[D&D, Any] Dungeon Crawling in a nutshell

[XiaoTie]

Greetings playground!

Lately I've been thinking about what constitutes a "fun" dungeon crawl. I want to build some so I can give (maybe for a group, or a person running two characters [who work more like 4, think 3.5 gestalt, 'cept with more actions] ) a "fun" experience.

So, knowing that "fun" is rather subjective (thus everyone and their uncle have a different opinion on this), I come to you, Playground, to discuss what, in your opinion, turns a "MEH" dungeon crawl into a "FUN" dungeon crawl.

There are several different elements that might come into play, in some different degree:


[] Hack-and-Slash;
[] Random encounters;
[] Verisimilitude of rooms (or the lack of);
[] Diplomacy'ing (maybe those not-so-hostile orcs might give you some info if you help them against them trolls);
[] Simplicity.

[TL;DR]
In your opinion, what makes a dungeon crawl "fun"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Specific issues (as far as me running the game I want to run):

I'll be running this game as a 4E D&D game, either as a solo [one person running two characters, whose powers are a mix of two roles (one of them has cleric/fighter powers and skill-set, while the other has wizard/ranger powers with some sneaky skill-set) and have 2 standard, 1 move and 2 minor] game or as a normal game.

I already have the first dungeon crawl ready: a 5 levels (inb4 the OOTS joke (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0012.html)) dungeon that has a few secret rooms and items that might open up possibilities to some future crawls, where they will face orcs, giant spiders, mutant bats, strange bugs and, and, at the end of it they'll have to go through a trap-heavy corridor to face an evil priest that hides behind a DRAGON! (either a lower level solo one, or a refluffed lower level monster).

I could use some simple ideas for dungeon crawls and elements to include in future dungeon crawls.

[TL;DR]
I need simple ideas regarding dungeon crawls and what to include in future dungeon crawls.

[true_shinken]

Play Baldur's Gate and/or Temple of Elemental Evil. Steal all those ideas without remorse. Then, profit.

[Oracle_Hunter]

A Classic Dungeon Crawl has:

(1) Monsters
(2) Traps
(3) Treasure

So long as you include all three, you have the basics of a Dungeon Crawl. You could have a perfectly entertaining Crawl by just taking those three and mixing them in with a Random Dungeon Generator.

When planning for a more "realistic" dungeon, it helps to instead think first about why the dungeon exists in the first place. A wizard's vault is going to look very different from a lost temple, for example, while a monster's den is going to be a third thing altogether. Use this conception to inform what kind of Monsters, Traps and Treasure you place in the dungeon and you'll be fine.

Also: some common errors in creating dungeons
- placing Monsters in spaces they could not reach (AKA the Ogre in the Dungeon problem)
- placing traps where they are not appropriate (AKA the Pit Trap in the Kitchen problem)
- placing "adventure ending" obstacles anywhere (AKA the Find the Secret Door to Proceed problem)