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Open Letter to Prime Minister Starmer

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This letter was meant for Keir Starmer and his government, but Downing Street’s 1,000-character limit silenced me. So I’m sharing it publicly because my story isn’t unique. For years, I believed in the promise of Britain: work hard, pay your taxes, and if for some reason you were to fall due to illness or even bad luck, there was a safety net to catch you. Then, Long COVID left me housebound, jobless, suicidal, and fighting a system that treats the vulnerable as collateral damage. This isn’t just about me. It’s about every person dismissed by the NHS, strangled by benefits bureaucracy, or gaslit into believing their suffering is “not urgent enough.” It’s about the lie that we live in a compassionate society. If you’ve ever feared illness, poverty, or being failed by those in power, this is your story too. Share it. Shout it. Demand better. Dear Prime Minister Starmer, My name is Reece Dyer, a 35-year-old from Reading. Over 3 years ago, I became seriously ill and was eventually diagnose...
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Entering the Megadungeon

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During a chat with one of my players, I realised I’ve never written a blog about the main entrance to my megadungeon. While there are countless entrances to the dungeon, windows, balconies, and hidden passages. The most obvious one is the ground-level entrance. This entrance needed to set the tone for the entire dungeon and act as a clear filter for the careless. My player's map of the entrance The Corridor The megadungeon is a towering wizard’s fortress, a 30-floor monolith of dark stone. At ground level, there’s only one visible entrance: a 20ft-wide corridor that stretches into darkness. The floor is adorned with beautiful marble, inlaid with a chilling message: "Crawl towards your lord and thank him for your life" Sixty feet down the corridor, a column of light illuminates a brass statue of a skeleton with its arms outstretched, as if welcoming visitors. At its feet lies a stone tablet, though it’s too far away to read from the entrance. This corridor is a simple but ...
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My Failed Flail Snail Trap

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Last session, my players reached a room in my mega-dungeon that I had designed months ago. I’d been looking forward to seeing how they would tackle it, and their solution didn’t disappoint. Here's a breakdown of the room. The Setup The chamber is 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. At the far end stands a large, heavy door, secured by two chains that split off to separate winches and handles embedded in the floor. Near the entrance, there are two glass enclosures containing large snail shells, home to a pair of Flail Snails. The glass enclosures have sliding doors similar to the main exit. To open the door and proceed through the dungeon, two party members must grab the handles and pull the chains southward. This requires two players to commit fully to the task, leaving them unable to contribute to combat. If they let go of the handles, the chains snap back, and the door slams shut, resetting their progress. Here’s the catch: the winch mechanism also controls the glass doors of the Flai...
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Reece's Slightly More Interesting Arrow Trap

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Quick Overview: When designing traps, there are a few principles I like to stick to: Avoid HP tax A trap that just triggers and deals damage is boring. Damage can be one possible outcome, but if there’s no way to detect or anticipate the trap beforehand, it feels unfair. I want traps to engage players, not punish them arbitrarily. Telegraph the trap Players should have a chance to suspect a trap and actively work to avoid or disarm it. Surprising players with an instant, unavoidable death or injury isn’t satisfying. I prefer giving subtle hints that allow them to deduce the danger and respond accordingly. This is why I find traditional arrow traps a bit dull. They often boil down to players endlessly searching for pressure plates, which can slow down gameplay. Even if you leave clues like holes in walls or shattered arrows it’s often too simplistic to solve or avoid. Reece's Slightly More Interesting Arrow Trap.  Here’s my take on an arrow trap. Not currently in my dungeon but I...
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Royal Guard Chamber - Monster Trap

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Last session a group of adventurers found a room that I had created months ago. They survived the fight that this trap triggers very easily so I thought I would review it in this blog! This room is entered from the south large double doors. There is a red carpet leading up to a large lever. Around the room 9 sarcophagi are standing up with detailed engravings of dead warriors. The stone tops of these sarcophagi are attached to chains which disappear into the ceiling.  (Players Map of the Chamber) When the lever is pulled all the tombs are opened via the chains going into the ceiling and 8 Thouls are released. The most northern one is a doorway to some secret rooms/treasures. This is a very obvious trap and in my mind, I assumed that when found people would leave it and come back with a clear plan. What happened with this group was that they used the hallway to funnel the dead and burned them alive (dead?) with oil on the rug.  It was a slog but with two hirelings in platemail,...
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The Underwater Path Trap

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I created this "trap" a while back, but it has yet to be encountered in my game. The idea is simple: a corridor that ends abruptly with a wall. In the floor, there’s a hatch leading to a continuation of the corridor—but it’s completely submerged underwater. When someone enters this underwater section, they’ll likely have no light and might be tethered to a rope so the rest of the party can pull them back if needed. As they swim forward, they’ll discover another hatch in the ceiling above them. Here’s the trick: both hatches can’t be open at the same time . So, as the person underwater tries to open the second hatch, the first hatch—where the rest of the party is—starts to close. This can create chaotic and tense moments where the party unknowingly fights against the person underwater or even traps a rope in the hatch as it shuts. This trap can not only break up the party but also stops communication and creates a real dilemma. Plus, who really wants to get soaking wet? Imagin...
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The Magnetic Trap

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Often when designing my megadungeon I roll on my table and then stare at the result looking for inspiration. One of the examples I saw said something about magnets, that was all I needed for this: The party will most likely enter this trap room from the south. They see that the bath continues forward but falls away to the left and right. Both walls 1 and 2 can be magnetised (Controlled from a different room) but 1 is magnetised as default.  whoever enters the room first will have their weapons pulled to the left wall (if metal) If they decide to hold on then they too will get pulled to the left wall. the sound of metal hitting the metal magnetic wall will make a loud noise triggering undead to enter via corridor 3 . If they just lost a weapon then its not too bad to jump back over. But if they were in full plate, this could be a huge issue. Pinned to a wall as zombies start eating you.  While this trap is potentially lethal, there are clear ways to avoid its deadlier conseq...
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