Groups who want old school dungeon crawls. Good or Bad?

Flexor the Mighty! · Jan 23, 2002

Well last night we had a short session, and it was compeltely combat free. A lot of NPC interaction and dividing of the loot from the last several sessions. Well they were kind of...less than enthuastic about it. They want Dungeon crawls. Anyone else run a game like this? I guess I'll have to give them some Tomb of Horrors action after we finish the RttTOEE...

jhallum · Jan 23, 2002

Good

My group wanted one, so I tossed an 11 room tomb at them. They are very pleased now. Now we can get to the meat of the plot now. I think we've got it out or our system now. Now they are back to the rest of the plot, which is much more exciting.

Guacamole · Jan 23, 2002

RttToEE isn't a dungeon crawl?

Wow! If they don't like RttToEE I can't imagine many dungeons that they would like! And who doesn't like dividing up treasure... oh well... See if you can get your hands on "Castle Greyhawk" which features hundreds of rooms and encounters and is strictly dungeon crawl... It is 2e tho, so you will have to convert it. The Undermountain Boxed sets were also Dungeon crawls, but they weren't totally fleshed out, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the amount of prep time you have.

I tend to like roleplaying to hack-n-slash because my players tend to cheat or fudge things in hack-n-slash, which, needless to say, causes problems. That's not to say we don't do it, but I like to make them problem solve, in addition to swingin' the old broad sword...

fwiw
Guacamole

bushfire · Jan 23, 2002

No No No - Don't get "Castle Greyhawk", that is the joke dungeon, what you want is "Greyhawk Ruins" Much better dungeon.

As for D20, if your group wants Dungeon Crawls pick up Rappan Athuk I & II from Necromancer Games. They will love ya for it

Henry · Jan 23, 2002

you say that like it's a bad thing...

Don't feel badly about it - every gamer needs a return to the good old hack 'n slash dungeon crawl every now and again. It's the same kind of drive that makes people crave a pure action-flick every now and again. People don't go see Jet Li's "The One" for sparkling character intricacy - They go to see cool special effects and Jet Li kicking someone's butt in slow motion.

Let 'em have it - but before breaking out the Tomb of Horrors on them, ask them out of character if they would like something that is a good tough romp, or if they would like a REAL challenge. If they ask for it, give it to 'em. Otherwise, break out something like the Forge of Fury, and beef it up to handle characters of their level.

Good luck!

Flexor the Mighty! · Jan 23, 2002

Well I admit that RttTOEE is a major dungeon crawl, but we are in the stage where they are moving from Hommlett to the real meat of the story and there have been very few combats the last few sessions. A lot more roleplaying than slaughtering has been going on, along with some mystery solving that I threw in. They have seemed to be bored. What kind of bugs me is that they all want to have "deep" characters, and one guy does go out of his way to roleplay, but the other two don't. Ah well, I was just kind of dissapointed that they last session didn't sit well with them.

P.S. I have the old Castle Greyhawk adventure. What a pile of

. It was an insult to greyhawk and a slap in the face of Gygax as far as I see it. How good is the Ruins set?

Grim · Jan 23, 2002

Mmmm.... dungeon crawls... my group loves them.

DM: You see a large statue of a dragon

Player 1: I waste it with my crossbow!!!

DM: You enter a room filled with Jello

Player 2: I waste it with my Broadsword!!

DM: You suffer massive damage from the goblins attack

Player 3: I heal myself and waste it with my mace!!!

DM: You die

Player 1: I waste the Grim Reaper with my Crossbow

etc

Henry · Jan 23, 2002

Flexor,

I suggest you have your solution right in front of you - just speed up the timetable a bit. It might hurt your feel for what the adventure might look like properly fleshed out, but the second rule of Dm'ing is "Make sure that all players are enjoying themselves."

The Moathouse, as well as the Dungeon complex, have plenty of combat available to spice things up a bit. Just remember that although roleplaying is many different things to different people, that not all players are comfortable with deep interaction scenarios, and some are more comfortable with taking direct action. It sounds like your latter two players are in this category. Return to the TOE has plenty of action, but it may be that the players want to experience it a little sooner.

I myself always run my games with two object lessons in mind:

Not all problems can be solved through combat. The evil army cannot be defeated through the PC's flexing their muscles - they must be infiltrated and spied upon. One of the fighters may even have to do a little political maneuvering and backstabbing to rise in the ranks, just to be privy to what's going on.
Not all problems can be solved through diplomacy - that nest of Wererats about to sacrifice the PC's children in a religious ritual at midnight aren't going to give them up with a bribe or a stern talking-to. They must be rooted out of each dank hole, room by room, foe by foe, until they rescue the children.
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That way, there's always a little something for each type of player in the games I run.

der_kluge · Jan 23, 2002

Nothing wrong with dungeon crawls, I suppose. So long as the entire party likes that.

I made a character for a PBEM I'm playing now. A female cleric of a love goddess with an 18 charisma. She even has a "grooming proficiency" (second edition). She's got people skills, and personality.

The game consists of moving from one combat encounter to the other, making my character all but worthless.

Oh well. So, point is, as long as everyone is into it, and aware of it, nothing wrong with a good dungeon crawl.

Flexor the Mighty! · Jan 23, 2002

Henry said:
Flexor,

I suggest you have your solution right in front of you - just speed up the timetable a bit. It might hurt your feel for what the adventure might look like properly fleshed out, but the second rule of Dm'ing is "Make sure that all players are enjoying themselves."

What is rule #1?

Groups who want old school dungeon crawls. Good or Bad?

Flexor the Mighty!

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