D&D General How do you like your dungeons?

[Reynard]

Choose all that apply. Discuss in the comments.
As usual, I am sure I forgot all the good options, so vote "other" and explain.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Limited and Fantastical with a strong, carefully crafted theme that is only one location in an adventure.

If we're going to have to go to crawl mode with a boss rush of encounters, it's got to be special and even then with the style it represents, only a sometimes food.

I'm not sure what Jaquayed is, but if it means puzzle dungeon, then add that. I like when you can fiddle around with the terrain/set-up and make use of it.

 

[R_J_K75]

Over Easy

I like them rather linear-ish and smaller rather than large mega dungeons. They need to be occupied with something, whether its monsters or a sentient being with evil machinations but it needs to make sense. A 100' dragon in a 20' room isn't going to cut it. A few traps are fun but over doing it to the point where the party takes forever to get 50' down a corridor isn't fun for me, unless that's the theme of the dungeon. It's mostly that nowadays as a player or a DM I can only take a dungeon delve for 2-4 sessions at most. Anything longer than that and I lose interest.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I'm not sure what Jaquayed is

just from a brief search it seems that Jaquayed implies something like numerous (including hidden) independent dungeon paths between each area/floor and the next, so you can run through the same dungeon multiple times taking different routes with different obstacles each time or backtrack your current path and seek out another option if your current path seems inopportune for your party

 

[Quickleaf]

Oh man, I love all the dungeons. The only ones I didn't vote for were "linear" and "randomly generated" – I've created both linear and random dungeons, and with a little massaging they were a lot of fun, but I think more thoughtful design and more meaningful player choices have usually led to better experiences for my players.

 

[CreamCloud0]

would 'puzzle based' be a valid addition to the list? i feel that is a distinct category from 'trap filled' and worth more mention than just the 'other' category

voted for everything but whimsical, funhouse, randomly generated (and other), but given that alot of those are contradictory states i feel it goes without saying 'not all of them at once'

 

[Reynard]

would 'puzzle based' be a valid addition to the list? i feel that is a distinct category from 'trap filled' and worth more mention than just the 'other' category

Added! (which I did not know you could do)

 

[Parmandur]

Over Easy

That's what I came here to say!

I, uh, actually voted for most of the options?

I...like Dungeons?

 

[Stormonu]

I like variety - traps, monsters, abandoned rooms, choice of paths. I also like for them to make as much sense as possible (i.e., if the Bad Guy is to be found past a deadly trap, their either needs to be an alternate way for them to get in/out or a way to get past the trap unscathed). At best I like semi-random dungeons or planned dungeons - as I said, I like for them to make as much sense as possible (partly so I feel like it would be possible to "solve" or predict what I might run into). Funhouse dungeons tend to annoy me if they're just a series of challenges strung together without rhyme or reason. I think the only one I've given a pass to on that is White Plume Mountain, as it's got a bit of a story behind it's layout (it especially makes more sense after reading Return to White Plume Mountain).

I'm not the type to run megadungeons, but I'm also not much for dungeons that are just a room or three. I like my dungeons to last a session or two, but have chances to "come up for air" and interact with the larger world beyond the dungeon.

I don't have anything against non-standard dungeons (inside a tarrasque, etc.), but I feel they are best when only used rarely.

 

[Charlaquin]

All of the above, except linear. And linear dungeons can be acceptable, but they’re never my first choice. I just like dungeons, and I like variety in their designs.