dungeon delving

[crusaderbard]

I'm an old school gamer and I never had too much use for miniatures except for a good game of Warhammer 40k. But when it comes to D&D, particularly dungeon delving games, how do most of you run your games? I don't mean running a room encounter, but how do you all handle in between rooms. Do you describe in detail the hallways / tunnels that lead up to encounters? I've always felt this can bore players but never found a good alternative.

"Ok, turn the corner and see another 5 foot wide brick hallway. It goes down 40 feet and you see you can go left or right. / We go right / Ok you go right 40 more feet and see a dead end but two doors one on left and one on right.., " etc.. etc..

On big dungeons this can lead to very long descriptions of just wandering around in a dungeon.

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[howandwhy99]

Descriptions happen in layers. Starting descriptions mean the players aren't actively searching an area. They only learn what they can sense passively. If mapping, then they are actively searching, but usually only distances for wall, floor, ceiling and other features. However, this may interiors and other things. Just ask what the mapper needs.

Miniatures are good for Positioning in an drawn out visible area on a battlemat. They are also useful for Marching Order in case players are surprised and positioning matters.

As for accurate distances I don't think you need to give them unless the PCs are mapping. Mappers move more slowly, require ink, quill, and paper or some other means. Old-old school means they tell you what they are measuring and how: Their PCs' pace and how they measured that (2' each perhaps). Then you can tell them paces or feet, yards, or whatever the players are comfortable with. Degree of mapping can slow movement, but increases what you tell players initially.

Don't tell specifics if the players aren't interested. It gets boring, especially when Players consider the PCs to be in safe locales. Stay with generalities and drop even those if they players are looking to speed up play. (just ask).

From your example:
Ref: "The hallway takes a corner to the right and ends ahead in a T-junction, halls going left and right."
P1: "go down and go to the right"
Ref: "At the T-junction the left hallway goes beyond the torchlight. Traveling right the hallway dead ends further on with a closed door on either wall."

Add specifics as needed by the design and players' requests. "Where are the doors exactly in relation to each other?" How long is this hallway after the corner?" And so on.

Repeated details should be expressed upon first encountering something. If the players forget something, remind them of what they immediately can sense.

For example:
Ref: "Heading down the stairs from the manse above the wooden stairs become flagstones. The walls continue to be wood-paneled as before, but the ceiling has dropped considerably to about 8' high with a gothic peaked arch made from the panels extending upwards to the apex. Hallway tables, pictures, and decorations from before are nowhere to be seen."

 

[darjr]

Simple broad descriptions, mostly with environmental embellishments, is what I use. Details are for when they ask or should otherwise know.

 

[Lanefan]

I try to give actual measurements on the assumption the PCs are at least pacing things out. For more complicated areas I just draw it out on a gridded chalkboard we use, and the players can map from that. We use minis on the chalkboard, nowhere near as precisely as a system like 4e would have us do it, but for a general idea of where people are, marching order, and so on. Minis also make combat much easier as everyone can easily see who is fighting what, and where.

I don't often run megadungeons e.g. Ruins of Undermountain; I can easily see how describing and mapping something like that would be a nightmare!

Lanefan