The 5-Room Dungeon

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Has anyone developed a dungeon along these lines? Was it literally a five-room dungeon, and if not, how did you cloak how many actual "sites" were in the dungeon?

I'm thinking this might be the best way to run a pbp dungeon crawl -- which I've found tend to get REALLY bogged down in past sessions -- but would like to hear some best practices for this model.

 

[Jasperak]

I started one back in 2007 for a friend of mine that I only see a couple of times a year. I figured it would be easier to run something as small as a 5-room dungeon; something that could be completed during one trip. Unfortunately what resulted after all my planning--I still haven't fleshing it out completely--would be more accurately called a 5 (or 6)-encounter area dungeon depending on your definition. But it does mostly follow the advice from Johnn Four's article.

I would be more than happy to expand any descriptions of the following areas if requested.

We Meet Again Dr. Jones: an adventure for 3-4 characters of 2-3 levels. (Although customed designed for his Wiz/Rog, a Minotaur-bloodline henchman, and a DMPC.)

The PCs are tasked with retrieving a profane item from the basement of a local merchant prince.

1. Entrance and guardian: (2) Krenshar (these bastards scream loud, best guard dogs in the world)
2. Puzzle: A well-lit corridor that continues for 25', has a 20'x20'x20' pit, continues another 25' and ends with a large stone door. The first 10' of the pit is covered with a 150lb. limit deadfall floor. The pit hides a secret door that allows progress deeper into the dungeon.
2b. This secret tunnel connects to 4. and gives the PCs a chance to rest.
3. Red Herring: (1) Gelatinous Cube; Behind the Stone Door, this 10'x10' room is also linked to the bottom of the 20' pit. It also lies at the bottom of a "well" that the prince's household uses for trash disposal. (I expect that smart players will survey the grounds and with proper mapping realize that the well above and the door are linked.)
4. Climax: (1) Earth Mephit
4b: Treasure: stored in a trapped lead-lined chest before being shipped out. It houses an orb of desecration
5. Plot Twist: (1) Allip (walk out with a lead-lined chest or fight an empowered undead?)
6. Jasper's Dick Move: A rival Wizard/Rogue who works for the merchant prince is waiting for the PCs at the exit.

This was to be the lead-in for his "episodic" campaign. Never got around to it though. Hope it answers what you were looking for.

EDIT: Go Hokies!

 

[Jasperak]

After reading my previous post, it seems like that dungeon would work well in 4e with regards to pacing. One would have to add some baddites to 4 and 5 (maybe rats and skeletons respectively) of course, but the secret tunnel would be a natural rest point if the PCs fought both the krenshar and the gelatinous cube.

 

[S'mon]

I like the 3-room dungeons of Dungeon Delve - I made one myself for my game last Sunday, sadly the dragon at the end ate 2 PCs. The 3-encounter approach is particularly good for PBEM play, ie "Beginning" "Middle" and "End" encounters in an adventure. It does not literally have to be 3 rooms, of course.

 

[Mark Chance]

I use the 5-Room Dungeon model frequently, but always with the understanding that "Room" is a general term, not an actual descriptor of where the action takes place. Here are two examples, the first coming from a recent issue of my newsletter, the second being a short adventure I used with my face-to-face group:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/blogs/mark-chance/2254-murders-most-foul.html

http://www.enworld.org/forum/blogs/mark-chance/1868-5-room-dungeon.html

 

[arscott]

I've been using a similar model, which I've been calling the 3 room dungeon. Basically just: rooms 1, 2, and 4. Things like "red herrings" and "plot twists" aren't normally rooms in and of themselves, and aren't necessarily as common (well, within the dungeon. Normally the big plot twists and red herrings of my campaigns take place outside of the relatively rare dungeons.

 

[Umbran]

I was thinking of using this some for my upcoming Deadlands game, so I'd be interested in hearing experiences too.

 

[fireinthedust]

I've been plunking 3-room dungeons into my campaign all over the place, in terms of stealing from Dungeon Delves. That was a solid buy for sure!

I find 4e encounters slow, so I actually end up using 1-room encounters a lot. Every room is a scenario, so the PCs just wittle their way through them one by one until the level is complete.

Granted, each scenario is part of an over all arc: the PCs have to steal items from around town, and each item is a 1-room encounter, but when they have enough items they have done several "rooms".

I like the 5-room model, it sounds solid enough. I don't know that it's 5 rooms, though. It's more like 3 rooms (guardian, puzzle, treasure) with a twist, then a climax. That's not 5 rooms, per se, especially since the twist is more abstract, not a "room".

 

[Umbran]

I like the 5-room model, it sounds solid enough. I don't know that it's 5 rooms, though. It's more like 3 rooms (guardian, puzzle, treasure) with a twist, then a climax. That's not 5 rooms, per se, especially since the twist is more abstract, not a "room".

Well, I always took the "room"to be more conceptual than physical. I'm going to be running Deadlands - if there's an actual "rooms", it's more than likely only one large one in a saloon

 

[Wik]

Oh yeah. It is, in fact, my start point for most dungeons. Personally, I like to take something like a dungeon delve, and then add two "encounters" that are non-combat in nature. Often, these encounters are either puzzles or role-playing opportunities. And I try to tie everything together into one theme, and usually one with an end purpose. It works pretty well all put together, and while I do like to throw the occasional larger crawl at the PCs (such as our current predicament), I do vastly prefer the 5 room dungeons.