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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Evilhalfling" data-source="post: 2727514" data-attributes="member: 16991">Ah dungeons. After the last campaign ended I took some time off while someone else ran games.  I handed out a player survey and took a hard look at what my favorate sessions had been over the previous year.  To my suprise all but one were dungeons - underground dwelling areas, filled and controlled by a single predominate creature, frequently but not always responsible for creating the complex.  There were few traps, mostly around the treasure vault.  There was always a door guard, and the dungeon would respond to raids reordering defenses and making foreys against the players camp.  One was a multilayer warren of ratmen with very few doors, and lots of twisty passages. It was run by a necromancer and built ontop of a large cavern.  On the second raid the master was killed and his apprentice set a trap, leaving a door or two open and drawing them forward with noises and shadows - in the cavern below, they were caught in a crossfire of ratmen archers, a few apprentices with wands and a flesh golem blocking thier escape.  The ratmen were afraid of the fleshgolem and only used it when all else failed. It was'nt the climax of the campaign, but the Necromancers records shed light on much of the game and hinted at the name and history of the BBEG.  Dungeons serve a place in a fantasy society - with wandering monsters, flying creatures, and Dragons, an underground base with controlled access points, and a partially concealed entrance is a great defensive measure.  Burrowers are rare and with near 0 visability underground they are far less likely to drop by uninvited.  Really your only problem is adventures.  Dungeons should have1. dominant species 2. History or purpose 3. Escape routes 4. living quaters for noncoms and young. As for traps, I like cheap, low magic traps - which relay in simple triggers and are built from muscle power.  One of my favoriate tactics is to place inactive traps on the entrance, and activate so they catch people leaving, or people coming back for a second raid. Puzzle and high magic traps are saved for special occasions and divine sponserd trials or quests.  Two players really enjoy them, so they go in where I can manage it.</blockquote>

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