Is your hero traveling alone? How many relics do they have? What resources did they bring into the dungeon? This can help inform solutions too by eliminating what your hero doesn't have access to.
Writing
Pick a pace of chapters. There's a reason that dungeons are consistent in their chapter length for GoS & MoaH. They're aimed to set the tone for how long the dungeon should feel. I'm going to use both as examples for outlining everything I haven't already said in previous sections.
GoS has two types of dungeons: Goddess Temples and Sage Dungeons. The Goddess Temples were designed to be shorter "tutorial" dungeons, the formula being 2 Dungeon Chapters + Mini Boss + 2 DC + Boss. Compared to the Sage Dungeons, which were 3 DC + MB + 3 DC + B. The Sage Dungeons also typically got a Mini Dungeon and Mini Boss to reach the dungeon itself.
The goal of this was to suggest size and difficulty. GoS was meant to parallel OoT in a lot of ways, the Convergence timeline event to the "Divergence" event that was the timeline split. So the Goddess-Sage split is meant to mirror the Child-Adult dungeon split. Once GoS!Link pulls the Master Sword, things got harder, the challenge leveled up, dungeons got longer and more complicated.
Conversely, MoaH's dungeon design was based around BOTW/TOTK and my general response to it. MoaH's dungeons are designed around the idea of having a series of shrines that build to a larger dungeon puzzle in a region. The split here will be a single dungeon chapter and Mini Boss at a time, but three or four trials before leading to the culmination of four dungeon chapters and a boss in the main temple combining the relics and puzzles from the trials.
In both cases, good divides for dungeon chapters are typically switching between floors, puzzles being cleared, or to break for backtracks to other wings.
Bosses & Mini Boss
The top of this, I want to say that the power scaling will not always be right. Nintendo doesn't even always get this right. Sometimes the Mini Boss is harder than the Boss. Obviously aim otherwise, but trust it's fine if it happens.
There are a goals to aim for with trying to keep that balance:
The difficulty of the puzzle
The tools necessary to solve it
How easy it feels like the hero lands a hit
Generally, a mini boss fight will rely on the tools already at the character(s)'s disposal while a boss fight should rely on the dungeon's relic. Both should incorporate parts of puzzles already in the dungeon itself, either in getting to the dungeon or in progressing through it so far.
It can help to look at boss fights as puzzles on a timer. The timer is how fast you hit it before it hits you harder. But that also should help pace the three stages of the fight. The first phase should be the longest, it's puzzle-solving first to see how to hit the boss. Stage two will likely be shorter, as that knowledge is reapplied. It's the same solution but with some added retaliation. Stage three should make the solution slightly harder to reach by adding that final hit glowing red desperation energy.
You want to make sure that hitting a boss monster is challenging but doable. This could be done by letting the hero get hit, focusing on coordination tactics, or having a failed attempt and having to retry. While never gets hit heroes are impressive in games, they can't build tension very well in stories. If there's no risk after all, then the reward won't feel as earned. At the same time, if there's too much risk, then it may feel like your hero is not competent enough to handle the fight. The character(s) should figure out the mini boss's weakness faster than the boss, or the steps to hit the mini boss should be easier to achieve than the boss.
If you want to come up with a new enemy and not reuse an existing one, I'd recommend picking two plants or animals to smash together. Generally, it only takes two or three off character traits for a chimera to start feeling like a monster. Too many elements though and the design may not read well to your reader (unless the point of it is to be unknowable or absurd). Your bosses should fit the aesthetic of your dungeon too, so if you're running short of ideas, trying looking what might live in the kind of environment that your dungeon is and you'll probably start getting ideas. But also, sometimes the answer is just rule of cool.
Relics
Relics are the best part of a Zelda game for me. They add a lot of fun to problem solving and reexploring old areas. They culminate to decide on the general skillset of your protagonist and dungeons serve in part as tutorials to learn how to use the relics in all its possible uses.
A relic should be the primary puzzle solution for a dungeon after its acquired. This is in game to experiment with its uses before the boss and experiment with its mechanics in lower stake situations. Most dungeons will have some no stakes mandatory puzzle in the mini boss chamber requiring use of the item before the character(s) can progress. And then it scales up from there to get creative and use the item with other tools at the hero's disposal.
While there are staples for sure (hookshot/bow/bombs/etc), most Zelda games will typically have at least one totally unique relic to that game. This is a great way to build your story's identity too! Your character's tools should cover a wide array of options, so it's important too to look at your relic list as a whole to make sure they don't overlap with other relics. It's also important to consider a relic having not only combat use, but also puzzle utility too! These are after all going to be used to get through the rest of your dungeon.
Companions
One of the harder things to balance is party comp. If your hero travels with other people, this can change the necessary scale of the dungeon as a whole. Puzzles and fights will need to be solvable with multiple people working together. Sometimes this can be expediting the issue, many hands make light work after all. Other times it's about strategically placing everyone on the map.
One thing you should decide early in is whether dungeons are intended to be solved with more than one person. If the hero is supposed to be handling their quest on their own and just happens to have a companion, then puzzles need to be solvable on their own (this may be better to implement the expediting method). Or you can make the puzzles quick, allowing for more dialogue while they solve puzzles faster.
If the hero is supposed to be traveling together, then puzzles should incorporate each of party member's skill sets. Be sure to add those to the inventory you take at the beginning of design! Rotating around party members solving the puzzles can help them feel like a team, but you can also incorporate this cooperation slowly if you're trying to build up a new relationship.
Based on Zelda tropes, it's very likely that the companion in question to a dungeon will be someone like a Sage. If this is the case, I would advise against making the character's abilities exactly the same as the relic. If the two are identical then it runs the risk of underselling them both. They can be similar, but they shouldn't be the same to make sure both have room to shine. Also so getting the relic at the mini boss isn't just your hero one-upping a companion. That's a quick way to making them seem less useful to a team! It's best to look at them as compliments. For example, if a dungeon gives the hero the hookshot to bring enemies in close, then having your companion be a fighter who deals with the monsters as they're getting dragged in to range would be a good way to highlight teamwork.
On the Grander Scale
As I said earlier, dungeons combined serve as the training montage that gets your characters ready for the final fight. But, as a narrative, they should share some central theme together to weave them together as a story. Maybe that's the overall aesthetic sharing some element, like the Divine Beasts and the Blights. Maybe it's a similarity in the bosses and how they appeared, like the echoes in EOW.
This is where making a loose outline can help. If you have a rough idea of the dungeon themes or relics you want to include, you can start to build a wider narrative theme you want to meet. Do you want your hero to feel more like a wizard? More magic focused relics may help. Do you want them to feel more like a tactician? Having more allies to coordinate could be the way to go.
And I do mean loose! For the entirety of GoS, I only had a list of dungeon names and some rough ideas for items I wanted to give Link. In the original outline, the Soul Temple was going to be kinda funky and disco themed. It ended up in narrative needing to be a much more serious late game beat. The same boss and relic was in the dungeon, but the aesthetic shifted to fit the theme I needed for that story arc. Your grander narrative can always come back to inform what kind of challenge your characters need to face in that moment. And that may change as you figure out the story.
I think that's generally it though. If I think of anything else, I'll add it in a reblog or edit it in, but generally applying all these elements should get you on your way to making some fun dungeons. Excited to see what you come up with.
🎮 If your OL was a game, what unique game mechanics would it have or genre would it be?
Co-op! A huge part of GoS's design centers around cooperative elements between Link and his companions. I think outside of it being general adventure-fantasy, it would be fun having all the characters with their unique abilities to solve puzzles. Some of those can be resolved with relics, but a lot of them are from having so many friends throughout the question! I think this shows the most in how much got cut from GoS around all the companion bonding side quests that I'm now working into the main story.
🌹 Who's your favorite OC you've made?
Just one 😭 Hmmm, it's gotta be Endeavor. I love them. They mean so much to my journey as a storyteller and my journey in realizing I was NB. Endeavor, like me, started out with she/her pronouns because I simply didn't have the language to communicate who they were when I started. We've since changed that and I'm so happy both Endeavor and I get to be our authentic selves now. Maybe that's why GoS has attracted so many eggs, hehe.
