This post is kind of fascinating.
So the first thing that should be discussed is, what is the dungeon(location) for in the game. If location as a challenge then it should discuss inventory management, the importance of lighting and and resource attrition and the random encounters suitable for that kind of play.
If, on the other hand, the characters are competent adventures then perhaps one should assume that routing adventuring gear is part of their standard inventory, absorb the maintenance of stocks (spell components) etc in to the living costs and perhaps introduce a rule for an inventory check to see of the character has some exotic item that the party might suddenly wish they had like a bag of flour or 100 meters of string or sealing wax or whatever.
Then there is "Why are you here?" You could be here to rescue the villages or prevent the Dread Necromancer sacrificing Mr Tiddles (the Queen's elderly tabby cat) to summon an eldritch abomination. All of the above on the challenge of the environment could apply but many groups are not interested in that kind of play. They are more invested in the opposition from NPCs and their minions.
Here you could bring up discussion on the 5 room dungeon, more story focused playstyles and how they contast to sandbox and exploration type play.
A discussion of exploration rules and some kind of skill challenge mechanic would be useful here.
All the elements below could then be discussed in the context of the various play agendas.
Traps, puzzles, secret door and random encounters are (primarily) sources of attrition (whether of time, spells/powers or inventory) appropriate usage varies with playstyle (Some people hate puzzles).
This entry and the comment about not counting torches brings me back to the thread on "Combat as war or sport" and a video by Matt Colville where he ask what kind of Game 5e is and give his views on OSR. In particular the intense inventory management style game the location is a challenge, in particular it challenges the players. The adventurer is a competent adventurer because the player manages their resources well and that means inventory management. Having a bag of flour to detect invisible creatures, or mirrors to peek around corners and enough torches is an important part of the game.
So the first thing that should be discussed is, what is the dungeon(location) for in the game. If location as a challenge then it should discuss inventory management, the importance of lighting and and resource attrition and the random encounters suitable for that kind of play.
If, on the other hand, the characters are competent adventures then perhaps one should assume that routing adventuring gear is part of their standard inventory, absorb the maintenance of stocks (spell components) etc in to the living costs and perhaps introduce a rule for an inventory check to see of the character has some exotic item that the party might suddenly wish they had like a bag of flour or 100 meters of string or sealing wax or whatever.
Then there is "Why are you here?" You could be here to rescue the villages or prevent the Dread Necromancer sacrificing Mr Tiddles (the Queen's elderly tabby cat) to summon an eldritch abomination. All of the above on the challenge of the environment could apply but many groups are not interested in that kind of play. They are more invested in the opposition from NPCs and their minions.
Here you could bring up discussion on the 5 room dungeon, more story focused playstyles and how they contast to sandbox and exploration type play.
A discussion of exploration rules and some kind of skill challenge mechanic would be useful here.
All the elements below could then be discussed in the context of the various play agendas.
Rules for mapping, etc referred to above (otherwise exploration) could serve a number of purposes, it abstracts a larger dungeon into a series of discrete smaller location and allows the group to determine the state of the party (in terms of available resources) when they arrive at a location of interest. As such a way to replace some stuff that is currently done with keyed maps and as a way to bring navigational difficulties into VTT play where the players can see the map of where they have passed through.
Traps, puzzles, secret door and random encounters are (primarily) sources of attrition (whether of time, spells/powers or inventory) appropriate usage varies with playstyle (Some people hate puzzles).
