12DR Explained: 2 of 4
The Maze. Players build the maze as they explore The Dark. Play begins in a uniquely central room, the Maze Room. It is the only room marked with the labyrinth symbol and four Xs, one on each of its sides. A door tile is drawn and placed ‘knob-side up’ next to each X. As the players roll their dice to open doors, new rooms are drawn and placed black-side up. If players roll to move into the new room, the room tile is flipped ‘symbol-side up’ and oriented so that one of its Xs is on the door just opened. New door tiles are drawn and placed ‘knob-side up’ at any remaining Xs on the room tile. Though each has a unique symbol, most rooms have two Xs or two doors. Only one has four. A few have only one X for one door, the one you entered, and are thus dead-end rooms—very dangerous. To escape the maze, all twelve rooms must be explored. Any door that does not lead to another room, is a way out. Each time the game is played, the maze unfolds differently. And yes, it is possible to configure the maze such that no doors lead out! Be careful not to do this. I shouldn’t think this would need to be a rule, but sometimes I wonder.
Speaking of the doors, it is interesting to note that my wife, seeing that I was having difficulty during early development of Portals and Chambers, suggested that I make the doors and rooms different sizes. “Perhaps then,” Cathy said, “you won’t have all that difficulty positioning the doors and rooms as you build the maze.” Like all good male game designers, I told her that, notwithstanding how good the idea was and, of course, how appreciative I was to have it, it would not work as it would introduce too much cost into production—what with three different sized cards. Honestly, I impatiently brushed the suggestion aside as I was determined to make my original design work. I had already compromised my vision enough! Sometime later, explaining my wife’s cockamamie idea at lunch with the artist, Theron, using folded napkins, I finally realized, right there between our plates, was the simple idea that would not only save the game but vastly improve it. In a brilliant move, I promptly stole her idea and worked it right in. I now hand make the Room and Door tiles as no one yet makes these size tiles standard. If you steal the idea for your maze-building game, be sure to send Cathy a thank you note. She’d like that. Just more proof that she’s smarter than me—not that I don't provide amply on a daily basis.
The Doors come in two flavors: Locked and Unlocked. Unlocked doors are easily opened by rolling 9 or better. Locked doors must be either opened with the Hand card, Skeleton Key (treat locked doors as unlocked), or battered open by rolling a triple (see The Dice below on triples). The Sledge Hammer or Hand Axe can help with this battering attempt with a +1d6. If you have a light, you’re rolling 4d6. Look at you! Players in the same room may combine forces to batter down a door by rolling multiple dice simultaneously. A triple is usually generated when rolling five or more dice. When successfully opened, flip the door tile over ‘blank-side up.’ Players may now roll 9 or better to move through the open door into the new room. Doors do not provide spaces on which to land. Players move through them from one room to the next—just like real life! Beware, interlopers, ‘The Dark’ can ‘slam shut’ all doors at once or remove the door just entered when a player rolls below 9 and draws either the ‘Slam Shut’ or ‘Oubliette’ Skull cards, respectively. Since these are devious traps (Skulls with multiple cards discarded and recycled in the deck), as play continues and other Skull cards accumulate in players’ hands, these ‘Slam Shuts’ and ‘Oubliettes’ show up more and more often making it increasingly difficult to escape the maze.
The Rooms each bear a unique, strange but quite real symbol with meanings of their own within and apart from the game. And while there is much speculation by so-called experts of “Door Lore” outside the game, their meaning within the game can be found in the Schulman’s Guide (both a Hand card and game supplement similar to The Rule Book). If you'd like to learn more about some of these symbols—and a host of others—check out this site: symbols.com next time you have a few hours to kill. Other resources you might find helpful are here and here.
Twelve Dark Rooms makes little use of the symbols, but the game I continue to develop, The Door That Wasn’t There Before, does. TDTWTB plays by the same cards and tiles as 12DR but must be “hosted” by one of the players using a Case Book and Host Key (prepared game supplements) or the host’s imagination—much like a tabletop role-playing game. The first Unwanted Door Mystery Case Book and Host Key is currently under development based on the BHP's second most famous case, The Blaine Expeditions. As door-lorists know, the Blaine case is second only to the Milner incident on Bryce Hill. For those of you familiar with the failed attempts to rescue Eleanor Blaine from the dark rooms by three of her students, you will pleased to learn that we've made numerous adjustments to the story line to both preserve the facts of the case while providing just enough nuances to keep the solution of the game mysterious—that is, if I ever finish the damned thing.
Next time... Hands & Skulls
