D&D 5E Do you like dungeon crawls?

[Stoutstien]

Ah. The "Every Adventure is a Dungeon" school. I suppose you can look at it that way, but I think the question was intended more literally. Also, play in literal dungeons is frequently different than in other settings, because of expectations/tropes like traps and random monsters and such.

if anything i felt traps and random encounters make more narrative sense anywhere but the traditional dungeon. the randomness is more intrusive in a literal dungeon because of innate linear layout. run into an owlbear in the forest vs random goblins in a dungeon but when you try to figure out why they where there it draws a blank.

there is a book series called NPC that explain how dungeon work in their almost satirical logic from the view of NPC (posing as PCs)

 

[Lanefan]

Dungeon crawl is more like a table top game and not an rpg. It is mainly about exploration and/or murder hobo bloodfest.

Exploration = good.

Murder-hobo bloodfest = whatever floats yer boat... (and can be good sometimes)

If you like social elements and good stories it sucks. For these you need more space and variety.

Good stories can and do come out of dungeon crawls; or - flip-side - dungeon crawls can be and often are elements within good stories.

As for social elements and role-playing, even if the party never once tries negotiating with anything in a dungeon, nothing ever stops* you roleplaying the interactions between the characters in the party as they get to know each other, come to like or dislike each other, maybe even fall in love with each other, etc., etc.

* - or if anything ever does, you've a problem I can't help with.

 

[HarbingerX]

Big Dungeons

• can be awesome exploration of all sorts of weird environments, puzzles, and roleplaying to pit factions against each other.
• can be boring smash-the-door murder hobo with no logical sense

Cities

• can be awesome exploration of all sorts of interesting districts with intrigue and roleplaying.
• can be flavorless with everything the same and seemly devoid of purpose other than a safe resting point until the next foray into the world. NPCs are all bland and the place seems lifeless.

Wilderness Hex-crawl

• can be awesome exploration of all sorts of weird environments and strange creatures
• can be boring slog while you slowly die.

I think it's easier to make a half-decent city campaign, but all can be awesome experiences if the DM understands what makes each environment interesting to play in. Too many dungeons suffer from not investing enough DM time into making it a dynamic environment. It's easier to create a 5-room focused dungeon that serves only one purpose rather than a large dungeon that is a backdrop for the entire gameplay.

So I'm not surprised most people have only had negative experiences with dungeon exploration. It takes a lot more work than an equivalent city or town/region setting.

 

[cbwjm]

Now, you are specifying "D&D" dungeons, which we all know are riddled with faults, but otherwise...

1) Medieval cities were horrible mazes! Look at Rome, London, Paris, or any major city that has been around for hundreds of years--most of them hardly make any sense. Dungeons can make perfect sense if they are made (and played) properly--or at least as much sense as a city. Many "dungeons" are underground dwellings, after all.

2. Pace can be set in any environment you are exploring. Setting has nothing to do with it.

3. Combat and interaction can be as involved or sparse as the DM and party want. You should try playing some dungeons that aren't hack-n-slash.

4. LOL! Sure they don't. Do you know how many people get lost in cities??? With all the streets, allies, and other passageways they are worse than most caverns. There is a nice trick for being in most dungeons, you put a hand on either the left or right wall, and walk forward, keeping your hand there, and you will usually find your way out.

5. Again, tracking and bookkeeping can be just as consuming in cities or out in the wilderness as in dungeons.

So, if you are playing in a game where cities are that much easier to navigate, your DM is being kind or you are getting a guide, map, or something. In cities you still have to track time, food, light (especially at night), and so forth.

Again, how much you want to put into tracking resources is about preference--not setting.

A city is just an above ground dungeon.

 

[DND_Reborn]

A city is just an above ground dungeon.

Pretty much.

 

[Zardnaar]

Good ones yes.

Problem with 5E is it's attrition based encounter expectation and dungeon crawls are one way to do that.

 

[Oofta]

I don't really use dungeons and almost never have. Sometimes the location the encounter is based on will be an old ruin or cave system, but the location itself is more set dressing than anything. So if the group is tracking down the BBEG to his lair, technically that lair could be considered by some people to be a dungeon, but to me that doesn't qualify it as a dungeon crawl.

I equate dungeon crawls with an old school labyrinth of loosely connected rooms with sometimes tenuous connection to logic. The setting is pretty much fixed, you're just exploring to find out what's there. Sometimes you have a goal in mind (find Bob the Bugbear) usually it's just kill everything and loot the corpses. They can be fun in their own way, and have a certain old school charm. I just know I'm not very good at running them so I don't. I certainly wouldn't want a steady diet of it.

With that and apologies to Sir Mix-A-Lot

Oh, my, gods Becky, look at this dungeon​

It is so big, it looks like​

One of those old dungeon crawls.​

But, ya know, who understands those adventurer types?​

They only delve in it, because,​

They're looking for gold and XP, 'kay?​

I mean, this dungeon, is just so big​

I can't believe it's just so complex, it makes no sense​

I mean gross, look​

It's just so, old school​

​

I like dungeon crawls and I can not lie​

You other adventurers can't deny​

That when a DM pull out that big grid diagram​

And a treasure map in your face​

You get sprung, want to pull up tough​

'Cause you notice that dungeon is stuffed​

Deep in the depths it's hidden​

I'm hooked and I can't stop staring​

Oh DM, I want to get explorin'​

And make some maps​

My homeboys tried to warn me​

But with that map you got makes (me so greedy)​

 

[Doug McCrae]

I have experienced very well done (in fact the best rpg I've ever played in) location-based adventures that somewhat resembled D&D dungeons - high weirdness, exploration, combat, puzzles - in a homebrew rpg called the Dream Game. The PCs are 'oneironauts' entering 'dream clusters' - smooshed together collections of dreams - to oppose 'externals', which seem to be ghost or demon-like spiritual entities that are troubling the dreamer.

They're not dungeon crawls in the D&D tradition as OP specified tho.

1) They're not D&D.
2) They're not crawls, they had a fairly fast pace.
3) There was no resource management apart from powers, that somewhat resembled spells. No ammo, rations, lantern oil, etc.
4) There was no precise measurement of time and location.
5) The Dream Game was largely based on real world occult beliefs rather than taking, as D&D does, real world mythology and 20th century speculative fiction and reducing it to a set of combat stats.
6) There was no gotcha nonsense like ear seekers.
7) Movement wasn't heavily constrained by passages or staircases.
8) No rote activity like listening at doors, checking for traps, and searching for secret doors.
9) No searching for treasure.
10) No purely game constructs like monsters getting more powerful the deeper you go, or the entirety of Tomb of Horrors.
11) The high weirdness always had a psychological or esoteric logic to it that could potentially be uncovered.

You could argue it was D&D with all the crap parts removed. But that's not D&D.

 

[oriaxx77]

A city is just an above ground dungeon.

Still, we live in cities. I can’t remember any good book that puts the whole plot into dungeons. Dungeons limit space and options. There are some flavorful ones, but they are the exceptions. Dungeons usually involves tactical elements and grids. D&D does not have good rules for this kind of combat. Some people like megadungeons and that is fine. It is just not my cup of cake. I like the story of Dragonlance, Matrix, Lotr, Imajica too much and I want to tell / play similar stories. Dungeons make it hard. Fantasy World with cities, forests ... >>>>>> Megadungeon. For 1 or 2 sessions a dungeon is good. It makes the story more interesting. But after that it is just boring.

 

[S'mon]

Do YOU like dungeon crawls?

I like them in principle, but I do get burned out running megadungeons like Stonehell. I do think D&D could do with more above-ground exploration-based adventures - tangled woods, ruined cities, infested swamps, that sort of thing - essentially above ground 'dungeons', since the 'dungeon' flow-chart type adventure design is a very good one, much better IMO than the linear-series-of-fights/encounters or scene-based design approach.