Bill Zebub
“It’s probably Matt Mercer’s fault.”
The thread in the One D&D forum about "bringing back dungeon exploration to D&D" got me imagining...wishing for, really...a supplement specifically for DMs who want to emphasize good old fashioned dungeons. I wouldn't care if it's official WotC or 3rd Party. I'd probably buy it in a heartbeat without even reading the table of contents, but it's also fun to think about what might be in that table of contents?
Ideas? (And this is a '+' thread because if you want to pooh-pooh the idea of 'bringing back dungeons' the other thread is a fine place for such cynicism.)
My off-the-top-of-my-head ideas:
Ideas? (And this is a '+' thread because if you want to pooh-pooh the idea of 'bringing back dungeons' the other thread is a fine place for such cynicism.)
My off-the-top-of-my-head ideas:
- A system for keeping track of time, with rules and suggestions for how to use that to add pressure
- Other ideas for keeping the tension and pressure up (without counting torches)
- E.g. Rests: ways to make rests something players are less eager to take (ties into the time thing)
- Rules for mapping, backtracking, and getting lost (i.e., if you want to map carefully, it consumes more time!)
- Traps!
- I really don't like WotC's take on traps; I would want @iserith...or The Angry DM...to write this chapter
- I imagine this chapter containing both guidance on how to design and DM traps that aren't just empty dice rolls, and also a whole trove of fleshed out traps based on that guidance
- Puzzles! (Similar to traps)
- This wouldn't necessarily have to be the sorts of puzzles designed by evil geniuses (who apparently have phobias about good old fashioned keys); it could just refer to anything the party has to figure out. "There's a rope bridge spanning the chasm, but the ropes look rotted and most of the planks are missing..."
- Secret Doors! (Similar to traps)
- Random tables for fleshing out dungeons.
- Not (necessarily) to generate a whole dungeon, but for when you are just filling in details or looking for inspiration)
- A whole chapter on light and darkness, full of juicy guidance on how to use both to terrify your players most effectively
- New monsters?
- New subclasses? (Honestly not my favorite)
- Links to a playlist of thematic music
- General guidance on how to design and run dungeons
- Issues of realism (why are the monsters here? what do they eat? etc.) and whether your players will actually care
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