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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Korgoth" data-source="post: 3363408" data-attributes="member: 49613">First off, if you haven't seen it yet, check out this excellent thread:<a href="http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18710" target="_blank">http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18710</a>That thread really opened my eyes on several issues.  There's a similar one at the Knights and Knaves Alehouse in the 1E "Adventure Notes" forum but I think you have to be registered to look at that one.One way to approach the dungeon, which argues for your characterization as "exotic", is as a nightmare underworld.  If there's a Mad Wizard or an Eldritch Gate or a Terrible Enchantment affecting the place then anything can happen.  I do think it is important to have all the contents be explicable... but the players may or may not ever figure out the explanation.Why?  Because a good dungeon is a challenge to the players, not just the characters.  Mapping, avoiding traps, setting reasonable objectives and then accomplishing those goals, knowing when to fall back and regroup, anticipating the tricks, etc. are all things that the players have to do.Consider a classic ploy: the PCs are trying to raid a particular tomb to get the fabled magical trove therein.  They get through a bunch of deathtraps, fight a medium-difficulty monster and get a couple more traps in the face.  Then they walk away smugly with the cursed and/or fairly worthless magic items.  Because they just beat the "False Tomb".  The real tomb lies further in, with a concealed and sealed entrance and even more traps and containing the real guardian, along with the true trove.  But what die roll can figure out this trick?  There isn't one.  This is where we find out who the truly ingenious players are.  If they were the undead villain, they would have built a false tomb to trick robbers.  So they should suspect that, as hard as it was, in the end it was too 'easy', too straightforward.The dungeon is an alien realm inimical to surfaceworlders.  So the party had better bring their "A" game if they want to survive.  But a big part of the A-game is thinking rationally.  So, as others have pointed out as well, if you have a room with a monster that seems very unlikely, or two monsters in proximity that seem an unlikely pair, there needs to be some rationale for it because you want to get your players into the habit of asking those questions... which means there will need to be satisfactory answers.  However, there's nothing to say that those answers have to be evident at the time.  For instance, if the dungeon is controlled by a Mad Wizard... the PCs may not know this right away.  Rather, his existence may be inferred by the evidently overly-chaotic layout and population of the dungeon itself!As a separate issue, I think it's good to avoid the trend that has taken over most published dungeons for a long time now: linearity.  There are some dungeons that need to be linear, like the Tomb of Horrors.  But a dungeon that represents a nightmare underworld of a different kind... one that forms a sort of "anti-surface" and has more than one purpose (the Tomb had but one purpose, to house the remains of the Demilich and those who would rob him) should not be linear.  It should have multiple entrances and exits, multiple and varied accesses between levels, and should contain many corridors and chambers that facilitate a real choice of movement among the various areas.  There should be multiple ways to the same destination, and entirely different areas with different 'flavors'.  Does the party want to explore the Upper Oubliette, or do they hanker after the grave goods to be found in the Wailing Crypts to be found (and you can't miss them!) on the next level down.  & etc.</blockquote>

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