D&D General (+) What Should Go in a D&D Book About Dungeons?

[Bill Zebub]

The thread in the One D&D forum about "bringing back dungeon exploration to D&D" got me imagining...wishing for, really...a supplement specifically for DMs who want to emphasize good old fashioned dungeons. I wouldn't care if it's official WotC or 3rd Party. I'd probably buy it in a heartbeat without even reading the table of contents, but it's also fun to think about what might be in that table of contents?

Ideas? (And this is a '+' thread because if you want to pooh-pooh the idea of 'bringing back dungeons' the other thread is a fine place for such cynicism.)

My off-the-top-of-my-head ideas:

• A system for keeping track of time, with rules and suggestions for how to use that to add pressure
• Other ideas for keeping the tension and pressure up (without counting torches)
  • E.g. Rests: ways to make rests something players are less eager to take (ties into the time thing)
• Rules for mapping, backtracking, and getting lost (i.e., if you want to map carefully, it consumes more time!)
• Traps!
  • I really don't like WotC's take on traps; I would want @iserith...or The Angry DM...to write this chapter
  • I imagine this chapter containing both guidance on how to design and DM traps that aren't just empty dice rolls, and also a whole trove of fleshed out traps based on that guidance
• Puzzles! (Similar to traps)
  • This wouldn't necessarily have to be the sorts of puzzles designed by evil geniuses (who apparently have phobias about good old fashioned keys); it could just refer to anything the party has to figure out. "There's a rope bridge spanning the chasm, but the ropes look rotted and most of the planks are missing..."
• Secret Doors! (Similar to traps)
• Random tables for fleshing out dungeons.
  • Not (necessarily) to generate a whole dungeon, but for when you are just filling in details or looking for inspiration)
• A whole chapter on light and darkness, full of juicy guidance on how to use both to terrify your players most effectively
• New monsters?
• New subclasses? (Honestly not my favorite)
• Links to a playlist of thematic music
• General guidance on how to design and run dungeons
  • Issues of realism (why are the monsters here? what do they eat? etc.) and whether your players will actually care

 

[el-remmen]

A section using Jennell Jaquays designs as models for making dungeons.

 

[jdrakeh]

Rules for smothering to death because you're burning torches in an environment with little to no ventilation. I've done a fair amount of spelunking in my time and even something putting out smoke as small as a cigarette can gobble up good, breathable, air in an environment with restricted airflow. Most dungeons in fantasy games simply don't account for this.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Rules for smothering to death because you're burning torches in an environment with little to no ventilation. I've done a fair amount of spelunking in my time and even something putting out smoke as small as a cigarette can gobble up good, breathable, air in an environment with restricted airflow. Most dungeons in fantasy games simply don't account for this.

And don't forget methane vents!

 

[cbwjm]

5 room dungeon design might be a good addition to a dungeon design book.

 

[Malmuria]

A section using Jennell Jaquays designs as models for making dungeons.

 

[Tutara]

I’d like a simple, elegant generator to procedurally create basic dungeons on the fly.

Need a bandit cave? Place down 4 playing cards to represent a 4 room dungeon in a ground plan of your choosing, flip them over when the party enters each room and reference the book to find out what is in them as you go.

Spades are a trap, hearts are a social encounter, diamonds are loot, clubs are hostile monsters? Something like that.

 

[GuyBoy]

Specific stuff on natural cave systems and the various hazards they contain. Including flooding, crawl spaces, getting stuck etc.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Lots of random tables??

 

[Horwath]

Dragons!