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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vayden" data-source="post: 4624854" data-attributes="member: 57791">Interesting discussion by all on the old "find a chokepoint and bunker down" PC strategy. I like all of the suggestions for adapting and dealing with it everyone's mentioned. My own personal response is to avoid hallways and doorways as much as possible. I think about 80% of my encounters take place on a street/in the wilderness somewhere, with only a few in actual real dungeons. <ramble> Part of it may be that I got my start in roleplaying with Aberrant, part of it may be the DMs I've learned from, part of it may be the fact that I try and set my adventures up more like a movie than a traditional adventure (gotta love a good soaring background picture). A lot of it though is just that I hate fights that revolve around tiny little halls and doorways - I like lots of room for everyone to move and react. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> I don't remember exactly where I read this - I think it might have been the 3.5 DMG, but I'm not sure - someone was discussing the difference between dungeon adventures and wilderness adventures, and they said something that stuck with me. The dungeon is popular because it's relatively easy to keep things straight - you know that the players are going to have to go through room A and fight the drow before they can reach either room B (with the lava trap) or room C (with the beholder). It's a natural, organic set of rails that help you have a little more control over the timeline and planning without being forceful. It's also easy to plan out - you just get some graph paper and sketch out the floorplan. But if you think about it, this article said, you can design an out-door adventure in basically the same way - maybe instead of a locked door and a hallway separating rooms B and C from the entrance, it's a mountain pass patrolled by drow scouts. You can also use fog of war to create "hallways" - the players finish off the drow and set off through the woods - you ask them if they're heading west or north - if they go west, they "travel through the thick rocks and boulders" until the river of lava blocks their path - if they go north, the thick woods eventually open out into a wide clearing with a small ruined tower in it (beholder lair). You can also use time passage and cause and effect as "hallways" in an outdoor adventure. Just remember that the players don't know the map, you do - if they go south instead of west or north, maybe your beholder lair was always to the south. Of course, you have to have a gentle touch with this, and make sure you never contradict anything you're previously given the players as information. Still, I find outdoor adventures much more fun than dungeons personally. </ramble></blockquote>

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