Dungeon Room Index: Courtyards

Courtyards, gardens, and training grounds--"relaxed" open spaces, often centralized and well connected to other dungeon spaces, rather than terminal rooms tucked in a corner.

Here are the rooms:

Getting a breath of fresh air

First, let's address the "vibe" of this category. To my mind, a courtyard is essentially a large, open space that doesn't necessarily have a specific utility. When I think of courtyards, I think of spaces that are almost contemplative in their use--you go and sit for a while or walk around. They break up the floorplan and provide interesting entryways or crossings. "Gardens" are kind of this amped up even further with the additional angle of cultivated things, and stuff like training grounds are kind of adjacently relevant just because I've seen too many training scenes set in courtyards or something like that. I dunno, it feels right. *shrug* So that's where this is coming from.

All that being said, you might think a courtyard (or a garden, etc.) is a bit of an odd choice for a dungeon. And you would probably be right--particularly if you think of dungeons as essentially subterranean environments. Certainly the Tombs and Prisons we've covered are weird locales for "open" and "contemplative" spaces, and it's not obvious how things like plants could survive in such a space. However, there are a number of ways that this could work out:

• The courtyard/garden is outside--specifically at the entrance to the dungeon. (For example, there's some mausoleums in this garden, and one of them is the secret dungeon entrance.)
• The builders of the dungeon still wanted a little injection of daylight into their mostly-underground complex, so there's a vertical shaft exposing the courtyard to the sky. (This is a great excuse to add a little light to a dungeon.)
• An open shaft wasn't feasible, but a system of shafts and mirrors brings light into the dungeon-courtyard.
• The room is a courtyard in style and function only: a large multi-purpose space for meditative loitering.

There are other creative possibilities (and many of the examples will get into them), but the bottom line is that a courtyard is an interesting and functional space to incorporate into many dungeons, a perfectly reasonable sort of space to imagine that your dungeon architects would be motivated to build, and not too hard to justify with a little thought.

Finally, it's worth remembering that "dungeons" in fantasy adventure games need not only be subterranean prisons, tombs, Mines, and Sewers to begin with. An above-ground castle ruin can function as a dungeon. A temple. A forest. "Dungeoncrawling" is a mode of play attached mostly just to location based adventure and familiar procedures for navigation and encounters. Light and similar resource management constraints are common and important corollaries, but there are many ways to accomplish similar goals, and many interesting ways to stretch the formula without losing everything that makes the experience fun.

Room Notes

Courtyards

Our first courtyard will serve as something of a template: there is a large open space; this one has pathways and trees. There is a covered walkway--separated by regular pillars--that surrounds the inner courtyard. I imagine this like a simple castle courtyard, somewhere centrally located and well connected to other locations.
I'm going to be using these covered walkways a lot, so it's worth calling out some ideas here: covered walkways surrounding or adjacent to a wide open space give you versatility for close or long ranged encounters. Pillars can provide limited defense against long ranged attackers, or especially large creatures, and give you more opportunities for stealth.

A variation on the theme. This courtyard is almost like a Great Hall of trees.

A two tiered courtyard. The lower yard has a fountain, stone benches, and planter boxes, and the covered walkways surrounding the space actually support an upper terrace that can be traversed as well.

This courtyard is the entrance to the dungeon: it's a palace complex in the desert that is almost entirely buried in sand. This courtyard is the only exposed entrance (or just an alternate entrance) though most of the passages out of the courtyard are still covered by sand as well. (An interesting dungeon shift in this space would be the weather blocking or revealing different exits/entrances.)

At the center of this subterranean courtyard is a large tree-like growth. It's remarkably similar, though the coloration is off and the trunk is more fibrous than woody--it's actually a unique variety of mushroom that only resembles a tree. Short pedestals surround the "tree", with small statuettes of... squirrels and birds? At least, best you can guess. It looks like maybe the sculptor had never actually seen one, and only had a description or a crude drawing to work from.

A pair of twinned courtyards connected by an enclosed hall. Beyond the pillars, the fountain and statue are open to the sky, though this room is deep in the mountain. For a brief portion of the day the sun shines directly down this shaft and reveals the statue's secret.

This courtyard is deep underground, but this is no problem: the trees are carved from stone. Whoever built this room created a facsimile of a courtyard--the tree-statues are incredibly detailed. The central corridor is lined with benches watched over by nurturing statues with odd, uncanny-valley expressions.

At the center of this courtyard is a square pool that is constantly replenished by water that drips down the walls of a ceiling shaft in dramatic fashion. Elevated walkways flank either side of the room. 

Mossy pillars surround a moderately deep pool, remarkably clear. Under unspecified conditions the water swirls into a spontaneous whirlpool.

Three adjoining rooms feature deep pools of gently swirling water. At least, they used to swirl--now these pools are stagnant and exude an off-putting humid stench.

A dramatic, grand courtyard is dominated by a huge three-pronged reflection pool. Imposing statues of larger-than-life gods strike dramatic poses at the ends of each channel. Smaller statues of patron demigods adorn the inlets like solemn guardians.

This courtyard is the central hub of the dungeon, connecting three separate levels with it's tiered layout. Water pours into a pool on the top level and cascades to each pool on the lower levels before draining somewhere below, flanked by statues of merfolk and water nymphs. In addition, each tier overhangs the level below, creating an under-balcony area behind each waterfall.

Where other courtyard examples include trees, this subterranean "courtyard" inverts this: instead of trees, great roots have been woven and braided on their descent deeper into the earth.

Gardens

A simple interior garden, but instead of green plants, the planter boxes are bursting with a dramatic variety of mushrooms. The statue at the center is that of a bizarrely proportioned, many-limbed being. The gardener?

Light pours from narrow shafts above onto a ringed courtyard of trees and grass. At the center is an enclosed building with a single large statue of a robed woman. An intricate systems of mirrors ensures that the outer ring is well lit through most of the day, but cracked mirrors in some of the shafts leave the room unexpectedly dark for sporadic intervals.

As you enter this room the ground is surprisingly soft beneath your feet, wide limbed trees fill your view, and blinking starlight dots the ceiling above. On closer inspection, the "grass" is simply an elaborate rug, the "trees" are immaculately carved and painted fakes, and the "stars" are the light of silkworms nesting above.

Cracking stone walkways criss-cross a room filled with water. The walkways are elevated above a single contiguous pool, and the surface is choked with overgrown cattails and other water plants. Some kind of magical lighting casts a dim, shimmering light across the water from glowing runes on the undersides of the walkways.

Four disjoint entrances converge on a single large pool. Enormous lily pads and blossoms float on this serene, enclosed lake. It's quiet. Too quiet...

Another large water garden; this one is elongated, and features a central pagoda with benches, though one of the bridges is collapsed. The ceiling of the outer ring is arched at a comfortable height, with the outer pillars rising dramatically out of the water, surrounded by aquatic plants. The central ceiling is double the height and vaulted; a series of ceiling shafts bathe the room in natural light.

Though the walls of this cavern space appear natural, there is nothing normal about the chamber's interior. A pristine lake is spanned by a series of bridges and islands. There are trees here, with surreal blue leaves over lush, blue grass. The air hums with the chirping of crickets and the croaking of frogs, as bobbing fireflys blink in and out, providing the only illumination.
It's worth noting: does this really have to make sense? If situated in an otherwise natural cavern, I imagine this chamber to be an almost dream-like place, almost like a little pocket dimension within this cave. You can justify it--perhaps it's the garden of some kind of fae being--or you can just let it sit and raise questions.

What was once perhaps a well pruned garden is now completely overgrown. A thick tangle of trees and broadleaf plants choke this courtyard. A covered walkway along the edge of the room is only partially obscured by the encroaching plant-life, but you could also attempt to push through the tangle. Evidence of game trails suggests that something passes through here.
Remember, with any of these examples that feature trees you can just as easily swap them out for exotic fungi or the like. 

More of a cross between garden and courtyard: an arched outer walkways surrounds the inner courtyard, further enclosed by a reedy moat. Stone benches surround two statues, one of a sad-masked jester, the other of a happy-masked satyr.

Training yards

A simple courtyard dominated by a sand-floored training ring.

An interior archery range. Loose straw is strewn about, and one target in particular is absolutely prickling with bullseyes.

A main training yard is fenced in and flanked by rows of thatch training dummies, all varying degrees of hacked to pieces.

A long field for jousting practice. A handful of stalls at either end were using to stable mounts. It's unclear from the dressing and droppings exactly what these mounts were. (They could just as easily have been big beetles or other interesting creatures.)

Thanks for reading!

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