D&D General How do you like your dungeons?

[R_J_K75]

I just watched a thing about an archeological site that’s a huge network of underground human habitation structures dug through tuff (a type of rock made from volcanic ash that’s soft enough to carve with stone tools - it’s about the hardness of human fingernails), and my immediate thought was “ooh! It’s like a realistic version of a D&D dungeon!”

This has also crossed my mind many times, and I've seen quite a few shows like this as well over the years, but they usually need to be excavated, aren't widely known of or accessible like many dungeons are in the various D&D settings/adventures.

 

[Burnside]

For those unfamiliar with the term, a good explanation of Jaquaysed dungeons:

A Simpler Checklist for Engaging Dungeon Maps

Good dungeon designs include loops, multiple paths, multiple entrances, an asymmetrical design, secret doors, and short cuts. Keep these concepts in mind when choosing dungeon maps for your own games....

slyflourish.com

 

[Reynard]

For those unfamiliar with the term, a good explanation of Jaquaysed dungeons:

A Simpler Checklist for Engaging Dungeon Maps

Good dungeon designs include loops, multiple paths, multiple entrances, an asymmetrical design, secret doors, and short cuts. Keep these concepts in mind when choosing dungeon maps for your own games....

slyflourish.com

Great link for anyone who has not seen it. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Blue]

This poll was fun - with unlimited options it let me vote for all I wanted and then see the amounts of people who agreed with me.

My "other" was I like my dungeons: Five Roomed. Five Room Dungeons is a short design pattern useful for all sorts of things (not just dungeons) to give them a varied structure and concise thrust.

Hmm, I don't run a lot of dungeons normally. When I do, I usually want them to make sense, which very often also translates into ecologically sound but not always. Some ones I've done in the past:

1. A fey-maintained prison to safely keep three baby dragons until their mother returns. They were dropped off decades ago but the fey, being sticklers for the letter of a contract, continue to protect the "babies", and have made sure that they don't age so they stay as babies as specified in the contract. All of the traps (which the party took a lot of effort and resources to avoid) actually safely return the wyrmlings to the center garden. Well, safely if you are immune to fire damage, but that's a different story. There are animated armors that push the baby drakes one way, but attack others. That sort of thing.

2. The Imperial Catacombs, known to be a hive of royal undead who are oathbound to advise (and not attack) any of the bloodline. The party came in in the middle level to try to get up through the top as their unexpected approach to rescuing the Child-Empress who was imprisoned in her rooms. However, they heard of something big that could help them on the bottom-most floor and went for that first.

3. A Five Room Dungeon structure where they needed to get through a Red Dragon's Lair in a volcano to a hidden portal to the Feywild before the dragon returned from hunting, at which point it would scent them.

4. Inside a coma-stricken giant skywhale being used as the flotation device for their airship that was having things host in it and harm it from the inside.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I like dungeons that are designed like playgrounds. Travel through them is flexible, there are many different ways to interact with them, and characters get opportunities to show off and be challenged.

 

[el-remmen]

I like Ecologically Sound, Repurposed, Occupied, Deadly, Realistic, Expansive, Limited in scope, Linear, Non-Linear, and Jaquaysed Trap-and-Monster-Filled Funhouse dungeons that are just one location in the adventure.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Big.

Not the dungeons.

The rooms.

Almost every published adventure has rooms that are way, way too small. Like, too small to hold 4-6 PCs and an equal number of monsters in a fight on a grid.

Think bigger, people!

 

[Smackpixi]

Meaningful not an option? Like, serve a purpose? The most important thing about any dungeon is that it provide a reason for being there and make the adventurers motivated to explore more. I get that the question assumes that this most important thing is already provided, but in practice I think it’s the one thing most forgotten.

 

[MGibster]

What even is a dungeon? I understand what it means in day-to-day language, a underground prison most often in a castle, but in the context of D&D I have a much broader definition. The entirety of Castle Ravenloft is a dungeon in my opinion even though the bulk of is isn't underground. A 24 room haunted mansion, a temple, or even a large ship could all be dungeons for the purposes of D&D games in my opinion.

 

[wedgeski]

Nice poll! I like a focused, highly-themed dungeon with a goal and a final challenge/boss monster tied into that theme. Bonus points for dungeon elements that assist in achieving that final goal/defeating that monster/scuppering its plans.