Do you use dungeons?

[MerakSpielman]

I was going to say that I prefer small, but then I realized that what I really prefer is quick playing dungeons. I want dungeons that will take, at most, two sessions to complete. Currently I have my players going through a 30-room dungeon, but it's a former brigand base built into the back of a large, open cave, and it was destroyed years ago. Some scavangers have moved into the cave portion, but the built-portion is nearly devoid of encounters. Makes it very tense, since some of the traps are still working, and the players are convinced that some of those brigand skeletons will animate (they won't).

I base dungeons on real-world labyrinths, temples, and burial chambers, sometimes stretched out a bit for excitement. Thus they tend to be small dungeons.

They don't need to be large (or common) to be exciting.

edit: Forgot my question - where do you get your floorplans, Wombat? Or do you do it based on your memory of places you've visited?

 

[DaveMage]

Love dungeons, of all types and sizes, both as a DM and player. Love 'em.

(Though, like Davelozzi above, I'm not on the same wavelength as the original poster in terms of his size categories.)

My sentiments as well...

 

[T. Foster]

I prefer a dungeon that is really huge -- a dozen or more levels, 1000+ rooms, that will remain in play off and on for the entire length of the campaign, with no realistic hope of ever 'finishing' or 'clearing' it. The idea that anyone would consider something with 15 rooms to be a 'huge' dungeon boggles my mind...

 

[shilsen]

Hate dungeons & don't use 'em.

 

[The Shaman]

I :heart: dungeons.

 

[Gundark]

well sorry about the wonky post, after I did the post I realized it. Anyhow How do you keep your dungeons interesting? How do you keep things from geting bogged down? I think a key to this is having a balanced group, the dungeon that spoiled me on dungeons we have no spell casters of any kind thus any healing or restoration kind of spells are a no go. So if you suffer ability loss or need healing, tough! Anyhow I'd like to hear your responses.

BTW how do I fix the poll?

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

The absolute key to making a good dungeon is having a good reason for the PCs to be there. Just plopping them down and having them start kicking in doors gets tiresome real quick. But give them a mission that takes them to the deepest level of a dungeon complex (along with various sub-missions and tie-ins) and they'll love it.

 

[Templetroll]

I love dungeons, to create and run and to play in. It all depends on the people running them and playing in them.

The first dungeon I ever designed had fire beetles in the natural cavern and then kobolds in the built up section with traps and over here in these rooms was a lich....

The fire beetles and the kobolds were quite tough enough and the first trap in the lich's ante-chamber (Exploding Runes on a sign-in book) did enough damage to kill a 2nd level character. the party left.

After that I realized a lich should not be on the first level of a dungeon. But I was the stubborn sort so I worked out a way to have a nutcase 3rd level wizard with a nice magic item (Wand of conjuration) who could pretend to be a lich! It was years before any characters went back to mess with section of dungeon. There were at least twice the level of the mage by then.

Three different campaigns I played in, different GMs and different styles of dungeons -

1. nice little dungeon with odd things. A room with a button outside the door, inside were toads, giant toads, lots of 'em. We found out if you pushed the button you got a new toad in the room. I had a druid character speak with the toads and tell them he was their godl proved it by bringing more of them into existance. Got a nasty wart a couple years later from the 'real' God of Toads who was irked by my druid's behavior....

The Room of the Jars, in particular, oddly fun. You went there, saw 10 gold jars on a shelf and when you reach in something happened. You might get a magic item, nothing or your head could explode. What really was great about it was that it allowed new characters a short journey in the wilderness to get enough experience to reach 2nd level and gave the characters a common bond. We investigated later and found out there are things man, or dwarf, were not meant to know!

2. The party was captured by hobgoblins, tossed into an arena. Four magi, with no spells, were fighting three wolves and they only had one dagger! They won, I think we all survived. They freed their warrior and clerical help and then 'explored at full speed' as they tried to find a way out of the place! It was cool grabbing whatever weapon you found and gear to help your group survive.

3. This guy's Traveller campaign was the ancient history of his D&D campaign. That made it wonderful. Heavily fortified underground defense installations were the best thing to explore. It got to be where we no longer needed maps with some of them. I 'knew' the way to travel to get to the huge complex on top of the mountain with the gigantic doors. Into the swamp, make a right at the river and up the path. I 'knew' the rubble to follow at another dungeon to get to the mostly safe room on the 5th level of the dungeon that we always used as our base camp.

The fact that we usually had a choice as to whether to go to a dungeon or not, or the dungeon was relatively small but intense focus of the campaign made them good for me.

 

[Templetroll]

I was going to say that I prefer small, but then I realized that what I really prefer is quick playing dungeons. I want dungeons that will take, at most, two sessions to complete. ....
edit: Forgot my question - where do you get your floorplans, Wombat? Or do you do it based on your memory of places you've visited?

re: "...quick playing dungeons..." Exactly. The dungeon has to have a point and the party either has a mission or is specifically exploring that place. The reward does not have to just be gold or magic; knowledge can be found in the lost places of the world.

You want a great huge dungeon? Look at Mont St. Michel floorplans. Wow, what a great place! When I saw the recent "Earthsea" miniseries the island of Roke looked a lot like the Mont.

toss in details so that players can learn to remember the place, it makes it so real when the player can tell the GM where they go by describing the path they take.

Skara Brae is another excellent dungeon. Take a map of some ancient settlement and just toss in a few secret doors or traps. You're good to go.

 

[IronWolf]

Back in the days I used to love dungeon crawls! I still have a liking for them, but not nearly to the scale of the multi-level dungeons I used to make. These days I appreciate the interaction with NPC's and chance at political intrigue much more. So while my campaigns still have dungeons there is often a little more to them than just go in and kill all the monsters and take their treasure. The party typically has some sort of goal to accomplish and a reason for them to be in the dungeon in the first place.