Rules of dungeon crawling - player's perspective

[Flyspeck23]

Because my players failed miserably on the last adventure, I'd like to assemble a list of dungeon crawling rules. I'll start:

- Always clear out a level before advancing. Or else you could miss important hints.
- Make sure that you've got enough healing power. Some wands of cure light wounds aren't that much help for mid-level characters.
- Never carry standard equipment. For example, if you usually carry a 10 foot pole, get a 12 foot one instead. (Hey, a Fuzzy Knight reference )


Your turn

 

[Whisper72]

- Always protect your back; i.e. when choosing between various doors try to block the other one, or make sure you have a rear-guard advancing beyond the other door.
- You can never have enough oil
- You can never have enought curing facilities (potions, spells, wands whatever)
- When in doubt, use excessive force
- Always carry spares (extra weapons, armor if possible etc.) in case you meet certain rust monsters, oozes etc. that corrode it away.
- Make sure you have varied types of materials for weapons (for those same rust monsters, oozes ets.)
- Always pre-prepare. Have enough small stones with continual light wrapped in clay and similar tricks which can be prepared long time in advance.
- If a fight is going the wrong way, run. Don't wait to run until the first PC's have died. A dead PC cannot run away anymore...

 

[Telperion]

-1 player makes a map that is visible to everyone.
-1 player takes care of loot inventory until the party is done with the dungeon (one way or another) and is resting at a local inn/tavern.
-1 player helps the DM with Initiative.
-1 player acts as a leader in any (and all) combat situation. There is no time to be democratic and vote on things as they come up.
-1 player at a time. Everyone loses in a shouting match to draw the attention of the DM.

-All players use those resources available to them equally, so that the party has an efficiency rating of 110% or better.
-No one is left behind. Not even if they are dead.
-Practise basic combat maneuvers. This is something that your average adventurer seldomly thinks about, but time and again close-combat tactics are the one thing that separate the character party from death.

 

[lordvorlek]

-When the rogue checks the door and says "Looks clear", then steps to the
back of the party and says "ok, go ahead and open it",,,, beware!!
-When the party deciedes it's a good idea to split up and everyone take a room,, slap them,, very hard!!
-When a party member dies, and the stupid thief deciedes it would be best to throw the person, inventory and all (including the bag of holding, haversack) into a bag of holding for safekeeping,,,,,,slap him twice!
-Don't go charging into the next room when you only have 4 hit points left,, heal up if you need to.

 

[Wycen]

Do not clear out every room of every level, "just because". As a footnote to Flyspeck's first item, 1) for DM's, make sure to put valuable clues in a place the party will most likely visit.

Sometimes closing doors behind you is a good idea. It takes that much longer for a character to run away if they fall under a fear affect.

A party who has magic loot and IDENTIFIED it is a group of idiots if they don't use it, for whatever reason. (thus you know my character and his companions are idiots).

A wand of monster summoning can be useful for those traps you "just know" are there but can't find or disarm.

 

[Li Shenron]

-When the party deciedes it's a good idea to split up and everyone take a room,, slap them,, very hard!!

in fact I was jus going to write:

- don't split up or let anyone more too far away from the rest of the group

but also

- spread around when you walk in a corridor ot when the Rogue is going to open a door

- never touch or come too close to statues, weird writings or shining object (unless they are found inside a locked chest)

- make a checklist of inexpensive mundane things that may always come useful (rope, pick, sack, pebbles...)

- as soon as you enter the dungeon, tell the DM that from now on you are always going to move silently

- always keep track in advance what you are carrying in each hand by default, and tell the DM whenever you change

 

[Flyspeck23]

Do not clear out every room of every level, "just because". As a footnote to Flyspeck's first item, 1) for DM's, make sure to put valuable clues in a place the party will most likely visit.

That's not the player's perspective. And you're suggesting this "GM's rule on dungeon crawling": make everything pretty obvious to the players?

It's not like the clues where hidden behind a secret door or something. The party just didn't bother to open a very visible door, but rather descended right to the next level...

Let's modify my rule:

- Always clear out a level before advancing, or at least don't rush down the shortest way just to get to the lowest level of the dungeon.

Better?

 

[Gnarlo]

*Never eat anything buggering your head.
*Feed a chuul, starve a flumph (or is it feed a flumph, starve a chuul?).
*He who fights and runs away may be hunted down by the survivors of his party.
*Half an (ear)lobe is better than none if you have a 13th level cleric.
*Charm is in the eye of the Beholder. Also, Charm Monster, Disintegrate, Fear, Finger of Death, Flesh to Stone, Inflict Moderate Wounds, Sleep, Slow, and Telekinesis.

 

[Whisper72]

If the campaign is straightforward in the sense that within a dungeon there are few 'good goblins' or similar encounters, but the dungeon is a place infested with pests and evil and can be cleared without needing to worry about accidentally killing innocents, then the following rules apply:

- take no prisoners
- shoot first, talk only to the survivors (if any)
- at higher levels, talk later, using 'speak with dead'
- if it's defeated, give it another whack to make sure it is dead, then pour oil on it and set fire to it to make sure it stays down. Is also better in terms of disease control (no decaying bodies).
- make profuse use of 'detect magic' and 'detect trap' type magic. A statue ain't a statue until proven a statue.
- any manipulable device (door handles, locks, levers etc.) are presumed trapped until proven untrapped
- any chamber or area is presumed hazard filled until proven 'clean'
- any chamber or area is not proven clean until a great many tests (i.e. detect traps, detect magic, detect illusions etc.) have been used to verify that the room is 'clean'
- even if proven 'clean', a guard / rearguard and other precautions shall be taken in the case you missed something or something gated/teleported/dimension doored in
- you are NOT paranoid. You are a survivor. Trust nothing. They ARE all out to get you (sans the party itself naturally.... unless you have a group of evil PC's, then include the party...)

 

[diaglo]

- always search the first room for secret doors, passages, traps, hidden panels, buttons, locks, etc... and keep doing it until the DM gets sick and tired of it. that way when you go to the next room and start to rinse and repeat he will just cave-in and tell you where everything is.