When creating your "dungeon" do you really make it a "maze"?

[Gez]

I only use labyrinths if it makes sense. A crypt, the access to a paranoid wizard's mansion, the prison of a monster (like the original labyrinth, the one of the minotaur), etc.

Similarly, I only use dungeon if it makes sense.

Also, there can be maze-like stuff. Like a serie of natural caves, connected by hewed tunnels, and damaged by some cave-ins: good maze with a reason of being.

By reading Dan Simmon's Fires of Eden, I've found an excellent way of having natural mazes and tunnels, with danger aplenty! Lava tunnels. When lava runs, the outer surface cool faster and harden, while the inner lava continue to flow, and leaves behind natural tunnels this way. Then you have another eruption, which will crush some old tunnels, flood some others, and creates some new others on top of them.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I think mazes are a nightmare, as well. They are far too much trouble to justify the 'payoff.' Of course it might be worth it if the players were so blown away by your maze building skills they they constantly wrote letters to Dungeon telling them how fan-tabulous you are. But that is rather unlikely.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I try to create a reason for the dungeon, was it storage, was it a secret base, a hide out, a test, a prison, a lair, a guard post, a way post, a crypt, etc. I then build around that idea.

A labrynith and a maze could be either a 'test' or a 'prison'. If a test there would be a reward for completing it, an item or EXP. If a prison, well it was designed to trap and hold something.

 

[Shallown]

I seldom use mazes myself. The only one I used recently was one that moved. Sort of a floating challenge with a minotar at the end. The walls shifted and traps reset themselves becuase the whol thing was magical. If anyone tried to go over the wall they got zapped for damage so short cuts hurt. Funny thing is the PC's would get zapped then be afraid to cross over the wall. Nothing would stop them they would just have to take the damage and go. It worked fairly effectively as I was always describing the arcing lightning over their heads.

I only use mazes when I can draw them out myself. Having to describe them and have players map them is way to big a pain in the hiney. I tend to draw out what few dungeons I run just to save time. I also take the time while I draw to feel in all the details like light level, odor etc. it tends to keep the players concentrated on the room as it unfolds before them. A useful tool for focusing the players.

Later

 

[Henry]

Strictly speaking, there is rarely a logical reason someone would build a maze; most "dungeons" are actually either naturally carved, or are built or carved by its inhabitants to live in. Since very few people want to live in a labyrinth, and would rather have a simpler time moving from chamber A to chamber B, it makes no sense to have one.

Cases where it WOULD make sense would include

--Trapping someone (Theseus & the Minotaur)
--Discouraging or hindering intruders (Say someone who can walk through walls or teleport and has a history of being raided)
--Insanity & power mixed together (Halaster and Undermountain)

As far as making one, I've never had a reason to put one in front of my players, so I don't think I ever used one (Well, except for (spoiler)

Spoiler

that weenie little Minotaur Maze in Keep on the Borderlands

)(spoiler)

 

[Rel]

I recently ran a "maze" for my group. It wasn't actually a maze in the traditional sense but more of a grid of wide corridors intersecting at 90 degree angles. But there were some extenuating circumstances that made it tricky. I had the area blanketed in Deeper Darkness and Guards and Wards provided a thick fog. There were Glyphs of Warding sprinkled liberally throughout and the area was patrolled by some Half-Troll/Barbezu who were diabolical hit-and-run masters.

Despite the fact that I really screwed up the whole "confusion at intersections" effect of Guards and Wards, the party progressed a total of about 150 feet toward their goal during the course of the session. Which was precisely what the intention of the place was. The BBEGuys were doing a Big Nasty Ritual (tm) and didn't want to be interrupted. So the maze helped achieve that goal.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

As GM and player, I hate mazes. Not that I don't think they have their place, but if 9 out of 10 adventures have a maze in it, I start getting bored of the whole concept. Sometimes it's a perfect fit, but easily over-cooked in just a few adventures.

(Side Trek: Anyone remember the excellent maze in the first part of Desert of Desolation? Could have dealt without the Minotaur in it, as being too cheesed for an Egyptian-styled adventure, but the maze and the confusion-fog was well done.)

 

[Planesdragon]

As a new DM, I find that I would rather not deal with the hassle of making a "maze" or a "labrynith" and then having my player try to map it out. I find myself making a fairly small and straightforward dungeon, with a few turns and doors here and there, with some sort of logic to it.

Are you running a group or a solo game?

One of the highlights, IMO, of my last game was my players running around in cirlcles, depseately knowing that they're lost.

OTOH, the maze wasn't that compelx, most of the features were unique, and it was good enough. Hmm... I think I'm going to have to do that again for this weekend's game. They're in the underrealm anyway, after all. And wounded. Hmm....

 

[Gez]

Cases where it WOULD make sense would include

--Trapping someone (Theseus & the Minotaur)
--Discouraging or hindering intruders (Say someone who can walk through walls or teleport and has a history of being raided)
--Insanity & power mixed together (Halaster and Undermountain)

It's about what I said above, without natural mazes; but I've remembered another valid reason to build labyrinths: symbolism.

For religious or philosophical purposes, mazes could be built. Usually, they aren't real mazes (with walls), just large pictures on the ground. Walking along the path symbolise how life must be lived, parts of the mazes may echo the traps of sins, or the events that rythmed the life of a hero, prophet, or messiah.

Mazes may also be built for artistical purposes. Look at these Renaissance "French-style garden" with mazelike hedges. (Here's a more modern example

You could have a labyrinth in the castle's park, that may be admired from atop the castle's donjon.

Now, to make them D&D mazes...

The religious maze could be mildly dangerous (a few non-lethal traps, some monsters, some really dangerous areas that can be avoided easily) and used for rites.

A rite of passage, or of admission into the cult, or of atonement for a sin. The labyrinth may have several exits, more and more dangerous and hard to find.

For example, for a rite of passage, you would fail if you don't find any exit. If you leave the maze through the "easy" exit, you'll be considered a grown man of average standing. By the "difficult" exit, you'll be a Brave. By the "dangerous" exit, you'll be a Hero.

For a religious rite of atonement, the more severe the crime, the more dangerous the path to find. Maybe the maze has several entry points, and/or several exits, corresponding to the various sins.

For a rite of admission, maybe you'll have to go back to the labyrinth each time you claim a promotion to the higher rank, your success in finding the corresponding exit will officialise your promotion.

Religious maze can also be used for ceremonies. The priest may lead the faithful through the labyrinth, disabling the traps (no need to be a rogue for that when you know where the traps are, and how to disable them), maybe even repelling away some monsters (that have just been summoned by hidden officiants and are under control anyway, or are merely programmed illusions), and so on; as a symbol of his duty as a guide to lead them on a virtuous life and the dangers of straying from the path traced by the cult.

 

[Wombat]

I base most of my dungeons on ancient architecture -- palace layouts, tombs, etc. I dislike most "non-logical" dungeons, those that don't fit to the architecture and physics available (making some allowances for magic-as-technology).

Besides, architecturally based dungeons are just fun!