Clever dungeon architecture

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Give us some examples of what you think is clever dungeon architecture, designs or features that are new, novel, or game changing.

Here's a couple examples that I think of as classic "clever" dungeon design:

- The use of a tesseract as a dungeon structure in the "Wander Hut of Baba Yaga" (repeated with variation in I5, Lost Tomb of Martek --or was it I4?)

- Multiple, interlocking and connected maze- and temple- layers in the pyramid of I3, Pharoah.

- The sprawling Castle Ravenloft (though the most novel feature here was the method of presentation -- isometric maps!)

 

[Gilladian]

I have a dungeon built by dwarves - the ceilings are only 6' high, the doorways are 4.5' high, and passages are all 3' wide. And, because in my campaign dwarves are literally carved from stone, and revert to stone when they die, the walls of the dungeon are a mausoleum. Even the faces of the deceased dwarves are seen, in the walls, the door lintels, etc... seemingly asleep.

I have not yet run my PCs through it, but I'm wondering if they'll realize what's happening when they see it.

 

[Agamon]

If you want examples of awesome dungeon architecture, check out what they did in Skyrim. Very interesting dungeons in that game.

 

[Dioltach]

I'm running a campaign set in the second half of the 19th century. I described the dwarven halls as being similar to a huge Victorian railway station.

 

[IstraRaugir]

Personally, I've always been a fan of dungeons that change as time goes on. This can be the standard magical 'suddenly the door leads somewhere else' or the more mundane 'you're in a sea-cave, keep an eye on the tide' sort of site. Another thing I like is interactive environment 'bass-relief and hanging banners, of course you can climb that' 'look guys: standing braziers, you can knock one over if you like' 'that balcony's support beam looks rather ritchety, want to take a swing at it?'.
As for the architecture itself I like anything that forces the players to think in three dimensions (cliffsides, winding staircases and the like are great places for encounters). Above all a dungeon needs to make sense in its own context: an eroded cave has winding dead ends, an old castle has its layered defenses and arrowslits, etc. This means no random traps and no arbitrary path that meanders the entire dungeon and ends at the boss' lair.

 

[InkwellIdeas]

There was an issue of Dungeon (#26 or so) with an adventure that used a mobius strip.

 

[gamerprinter]

Add rotating or moving halls, that disconnect and close off areas then move into position to open to a new section of the dungeon. Cutting off those trapped until the halls move once again. And others can't return where they started from until the halls move back.

A circular dungeon track could rotate 90 degrees every 10 minutes, so it takes four rotations to reach the starting position and allow escape from the complex.

 

[dammitbiscuit]

The "house" (really more of a "deranged extraplanar basement") in House of Leaves is a creative, awesome dungeon. It has very few occupants or traps, but really mind-bending architecture.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

I always go back to the original Caverns of Thracia by Paul Jaquays.

Multiple levels. Multiple links between levels. Multiple (and secret) sub-levels. The first really three-dimensional dungeon.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The "house" (really more of a "deranged extraplanar basement") in House of Leaves is a creative, awesome dungeon. It has very few occupants or traps, but really mind-bending architecture.

I used it. It was fuuuuuuun.