Dungeon Nomenclature and Taxonomy

[Reynard]

Various threads regarding dungeons -- here and at other sites -- have brought up a few different names for different kinds of dungeons, and I thought it might be a worthwhile discussion to name and identify them (as best we can) and discuss the pros and cons of the different types, as well as our experiences with them.

There seems to be a few types that need clear definitions (or at least some discussion regarding definitions):

Megadungeon
Campaign Dungeon
Lair Dungeon

In addition, there are basic questions of what a dungeon is, what constitutes an "underground wilderness" as opposed to a (mega)dungeon and how various published adventures and/or dungeons fall into these categories.

 

[Lanefan]

I'll stick my toe in... (long essay warning)

Let's start with the easy one:

Megadungeon - as far as I can tell, the one defining feature of a megadungeon (as opposed to just a really big dungeon or series) is that it is open-ended at the design level. Need more rooms? Just tack 'em on. Party going where the map is blank? Start drawing! The archetype here is Castle Greyhawk. Undermountain is close; they've already done much of the tacking on for you but the suggestion is still given that you can expand as required, and you still have to populate and flesh out about 99.9% of the rooms and areas on the maps.

The next size down might be called a "campaign dungeon", but there's some sub-types here as well. The defining feature of these could be that while there is assumed to be a world outside or beyond the dungeon, there is little reason given to interact with it - if desired, the campaign need never leave the confines of the dungeon.

Campaign, Stand-Alone - this is just a single ordinary closed-design dungeon that has failed a save vs. Enlarge. Rappan Athuk is a good example: you can spend an entire campaign just bashing around in that one dungeon, every now and then going to town for gear and training. Temple of Elemental Evil is another. World's Largest Dungeon could be another but I don't know enough about it to say if it's a Stand-Alone or a Path (see below).

Campaign, Exploratory - a single somewhat-closed area with the possibility of lots of little sub-adventures that is in fact one great big dungeon in and of itself that can, if desired, represent a whole campaign. Myth Drannor is one such. Ravenloft could be seen as another.

Campaign, Adventure Path - a closely-linked series of adventures that in fact are really just one great big adventure broken into bite-size chapters. These are designed such that the campaign starts with the first adventure in the path and ends with the last one. Amount of interaction with the off-path world is up to the whims of the players and-or DM. War of the Burning Sky is one such.

There's another level to insert here, where a series of adventures form a linked path but do not make up the entire campaign:

Series, Adventure Path - same as Campaign, Adventure Path but rather than being itself the entire campaign it is instead contained within a larger campaign where other adventures may occur before and-or after the one path. Rod of Seven Parts and the G-D-Q series are two examples. (note that while the G-D-Q series can easily be the endpoint of a campaign it will never be the start point, unless the campaign starts at considerably higher than 1st level).

And then there's the more conventional module-style dungeon or adventure The big difference here is that interaction with the outside world beyond the dungeon is both assumed and expected before, after, and sometimes during the adventure itself. Further, the campaign by definition is going to consist of at least two of these modules and usually many more.

"Lair" is a bad overall term for these as it forces assumptions about what the adventure or dungeon consists of; so I'm going to use "Module" instead. There are, of course, many sub-types:

Module, Lair - adventure consists of invading the lair of a nasty critter or a BBEG and killing the occupants. Mission complete when occupants dead. Keep on the Shadowfell is one such, of many.

Module, Recovery - adventure consists of finding and recovering something e.g. a person, item, knowledge, whatever. Mission complete when target recovered and returned to safety.

Module, Exploratory - where the party have to explore an area or find their way to-from somewhere, includes modules where the focus is a journey rather than the destination (e.g. Journey To the Rock), also includes modules where the party is lost or disoriented (A4 Slavers Dungeon is in part one such; Q1 Demonweb Pits is another). Critters and opposition are a secondary focus. Mission complete when journey/exploration complete.

A sub-sub-type here would be Module, Pursuit - adventure consists of pursuing someone or something but not catching it. Usually a sub-adventure in a path of some sort, but can occasionally work as stand-alone as part of a campaign where the mission is complete when the party turn the chase over to someone else.

Module, Mini-Path - where the adventure consists of several smaller quasi-linked chapters but is not in itself big enough to wrap a campaign around. Often includes elements of all other module types. Night's Dark Terror is one such.

At the module level, the definitions of course become blurrier - many modules incorporate elements of different types, with the one over-riding feature being that after finishing the module they're in the party goes on to something else that may or may not be related at all. Forge of Fury is an interesting example: it starts out as a Lair, becomes Exploratory during play, ends up returning to Lair at the end, and depending on why the party is there at all could also be classed as Recovery.

Thoughts?

Lan-"I admire your patience if you read all this"-efan

 

[Doug McCrae]

In a lair, most of the monsters are under the, relatively close, control of a single organisation or entity. Lairs are smaller than mega-dungeons, though they can be quite large.

G1, G2 and G3 are all good examples of lairs. Temple of Elemental Evil could be regarded as a lair, despite the conflict between the factions. The Caves of Chaos are mostly made up of lairs, half-a-dozen or so. The chambers of each humanoid tribe - goblins, orcs, bugbears, etc - are separate lairs.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Campaign used to have a different meaning. It used to mean all the adventures that took place in one DM's world or milieu.

Nowadays campaign refers to something a bit tighter. There is usually persistence of PCs, objective or plot in addition to persistence of setting. If all the PCs change, it's arguably a new campaign.

 

[Reynard]

I am not sure it's beneficial to try and get into a discussion about what constitutes a "module", "adventure" or "campaign" in a general sense -- at the very least, it might create some confusion as to where the definition of a particular sort of dungeon ends and the definition of a particular sort of play begins. While there may be some overlap, I don't think they are necessarily synonymous or even closely tied. After all, one could have a campaign that takes place in a megadungeon that involves modules centered on lairs.

What's interesting, I think, is the idea that the different types of dungeon are not seperated by size or geophysical nature, but by use and how they are engaged. We call Castle Greyhawk a megadungeon because it is a dynamic, endless and ever responsive place, while we call the Temple of Elemental Evil a campaign dungeon because it is static and purposeful. (That's not to say that conditions don't change in the Temple, but that it isn't meant to grow and change in response to the PCs; rather, the PCs are supposed to "beat" it.) Dragon Mountain is a huge lair. It seems as though any example of one sort could be tranformed into another with just a few tweaks (Dragon Mountain could easily become a campaign dungeon while eliminating the "end bosses" of the Temple and allowing it to wind its way ever deeper would transform it into a megadungeon).

But what is a dungeon. In another thread, Doug talked about degrees of abstraction. If you pull back a degree or two, a city becomes a dungeon: streets and buildings are analogous to hallways and chambers and individuals, groups and political forces become monsters, traps and tricks. Could you pull out another degree and create a "dungeon nation", a land so embroiled in conflict that roads become hallways and villages become rooms?

I don't want to get too far away from the core discussion here, though, which is: how do we classify dungeons based on their function in play? Can we? Are there any hard lines or are we likely to find most dungeons fall in the spaces between whatever categories we decide upon. And if so, is there a point in categorizing them at all?

 

[Desdichado]

When it comes to definitions of dungeons, I'm still trying to figure out how "underground prison or vault" got turned into "massive complex of caves or catacombs haunted by an entire ecosystem of monsters", personally.

 

[the Jester]

Campaign used to have a different meaning. It used to mean all the adventures that took place in one DM's world or milieu.

Nowadays campaign refers to something a bit tighter. There is usually persistence of PCs, objective or plot in addition to persistence of setting. If all the PCs change, it's arguably a new campaign.

Not all of us use that newfangled definition.

And all, or at least many, of the adventures that take place in one dm's world might have connecting themes.

 

[pawsplay]

I think one of the defining characteristics of a Megadungeon is the environmental survival aspect. You could spend days, if not weeks, penetrating even the first few layers, so expendable resources like arrows, food, and light become important. In some cases, there are ways to secure resources within the dungeon and you never have to leave at all. Otherwise, exiting the dungeon can be as big an undertaking as entering it. How will you rest? Where can you get clerical magic? These become important questions.

A lair I think of as a dungeon revolving around just one set of creatures. For instance, the Isle of Dread introduced as to many smaller cave complexes that might, for instance, be populated by a gang of troglodytes, or by a dragon, or a nest of gargoyles. The largest lairs I can think of would be fortified structures filled with one faction, like a big goblin fort that goes underground and is manned by dozens of goblins, plus hobgoblins, trolls, and more who are their allies.

A Destination Dungeon has something at the bottom. B4: The Lost City when played into the lower levels is this kind of dungeon. Ultimately, the lost city and the vast goblin-infested caves are all a places on the way to the temple of Zargon the Returner.

Some dungeons I would call Funhouse Dungeons. You can stop any time you like and head back to town, barring certain unusual traps, but you are drawn ever deeper by the promise of rewards, the provocation of unusual challenges and situations, and curiosity about the strange things going on. Castle Amber springs to mind. Nastier versions can run like deadly slapstick.

 

[Odhanan]

Not all of us use that newfangled definition.

And all, or at least many, of the adventures that take place in one dm's world might have connecting themes.

This. I still use the supposedly "old" meaning of campaign, personally.

 

[Bullgrit]

Nowadays campaign refers to something a bit tighter. There is usually persistence of PCs, objective or plot in addition to persistence of setting. If all the PCs change, it's arguably a new campaign.

This is the definition I use for "campaign."

I use "campaign world" or "world" or "setting" to describe the overall continent or planet.

For instance, I've had many different campaigns in the World of Greyhawk setting.

Bullgrit