Surreal weird dreamy dungeon

[etrpgb]

As "final level" of the adventure I am DMing with my friends I'd like to make a weird surreal dungeon, just like being inside a dream.

I think it is appropriate because the adventure had to do with brains, mind manipulation, and a little of philosophy about self... .and lots of beating the crap out of monsters.

Do you have suggestion, anything I can read to give weird almost contradictory descriptions? What kind of encounters? The dungeon should be small, so just few things are enough.

Thanks for all the help!

[Composer99]

Some possibilities:

(1) Have a sudden, lurching change in the dungeon partway through.

(2) Have NPCs or other creatures vanish as soon as they're out of sight. Not becoming invisible, simply ceasing to exist.

(3) Start with everything crisply defined and resembling reality, and become increasingly vague, indistinct, and sparse as you go on.

(4) Have a frightening monster that is inexplicably immune to everything the PCs do but can't harm them if they succeed on Wisdom saves. (And any harm it does do is psychic damage - basically it's [i]phantasmal force[/] or something like it.)

[tKUUNK]

A) I love Composer99's #2 above. And not just for creatures, but objects, too. Like, one moment there's a table in front of you, but when you look away and look back, it's gone.

more options:

B) Similarly, backtracking thru the dungeon could be difficult or impossible, either because a brick wall (or a huge demonic statue that blocks doorways) follows you through it, or all the rooms you've already passed through have changed.

C) Moving through the dungeon, the party wanders repeatedly through the same sequence of passageways and rooms, but each time, the rooms change slightly. Actually, this could be a good puzzle setup- manipulate objects during multiple passes through a ring-shaped dream dungeon in order to unlock the exit or the plot reward.

D) Change physics: Jumps are higher. Flight is possible merely by willing it. Every object or creature the players say out loud starts to manifest into existence.

(any creatures native to the dungeon would know these things and take advantage)

E) When the players realize they're in a dream, they can simply choose to leave.

F) The party is teleported into this place. Half of them appear walking on the ceiling, 100 feet above the floor. Run it as two parallel dungeons. Objects held above your head and "dropped" fall UP to the other side.

Damn, I just love this idea more and more. Thanks for starting the thread, etrpgb!!

[kingcheesepants]

I'm a huge fan of this idea, in addition to the excellent suggestions given earlier I would add that at least some aspects of the dungeon should reflect the character's thoughts and feelings. NPCs, objects, pets, places, anything that the character feels strongly about can show up and maybe have a larger than life influence. The rangers beloved animal companion for example is in the dungeon and is huge and even smarter, cuter, friendlier than the real deal, the monsters that gave them a hard time at the beginning of the game show up as more terrifying versions of themselves. Think Pyschonauts and the way that all the characters in that game had unique levels that reflected their personalties.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

A module I DM'ed had the boss fight inside a pyramid of sorts where all 4 floors had gravity. Ranged attacks to the floor you were not on had disadvantage.

[Keltest]

Some possibilities:

(1) Have a sudden, lurching change in the dungeon partway through.

(2) Have NPCs or other creatures vanish as soon as they're out of sight. Not becoming invisible, simply ceasing to exist.

(3) Start with everything crisply defined and resembling reality, and become increasingly vague, indistinct, and sparse as you go on.

(4) Have a frightening monster that is inexplicably immune to everything the PCs do but can't harm them if they succeed on Wisdom saves. (And any harm it does do is psychic damage - basically it's [i]phantasmal force[/] or something like it.)

Adding on to #1, when the dungeon changes, talk about it like this is a perfectly expected thing. In an underground dungeon, something like this:

"As you go through the door, you notice that the leaves on the trees around you are just starting to change colors. You can practically smell the turning of the season in the air."

is going to get their attention. Especially if they turn around and theyre just in the middle of a forest with no door behind them, like they had always been there.