Easy ZELDA-Style Dungeon Design for D&D

Legend of Zelda games are a masterclass of puzzle-dungeon design! Here's how to use the principles of a Zelda dungeon in fantasy TTRPGs! ▶️ More below! ⏬

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[tkc]

One major difference is that in Zelda dungeons, you probably shouldn't rely on Perception Checks for puzzle stuff. If the Wizard says he wants to check the ceiling, he should just see the bomb flowers growing in various places, as well as the metal track riding along the top and passing into two different rooms. Him rolling a 9 shouldn't stop him from learning all that.

[Alemani]

GameMaker's Toolkit has a series of videos named Boss Keys where they analize all Zelda Dungeons. They are very useful for dungeon and puzzle design, I even used it as inspiratiom for my final uni project where I created new ttrpg rules for having more narrative or puzzle driven sessions :)

[OneShotQuesters]

Bob, I didn't think I could love you more then I could...Then you drop a video like this and proved me wrong, my love has only grown

[jesternario]

One mechanic that some Zelda games, and a few other games like Sly Cooper, use is the +1 mechanic. You start simple; show them how the door opens by showing them the baseline puzzle. Then you do it again by adding more complexity; it’s the same puzzle, but now the mechanism is down the hall. Another room later, it’s timed (and a combat breaks out), the next room, it’s timed, has a barrier that requires circumventing, and a second lever is required with a new type of puzzle.

[emhooaryou]

An underrated Zelda game to take inspiration from re: TTRPGs would be Four Swords Adventures! In that game, the player(s) control 4 separate Links. Some puzzles require them to work cooperatively and actually use their strength of numbers to solve them, such as pulling two levers across a large chasm at the same time, hitting a switch and immediately entering the door it opened before it shuts a second later, or positioning in such a way to hit an enemy that teleports in a specific pattern.

[caseymoore]

This actually came at a perfect time, I'm literally designing a Zelda-inspired campaign world right now

[andrewstraight]

Thanks Bob! I’ve been playing Tears of the Kingdom this week, and your analysis is on point.

I primarily DM for my kids, and we also love Zelda games… so I will be making a Zelda soundboard for our game this weekend.

[yeraycatalangaspar]

Simple puzzles and lots of flavor help a lot. The hard part is to convey it without having to yap for minutes.

[beansmccoy]

I haven't played a single Zelda game to completion, but this video is still filled with awesome ideas as usual! I don't mind giving my players a sort cutscene from another part of the dungeon after they solve a puzzle or activate some mechanism.

[MatthewDragonHammer]

Great video! Though there's one aspect of Zelda dungeons you didn't mention, that I was hoping to hear more about. The key items. Having half of the dungeon inaccessible until you find the key item is the one part of Zelda dungeons I've been struggling the most with, conceptually. That and consumable keys.
(For a while now I've been contemplating converting a bunch of Zelda dungeons to D&D, since I have a lot of players that are long-time fans of the franchise.)

[Trekiros]

Good stuff! Those dungeons are great inspiration for how to incorporate puzzles into our dungeons in a more interesting way than just "you enter a room. there's a puzzle."

[kaskando]

Very nice concise video! I totally agree with you that things need to be kept simple when making a Zelda dungeon.
I went through this same process of breaking down "what is a Zelda Dungeon?" awhile back xD
And in the end the simpler the better.
I gave the part a magic key (that was also a sword) that has 3 charges. And you can spend a charge to open certain doors in the dungeon. There are places where the players can rest and regain charges but doing so resets all of the orginally unlocked doors. (Lil sprinkle of darksouls in there). But it's worked a treat!
I love some of your ideas here. The water level thing is something I really struggled with working out before

[shasta_creates]

What a topical video! While we're on the topic of Zelda and DND, NES Zelda games have kinda non-linear solutions to *some* dungeons. For example, if you have bombs, there are some dungeons where you can blow up walls to bypass rooms needing keys. You still need to find a way to the boss and retrieve the triforce piece, but non-linearity as a concept in Zelda existed back in the good ol' days.

[TheConfessor]

This is a great video. The only way to improve it would've been to open with Bob's impression of Navi the Fairy by leaning into the camera and going "Hey! Listen!"

[danscantland]

What a timely video given i am holding a session 0 for a Zelda game this weekend

[ben]

I ran a one-shot a couple years back and used the Zelda secret found sound, and the battle victory from one of the Dragon Quest games. Players loved it. Doing this in a one-shot was fun, but I can see it getting old fast in a campaign.

[Leocmatias]

"Not saving the great stuff for later" may be the best advice out there for dungeon masters - I can't count the times DMs told me - It is a pity the game fizzled out, I had all this great stuff waiting for you after level 15....

[JhonnyB]

Bob mentioned briefly in the end, but a video on Zelda's boss design would be nice.
I found out that "video game" style fights for bosses work really well in TTRPGs, Nothing is so frustrating for GMs or Players as a villain that was built for many sessions to be just a big bag of hit points when you finally fight the dude.

I experimented with multiple phases, weak points and what I can "buffing minions" a couple of times and they always been a hit. Would be awesome to see Bob's take on this.

[Malkuth-Gaming]

When I ran my first mini campaign. one of my players pointed out to me that they were basically in the Bottom of the Well from Ocarina of Time.. Because I had given them the Lantern of Revealing and the final floor was full of illusionary walls and horrible undead and abberation monstrosities. Turns out you really do add the thing you like to your games, whether you know it or not ^^

[BloodDracolich]

Might I add that you missed 3 other major components that are often found in Zelda dungeons; the map to give players the layout of the dungeon, the compass to automatically locate all the chests and the boss, and the dungeon treasure that is usually the key to defeating the dungeon; like the bow for the for the forest temple, the megaton hammer for the fire temple, and the longshot in the water temple from the legend of zelda the ocarina of time just to name a few.