valadil
2010-12-16, 02:46 PM
So this is kind of embarrassing, but I've never actually run a dungeon before. Sure I've put the players in a hole in the ground and kept them there for a whole session. But in my 7 years of GMing I've never used a proper dungeon. I'm more of a story and intrigue kind of GM.
Anyway, in my current game I'm trying to break my old habits and assumptions, or at least try to see the other side of the fence by trying out things I haven't used before.
Here's some of the plot leading up to the dungeon. I don't think it's necessarily relevant, hence the spoiler tags.
One set of bad guys has captured a major MacGuffin (the still beating heart of Karsus (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Karsus)), taken it to what remains of their stronghold, and dumped it in their arcane vault. The other set of bad guys has mustered an army and is a couple sessions away from besieging the stronghold. The bad guy who comes from the second set, but is really working independently and has the PCs reporting to him is trying to get the players to steal the MacGuffin before the siege happens. If that's not cause for a meat grinder dungeon crawl, I don't know what is.
So I've got a good overview for what I want to do with the dungeon. I'm just not quite sure how to implement it and make it fun. The last dungeon like thing I did was a trip through the Underdark. It was a series of battles that bored me and the players. (I usually prefer to punctuate plot with meaningful violence. Violence because there's an obstruction in your path is uninteresting to me, so I run the fights with less than my usual enthusiasm and when the players pick up on that they end up bored too.)
I've got a pretty decent uber puzzle for the whole dungeon and I think I can get some reasonable mini puzzles between fights too. What I'm struggling with is figuring out how to make the dungeon tell a story. The PCs care about the plot that's happening above ground, and that plot is going to be cut off while they're in the dungeon. The best I can come up with is to have other people down there. Maybe they're also searching for the MacGuffin. Maybe they're locals who can give out more info. Maybe they're just left over journal entries from someone who starved in the dungeon.
tl;dr I'm good at writing plots, but I've never done a dungeon before. I have a big dungeon coming up. What do I need to know to make it fun and interesting? How should I prep?
Anyway, in my current game I'm trying to break my old habits and assumptions, or at least try to see the other side of the fence by trying out things I haven't used before.
Here's some of the plot leading up to the dungeon. I don't think it's necessarily relevant, hence the spoiler tags.
One set of bad guys has captured a major MacGuffin (the still beating heart of Karsus (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Karsus)), taken it to what remains of their stronghold, and dumped it in their arcane vault. The other set of bad guys has mustered an army and is a couple sessions away from besieging the stronghold. The bad guy who comes from the second set, but is really working independently and has the PCs reporting to him is trying to get the players to steal the MacGuffin before the siege happens. If that's not cause for a meat grinder dungeon crawl, I don't know what is.
So I've got a good overview for what I want to do with the dungeon. I'm just not quite sure how to implement it and make it fun. The last dungeon like thing I did was a trip through the Underdark. It was a series of battles that bored me and the players. (I usually prefer to punctuate plot with meaningful violence. Violence because there's an obstruction in your path is uninteresting to me, so I run the fights with less than my usual enthusiasm and when the players pick up on that they end up bored too.)
I've got a pretty decent uber puzzle for the whole dungeon and I think I can get some reasonable mini puzzles between fights too. What I'm struggling with is figuring out how to make the dungeon tell a story. The PCs care about the plot that's happening above ground, and that plot is going to be cut off while they're in the dungeon. The best I can come up with is to have other people down there. Maybe they're also searching for the MacGuffin. Maybe they're locals who can give out more info. Maybe they're just left over journal entries from someone who starved in the dungeon.
tl;dr I'm good at writing plots, but I've never done a dungeon before. I have a big dungeon coming up. What do I need to know to make it fun and interesting? How should I prep?