D&D 5E Do you like dungeon crawls?

[atanakar]

Dungeon Crawls are part of the D&D dna since the early B modules. As someone who started in 1981 with B/X, at first we were very enthousiastic about «dungeons». Kick the door, kills the monsters, take the loot. We spent many evenings and weekends dungeon crawling. That is how we learned the rules. But at some point during B4 The Lost City something happened. We were all very confused. Someone asked «why are we doing this again?» And as the DM I couldn't remember... we, as a group, couldn't remember what the mission was. We did finish B4, which had a original idea to start with but had a disappointing ending. After that when I bought a TSR modules I would read it and remove all the excess crawl and only use the essentials.

Since that day, in my own creations, I made a conscious effort to reduce underground/cavernous locations to a minimum. They are playable in a single evening and with only one level. I prefer using castles ruins, ancient druidic circles, lost towers, villages, cities, etc, as locations for adventures.

Do YOU like dungeon crawls?

 

[iserith]

Done well, dungeons are fantastic adventure locations. They're easy to run, fun to play, and are a great way to include all three pillars of the game in the adventure. I heartily recommend them.

 

[atanakar]

Done well, dungeons are fantastic adventure locations. They're easy to run, fun to play, and are a great way to include all three pillars of the game in the adventure. I heartily recommend them.

I believe the «burn» came from the very high amount of XPs needed to gain levels. The modules were filled with XP encounters catering to that formula. I prefer having several meaningful short dungeons instead of one long dungeon with filler encounters to help the PCs gain levels.

 

[prabe]

I really don't care much for them. They seem artificial and contrived to me. I'm playing in a game where we basically walked out of a dungeon we'd started crawling through (because we, the players, were tired of it). The campaigns I'm running haven't really had dungeons for crawling, either. There have been some locations that had some maps, and in at least one case had a lot of monsters, but I didn't (and don't) feel as though I ran them as dungeon crawls (though my wife tells me one ran as a short dungeon crawl, so clearly I'm not the best (or only) person with an opinion, here).

 

[iserith]

I believe the «burn» came from the very high amount of XPs needed to gain levels. The modules were filled with XP encounters catering to that formula. I prefer having several meaningful short dungeons instead of one long dungeon with filler encounters to help the PCs gain levels.

I think a dungeon needs at least 3 levels to it to offer a less linear experience with at least two ways down to lower levels on each level. This, combined with challenges in all three pillars, offers up a lot of choices to the players and I believe offering players the most amount of meaningful, informed decisions per unit of time is the best way to increase engagement.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I enjoy a good dungeon crawl, but I don't think I'd want a diet of nothing but dungeon crawls.

What I don't like is when there's never any real differentiation in which direction to go before you get to a room. That's when you get parties that always go north, or left, because they have no context to make their decision.

 

[iserith]

What I don't like is when there's never any real differentiation in which direction to go before you get to a room. That's when you get parties that always go north, or left, because they have no context to make their decision.

DM fail.

 

[Nagol]

I like running dungeon crawls because the territory is heavily curated. Wherever the group is, there is a limited set of options where they can travel. Contrast this with a city adventure.

I like playing in dungeon crawls more in systems with long-term resource constraints. Where the challenge becomes how can we get the most return for our investment and risk assessment, route selection, and non-combat tactics can be vital.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I love true dungeon crawls as they are the most difficult if well laid-out and DMed well. But, to my thinking, other adventure types (wilderness and city) are no different. The regions of both are akin to the rooms of the "dungeon", only the scale has changed.

So, what is vital to any adventure is purpose, challenge, and reward. Without all three, and well done, the adventure loses value. This is true no matter what adventure type you use.

FWIW, I also prefer dungeon crawls that are logical, natural, etc. There must be a reason/purpose for the dungeon, as well as a reason to go there--otherwise, yes, it becomes tedious.

 

[prabe]

So, what is vital to any adventure is purpose, challenge, and reward. Without all three, and well done, the adventure loses value. This is true no matter what adventure type you use.

FWIW, I also prefer dungeon crawls that are logical, natural, etc. There must be a reason/purpose for the dungeon, as well as a reason to go there--otherwise, yes, it becomes tedious.

I find that if a dungeon crawl (or for that matter a hexcrawl) goes on long enough, the reason for doing it can fall out of the players' minds. That's about when they become tedious, in my experience.