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12 months ago ::
Jun 07, 2012 - 10:55PM
#1
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I just started playing D&D this year. I love it. For the past 2 months Ive been DMing a game with my friends, and creating all the dungeons myself. I am however in need of ideas of things to spice up my dungeon. Traps, monsters, and treasures just arent enough, when its over and over. Any ideas? Ive made a few puzzles but i want some really out of the box things in my dungeons.
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12 months ago ::
Jun 07, 2012 - 11:24PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Dec 13, 2010
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What edition are you playing and how many different monster manuals do you have access to?
Let us know some of the ideas you've tried out; things you liked and things your players enjoyed.
If you're sick of normal monsters try and find strange monsters. Rust Monsters and Ropers in the deep dark caverns can spice up the typical adventure. I always like to throw some prisoners in the mix that the players can kill, free or escort. Cave-ins help players move forward into the unknown with out the safety of a known exit, they play smarter.
Just in case I failed to mention; I am playing D&D 3.5e.
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12 months ago ::
Jun 07, 2012 - 11:57PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Jul 21, 2004
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Give your monsters interesting goals. Why are the there for the players to encounter them? Do they have better things to do than throw themselves onto the PCs' blades? Even mindless creatures can have jobs to do that, if not stopped, will make the PCs lives more interesting.
[N]o difference is less easily overcome than the difference of opinion about semi-abstract questions. - L. Tolstoy
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12 months ago ::
Jun 08, 2012 - 12:03AM
#4
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What edition are you playing and how many different monster manuals do you have access to?
Let us know some of the ideas you've tried out; things you liked and things your players enjoyed.
Im playing 3.5 rules, and have acess to all the monster manuels. Ive had prisoners, Ive had a few puzzles, a demon who asked riddles, a reapearing djinn who asked questions for rewards, living statues, a giant sleeping dragon illusion. Those are most of the things ive used so far.
The party consits of good, nuetral and evil characters, all with their own goals. They enjoy battling as much as they next guy, but they really have fun when they are faced with problems where they need to role play and do some thinking.
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12 months ago ::
Jun 08, 2012 - 7:36AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Jul 18, 2008
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The party consits of good, nuetral and evil characters, all with their own goals.
I don't necessarily recommend this to every party, but if you create a storyline with conflicting character goals, it's usually makes way more entertaining encounters. Especially if one of the character's is trying to save an NPC/enemy and the other one is trying to kill it.
For example: a young dragon is attacking a village: Kill it, and its heart can benefit the wizard character lifetime goal; or recruit his help instead and the dwarf PC can ride it to get to his homeland in time to prevent his sister from marrying the town idiot.
Just make sure to allow plenty of space for the players to come up with their own solutions.
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12 months ago ::
Jun 08, 2012 - 8:22AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Sep 20, 2010
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Expanding on giving the monsters alterior goals, I personally like to design a team of NPCs that are competing with the party to excavate the dungeon and find the treasure first. Kinda like Kiefer Sutherland's crew in Stand By Me. You can even design encounters with two kinds of enemies, the cunning advesary after your treasure, and the mindless monster attacking everyone.
Sleeping with interns on Colonial 1
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12 months ago ::
Jun 08, 2012 - 9:48AM
#7
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Date Joined:
May 27, 2012
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Underground rivers and seas can spice up some dungeon crawling. You could have one of those underwater passages to a hidden treasure vault with some kind of monster in the water protecting it.
Videogames, especially Bioware games, always have these text or video logs you find before you reach your destination. I haven't tried it, but having something like that might work if you want to tell a story bit by bit. In DnD this could be runes or a journal or two. Probably hard to pull off though.
You could make a dungeon which is like a maze. Only, it's not a dungeon. The party is trapped inside the mind of a mindflayer and need to find a way out. This could prove really interesting. Anything can happen, all kinds of monsters could be there, and you don't even have to follow the rules....too much.
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12 months ago ::
Jun 08, 2012 - 10:02AM
#8
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The dungeon is in the innards of a great sand worm. There's an entire ecosystem in there including a ragtag community of survivors with evil designs for the world should they be able to escape. Key is, the PCs can't escape without their help. Watch to see what happens.
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12 months ago ::
Jun 09, 2012 - 2:21AM
#9
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I think one of the greatest dungeons of all time is Caverns of Thracia by Paul Jacquays and published by Judges Guild in the early 1980s (or maybe even 1970s). An updated version for 3E was published by Necromancer Games around 2002 and is still available for sale on rpgnow.com. The original can also be downloaded.
Anyway, it is a dungeon very much designed in three dimensions with several levels and sub-levels. One of the great joys of playing it is uncovering all the secret places. I've never run it -as is- but I have used modified versions of it several times and, really, it shapes practically every dungeon I have ever run.
It also has factions and history, two things which I think help bring a dungeon to life. Throw in chasms and underground rivers and you have something that is designed to be explored; the combat is just an added bonus!
Cheers
Imruphel
aka Scrivener of Doom
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12 months ago ::
Jun 11, 2012 - 8:26AM
#10
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Date Joined:
Mar 16, 2011
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How about: - A guardian of a vault who will only open the vault if some riddles are answered correctly. - Print out some cards with temporary bonuses or curses on them. Put in some statue or something, that when touched, make the player draw a random card to get their character's effect. - Try some rooms with just traps. Perhaps include a moving wall of fire or something to put some time pressure on the players. - PCs have to collect things from around the dungeon in order to place them in slots to open a door to a shortcut. - Have a combat encounter with a time limit - if the PCs don't stop a ritual or something, something happens which changes the course of the adventure slightly. In my experience players like feeling like they have made meaningful choices in the adventure. Also, consider a way that the party could avoid most combat encounters by being resourceful. Hope this sparks a few ideas.
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