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Gnonai
2010-03-11, 09:09 AM
I have a group of 3 players that are gonna play on Saturday, and I have everything I need done, Fixed the previous problems that I had (Too much loot, Not enough NPC personality, ect ect.) And I am only missing one thing. A Mind Bending Dungeon that would be extremely awesome and wicked... But I can't really think of anything unique for each individual room. It would be a labyrinth of Simple Evil, but Yet I can't think of anything cool for it. Any Ideas would be much appreciated :smalleek:

Crow
2010-03-11, 10:12 AM
When I have trouble coming up with idea, I go back to the good old fashioned dungeon crawl. It's better to throw something together that's tried an true, and do it well, than to throw together something that's way out there, but only half-baked.

Put it on a back burner, and as ideas come to you later on (which they will), you can write them down really quick.

Lysander
2010-03-11, 10:17 AM
How about a series of chambers, each containing a monster with a different kind of defense?

For example one room contains troll guards (regeneration), another contains ghosts (incorporeal), another contains a golem (magic immunity), etc.

Coplantor
2010-03-11, 10:22 AM
Room filled with water, water contains poison, the one you need to inhale. Doors shut closed, metal floor, under the floor? Someone starts a fire, water starts boiling, poison evaporates, you have them taking damage from the water at the same time that they have to make fort saves from the poison.

The second one I always liked was to have a corridor with a defensive line of kobolds holding tower shields while behind them theres a line of kobolds throwing molotov cocktails. Behind them, way behinf, there's a pit, the party will most likely try to push them towards the pit, because the tower shileds grant them total cover, play the kobolds as if they were frightened and actually have them taking 5 foot steps bacwards every once in a while.

What the part doesnt know is that the bottom of the pit is covered with pillows, and above the part where the party should be at the moment they finish pushing the kobolds back theres a cage above that will get them caught. After that, let the kobolds have fun with the rest of their molotov cocktails. Murder holes on the walls are always fun also

Thefurmonger
2010-03-11, 10:27 AM
Use this, its easy and works fairly well. I use it when I'm out of ideas.

USE ME!!!! (http://www.myth-weavers.com/generate_dungeon.php)

Gnonai
2010-03-11, 10:57 AM
Great Ideas, and I will probaly use some of them. I forgot to mention the theme of the dungeon was a massive Pyramid filled with Traps/Treasure/Undead/Mummies/Ghost :smallwink:

Coplantor
2010-03-11, 10:59 AM
Abuse the undead traits, use gas posions, make every terrain difficult terrain when they battle ghosts, have a room full of pendulum traps with a couple of ghosts there, the ghosts wont care much about it, but the poor adventurers will.

Play with gravity and perspective every now and then, have rotating rooms and the like.

a typical hero
2010-03-11, 11:00 AM
A Mind Bending Dungeon that would be extremely awesome and wicked...

This totally cries out for some moral dilemma involving little, scary girls / kids.

In my experience strange kids almost always scare people.

Something like Alma in FEAR for example.


But be cautious. Some people (especially parents) can feel uncomfortable when confronted with such themes/ violance towards children, even when they are in fact evil demons.

Gnonai
2010-03-11, 11:36 AM
Good Idea Hero, Perhaps combinations of Illusion and real monsters, all caused by a little girl possessed by a demon?

Gnonai
2010-03-11, 11:58 AM
And Also, So far these are my Ideas for rooms:

1: Trap Room. Seemingly a normal room, with a massive treasure chest in the middle of the room. As soon as someone comes within 3 feet of it It springs to life and attacks(Mimics ftw!) and a bunch of traps start activating in the room, such as arrow holes, death pits, and perhaps some form of poison. Players gotta GTFO asap.

2: Gas Room. As soon as all players enter the entrance is blocked by a wall and instantly the place is filled with Gas that gives the Players a hurtin. The only way to escape is a pit at the middle of the room that appears to be a Death pit, but is merely an Illusion and If they jump down it they land in another room.

3: Illusion Room. Lots of wacky stuff in this room. There are lots of skeletons and some of them are merely Illusions. Also Lots of ghost/ghost illusions. Gotta fight off the skeletons/ghost and eventually the illusion loses its power.

4: Illusion Room 2. EVERYTHING is an illusion except for the walls. The Players can walk through illusion walls, fight ghost, Try and pick up Treasure that is just an illusion. Have to break a Pillar in the middle of the room that is the source of all the crazy =P

5: Pendulum Hallway (Thanks for the Idea) The Hallway is narrow and cramped. As soon as someone steps on a pressure Plate the Pendulums begin swinging and Some walls open up to reveal LOTS of Skeletons. The Players must make it to the end of the hallway asap.

6: Undead Troll Room. As the name states the players come into the room and the door shuts behind them, and They have to battle it out with 3/4 Undead Trolls. As soon as all trolls are dead the door unlocks.

7: End Room. The Players slowly get captured one by one and brought to this room. Once everyone is here the players awake tied up and their weapons on the other side of the room. A Lich wearing a crown (part of my story) is standing in the middle of the room simply sitting and staring at the players. The Players have to break free of their bonds and attack the Lich, at which point I have the players roll a check to see if they notice the little girl In the room ALSO wearing a crown and seemingly performing magic. This little girl eventually has to die, at which point a Demon is released from her body, and the players kill. The spirit of the little girl then appears and explains how she was possessed by the demon and how they have finally broken the chain of death in the maze. The crown which is part of the story is on her dead body, and then the players backtrack out of the maze which has lost most of its power (except for physical traps)

I will probaly add a few more, but those are just some Ideas. Sound Good to you guys? Oh and Sorry for that Wall o' Text :smallamused:

a typical hero
2010-03-11, 12:16 PM
Depending on how you build your dungeon, you could let your players find notes from former adventurers who tried to escape from the pyramid and got crazy, turned on each other, cannibalized a party member because of food starvage and so on.

I learned that you get the most creep for your buck when you turn their perception of reality upside down and let them participate in events that just can't be real.

As soon as they can fit your encounters in a CR, they will be less frightened.

Dimmed lights and a spooky atmosphere in your playing room helps, too

Gnonai
2010-03-11, 12:23 PM
Also Great Ideas. I think this will shape up to be an awesome dungeon :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: I got another great Idea! In the main chamber the Party could find a couple of dead bodies, ancient ones at that, one containing a journal. I could write down on a piece of paper and give to one of the players what is in the journal. And at some point during the dungeon a new entry would be magically added saying something like
"Your are all going to die, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Hahahahaha" and then the Haha would go on for awhile, just to capture the spooky feeling of Evil and Magic in the place.

bosssmiley
2010-03-11, 01:26 PM
Play with the conceit that anything not explored by players might as well not exist with The Room That Isn't There (http://vaultsofnagoh.blogspot.com/2010/03/illumination-observer-effect-and-room.html) (link includes playtest feedback). :smallwink:

LichPrinceAlim
2010-03-11, 02:50 PM
I actually preferred a room my DM once threw at me:

We were in a simple dungeon crawl wherein we had entered a room. the whole room is a solid bleach white and is 10x10. Simple white room. however, in the room were three Hobgoblins with rings of invisibility and an ooze which happened to be clear. all 4 snuck up on us, and we spent the next 25 minutes trying to find them

Coplantor
2010-03-11, 03:13 PM
Big room, with nothing else but a bif shiny chest in the middle of it and a door leaving the room on the other side. If you open the door something horrible happens, if you open the chest first, nothing hapopens, the chest was empty, but opening it deactivates the hideous trap in the door.

KillianHawkeye
2010-03-11, 03:37 PM
7: End Room. The Players slowly get captured one by one and brought to this room. Once everyone is here the players awake tied up and their weapons on the other side of the room. A Lich wearing a crown (part of my story) is standing in the middle of the room simply sitting and staring at the players. The Players have to break free of their bonds and attack the Lich, at which point I have the players roll a check to see if they notice the little girl In the room ALSO wearing a crown and seemingly performing magic. This little girl eventually has to die, at which point a Demon is released from her body, and the players kill. The spirit of the little girl then appears and explains how she was possessed by the demon and how they have finally broken the chain of death in the maze. The crown which is part of the story is on her dead body, and then the players backtrack out of the maze which has lost most of its power (except for physical traps)

Everything was good up until this point. Not only does this part make no sense, but it reeks of railroading by relying on having the PCs get captured. It's okay to TRY to capture the PCs, but you have to be prepared to tell a version of the story where they manage to avoid that outcome. Otherwise, it just becomes you telling a story to a captive audience, which is no fun.

If you misuse your DM powers, it's not fair to the players. You need to give your players the ability to choose their own fates. Also, give them a chance to figure everything out on their own, but don't force it. Anything they miss can simply come back to bite them in the rear later on. NEVER sacrifice the game for the sake of the story!

onthetown
2010-03-11, 03:52 PM
Everything was good up until this point. Not only does this part make no sense, but it reeks of railroading by relying on having the PCs get captured. It's okay to TRY to capture the PCs, but you have to be prepared to tell a version of the story where they manage to avoid that outcome. Otherwise, it just becomes you telling a story to a captive audience, which is no fun.[/b]

It would be especially fun if the thing trying to capture them was able to be Spotted, Tracked, etc . . . Then they get to try to foil its attempts.

Love the dungeon, especially the pendulum room with the skellies. I seem to recall a book that had a whole chunk of traps in it, though maybe I'm thinking of the DMG?

KillianHawkeye
2010-03-11, 04:00 PM
I seem to recall a book that had a whole chunk of traps in it, though maybe I'm thinking of the DMG?

Book of Challenges. It's 3.0, but most of the stuff should still be fine to use in a 3.5 game.

Gnonai
2010-03-11, 05:33 PM
Yeah I suppose your right about the getting captured part. But How would I go about it if they Didn't? Would they stumble upon the little girl somehow?

KillianHawkeye
2010-03-11, 10:47 PM
Yeah I suppose your right about the getting captured part. But How would I go about it if they Didn't? Would they stumble upon the little girl somehow?

First you need to figure out why the enemy is trying to capture them. And the answer shouldn't be "because I want the evil Lich to be able to gloat while they break out and then they can fight him." You really need to resolve the not making sense part of the final encounter. Why does the Lich want to capture the PCs? If there's an actual reason, then why would he just stare at them while they free themselves? Is he just an illusion or something? And what is the little girl doing while this is going on, just standing in the corner? What are the villains trying to accomplish in this maze? Everybody has a goal of some sort, even if it's just death and carnage.

Once you can answer these questions, you should be able to figure out what happens if your PCs fail to get captured, or figure out a different introduction to the boss that makes more sense.

Forever Curious
2010-03-11, 10:53 PM
Have the BBEG take levels in the Dungeon Lord PrC (from Dungeonscape).