How many levels in your dungeon?

[Endur]

How many levels would you put in a dungeon?

The original basic D&D set had a side picture of a dungeon with 9+ levels.

When each level only needs a piece of graph paper, its relatively easy to create a multi-leveled dungeon. And it makes things simple if every encounter on level 1 of the dungeon is a level 1 encounter, level 2 on level 2, etc.

However, did real life dungeons ever go 9 or more levels down? (Besides the Pentagon and a few nuclear fall out shelters)

What about fantasy novels? Do any of the novels have dungeons that go 9 + levels into the ground (Moria maybe).

How insane and paranoid are the mad wizard dungeon designers that delve these many levels deep into the ground?

 

[grodog]

For my a summary of my version of the infamous Castle Greyhawk (which in my campaign is 17 levels deep, with 41 total levels and sub-levels), see http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_castle_grodog.html

 

[MerricB]

I've only detailed about 8 or 9 levels of Castle Greyhawk (not including a few side levels, it must be admitted) for my campaign, I admit.

Cheers!

 

[Telperion]

I used to do these hideously massive dungeons. They were more like small cities dug underground than anything else . Hundreds of rooms and almost everyone of them had something very interesting to show. I didn't have that many levels, but they were big enough for a town full of people to occupy all the same. I loved them and hated them at the same time until I got tired of creating them.

These days I usually create fairly small dungeons and think more about usefulness, theme, monster ecology and that sort of things. It's actually fairly rare for my group to actually go into a dungeon since they have ascended to the ranks of nobility .

 

[Kalendraf]

Back in 1E, I made my largest one ever which was about 5 levels, on very small spaced graph paper. Each level had 100's of rooms, and the whole thing just got out of control. It was back in the days when every room had to have a monster or a trap or something unusual. This particular dungeon became an excuse to find places to stick every monster under the sun from the original MM, MM2 & FF. I think the party managed to clear most of 1st level and briefly ventured onto 2nd level before giving up.

Nowadays, my dungeons are usually only 1 to 2 levels. They make a lot more sense, and 9 out of 10 times, the party manages to finish them.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I like complexes, a number of dungeons in an area, sometimes they connect underground but most of the time the players have to go a short distance overland to get to the enterance of another.

Each dungeon will have 1 to 5 levels of 5 to 20 rooms a level. The most complexes I had was The Canyon of the Dead, which had 20 dungeon spread out in the box canyon. The game stayed and centered in the area for some time.

 

[Ashrum the Black]

Lordy. I can't remember the last time I made a "dungeon". Not one that has multiple levels and is chuck full of creepy crawlies anyway.

Most of the dungeons I do these days are buildings or ruins with a level or two. Throw in some encounters around the building and put in some politics and we have my typical adventure.

Of curse the fact that I've been remodeling my house and re-landscaping out front has nothing to do with the fact that I've been keeing things simple latley. Nope, not at all.

-Ashrum

 

[GlassJaw]

I'm not a fan of huge dungeon crawls either. I prefer smaller ones with some kind of unique feature, terrain, or creature. I also try to think about the "what, why, and how?" of the dungeon. Why was it made? What purpose did it serve? Who made it? What kind of resources did they have?

 

[Shallown]

I seldom had beyound two levels. Not much reason to have more. I always designed them with a specific theme and purpose so it was hard to have one that was more than two levels. Now it might have seperate sections that weren't not every thing in say the second level was connected. Once you go beyond 2 levels I think your starting to stretch it unless it is a naturally occuring structure like a cave system that may have several layers and depths to it.

Later

 

[diaglo]

find the story hour by JoeBlank

the party has only just cracked the surface of the dungeon.