Special Dungeon Crawls

[Tuerny]

Ok, so dungeon crawls, whether you love them or hate them are commonly believed to be a definitive part of the D&D experience. What sort of dungeon crawls have you made that you are really, truly proud of? Which ones stand out above the rest?
What made this particular dungeon crawl special?

Personally I have always been fond of the idea of building a dungeon that once served as an underground vault to some sort of religious order but has since been pre-empted by erosion and mad creatures from the Far Realms to become a nightmarish series of mud-filled tubes and chambers dominated by gibbering mouthers and other pseudonatural horrors, with the entire place dominated by a spider-creature whose very presence drove explorers mad as they approached its lair at the center of the vault. (It had a wisdom draining aura).

So what about the rest of you?

 

[Henry]

My personal favorite was a "dungeon" crawl from a recent call of cthulhu game I ran. I downloaded the floorplans from a mansion, sealed the mansion off by means of a sacrificial spell, and set up a variation of "Ten Little Indians." Flying utensils, shrinking restrooms, malevolent garages, pickled-lawyer-in-a-mason-jar, and marauding exercise equipment - I spared no cliche.

It was one of the more fun sessions I think we had.

 

[Teflon Billy]

The only "Dungeon Crawls" I've ever been proud of were ones that matched the criteria for being a dungeon crawl (Doors to listen at, traps, rooms, monsters and suchlike), but which had sound reasons for being there (Rather than "Some monsters live underground outside of town...get their stuff).

One was a Tower in a county that had been ceded to one of the Noble PC's. The lands had been all but abandoned by their previous owner (who was a total fop at court in the capitol), and the tower, the old county seat, had now been occupied by Hobgoblins (and who had pretty much occupied all of the county in an effort to bring all their tribes under the great chieftain Mokvara).

I liked that one a lot.

 

[burdett]

I've always been partial to tombs with a variety of undead, traps, pits, and evil outsiders.

 

[Hedgemage]

I love dungeon cralws.

My favourite is of course Undermountain. Even though I've never liked the Forgotten Realms setting as a whole, I bought Undermountain just so I could run people through a plotless death maze. D&D as a boardgame, that's what it was.

Don't get me wrong, I love role-playing and plots and would rather play that kind of game, but sometimes its just fun to get silly and design characters who's only purpose is to do as much damage as quickly as possible. When I play, I want to role-play, but when I DM, I love to run the dungeon crawl.

The secret of a good dungeon crawl is to never hold back. If the players get in over their head, its their own dang fault. Expect a high casualty rate, and let natural selection do its work.

Dungeon crawls are the time when you can take any munchkins in your group head on. Use the most evil, sneaky tactics you can, and don't be afraid to have a few more monsters arrive if the party's getting along too well.

Smaller dungeon cralws are loads of fun if done sparringly and in stark contrast to a campaign that has a lot of heavy role-playing. Of course, some characters who do fine in a city may be very vulnerable in the confines of a dungeon, so be careful. Those characters aren't disposable like characters specifically designed with dungeon crawls in mind.