Name Of The Rose Is A Simulationist Dungeon

I finally read Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco last month while visiting my dad in Colombia. It's an amazing book (and it's no wonder both of my parents have been trying to get me into Eco for decades now). One aspect that stood out to me was that the monastery, as conceptualized by Eco, is very similar in structure to an old-fashioned dungeon crawl. Eco has mapped out the dimensions of the monastery and the position/activity of every monk inside of it, and the story is just the clockwork movements of the monks through their home, like wandering monsters in a cave. It's very simulationist – each conversation lasts as long as it makes sense for it to take, considering the geometry of the monastery itself. It's even concerned with precise timekeeping and strict mapping (two tenets of Gygaxian Naturalism). 

 

I would love to see an "adventure" that's just a monastery, with each monk's trajectory, intentions, and behavior mapped out across time. The PCs can show up to help the monks or work against them, get involved or spend the night – but barring their interference, the monks will just keep ticking along their little paths . . .