Less Combat ... More Obstacles
Yet… I don’t see a lot of focus on the play style itself … especially in the adventures released. Perhaps dungeon crawling just feels old and boring compared to the popular subjects of “high level play”, “wilderness crawling”, or “mass combat” … but rather then complain about what people like at the moment, I suspect something more is at work. Just as you can’t bake much of a cake you can’t run much of an exploration based dungeon crawl without a dungeon that supports exploration.
As I’ve mentioned, writing good dungeons is hard, and this means too many dungeon based adventures, old and new, aren’t designed for dungeon crawling, instead they usually focus on combat encounters and sometimes complex puzzles … This won’t do it, not alone. Set piece combat and a complex room puzzle can’t make for a solid exploration adventure, because they so easily become a series of disconnected scenes. The core of Dungeon Crawling is players making informed choices about where to go in a location and “obstacles” to overcome to get there.
An obstacle is a relatively simple challenge that impedes further exploration or makes it risky in some other way. The obstacle can be something as simple as a locked door,because obstacles are smaller in scale, less complex, and less threatening then set piece puzzles or hidden traps. They aren’t intended to offer a serious threat or difficulty and likewise don’t protect significant treasure. Obstacles are a challenge that requires player intervention or resources to move past, but isn’t likely to create a permanent obstacle.
The function of obstacles is largely to root the adventure in the location and offer alternative challenges along the potential routes of exploration. For example … the party might head North in the dungeon and encounter a locked steel door. Not having one of the obvious tools to pass it (a thief with lockpicking skills or the knock spell) they have the options of retreat (returning next session with tools/spells), to search for a key, or to seek an alternate path through the dungeon that bypasses the door.
The first of these options (full retreat) is costly and discouraged by the risks of random encounters, including that of restocking between sessions and the equipment or supplies expended to reach the obstacle. Full retreat is of course undesirable, the reverse side of the long despised “15 minute adventuring day”. While this undesirable situation can happen when players fetishize caution but it is usually the result of problems in adventure design. If one’s players have decided to deal with risk by retreating after every encounter or to perfect thier approach to every puzzle and obstacle the best course as a referee is to increase the risk of delay and the cost of slow exploration … rival adventuring parties that sweep in and loot areas the party is “saving for latter”, rile up dungeon inhabitants or set traps for the party are an effective way of doing this.
In most cases a party will choose one of the other two options: to search for a solution to the obstacle or blaze an alternate route. This depends on the availability of either clues and suitable materials, or alternate routes, and makes obstacles an issue for designers even more then one for players. A well designed adventure must provide these alternative and tools, rather then offer a single linear path or insufficient tools. To put it another way - when the party finds a locked steel door they should also find clues as to where the key for the door can be found and/or have passed other potential routes.
Of course alternate routes will themselves lead to obstacles and tools may require over coming some challenge to obtain. Trying to bypass the locked door might mean taking another route past a guard post … or perhaps backtracking to one and obtaining a set of keys from the guards. Obstacles can have this interplay or remain independent, but collectively they make it useful for players to understand the dungeons layout and offer a variety of challenges that different parties may choose among to reach the same goals or locations within the adventure.
How to Write Obstacles
The purpose of including obstacles is to vary the types of challenges faced by the players, and focus play on exploration and its risks rather then on combat. Beyond the simple ability to fill dungeons with something besides encounters and combat, obstacles also offer a way to threaten things besides character HP - mostly spells, supply and equipment. To make navigation and survival in the dungeon more complex while not adding too much more complexity to the dungeon itself. With obstacles, the decisions made at the start of an expedition matter more: equipment cost encumbrance, while the utility spells needed to easily overcome obstacles replace combat spells.
This observation is an old one, but less popular in 2025 than in the period of OSR experimentation. I believe the classic theory blog Necropraxis was the first place I heard a discussion of the ways the spell list in OD&D, especially its lower levels, provide specific solutions to common dungeon obstacles. The correspondence of spell to obstacle only grows as the number of spells increases edition by edition, starting with the spells created by and named after Greyhawk’s Wizard players, until at least 2nd edition AD&D … when more combat oriented spells, or at least spells designed to overcome monster special abilities, start to dominate.
There are only eighteen 1st and 2nd level spells described on the original 1974 edition of D&D, and they are largely “utility” spells meant to deal with obstacles and situations rather than with enemies. There are no direct damage spells available in OD&D until 3rd level (when the magic-user is 5th level themselves), but even then many of the spells available are focused on non-combat risks. This is how it should be if one is running a dungeon crawl style game, as spells present a safe and limited way to overcome dungeon obstacles. By mapping these 1st and 2nd level spells directly to the specific types of obstacle they overcome the designer can gain an appreciation for the types of obstacle they need.
1st Level Magic User Spells:
Detect Magic: Detect magic is a way to find illusions, including fake or invisible walls. These are a very old style of obstacle - a maze of invisible barriers or illusions hiding secret doors. Any sort of magical trap is also susceptible to this spell - does the ominous statute animate or breath fire .. cast detect magic on it.
Hold Portal: While more useful to escape from dangers - slamming a door and casting hold portal on it will deter most pursuit, it has its use against obstacles as well. Imagine a slick walled ascending passage swept by a fierce torrent that released from a sluice above - hold portal the sluice and the passage can be climbed.
Read Magic: Originally required for magic users to cast from scrolls - a limitation whose frustrating implications seem to have ensured it was quickly removed at most tables, read magic is in a weird place. It’s likely something to combine with “read languages” for a sort of instant decipher skill. Potentially it could be used to apply to any concealed or coded message as well. In its current state a good obstacle that implicates it would be those fire breathing statues mentioned above. Unless their names are spoken in the sorcerer’s tongue the fire breathing stone lions “Cinder and Charr” will incinerate all who pass between them, preventing passage to the ruined tower of the magi … this ancient trap was meant only to keep out common people and the stone lions names are carved into their pedestals. Unfortunately they are carved in the crawling sigils of the sorcerer’s secret language and cannot be read by merely looking at them. Read Magic though will show them clearly along with the instruction “The sorcerer commands even the great beast to heel by its very name Cinder/Charr”...
Read Languages: Another spell whose traditional use depends on a subsystem (lots of monster languages) that isn’t used as much in Post-OSR design. There are good reasons to remove the classic D&D language system, especially when one want to favor interaction with monsters or strays far from the static implied setting of vernacular fantasy… knowing hobgoblin isn’t very useful if there are no hobgoblins in one’s game. As mentioned above I’d reinterpret this spell as a way to interpret codes and symbols if it wasn’t combined with readd magic. The spell then could be used to unravel simple coded messages in graffiti or signs - perhaps clues or maps to make one’s way safely through a trapped corridor or the code to bang on a gong and induce a magical servant to raise a gate.
Protection from Evil: One can read a lot into protection from evil, it has a lot of potential. While generally used to keep party members safer from undead, demons and such (or at least provide a small bonus while fighting them), it could work on static sources of “evil”. When one isn’t using strict alignment (as I personally don’t) the spell becomes more a “protection from otherworldly influence”, but still functions the same way.
Imagine a portal of screaming twisted forms - perhaps borrowing from Rodin’s “Gates of Hell” and so terrifying, imposing and soaked in dark magic that it is impossible to approach and open, throwing the doors wide and hiding their dire aspect. With Protection from Evil the task is simple. Similarly one might have a narrow hallway with cells on either side where the cursed or undead inhabitants can reach their clawed arms past the bars to grab and rend anyone who passes through… protection from evil (or the turning ability - they’re similar) will drive the cursed prisoners back and allow passage.
The OD&D interpretation of Protection From Evil could be read to imply that it’s a static effect itself - creating a warded circle, but this can also work, just less effectively - though it becomes a more effective spell at protecting the entire party (if they can fit in the circle) from attack or baleful influence.
Light: Often used to blind enemies, light is far more versatile. Not only does it act as an emergency light source, it also allows the part to illuminate spaces they normally couldn’t. A dark cave filled with flammable gases, underwater, or cloaked in magical darkness. These might be simple obstacles, but they’re hard to bypass without a source of light that doesn’t depend on fire. One of my personal favorite obstacles and traps is a magically darkened hall filled with animated chains that can be easily defeated/avoided if visible, but in the darkness reach out slowly to strangle anyone passing through…
Charm Person: Less useful to bypass dungeon obstacles then most, but still helpful if one encounters a barred door whose watchmen can’t be bribed or otherwise overcome.
Sleep: The same as Charm Person, though less useful for getting through doors, sleep is also the closest thing to a combat spell that 1st level magic users have. All the same it’s effective for taking out sentries or small groups of guards silently.
2nd Level Magic User Spells
Detect Invisible: Arguably the same as detect magic, though I suspect the utility of this spell requires that Detect Magic remain general, and Detect Invisible dispel invisible things. It could also be replaced or considered a more general “Detect Unseen” in which case it might act to reveal hidden doors, concealed traps, and tracks on bare rock. I would use it this way instead of as a substitute for a sack of flour to throw over invisible enemies. In general however detection spells are tricky, they can be very valuable in the context of exploration, but as written in Dungeons & Dragons they tend to be profoundly unexciting, and largely useful only when one knows what one is facing.
Levitate: Useful to bypass sheer cliffs and such. When there’s a ceiling for the wizard to pull themselves along it can also be used to cross chasms, torrential dungeon waterways, steams of lava (unless they are emitting searing gases) and such… If one expands this spell to include the ability to levitate objects (up to the weight of the magic User and only vertically … so as to separate it from the spell “telekenisis” and provide a poor replacement for the “unseen servant” or even “mage hand” spells common later editions) it becomes a useful way to work on levers, remove keys from pools of acid or otherwise manipulate obstacles at a distance.
Phantasmal Force: An incredibly versatile spell, but perhaps less useful for obstacles, unless they can be tricked by an illusion. Perhaps a talking statue that will only allow the “Lost King” or some similar mythic figure (identifiable through murals or such in the dungeon) to pass could be confused by the phantasmal force. This sort of thing might work on less magical guards as well.
Locate Object: Finding keys… it’s not that exciting of a spell, but with clever use it can work on obstacles. It might be the only way to recover a key or other useful object from a mudpit or dark well, to know which of 7 potential cups is the “Holy Goblet of the Witch King” allowing the party to drink protective elixir against the “Witchfire Gate” instead of poison. It also helps find secret doors and to directly navigate the dungeon level, though it won’t get the party out of a maze (don’t put large mazes in your dungeons - they are miserable to play and run).
Invisibility: Sneak past the searing eyes of the great idol… Or past boring guards… near perfect stealth unless trying to avoid dogs, giants, or similar creatures that can smell people’s blood or sweat.
Wizard Lock: The same as Hold Portal but forever…
Detect Evil: At best it’s ESP for magical things… or detect harmful magic with a duration of 2 turns. I guess this makes sense as a second level spell, but I don’t like it very much. It’s boring and feels like a substitute for player engagement with the dungeon. One just casts “detect evil” and it points out the bad stuff for the party in 1 60’ circle - at least for a couple of turns. This is useful, but it’s not very compelling. One could of course use it as a way to avoid dangerous enchantments like explosive runes and to know if the slavering hell beast is actually a slavering beast from hell or a weird bear with glandular issues … but in that second case it’s unlikely to help much when the thing starts biting and clawing.
To make it more of this spell requires a willingness to expand its scope a bit and it always blends into the rest of the detection spells. As written the spell can determine if magical objects and creatures are cosmically evil or an evil intent. Seemingly of relatively limited use. I might expand it to be something more like detect traps, though detect traps is also a boring spell. As above one could use it to determine which enchanted cup will cause harm (unless there’s an evil enchanted cup that will benefit the character) … but in general evil vs. good tend to be pretty subjective in the kind of games I like. Perhaps “Detect Evil” points to a more “pawn position” play style where alignment provides a clear guide to affiliate and what will attack (meaning the spell can detect ambushes) or one where there are a lot more sudden and catastrophic effects from evil magic that don’t have in world clues about their nature. I think the spell would work a lot better with minimal room descriptions in a randomly generated underworld then a carefully constructed Jaquaysian dungeon with connections between the rooms and logic for the players to sort out. If there’s a regular chance of simply discovering safe “good” living statutes and dangerous “evil” ones that get no more description then “statue” or otherwise have no defining features the spell lets the party sort the sheep from the goats … otherwise.
Certainly for a less boardgame-like style or one where alignment is not as definitive we could rewrite this as “detect otherworldly” but then it risks just becoming detect magic all over again. One could also expand its duration and limit the detail it provides -- a spell that is active (and takes up a spell slot) until dismissed. The caster then could walk around and have a vague sense of there being unearthly beasts or ill intended magic somewhere within 60’. Of course none of these interpretations are especially interesting and the spell doesn’t seem to offer much in the way of fun tools or problem solving.
ESP: Read minds and detect sentient life up to 60’ away or through 20’ of wall. It’s a cool ability I guess, and as a detection spell it can spot ambushes or reveal if the party is being swindled. Riddling sphinxes or guardian statutes demanding as password (unless they are made of lead) become easy to bypass. Again it’s a detection spell and not very exciting as a means of overcoming obstacles - though it is far more interesting in dealing with factions as it lets the magic user know what the faction wants, what it fears, where divisions are, and what schemes the faction has.
Continual Light: A spell I generally find tiresome - it's just the same as light, but forever ... a great way to never need a torch again. Too much player time is spent figuring out cool things to do with continual light spells cast on small stones and such. Personally I like to limit this spell, making it a way to fill a single room with a bright, magically protective light - a way to create a sanctuary or help fortify a room for dungeon camping. In any case, besides being a light spell continual light offers the chance to permanently seal away things that hate the light - a sort of ward, or to power any kind of light dependent device. A door that seals shut the moment light is no longer shining on its inscribed front, or a series of mirrors that reflect a bright light to drive off creeping, hungering, animate darkness that must remained powered for a long time to avoid trapping the party. Admittedly this is not usually a problem solving spell, more a work around that forever ends the need to worry about light sources. Giving it limits and special abilities (it creates the light of the sun for example but can only be cast onto a space, not an item) make it more interesting and useful to me.
Knock: Perhaps the inverse of Wizard Lock - this spell is obviously useful for opening doors, gates, secret doors and other sealed portals … magically locked or otherwise. These are of course obvious obstacles and use use of a magically sealed portal is a way to bar 1st and 2nd level adventurers from entering an area (unless the nearby walls are easy to cut through…) The only thing to note about this incredibly useful spell is that the OD&D version has a range of 60 feet and could be interpreted to open all portals within that range - making it a way to “ping” for secret doors (or possibly release evils that have lain sealed for untold millennium) … I might be tempted to allow this interpretation as an alternate way of using the spell…
Higher Level Spells
Many of the higher level spells also offer ways to overcome obstacles: detections, protections, mobility, and ways to reshape the dungeon environment (a wall of stone is a handy bridge, and a wall of ice a raft) … there are very few obstacles that a high level magic-user with a collection of utility spells can’t brush aside, and this is as it should be. Most of these obstacles have mundane ways to overcome them with supplies, skills, ingenuity and time: picked or smashed doors for example. However, the magic user with the right spell is a hard counter, a bypass - just as fireball and lightning bolt will get fifth level parties out of a lot of dangerous combat situations, utility spells can breeze past obstacles. The job of the dungeon designer is to make it so that there’s a place for both sorts of spells in the game and the decision of what to memorize or learn becomes more complex then always having sleep, magic missile, web, stinking cloud, lightning bolt and fireball at hand. Obstacles are a good way of achieving this - because having to pole vault over a dangerous chasm and then construct a rope bridge might be just as dangerous (with random encounters and potential failures) as fighting a band of ogres. Fly will allow the party to bypass the first (the wizard carrying other party members over the chasm one by one), while fireball will very likely deal with the second.
It's Always a Dungeon Design Issue.
Designing dungeons with non-combat challenges is also apparently hard. Some of this may be the difficulty of including the details of more complex “puzzles” and traps into the currently popular bullet point, one page, or control panel style of minimalist design… a bigger problem is likely that in smaller dungeons both finding a path around or becoming blockaded by an obstacle is far easier … obstacles don’t have a place in a “five room dungeon”. Barring these difficulties, or accepting that one may need to expand one’s design comfort area to allow greater complexity in keys and/or a larger map there remains a final issue - imagining obstacles.
Imaging stuff is hard - no way around it, but by looking at the ways utility spells function and what they can overcome, one can quickly get a basic list, or even note obstacles that are more appropriate for higher levels - without rock to mud/passwall and some serious detection magic it the party will never discover an isolated cell or treasure vault sealed inside a stone mountain… but for a higher level party this might be a good challenge, as long as there are clues to look for the vault. The old spell lists, and imagining interesting ways to use the spells on them outside of combat is a great way to start designing obstacles - the goal after all is to create something the players can overcome with a resource and some risk. Most spells offer a quick way to overcome an obstacle, but spells should never be the only way and while common physical obstacles are very easy to plan for, the more esoteric ones such as a waterfall of lava may not be.
Trickier still is imagining why a specific type of obstacle is in a coherent themed dungeon is harder. How does an illusory wall end up in a kelp filled sea cave inhabited by ghost pirates and killer crabs? Personally I can’t think of a good reason - unless the pirate ghosts are also magic - and would switch to a regular secret door - maybe a cave entrance concealed by a sheet of sponge that mimics rock or some kind of rolling mill wheel door carved from local stone that the pirates installed to hide their treasure… not all kinds of obstacles work for every location… but most do. With the cave example, flooded passages, dangerous tides, poisonous jagged corals, and whirlpools all seem appropriate even when they’d be out of place in an enchanter’s cursed chateau. In either case the referee should be able to find obstacles, and if they can’t think of something, perhaps picking one of the less common level appropriate spells and starting from there is a useful tool.
I don't know what more to add - if only there were a semi-forgotten genre of 1980's films that could help explain the concept I think I'd feel better...
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