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Adding spice to the dungeon crawl
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<blockquote data-quote="Olgar Shiverstone" data-source="post: 996874" data-attributes="member: 5868"><p>I favor cumin and cayenne pepper, myself. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> </p><p></p><p>Rivalries with other parties are great -- especially if some are in competition, some in cooperation, some directly opposed.</p><p></p><p>Recurring villains are a must ... the party get's a glimpse of the BBEG, and gradually lerarns mroe and more about him, with minor encounters before getting a chance to take him out.</p><p></p><p>Lots of rumors & legends. Let them hear about the mysterious fountain on level 3, or the black mouth that eats adventurers whole, and things like that. Occasionally make some of them true.</p><p></p><p>Play against their metagame tendencies. Set things up so that they expect one thing, and get another (did this with a "wight" wolf in my last gaming session). Gas spores are great for this. Other things not as they appear -- the good necromancer, the evil knightly hero.</p><p></p><p>Consider pacing of the dungeon carefully. Break up the monotony of searching areas/killing monsters with some encounters designed specifically for roleplay: perhaps a band of deep dwarves has established a stronghold in a part of the dungeon, where the party can rest & recuperate, and maybe trade fro goods -- provided they do some favors first to prove themselves.</p><p></p><p>Teach them early that the answer to everything isn't to fraw swords. Some set piece encounters over their heads can be good for this -- they should learn to run early & often, so they can go back, plan, and return to defeat whatever it is.</p><p></p><p>In a very long campaign, occasionally throw in strange, quirky things that break up the monotony (like Dungeonland/Land Beyond the Magic Mirror in the original Castle Greyhawk campaign, if you're familiar with that).</p><p></p><p>Break up environments -- caves, catacombs, polished dungeons, lava pits, underdark mushroom forests, deep earth oceans, whatever.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Olgar Shiverstone, post: 996874, member: 5868"] I favor cumin and cayenne pepper, myself. ;) Rivalries with other parties are great -- especially if some are in competition, some in cooperation, some directly opposed. Recurring villains are a must ... the party get's a glimpse of the BBEG, and gradually lerarns mroe and more about him, with minor encounters before getting a chance to take him out. Lots of rumors & legends. Let them hear about the mysterious fountain on level 3, or the black mouth that eats adventurers whole, and things like that. Occasionally make some of them true. Play against their metagame tendencies. Set things up so that they expect one thing, and get another (did this with a "wight" wolf in my last gaming session). Gas spores are great for this. Other things not as they appear -- the good necromancer, the evil knightly hero. Consider pacing of the dungeon carefully. Break up the monotony of searching areas/killing monsters with some encounters designed specifically for roleplay: perhaps a band of deep dwarves has established a stronghold in a part of the dungeon, where the party can rest & recuperate, and maybe trade fro goods -- provided they do some favors first to prove themselves. Teach them early that the answer to everything isn't to fraw swords. Some set piece encounters over their heads can be good for this -- they should learn to run early & often, so they can go back, plan, and return to defeat whatever it is. In a very long campaign, occasionally throw in strange, quirky things that break up the monotony (like Dungeonland/Land Beyond the Magic Mirror in the original Castle Greyhawk campaign, if you're familiar with that). Break up environments -- caves, catacombs, polished dungeons, lava pits, underdark mushroom forests, deep earth oceans, whatever. [/QUOTE]
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