We go left!

[jbear]

My group has a very enjoyable habit of stumbling into pretty much every tricky situation I devise, which is nice of them. We haven't had many dungeon crawls in 7 levels of play however. They will be heading down into what will be the most extensive dungeon so far, but I am pretty sure their decsions are completely random.

When i play however, I always go to the left as well for some reason.

I think it may have something to do with a fantasy book I read during my youth where the main character kept his hand on the left handside of the wall to find his way through a laberynth. What theat book was I have no idea, but I think that may have stuck with me.

 

[amerigoV]

My group's motto literally is:

"Left is Death"

 

[jonesy]

We have a habit of letting a dice choose which way to go, and then going in the other direction.

 

[Bluenose]

When faced with a decision with little to no information about which choice is better, I always go left (or whichever is left-most). I also always call odds and low is good when rolling a die.

It's actually rational to always go one direction, or as close to that as you can. It's the way you can guarantee to solve a maze. It's not necessarily the quickest way, mind you.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

We also always move left first. I don't know where it started, but it's possible that it is actually based on "historical facts", so to speak. Most people wore their shield on the left side, so if you enter an unknown area, it could be helpful for your own protecting to turn left so that any potential hostile would be facing your shield first.

 

[jonesy]

It's actually rational to always go one direction, or as close to that as you can. It's the way you can guarantee to solve a maze. It's not necessarily the quickest way, mind you.

Only if it's a two-dimensional maze.

 

[SoulsFury]

My rule of thumb was always "better to be right with right than left with left".

I read an article the other day that was talking about how grocery stores are designed with the idea that most people travel through it counter-clockwise. They almost always go to the right after entering the store. This was in the US though and they said that people in some other countries preferred going to the left instead. They proposed that the behavior may be linked to which side of the road you were used to driving on.

Kroger uses a 5 point system in designing their stores. They take common meals and break them into 5 parts, and then scatter the ingredients to five different areas of the store so you literally have to walk into the right to get bread, move to the back to get ham, move to the back middle to get the cheese, then to the middle of the store for condiments and then to the far left of the store for chips and drinks.

 

[Neonchameleon]

A good way of solving a 2d maze is to put your hand on one wall and keep it there - it doesn't matter if you always go left or always go right it works much better than getting lost inside the maze.

 

[Janx]

Kroger uses a 5 point system in designing their stores. They take common meals and break them into 5 parts, and then scatter the ingredients to five different areas of the store so you literally have to walk into the right to get bread, move to the back to get ham, move to the back middle to get the cheese, then to the middle of the store for condiments and then to the far left of the store for chips and drinks.

actually, the chips, pop and beer is in the right of center of most of the Kroger's I've seen. On the outer circuit (where the health experts advise you to shop, stay out of the middle), it's bread, veggies, dairy, cheese, meat, frozen food, drugs, check-out

Nextly, assuming you can see (and there's not illusions that would also trick your hand), there's little point in keeping your hand on a wall. The point of the algorithm is to consistently pick the same turn every possible time. This method works, providing you're not on the outside of a circle, or you will need to modify the algorithm to choose the next direction from left when you return to a point you've been to before. This is where a small charcoal mark at the base of the wall on the side you turned will help, and is not likely to be noticed by enemies.

Lastly, the shield and best direction for turning. If your shield is on your left arm, when you face a left turn, it is your right arm that will be exposed first. Therefore, your shield would be of minimal use (as it would be pressed against a wall). Facing right turn, would allow you to edge out, with your shield leading the way.

 

[Wepwawet]

When I DM this question doesn't exist because I barely use dungeons.
When the players have to decide left or right it's on the wild or in the city streets, either way they usually have clues to know where to move (so much that asking the direction is redundant)

As a player I like to explore the entire dungeon. On the first interseccion we pick on direction (randomly or through clues) and from then on we just keep on picking the same direction

Edit: I have to say that I don't DM that often. Nor play, for that matter