How much do you want dungeon crawls?

[Quasqueton]

For this poll and discussion, a “dungeon” is any kind of site-based adventure – not necessarily an underground cave complex, but a place somehow separated from the rest of the campaign world. It could be a large haunted mansion, a secluded forest garden, a fortress in the clouds, or, of course, a series of halls and corridors carved directly from the heart of a mountain. Political adventures, traveling adventures, and ship-board adventures are not “dungeons” for this poll and discussion.

For instance, the Caves of Chaos (Keep on the Borderlands), the Enchanted Garden (Beyond the Crystal Cave), and Chateau d’Amberville (Castle Amber) are dungeons. Garrotten (The Assassin’s Knot), Orlane (Against the Cult of the Reptile God), and Brindinford (The Speaker in Dreams) are not dungeons.

Do you like to dungeon delve? How much do you like it? How much time would you like a game campaign to concentrate on crawls?

For this poll, the game sessions in the dungeon don’t necessarily have to be in one continuous block. For instance, if you say you’d like 5 out of 10 game sessions to be in a dungeon, you could spend every other session in the dungeon, or 5 straight sessions in the dungeon, or some option in between (3 in, 1 out, 2 in, 4 out). The sessions don’t even necessarily need to be all in the same dungeon.

Quasqueton

 

[jollyninja]

Without a seriously well written reason for the cave complex hate them. all of the other examples however make for a good time.

 

[crazy_cat]

I guestimated at 50%.

Thats with the proviso that the site based adventures are actually interesting and entertaining. If they're not fun then I don't want to be there.

 

[takyris]

I like about a third of the time spent in a dungeon-type area:

30% - Dungeons and monster-whacking
30% - Conversation, intrigue, investigation
30% - Special non-dungeon combat
10% - Loooooooooot!

 

[loki44]

I voted 6 but could go as high as 8 depending on the DM. I'm pretty old-school in that I enjoy a good dungeon crawl.

 

[EricNoah]

50-50 for me. I like variety.

 

[Dykstrav]

I went for the approximately 80% response. Why?

1) Dungeons are straightforward. You can go through a door or not, explore a chamber or not, try to loot the scary idol or not. Very little of a dungeon session is wasted with the players trying to figure out what they should be doing.
2) I like the exploration aspect of the game. I do enjoy a good political/intrigue adventure, but one of the things that keeps me coming back to the table is the sense of mystery and exploration. What lies within the Forgotten Mountain? Why do they call it the Forst of No Return? What happened to the Magic Sword? I'm weird like that, but I do actually enjoy being the mapper and seeing what lies beyond the next door.
3) Despite what some players may assert, dungeons can tell a story in and of themselves. There's a reason why the haunted temple was abandoned or the ancestral castle was sealed off. A dungeon doesn't have to be just a random selection of monsters and traps- a well-designed adventure can involve a dungeon or not. In my opinion, the inclusion of dungeons has no bearing on the quality of the story in an adventure. I think alot of players get turned off to dungeons because they see a series of the same old dwarven mines overrun by orcs or goblins, red dragon lairs in volcanos, and crypts packed with undead under the command of a lich.
4) Perhaps most importantly: dungeons are just fun. This is the thing that keeps me coming back to the table, almost every dungeon I've ever explored has been a blast. They combine mystery, fear of the unknown, and several interesting encounters in a relatively small area.

 

[airwalkrr]

Why couldn't this poll have simply had five options?

 

[Stalker0]

I've started liking dungeon crawls less and less. The problem with them imo is it focuses on the rogue too much. You search for traps, you searched for loot, you searched for secret doors. The rest of the group waits for a pit to cross or a monster to fight while the rogue is doing everything.

 

[Ourph]

For D&D, I'm definitely at 70-80%. For other game systems, it depends. T&T, for example, could be up to 100%. WFRP probably 50% or less.