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Message: <blockquote data-quote="txshusker" data-source="post: 6471501" data-attributes="member: 6785841">If you, a grad student, wandered into a dungeon, would you need to map it the entire way to find your way out? Some are more complicated - labyrinthine - but most aren't. With possible Ranger and Dwarf abilities in the group, it's almost impossible for a party to get "lost" in a dungeon without the DMing wanting it so. You could come up with a way that player's mark each corridor they've chosen with chalk and move on. It sounds like there's too much detail on that aspect of the gaming. (If you've random monsters that may erase them, then you can work that possibility into the play). I've played off an on for 30yrs and never actually mapped a dungeon while I played a character.yup. So there must be some purpose for the characters to be there to make all the banality worthwhile. Otherwise, you're just kind of being voyeuristic. <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 think a DM needs to be as prepared as possible for any choice the players may make. The more info you have at your disposal, the better off you are, IMO. You may not use it all, but when you need it, the preparation makes for a smoother ride. Of course, if you're limited with your time because you actually attend classes, do your work and such, then the extra prep may not be possible. But I would never let class get in the way of good dungeon making.Large or small, it's really all about the purpose behind the mission, I think. Honestly, medieval castles were very small. Mostly just small keeps with outlying buildings for support. Large castles/palaces are more Elizabethan to Renaissance+.I rarely draw my own maps anymore unless they're going to small... I just did a small tower similar to the one you described.. but it took no time at all. I often use things already drawn that I find online or re-purpose maps from other modules that I won't use or aren't using in the current campaign. It is time consuming, coming up with a reasonably logical layout as if you're an architect. I have a 4e Dungeon Delve book that has a bunch of small maps to reuse, ignoring the adventures they're built with.Pure dungeons are a bit passé, though, I think you're right. An extensive "man-made" dungeon doesn't lend itself to much monster diversity. IMO, the best dungeons are usually the trapped dungeons... from 1e/2e days Tomb of Horrors, as you say, Castle of Inverness, White Plume Mountain are good examples of that. Caverns and outdoor settings can have a wider variety of monsters than pure dungeons, so that's the tendency for me recently. I think 4e went that route, as well. When the players need to delve into "dungeons", they're usually small or pre-drawn.I plan on running Thunderspire Mountain, a 4e module converted to 5e; looks like a good combination of both. The module itself has a theme, is a dungeon, but it can be expanded into a number of other smaller dungeons while still retaining the mass of a larger piece.I remember when I bought the 1e boxed set that came with B1. B1 was a drawn dungeon and had a small amount of overview, semi-theme and a few rooms already occupied with monsters. The DM was then supposed to insert monsters the rest of the way. Wow... the party met a group of orcs in one room, a chimera in another 40x40 room, and by the end was facing Demigorgon.... good times, good times.It wasn't the dungeon layout that was the problem, though, it was my understanding (I was 12) and lack thereof of how one should be set up.Anyway, to answer your basica question again, I repurpose maps. Then I find another map for my next idea and repurpose it. Then I run a module that fits for the campaign... and repurpose some of it.</blockquote>

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