Creative Dungeon Elements

[Hussar]

- Think in three dimensions
- Allow for multiple connections between locations, some secret, some open
- Use environmental challenges and features -- a waterfall, lava, a lake, a frozen stream that becomes a toboggan run ...
- Set the dungeon outdoors -- paths and rooms in a city in the treetops, for example

This. A 1000 times this. Thinking in 3D makes your dungeons so much cooler. Even something as simple as using lots of stuff that has a climb speed. Have your spiders attack from the ceiling. That sort of thing.

 

[pukunui]

As another suggestion, drop maps often. Give the players lots of information about what lies ahead. Maybe a bit of false information too.

I was just looking at Dungeonscape last night, and the bit with a pit trap with the skeletal remains of a previous adventurer at the bottom whose hand is still holding the chalk he used to scribble a map on the wall caught my eye.

- Think in three dimensions
- Allow for multiple connections between locations, some secret, some open
- Use environmental challenges and features -- a waterfall, lava, a lake, a frozen stream that becomes a toboggan run ...
- Set the dungeon outdoors -- paths and rooms in a city in the treetops, for example

Yes!

Going back to classic 80's cartoons, I think every series had at least one episode where the heroes are shrunk or changed to animals or otherwise put outside their usual bodies. You could literally play a game within a game by 'shrinking' the players and putting them in a completely different board game like Candyland, or Chutes and Ladders...

Some great ideas! I was actually thinking along the lines of shrinking the PCs down into a magical snow globe (a la Neverwinter Nights). Maybe there's a white dragon trapped inside ~ along with some other faction in opposition to it ~ that the PCs have to contend with in order to get out.

This. A 1000 times this. Thinking in 3D makes your dungeons so much cooler. Even something as simple as using lots of stuff that has a climb speed. Have your spiders attack from the ceiling. That sort of thing.

Oh absolutely!

 

[TarionzCousin]

I think you need to find some good random tables to roll on to spur your imagination. Books like the AEG Toolkit - the expanded version...

This is a great book. Check it out here: Ultimate Toolbox.

 

[pukunui]

That does look like a good book. Kinda pricey, though.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some specific modules (which don't need to be TSR/WotC ones) that have dungeons with otherworldly/extraplanar/bizarre features?

 

[Rechan]

How about building a dungeon that goes "up", like a tower, or series of floating islands, or unreachable plateaus that require other magic hidden in the dungeon to reach (potion of fly, temp polymorph to flying creature, "hookshot"...)

Or, with portals, the dungeon doesn't even need to be in the same place. Rooms scattered between lots of distances, all linked via teleportation.

Also I, too, would love a Castlevania dungeon. Been pondering that myself.

Going back to classic 80's cartoons, I think every series had at least one episode where the heroes are shrunk or changed to animals or otherwise put outside their usual bodies. You could literally play a game within a game by 'shrinking' the players and putting them in a completely different board game like Candyland, or Chutes and Ladders...

I remember reading a S&S story where this sorcerer had a miniature dungeon. He would shrink contestants down and put them at multiple entrances to the maze, and they would go in to kill one another/survive the threats (like a shrew and a garden snake, both giant sized) - it was a "last man alive wins the treasure" deal. Meanwhile, in the normal sized room, nobles bet on the winner. Saved a lot of space doing this too.

Another fun idea is a dungeon that the players can alter the shape of via levers/sorcery... one of the GBA Castlevania games lets you change the layout of 15 rooms to get to dead-ends with treasures and three different exits plus the one you enter from. A movie called _Cube_ has individual rooms with death traps that shift each time the group enters a new room... from any number of exits.

Oh yes. I would absolutely love a class that could alter the battlefield, but a dungeon with set pieces that let you move things around (particularly for tactical advantage) would be real fun.

 

[pukunui]

I remember reading a S&S story where this sorcerer had a miniature dungeon. He would shrink contestants down and put them at multiple entrances to the maze, and they would go in to kill one another/survive the threats (like a shrew and a garden snake, both giant sized) - it was a "last man alive wins the treasure" deal. Meanwhile, in the normal sized room, nobles bet on the winner. Saved a lot of space doing this too.

That sounds awesome!

 

[MortalPlague]

The very best article I ever read about dungeon design is this one, called 'Jacquaying The Dungeon'.

http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon

Nothing I've read has ever instilled the desire to create so strongly as this one.

 

[Rechan]

This. A 1000 times this. Thinking in 3D makes your dungeons so much cooler. Even something as simple as using lots of stuff that has a climb speed. Have your spiders attack from the ceiling. That sort of thing.

One example of this I can think of is a dungeon made by a beholder just hollowing out solid stone with a disintegrate ray. Since beholders can fly, the passage and rooms are in 3D and likely don't make much sense.

Or you could have flying monsters in your dungeon.

The point is that some areas need to be accessed on the ceiling, like a hole in the ceiling taking you to a new area, or doors higher up along the wall, accessed by ledges. So part of the challenges is players needing to figure out how to get up to the room's exit.

 

[pukunui]

The very best article I ever read about dungeon design is this one, called 'Jacquaying The Dungeon'.

http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon

Nothing I've read has ever instilled the desire to create so strongly as this one.

Yes, a lot of Justin's stuff is excellent. His article on the Three Clue Rule is fantastic as well.

One example of this I can think of is a dungeon made by a beholder just hollowing out solid stone with a disintegrate ray. Since beholders can fly, the passage and rooms are in 3D and likely don't make much sense.

Or you could have flying monsters in your dungeon.

The point is that some areas need to be accessed on the ceiling, like a hole in the ceiling taking you to a new area, or doors higher up along the wall, accessed by ledges. So part of the challenges is players needing to figure out how to get up to the room's exit.

Indeed.

 

[koesherbacon]

Has anyone suggested the Grimtooth trap books yet?