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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
How to make dungeon crawls interesting
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<blockquote data-quote="Retros_x" data-source="post: 9758022" data-attributes="member: 7033171"><p>For me the biggest misconception is that dungeon crawls are focussing on the combat pillar of gameplay. For me exploration is the main pillar of dungeon crawl, it is about exploring a dangerous place. Killing all monsters should rarely be the goal it should either for a very old-school game get as much loot as possible or have story quest goals like "rescue XY" "stop dark ritual" etc. </p><p></p><p>So the core loop and player choices is about exploration. </p><p></p><p>1. Decide where to go (which door, hallway, direction etc. to go)</p><p>2. React to events happening (enemies, random encounters, traps) - optional step</p><p>3. Examine new space (this could be part of step 5, but it happens almost all the time as first action in new room after events are settled, so I have it as a single step)</p><p>4. React to events happening (as above)</p><p>5. Decide what to do - if for the time done with this new location the decision will be step 1 again</p><p></p><p>For me the most important part are resources, clearing the whole dungeon (and killing everything) in one go should never be a viable option, because it would render the decisions above useless. It puts player under an indirect time pressure. How long do your torches last, our rations, our hitpoints/stamina, can we push for another room or should we leave?</p><p></p><p>Puzzles for me personal are rarely a tool, they feel artificial and weird to me. They rarely make sense, why would the evil wizard secure his lair with a riddle everybody can get the solution without a key. I prefer to use difficult situations that act like a puzzle (players must use their brains and creativity) but without constraining them. One classic is obvious treasure that is hard to reach. Always fun to have something shiny of the other side of the chasm or on top of the smooth 15 feet pillar or the island of the acid lake.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Retros_x, post: 9758022, member: 7033171"] For me the biggest misconception is that dungeon crawls are focussing on the combat pillar of gameplay. For me exploration is the main pillar of dungeon crawl, it is about exploring a dangerous place. Killing all monsters should rarely be the goal it should either for a very old-school game get as much loot as possible or have story quest goals like "rescue XY" "stop dark ritual" etc. So the core loop and player choices is about exploration. 1. Decide where to go (which door, hallway, direction etc. to go) 2. React to events happening (enemies, random encounters, traps) - optional step 3. Examine new space (this could be part of step 5, but it happens almost all the time as first action in new room after events are settled, so I have it as a single step) 4. React to events happening (as above) 5. Decide what to do - if for the time done with this new location the decision will be step 1 again For me the most important part are resources, clearing the whole dungeon (and killing everything) in one go should never be a viable option, because it would render the decisions above useless. It puts player under an indirect time pressure. How long do your torches last, our rations, our hitpoints/stamina, can we push for another room or should we leave? Puzzles for me personal are rarely a tool, they feel artificial and weird to me. They rarely make sense, why would the evil wizard secure his lair with a riddle everybody can get the solution without a key. I prefer to use difficult situations that act like a puzzle (players must use their brains and creativity) but without constraining them. One classic is obvious treasure that is hard to reach. Always fun to have something shiny of the other side of the chasm or on top of the smooth 15 feet pillar or the island of the acid lake. [/QUOTE]
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