D&D 5E What Don't You Like About Dungeons?

[Ruin Explorer]

Still traumatised by The Silver Chair?

In a word: yes.

 

[Xamnam]

I’m curious, how frequently/how many of you either as player or gm, encounter/design dungeons that are a puzzle in themselves? Not the ‘there is a self contained puzzle or fight in each room’ but where in addition to those individual room level puzzles where the entire dungeon is part of a larger puzzle that needs to be solved, like, just making this off the top of my head, there’s an observatory dungeon filled with concentric rings of rooms that can be rotated by the controls in the middle, and in each ring there’s a room filled with iconography of one of the planets which they need to line up the planets in order across the rings to progress

Edit: in case I’m not being clear, I meant where there’s a puzzle on the macro level of the entire dungeon, rather than ones that are self contained to a single room or two, where you need to actually understand the dungeon itself.

As a Zelda fan, I'm very entranced by the idea, on both sides of the table, but in order to run it effectively, it would need to be communicated in absolutely crystal clear terms (at least to the degree that the Map and Compass allow for) which I think is a big stumbling point as to feasibility.

 

[Lanefan]

You are in a maze of little twisty passages, all different.

 

[Bill Zebub]

You are in a maze of little twisty passages, all different.

You will surely be eaten by a Grue.

 

[kapars]

Having caught up with the thread I feel like many opinions of dungeons would improve if the newer ones were read more widely?

Complaints about death traps, empty rooms and lack of context might be true for some TSR modules but the state of the art has advanced and these problems have been solved.

Take Halls of the Blood King for example, well contextualized, filled to brim with content and smart social play is required for survival more than combat.

I think the actual problem here is that 5e is a system where the resource management aspect of dungeons is negated by spells and the social aspect of dungeons - faction play - isn’t strongly supported by the mechanics and play procedures.

I do see some movement toward this in things like the Influence action in One D&D and the new starter set highlighting NPC disposition but I think for the majority of its run 5e has been a system that makes dungeons less interesting than they can be and has therefore promoted negativity toward the concept.

 

[Incenjucar]

I don't know that 5E itself has anything to do with dungeons losing their luster. Their limitations starting becoming grating pretty early on with everyone being annoyed at how hard it was to deal with paladin mounts in them way back in the 90s at the latest.

 

[jasper]

No bathrooms.

 

[Mad_Jack]

or spammer in the works.

Listening at the door, you hear a soft clacking noise, as of dozens of talons against the stone floor, and a wheezing, hissing noise of something large breathing wetly...

Kicking in the door and rushing forward, ready to do mighty battle, you see a heavyset man with thick glasses suddenly jerk back in surprise at your entrance... He sits in a strange chair with tiny wheels on the bottom, and appears to have been repeatedly pressing a strange series of buttons on an arcane-looking box.
Gasping for air, the man grabs a small L-shaped device, puts it to his lips, and inhales deeply...

 

[Bill Zebub]

Listening at the door, you hear a soft clacking noise, as of dozens of talons against the stone floor, and a wheezing, hissing noise of something large breathing wetly...

Kicking in the door and rushing forward, ready to do mighty battle, you see a heavyset man with thick glasses suddenly jerk back in surprise at your entrance... He sits in a strange chair with tiny wheels on the bottom, and appears to have been repeatedly pressing a strange series of buttons on an arcane-looking box.
Gasping for air, the man grabs a small L-shaped device, puts it to his lips, and inhales deeply...

How do you kill that which has no life?

 

[Vaalingrade]

How do you kill that which has no life?

Same way as anything else...

FIREBALL