D&D General The Right Balance of Dungeon Fun?

[Retreater]

I'm mostly thinking of OSR systems, but the question can apply to all editions...

In a dungeon, what's the breakdown you think is best for encounters, traps, combats, general exploration (pure thematic rooms)?

Like if you purchased a mega-dungeon that had around a 33% split between encounters (split between hostile, possible friendly or neutral), 33% of exploration and theme (empty of traditional challenge), and about a 16%/16% split of traps and empty rooms, would that feel like a good split? Could you and your players be engaged with that?

 

[Rhenny]

To me, I think variety and unpredictability is most important. Some areas in a dungeon should have different ratios, but overall, I’d go about 50 combat with or without traps, 30% exploration with or without traps or hazards, 20% interaction.

 

[Shiroiken]

It depends on the purpose of the dungeon. For example, the lair of a creature or creatures should be far more populated than an ancient ruin. For my purposes I've kept to the 3 Pillars, with Combat meaning hostile creatures, Exploration meaning flavor (including empty rooms), and Social (neutral or non-combatant creatures). Social encounters are going to be rare in dungeons overall.

For a lair, I'd go with 50% Combat, 40% Exploration (Tricks/Traps 30%, Flavor 10%), and 10% Social. An ancient ruin with deep secrets would be more like 50% Exploration (Flavor 35%, 15% Tricks/Traps), 30% Combat, and 20% Social. An area with multiple tribes/creatures living in a close area (such as the Cave of Chaos) would have 40% Combat, 30% Exploration (Tricks/Trap 20%, Flavor 10%), and 30% Social.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I'm mostly thinking of OSR systems, but the question can apply to all editions...

In a dungeon, what's the breakdown you think is best for encounters, traps, combats, general exploration (pure thematic rooms)?

Like if you purchased a mega-dungeon that had around a 33% split between encounters (split between hostile, possible friendly or neutral), 33% of exploration and theme (empty of traditional challenge), and about a 16%/16% split of traps and empty rooms, would that feel like a good split? Could you and your players be engaged with that?

INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER.

I mean that very sincerely, BTW. This is a bit like asking, "What's the breakdown you think is best between carbohydrates, fats, protein, and water in a well-cooked meal?" I don't think there's much you can say other than, "well you probably need most of those to show up." A well-crafted dungeon experience is about pacing and tone, which exist at a higher level of abstraction than the percentage mix of elements. You might be able to find some correlations between the presence of particular elements and the production of a desirable pacing and tone, but they'll lead you astray as like as not.

For example: if you're running an intentionally very short dungeon that's there to fill time between major chapters of a more narrative game, then going light on empty rooms and on exploration might be wise. That is, those are the most likely places for new story hooks to develop, and a "palate cleanser" dungeon is a bad place to have brand-new hooks appear. Conversely, if there's a major story beat ongoing and this dungeon is one expression thereof, expanding these sections lets the players sink their teeth in deeper, lets you develop mysteries or flesh out world-elements through description and player-driven choices rather than detached narration. And all of these considerations become moot if it's a 1e-style violence-vagrants game where there are no "story beats" other than what the party is choosing to do right at this moment.

 

[David Howery]

throwing lots of traps at the party sounds like fun at first, but in practice, I always found it made them crawl through the dungeon super slow, checking everything (and I mean everything) for traps. Thus, I kept traps pretty minimal, often using a few in the finale of an adventure....

 

[MNblockhead]

If you are looting an ancient pyramid: mostly traps with pissed of mummy lord final encounter.
If it is a living space for a large group of intelligent creatures (kobolds, goblins, etc.), mostly combat/social with traps at strategic location. But features like murder holes and bridges that can be destroyed, portcullises, etc. would make more sense than traps.
If the hideout, lair of a big bad, who is hording great treasure or is paranoid, there would be more even mix of traps and encounters with minions.
If a mega dungeon, then it would change based on each section.

 

[Lanefan]

@EzekielRaiden says much of what I'd say, three posts up from this, so I won't repeat it.

I'll add that the answer for any one dungeon is almost always going to be situationally dependent - each particular dungeon or adventure will (or should!) have its own theme or 'vibe'. One dungeon might be almost completely empty other than a few leftover traps and a lot of dust. The next might be crawling with ice trolls and the halls will run deep with their blood...or the party's. The next might be a cornucopia of various creatures, some in competition with each other with 'neutral' empty areas between, and others kinda just because; where diplomacy might win what bloodshed will not.

Add to that the rather wide variances in player/DM preferences from one table to the next and giving even a vague overall answer becomes something of a fool's errand. Sorry 'bout that...

 

[MNblockhead]

throwing lots of traps at the party sounds like fun at first, but in practice, I always found it made them crawl through the dungeon super slow, checking everything (and I mean everything) for traps. Thus, I kept traps pretty minimal, often using a few in the finale of an adventure....

Running Rappan Athuk now and while what you say is true, it is part of our enjoyment of the mega-dungeon. A bigger issue for me is random encounters. This is about the only thing I'm willing to fudge. Mostly in terms of whether to bother rolling for a random encounter or skipping it in favor of moving things forward.

 

[Jack Daniel]

I always just stock the dungeon using the table from Basic D&D. 1/3rd of rooms are empty, 1/3rd have monsters, 1/6th have traps, and 1/6th are weird. It's worked for a good long while and I see no reason to tamper with it.

 

[Retreater]

I always just stock the dungeon using the table from Basic D&D. 1/3rd of rooms are empty, 1/3rd have monsters, 1/6th have traps, and 1/6th are weird. It's worked for a good long while and I see no reason to tamper with it.

Wow. That is pretty much what I came up with, having never played Basic.