Back to the Dungeon

[pogre]

One of the things that brought me back to D&D was 3E's motto of back to the dungeon. I know I am going to get hammered for this opinion, but I like dungeons being the default adventure site. I was wondering if dungeons will still play the same role in 4E? I sure hope so!

I know some veterans get tired of dungeons, but I do like how they give players choices, but still funnel the action.

The only theme I have garnered from reading the 4E stuff is "points of light in a time of darkness."

Do you think 4E will change the focus of adventures?

 

[S'mon]

I like dungeons and I expect they'll be a major focus. I also hope dragons will be more usable than in 3e's 'too kewl for school', but it doesn't look good so far.

Generally, re a campaign setting I tend to prefer the Frank Mentzer approach of a wilderness setting containing several smaller dungeons and other adventures, rather than a single mega-dungeon. By 'smaller dungeon' I mean something up to the size of the Caves of Chaos from Keep on the Borderlands, up to 2-3 levels worth of play but not an entire campaign.

 

[blargney the second]

I've come full circle on dungeons. Loved them when I was a kid, hated them for the first few years of 3.x, and now I'm back to loving them again. I blame ENWorld for making me love them again... there was a really cool thread analyzing dungeons as flowcharts a year or so back that turned my opinion around.
-blarg

 

[pogre]

Generally, re a campaign setting I tend to prefer the Frank Mentzer approach of a wilderness setting containing several smaller dungeons and other adventures, rather than a single mega-dungeon. By 'smaller dungeon' I mean something up to the size of the Caves of Chaos from Keep on the Borderlands, up to 2-3 levels worth of play but not an entire campaign.

Absolutely agree. I like one or two session dungeons too. Dungeons in my mind include exploring large buildings, city sewer, etc. I would not choose for them to be the exclusive adventuring sites, but the base one that most adventures lead too. It's one of the tings I like about 3E.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

Dungeons are cool. Old places are cool. It is straightforward fantasy. I hope they keep that focus in 4E. It seems to me that if games do not focus on the adventuring part of fantasy, They seems to slip easily into rules-light games, which I am not a fan of at all.

After all, it is very easy to ignore dungeons, if you don't want to do them, Just walk on by. Nothing to see here!

 

[crazy_cat]

Dungeons & Dragons is so much easier to work with than Various Challenging Environments & Dragons.

I think the initial focus of the core books will be Dungeons and adventuring in them and getting to them - but that will quickly expand to include other environments for adventure in future releases.

 

[Crymson]

I know I am going to get hammered for this opinion

Not by me you won't There is something about dungeons... that is just cool.

 

[Li Shenron]

No, dungeons are a sacred cow, it must be slaughtered for good...

 

[Mouseferatu]

I won't hammer you for it, but I'll disagree to an extent.

Certainly, dungeons should be a major part of the game as written, and the core books should spend a lot of time discussing how to build/use/adventure in them. But it should not do so to the exclusion of other environments.

2E probably moved farther away from the dungeon than it needed to. 3E, IMO (and that of most people I game with) went too far the other way.

In terms of "dungeon focus," I'd like to see something roughly midway between them.

 

[Jhaelen]

I liked dungeons when I was twelve years old. My players loved them, too. Even though (or probably especially because) they didn't make any sense at all.

Now, I'm hardly using them at all. My current favorite dungeon is more like an extended lair:
If the number of locations in the dungeon hits two digits it's definitely too large for my taste.

I like the flow-chart approach for adventures but it works just as well (if not better) when there is no dungeon.