Mapping Dungeons to Organic Molecules

ARE YOU READY FOR A POSITIVELY BYZANTINE AND CONFUSING DUNGEON MAPPING SYSTEM?!

I had a very silly idea the other day when I was re-reading Melan's Dungeon Layout Article. Dungeons with loops are great. Y'know what has lots of loops? Big organic molecules, of course!

So, because I apparently need to up my dork levels, here's a system for making a dungeon layout with organic chemistry.

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Let's take a look at the Basic Forms depiction in Melan's article.

Individual rooms are obscured, but through-lines through the dungeon come into clear focus. Y'know what looks similar to this? Skeletal Structures in organic chemistry.

Not too different, right?

So now let's take every atom in the above molecule and convert it into the layout of a dungeon.

If you are interested in the whole picture of drawing skeletal structures and their meaning, you can find a resource here: How to draw Skeletal Formulae of Organic Molecules.

TL;DR: A Quick Guide to Chemical Skeletal Structures

1. Each letter in the structure represents an atom. 
2. This letter matches the symbol on the Periodic Table of Elements.
3. Hydrogen atoms and their bonds are not shown unless it is important to show it. 
(There are many in the molecule above, but they aren't displayed because it would clutter up the image.)
4. Carbon atoms, being the second most common, are not typically displayed as letters.
5. Carbon atoms are instead displayed as junctions or ends of line segments where a letter does not exist. 

This molecule has 2 Carbon atoms

This has 3 Carbon atoms

This has 2 Carbon atoms and 1 Oxygen atom

This has 3 Carbon atoms. Parallel lines represent a double bond.

This has 3 Carbon atoms and 1 Oxygen atom.

This has 7 Carbon atoms and 1 Chlorine atom.

This has 6 Carbon atoms.
! Also, see below for Aromtic Bonds

This has 6 Carbon atoms.
Those parallel lines in the middle are a triple bond.

Mapping Rules

Element	Symbol	Periodic Group	Dungeon Room	Room Example
Carbon *	C	Tetrels	Common	Cave, Hall, Basement, Cellar
Nitrogen	N	Pentels	Not Common	Fountain, Kitchen, Trap, Forge
Hydrogen #	H	Hydrogen	Hidden Room	Panic Room, Secret Study
Oxygen	O	Chalocens	Opening	Cave Entrance, Gate
Sulphur	S	Chalocens	Secret Opening	Hidden Entrance, Secret Door
Fluorine	F	Halogens	Fight	Dragon Lair, Dungeon Boss
Chlorine	Cl	Halogens	Clerical	Shrine, Chapel, Alter, Monastery
Bromine	Br	Halogens	Barracks	Goblin Camp, Fungal Colony, Guard Barracks
Phosphorous !	P	Pentels	Pit	Abyss, Pool, Precipice, Well
Metals !	Na, Mg, Fe, Ni	Mixed	Treasure Room	Treasure Hoard, Magical Item

* Any unlabeled junction or end of line segments is a carbon atom.

# Only when shown on the map.

Bond Type	Dungeon Route	Effect	Example
Single Bond	Unimpeded	None	Hallway, Spacious Tunnel
Double Bond	Inconvenient Hazard	Half Speed	Crawl, Climb, Detritus
Triple Bond	Deadly Hazard	Varies	Sump, Poison Gas
Aromatic Bond !	High Traffic Areas	Double Encounter Chance	Dungeon Highway, Battlefront
Hydrogen Bond !	Secret Passage	Hidden	Secret Tunnel, Escape Route
Ionic Bond !	Portal	Varies	Planar Portal

! We shall cover this in Advanced Molecular Dungeon Mapping

With functional groups {such as Hydroxyl (OH) or Carboxyl (COO)} use only the element most right then down on the Periodic Table (hence the most interesting ones).

So the priority is:

Br > Cl > F > S > O > P > N > C > H

OH = Ignore the H, it's an entrance.
COO = Ignore the C and first O, it's an entrance.
SO3- = Ignore the O, it's a secret entrance.

So, let's try this out with a simple molecule: Pentanol

What we see here is a linear dungeon, comprised of five rooms and an entrance (we ignore the H, because it's attached to an O). This dungeon would match the "Linear" format of Melan's layouts.

Let's do something more complicated.

Cyclophosphamid

What do we have here?

2 entrances (O), one of them hazardous (Double Bond), connected to a Pit (P).
1 Pit connected to 2 Not Common (N) rooms. 1 entrance is on the closed loop with the Pit.
2 Clerical rooms (Cl).
7 Common rooms (Unlabeled).

Okay okay, it's still just a small dungeon with just one loop and two branches. Nothing close to Caverns of Thracia yet. But that's the thing with molecules, right? You can get 'em big and small. In the following post I guarantee they'll get more complicated.

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Last Rule: Ignore the Rules

Seriously, this method works better for inspiration than for a rules-as-written mapping method. You want to add a Hidden Room somewhere? Do it. Want to change a functional group? Do it. Want to change each room's coding? Do it. This isn't even close to a perfect method, so make it your own.

I'll discuss more of the problems and alterations with this method in the next blog post: Advanced Molecular Mapping.

Advanced Molecular Dungeon Mapping