Does anybody not use dungeons?

[Vaxalon]

Yes, I do, and I'm proud of it.

The players have just (at 5th level) jumped into the first level of a multi-level dungeon that permeates a mile-high inverted mountain that is slowly grinding its way across the landscape towards their home.

They need to find out what is moving it, and why, and figure out a way to stop or divert it, or disaster will result. It's a sprawling complex, with areas that have been built (over the centuries) by four different races. As a result, different areas are very much different locations, with distinct flavor and architecture.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Well, yeah, I use dungeons (most often in the loosest sense of the term; i.e. someplace where the party goes around kills stuff, etc. etc.), but the ones I use are always important and aren't just there for the looting.

I am going to try a new tactic, however..instead of having them go room by room, I'm just going to have them come across the important stuff and leave the endless "I walk down the corridor, I search for traps" stuff out. Also saves on the mappage.

Nostalgia moment: My favorite "dungeon" so far has been the Necromancer's College in our homebrew world. Outside, it looks like a huge tower. Inside, it goes up for only 3 levels; the real college descends down hundreds of feet. The PCs never picked up on it, I think, but the "lower" portions were actually the body of a long-dead god that had sunk into the swamp and ossified. What better way to get a first-hand study of death?

 

[Mark]

While I know the game is called first "Dungeons..." does anybody not really use the typical underground caves/dungeon crawls in their campaigns?

We don't consider ourselves to be a role playing only or a combat only group, but we rarely have dungeon crawls in a campaign. Most of the combat takes place outdoors and above ground. I remember a long campaign we were in, and the only real dungeon crawl the whole time was a one session side adventure when a couple of the guys were absent for the week...

I know what you mean. I prefer adventure arcs that incorporate a varied selection of settings most of the time; urban, wilderness and underground. There are situations where sprawling underground locations can be used but the realism behind these, whether constructed or natural, can sometimes strain the cohesion of a lasting campaign that doesn't focus strictly on combat. In most cases I like to begin a session (or series of sessions) with a meeting and information-gathering, urban encounter, some wilderness travel to a main location (whether it is another urban location, a wilderness location, or perhaps a tightly focused underground complex), and try to finish back up at homebase. Developing things in this way keep a nice episodic feel to things, even if the group gets sidetracked and takes longer than usual to return to their normal asylum.