[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-510218-105":59,"doc-detail-510218-en":122},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":115,"head_meta":117,"extra_data":119,"updated_unix":121},105,"en","how-rpg-dungeons-got-their-doors-standardization-of-dungeon-door-symbols-for-rpg-game-maps","How RPG Dungeons Got Their Doors - Standardization of Dungeon Door Symbols for RPG Game Maps","","Explores how dungeon door symbols evolved in tabletop RPG map design, tracing early experimentation from Blackmoor and the first role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons through major published modules. It contrasts recurring visual conventions—such as the “pinball paddle” and later architectural or geometric styles—with examples spanning OD&D, The Temple of the Frog, Palace of the Vampire Queen, Tegel Manor, Zenopus Dungeon, Dungeon Geomorphs, and related modules. Concludes by asking where the dominant line-and-rectangle standard originated.",{"@graph":69,"@context":114},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":25,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/comic/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/how-rpg-dungeons-got-their-doors-standardization-of-dungeon-door-symbols-for-rpg-game-maps/510218/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/how-rpg-dungeons-got-their-doors-standardization-of-dungeon-door-symbols-for-rpg-game-maps/510218.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Fahsai","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-18","2026-10-05",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What door symbol style became the “gold standard” in later dungeon design?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The line-and-rectangle door—described as establishing the gold standard in dungeon door symbology—appears in Basic D&D materials and Dungeon Geomorphs and is treated as an established standard across subsequent modules.","Answer","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":116,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":118,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":120,"site_id":62},510218,1791497703,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":123},{"doc_id":120,"user_id":124,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":125,"doc_module":4,"category_id":24,"category_name":25,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":126,"file_id":127,"file_url":128,"file_type":129,"file_size":130,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":131,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":132,"faqs":133,"seo_title":134,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":135,"read_time":14},549768702563,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/8000c4aa63b76e948b?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786536092046926083","How RPG Dungeons Got Their Doors Griffith Mon Morgan III  \nOriginally published in Caerdroia 49 (2020), p.62-66  \nStandardization of Dungeon Door Symbols for RPG Game Maps  \nIn 1971 David L. Arneson created a whole new genre of games within his already expansive Blackmoor Fantasy Game via the addition of a maze of tunnels below the baron’s castle. Soon after, he also co-authored the very first role playing game Dungeons & Dragons in 1974. Although D&D was designed as an imaginary simulation for any kind of fantasy adventure, most gamers played the game entirely within underground mazes, or as they are more commonly called, dungeons. The expansion of the game led to more and more complexity in the dungeon designs as well as the need for more and more types of symbols on the game maps to represent the various details that were being added to them by designers and players.  \nFigure 1: Blackmoor Dungeon excerpt from First Fantasy Campaign, Dave Arneson, Judges Guild Game Company, 1977.  \nInterestingly, the map diagrams, or dungeons, are a very specific game rule as it provides constraints to the players mobility, as well as mood, through the shapes of rooms and hallways and their uses. Most game historians do not perceive the map as a rule and there  \nisn’t a whole lot written specifically on the evolution of the game map. Maps are so common that we all know what they mean and how to use them. Yet without a graphical representation for a dungeon, or of the world setting, our favourite adventure locales don’t exist in games like D&D.  \nI’ve been staring at dungeon maps for over four decades, and something we all seem to encounter while playing is the problem of how best to represent details on the maps we make as the referees in the games, or as players on an adventure. Most evident are the doors that appear nearly everywhere in most dungeons. For those of us who first saw a dungeon example in the Original D&D Three Little Brown Books, or OD&D, the map was a very primitive looking white dungeon on a black background. As you can see, these doors are like two little lines that pass through the wall line at 90 degrees and represent a stone arch with a door. It’s likely that a lot of player-created dungeons early on had doors that were drawn like this because this was their only example for how to create one’s own map at that time, this would soon change with the publication of the first prefabricated setting, or module, Dave Arneson’s, The Temple of the Frog.  \nFigure 2: OD&D Volume 3, Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, 1974.  \nLeft: Figure 3: The Temple of the Frog, D&D supplement II, Blackmoor, Dave Arneson 1975.  \nRight: Figure 4: Tonisborg Dungeon by Greg Svenson, 1973.  \nIn The Temple of the Frog, Arneson uses what I like to call the ‘pinball paddle’ for his doors. They are angled and drawn to show which way they will swing when opened. The pinball paddle is unique to a group of gamers known as ‘The Blackmoor Bunch,’ who used them from 1971 onward. Arneson uses it in every Blackmoor dungeon, and when Greg Svenson creates his own Tonisborg Dungeon (1973) he uses the exact same style of door.  \nAs can be seen there are two types of dungeon door symbols between 1971 and 1975. Neither of these are adopted universally by most RPG gamers. A dungeon module titled Palace of the Vampire Queen appears in 1976. It has doors that look like pick axes, with a straight line representing the door and a curved line to show how itswings. This is a little more elaborate than the pinball paddle, and seems to be derived directly from architectural drawings.  \nFigure 5: Palace of the Vampire Queen, Pete and Judy Kerestan, self-published, 1976.  \nThe most expansive catalogue for published game modules is likely The Judges Guild Game Company. An excellent example of their production maps is Tegel Manor. Published in 1977, it represents a haunted house setting complete with charts for what happens if you brush up against, or touch a magical statue! Te","cbCaiuOazHk4hOvT","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiuOazHk4hOvT","pdf",2485676,"English","# Standardization of Dungeon Door Symbols for RPG Game Maps\n## Origins of dungeon mapping constraints\n## Early door symbol styles (Blackmoor and OD&D)\n## Competing symbol conventions (Temple of the Frog, Palace of the Vampire Queen)\n## Published module standards (Judges Guild, Basic Set, Tunnels & Trolls)\n## From prototypes to the line-and-rectangle convention","[{\"question\":\"What door symbol style became the “gold standard” in later dungeon design?\",\"answer\":\"The line-and-rectangle door—described as establishing the gold standard in dungeon door symbology—appears in Basic D\\u0026D materials and Dungeon Geomorphs and is treated as an established standard across subsequent modules.\"}]","How RPG Dungeons Got Their Doors - Standardization of Dungeon Door Symbols for RPG Game Maps | PDF",1791239733]