Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Million Dollar TTRPG Crowdfunders
Most Anticipated Tabletop RPGs Of The Year
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Let's talk about dungeons.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 5133669" data-attributes="member: 467"><p>It is, after all, <em><strong>Dungeons</strong></em> and Dragons. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>As much as my campaigns tend to be sandboxy travelogues that eventually transform into heroic epics, I love a good dungeon. Every campaign has at least one -- and often many -- multi-level deathtrap brimming with monsters and treasure, and on gamedays, mini-cons and the like, I often default to a Deathtrap Dungeon full of player-testing puzzles and traps and character grinding hazards. And even though I don't often use modules, I like to read solid, "old school" style location based adventures: aka, dungeons.</p><p></p><p>A good dungeon, to me, is one that offers a number of paths (as opposed to a linear room by room dungeon) that cross and re-cross, each leading to and through and equally deadly set of challenges. I like dungeons with hidden regions full of "the good stuff", as it promotes exploration. I like dungeons that have no "point" beyond, perhaps, an ultimate vault or lair.</p><p></p><p>I have experimented with dungeons with time limits and other player action forcing tools, and it always falls flat or creates an otherwise unsatisfying experience. Dungeons work best when the players explore and engage it at their own pace. And as unrealistic as it can seem, I prefer dungeons where the major inhabitants are separated enough that they don't come running from afar for every fight. Leave the otyugh in the trash pit and the black dragon in his <em>eternal darkness</em> labyrinth, I say. The PCs will come eventually.</p><p></p><p>Most of all, I like the dungeon specific creatures, traps and tricks. Other parts of D&D are borrowed, inspired by or stolen from all kinds of mythology, legend and fantasy. But the gelatinous cubes and electrified statues and <em>necklaces of strangulation</em> are pure D&D.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Reynard, post: 5133669, member: 467"] It is, after all, [i][b]Dungeons[/b][/i][b][/b] and Dragons. ;) As much as my campaigns tend to be sandboxy travelogues that eventually transform into heroic epics, I love a good dungeon. Every campaign has at least one -- and often many -- multi-level deathtrap brimming with monsters and treasure, and on gamedays, mini-cons and the like, I often default to a Deathtrap Dungeon full of player-testing puzzles and traps and character grinding hazards. And even though I don't often use modules, I like to read solid, "old school" style location based adventures: aka, dungeons. A good dungeon, to me, is one that offers a number of paths (as opposed to a linear room by room dungeon) that cross and re-cross, each leading to and through and equally deadly set of challenges. I like dungeons with hidden regions full of "the good stuff", as it promotes exploration. I like dungeons that have no "point" beyond, perhaps, an ultimate vault or lair. I have experimented with dungeons with time limits and other player action forcing tools, and it always falls flat or creates an otherwise unsatisfying experience. Dungeons work best when the players explore and engage it at their own pace. And as unrealistic as it can seem, I prefer dungeons where the major inhabitants are separated enough that they don't come running from afar for every fight. Leave the otyugh in the trash pit and the black dragon in his [i]eternal darkness[/i] labyrinth, I say. The PCs will come eventually. Most of all, I like the dungeon specific creatures, traps and tricks. Other parts of D&D are borrowed, inspired by or stolen from all kinds of mythology, legend and fantasy. But the gelatinous cubes and electrified statues and [i]necklaces of strangulation[/i] are pure D&D. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Let's talk about dungeons.
Top