Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeon Design
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8728050" data-attributes="member: 2629"><p>Let's say you're the type of DM who is building a homebrew dungeon for your PCs to explore. You want it to cover about 12 to 20 hours of exploration, and you're building it for 7th or 8th level PCs. GENERALLY SPEAKING: How do you go about it? What considerations do you focus on? I'm not asking you to design a dungeon here - I'm asking you to think about the things you consider when building the dungeon.</p><p></p><p>Here are some examples of things I think about when building the dungeon:</p><p></p><p>1.) <strong>Where did the space come from?</strong> Is it a natural cavern, a ruined fortress, or a crashed spelljammer? Why is it there, and who has been in the space before?</p><p></p><p>2.) <strong>Is it navigable?</strong> When the PCs are inside of it, does the space make sense for combats and exploration? A huge battle in a 5' wide corridor is a unique challenge if done right, but is usually just a boring disaster. Am I selecting a design that will both make sense for the story of the location <em>and</em> make the location a fun place for the PCs to explore?</p><p></p><p>3.) <strong>What makes the location(s) interesting places to be?</strong>What unusual features of the entire location, or of specific locations within the larger location, will be interesting for the PCs to encounter? Is there anti-gravity? Is there quicksand? Is there radiation? Brown mold? Green Slime? Temporal distortion? Portals to the Feywild or Shadowfell? Are there monsters that distort their environment like dragons? </p><p></p><p>4.) <strong>What is the story about how the current residents arrived there, and what is their history?</strong>Did they all come together? Did they come in phases? Was there conflict between them? How are they still cohabitating?</p><p></p><p>5.) <strong>What can beings in one area sense about other areas?</strong>If the PCs engage in combat in the entrance, what can beings in other rooms hear, smell, or otherwise sense? How will that impact them? It usually is not great to have an entire complex of 'bad guys' gang tackle the PCs at once ... is that what would happen naturally if the PCs launch a fireball/thunderwave in the first room? What logical things can I introduce that would reduce the chances of something like that taking place? Should I introduce them?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 8728050, member: 2629"] Let's say you're the type of DM who is building a homebrew dungeon for your PCs to explore. You want it to cover about 12 to 20 hours of exploration, and you're building it for 7th or 8th level PCs. GENERALLY SPEAKING: How do you go about it? What considerations do you focus on? I'm not asking you to design a dungeon here - I'm asking you to think about the things you consider when building the dungeon. Here are some examples of things I think about when building the dungeon: 1.) [b]Where did the space come from?[/b] Is it a natural cavern, a ruined fortress, or a crashed spelljammer? Why is it there, and who has been in the space before? 2.) [b]Is it navigable?[/b] When the PCs are inside of it, does the space make sense for combats and exploration? A huge battle in a 5' wide corridor is a unique challenge if done right, but is usually just a boring disaster. Am I selecting a design that will both make sense for the story of the location [I]and[/I] make the location a fun place for the PCs to explore? 3.) [b]What makes the location(s) interesting places to be?[/b]What unusual features of the entire location, or of specific locations within the larger location, will be interesting for the PCs to encounter? Is there anti-gravity? Is there quicksand? Is there radiation? Brown mold? Green Slime? Temporal distortion? Portals to the Feywild or Shadowfell? Are there monsters that distort their environment like dragons? 4.) [b]What is the story about how the current residents arrived there, and what is their history?[/b]Did they all come together? Did they come in phases? Was there conflict between them? How are they still cohabitating? 5.) [b]What can beings in one area sense about other areas?[/b]If the PCs engage in combat in the entrance, what can beings in other rooms hear, smell, or otherwise sense? How will that impact them? It usually is not great to have an entire complex of 'bad guys' gang tackle the PCs at once ... is that what would happen naturally if the PCs launch a fireball/thunderwave in the first room? What logical things can I introduce that would reduce the chances of something like that taking place? Should I introduce them? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeon Design
Top