Community dungeon building thread

[Temassasin]

this will be a dungeon building thread with only three guide lines

1. every encounter must make sense( well not everyone but most)
2. little or no crunch is expected mostly just fluff and monsters in each encounter
3.Any suggestions for other guide lines?

[random11]

When it comes to dungeons, I like to present several questions that give me better "feel" of what should or shouldn't be in there.

- What was the original purpose of the place?
- Did the purpose change over time?
- Who originally created the place?
- Who controlled the place since the original owner?

Each set of answers can lead to an entirely different set of possible encounters.

For example, if the place is a crypt, designed to bury a king with all his riches and prevent grave robbers from entering, I'd expect many traps that cannot be disabled in an easy manner, very few living guards and possibly monsters that can live there without getting through the traps.
On the other hand, if the place is a home of a warlord that currently is still alive and well (not for long if it's up to the characters...), I'd expect guards and alarm systems, with traps that can easily be turned off by the guards, and no monsters unless you count things like "pets".

[Temassasin]

When it comes to dungeons, I like to present several questions that give me better "feel" of what should or shouldn't be in there.

- What was the original purpose of the place?
- Did the purpose change over time?
- Who originally created the place?
- Who controlled the place since the original owner?

Each set of answers can lead to an entirely different set of possible encounters.

For example, if the place is a crypt, designed to bury a king with all his riches and prevent grave robbers from entering, I'd expect many traps that cannot be disabled in an easy manner, very few living guards and possibly monsters that can live there without getting through the traps.
On the other hand, if the place is a home of a warlord that currently is still alive and well (not for long if it's up to the characters...), I'd expect guards and alarm systems, with traps that can easily be turned off by the guards, and no monsters unless you count things like "pets".

actually i am starting with nothing those are things that the posters will decide (probably very early)

[random11]

Ok then.
This is an idea I have about a dungeon:

The players will be sent after a researcher that was exploring a ruined mansion.
According to the information they have, the researcher discovered that there is a demon somewhere inside there, and it's weakness is salt. He went in with a group of other heroes to kill it, but haven't been seen for too long.

The heroes, armed with salt, will go in the mansion and on the surface it will look like any other big ruined house.
However, once they get deep inside, things will change. They will find the ghost of the researcher that will tell them he made a mistake. the demon is not in the house, the demon IS the house. To be more precise, a demon possessed the entire mansion. Suddenly, the bag of salt they brought with them will look very very small...

The demon feeds on fear, so most encounters will be just to scare the heroes and not hurt them. However, there are three places the demon does not want them to go to: Back to the exit (where they can warn others of the real threat and bring more salt), the pantry (where there are many sacks of salt the demon could not destroy, enough to cause serious damage to him) and the heart of the mansion (the only place that can truly hurt the demon). The closer they get to one of these places, the more the demon will try to kill them instead of just scaring them.

Possible encounters:
Classical blood messages on the walls, wailing and moaning sounds, screams for help to lure the heroes away from places with a possibility of using real prisoners that are still alive (previous group of explorers).
Undead, including the ghost of the researcher that will only manage to resist for a few seconds to tell them about the real demon.
Empty suits of armor. some alive some not.
Many traps, most of them can be easily detected, but hard to disarm.
Illusions that will confuse the heroes and make them turn to the wrong direction or miss obvious doors.
There will be no place to rest and every attempt to do so will cause the demon to react and bring a new threat.

Since all the things are the demon, all encounters (including traps and locked doors) can be solved by using some salt. But the supply is limited and the demon will use all possible tricks to make the heroes waste it.

[Temassasin]

Ok then.
This is an idea I have about a dungeon:

The players will be sent after a researcher that was exploring a ruined mansion.
According to the information they have, the researcher discovered that there is a demon somewhere inside there, and it's weakness is salt. He went in with a group of other heroes to kill it, but haven't been seen for too long.

The heroes, armed with salt, will go in the mansion and on the surface it will look like any other big ruined house.
However, once they get deep inside, things will change. They will find the ghost of the researcher that will tell them he made a mistake. the demon is not in the house, the demon IS the house. To be more precise, a demon possessed the entire mansion. Suddenly, the bag of salt they brought with them will look very very small...

The demon feeds on fear, so most encounters will be just to scare the heroes and not hurt them. However, there are three places the demon does not want them to go to: Back to the exit (where they can warn others of the real threat and bring more salt), the pantry (where there are many sacks of salt the demon could not destroy, enough to cause serious damage to him) and the heart of the mansion (the only place that can truly hurt the demon). The closer they get to one of these places, the more the demon will try to kill them instead of just scaring them.

Possible encounters:
Classical blood messages on the walls, wailing and moaning sounds, screams for help to lure the heroes away from places with a possibility of using real prisoners that are still alive (previous group of explorers).
Undead, including the ghost of the researcher that will only manage to resist for a few seconds to tell them about the real demon.
Empty suits of armor. some alive some not.
Many traps, most of them can be easily detected, but hard to disarm.
Illusions that will confuse the heroes and make them turn to the wrong direction or miss obvious doors.
There will be no place to rest and every attempt to do so will cause the demon to react and bring a new threat.

Since all the things are the demon, all encounters (including traps and locked doors) can be solved by using some salt. But the supply is limited and the demon will use all possible tricks to make the heroes waste it.

nice but i kinda of invisioned the dungeon larger with many factions perhaps the demon keeps them at war and feeds on hate not fear?

[Icedaemon]

If you are going with the 'demon-possessed house' route, but want a larger structure, simply make it a grand fortress and do not introduce the 'explaino-NPC' until the players are already deep inside. Even so, assuming that the players would use the main exit when there are some other doors and windows is probably a bit silly, unless they are very unimaginative.

I would suggest a 3-D maze, if you can access even some simple form of 3-D modeling program. A natural or purpose-built group of winding tunnels some of which climb or descend, so the players cannot accurately map out where they are on a grid. Maybe something like a vaster cousin of the Winchester Mystery House.

[Hyudra]

Mazes aren't fun for players though. They're great, thematically, but they're a pain in the arse to map out and it generally breaks down to "Ok, you make some progress" vs. "You waste your time." That isn't to say one shouldn't use mazes, but expecting players to map them and making them a challenge unto themselves is unfun for most.

A dungeon idea to get us started:

A relic of Baphomet was brought onto the Prime Material by a rather successful adventurer and stored in a vault of magical and divine goods belonging to a collector. As it happened, the intense accumulation of magical energies inside the vault caused the relic (Let's say, the horn of the first Minotaur, slick with the still-fresh blood of those it has slain) to overflow with power. Now the influence of Baphomet, Demon Lord of the Endless Maze, is being channeled through the relic and is corrupting the surrounding region and turning it into a dungeon.

With every passing hour, more of the surrounding terrain is being absorbed by the artifact. An open field gradually sinks down until it is a long corridor, open to the sky... then the sides of the field fold over to make for a ceiling of upside-down grass. A day later, there is nothing about it that one would recognize as a field, only a long corridor of hard packed earth, hosting a Feral Dire Wolf that is lurking in one of the shadowy corners and a rabbit burrow is now a narrow pit rigged with poisoned punji sticks. A house and its occupants are sucked into the earth, the rooms separated and made parts of the cohesive whole.

A small town has been absorbed in this way, and only a few of the citizens were able to escape. The hundreds or even thousands of others are already caught within. The relic likely sits at the center of the design, and destroying it should end the effect. Such is easier than it sounds, for the dungeon is ever growing. As rooms are added, the layout shifts. Entering is easy - one must only stand in a nearby location and wait to be absorbed - but there is no exit. Once within, one experiences time differently. The PCs will encounter people who feel as though they have spent decades there, mad and feral and subsiting only on the flesh and blood of beasts and other survivors. Baphomet's servants are materializing as well, and such makes for a high risk enterprise.

There is enticement though. If saving the region from being swallowed up and turned into a microcosm of The Endless Labyrinth isn't motivation enough, the PCs may be drawn in by the fact that the innumerable magic items that were stored with the relic are now scattered through the maze.

[Temassasin]

Mazes aren't fun for players though. They're great, thematically, but they're a pain in the arse to map out and it generally breaks down to "Ok, you make some progress" vs. "You waste your time." That isn't to say one shouldn't use mazes, but expecting players to map them and making them a challenge unto themselves is unfun for most.

A dungeon idea to get us started:

A relic of Baphomet was brought onto the Prime Material by a rather successful adventurer and stored in a vault of magical and divine goods belonging to a collector. As it happened, the intense accumulation of magical energies inside the vault caused the relic (Let's say, the horn of the first Minotaur, slick with the still-fresh blood of those it has slain) to overflow with power. Now the influence of Baphomet, Demon Lord of the Endless Maze, is being channeled through the relic and is corrupting the surrounding region and turning it into a dungeon.

With every passing hour, more of the surrounding terrain is being absorbed by the artifact. An open field gradually sinks down until it is a long corridor, open to the sky... then the sides of the field fold over to make for a ceiling of upside-down grass. A day later, there is nothing about it that one would recognize as a field, only a long corridor of hard packed earth, hosting a Feral Dire Wolf that is lurking in one of the shadowy corners and a rabbit burrow is now a narrow pit rigged with poisoned punji sticks. A house and its occupants are sucked into the earth, the rooms separated and made parts of the cohesive whole.

A small town has been absorbed in this way, and only a few of the citizens were able to escape. The hundreds or even thousands of others are already caught within. The relic likely sits at the center of the design, and destroying it should end the effect. Such is easier than it sounds, for the dungeon is ever growing. As rooms are added, the layout shifts. Entering is easy - one must only stand in a nearby location and wait to be absorbed - but there is no exit. Once within, one experiences time differently. The PCs will encounter people who feel as though they have spent decades there, mad and feral and subsiting only on the flesh and blood of beasts and other survivors. Baphomet's servants are materializing as well, and such makes for a high risk enterprise.

There is enticement though. If saving the region from being swallowed up and turned into a microcosm of The Endless Labyrinth isn't motivation enough, the PCs may be drawn in by the fact that the innumerable magic items that were stored with the relic are now scattered through the maze.

nice and could lead to the endless maze it would be great if the goal of the campaign was to defeat baphomet.

[Icedaemon]

I'a Hyudra.

Little else needs to be said...

[Hyudra]

I'a Hyudra.

Little else needs to be said...

I think a little something more needs to be said, there. I don't understand what you're saying.

[Icedaemon]

I was trying to go for a somewhat witty play on words indicating support for your idea regarding the dungeon.

[Hyudra]

I was trying to go for a somewhat witty play on words indicating support for your idea regarding the dungeon.

Ah, well, thank you.

So, a few more ideas.

Approaching/Entering the Dungeon, Rival Adventurers:

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The PCs find the citizens of the town (still to be named/detailed) camped out on the perimeter of the effect, with what few belongings they could carry out with them. Makeshift tents and torches have been spaced out in a half circle around the dungeon (still to be named). It is here they get the most basic information about what's going on (beyond what was offered in the adventure hook that led them to this city/dungeon in the first place). The Horn being found, bought and placed in the Vault, the happenings to the city, the people lost within. If so desired, the DM could offer up additional subquests here as well (Save my sister, rescue my cherished possession, etc.)

They aren't the only ones who've arrived to help. There's a group of holy types from the city's church and a band of Mercenaries from the city's Mercenaries Guild, captained by a dwarf. As the PCs arrive at the gate of the dungeon, they see the six mercenaries enter (this also illuminates how one enters the dungeon) - standing on the edge of the effect and waiting for the corruption to encompass the ground around them, absorbing them into the effect. After the Mercenaries are gone, the PCs are informed that should they succeed and the mercenaries fail, the town will pay them the same amount they offered to the mercenaries.

Not long after entering the dungeon, our adventurers come across the dwarf. He is hunched over a corpse that may or may not be humanoid, blood covering his arms up to the elbows and smeared over his face and beard. When the PCs surprise him, he growls at them, his eyes flashing yellow. He doesn't fight, however, and instead slumps down, looking defeated.

The dwarf confesses to the PCs that to him, it has been a long, long time since he entered the dungeon. He'd led his group through the dungeon carefully, watching for traps with every step and mapping out the area... a fatal mistake. He didn't know the layout changed as new areas were absorbed, and taking as long as he did, the dungeon was able to corrupt him and his companions. His lieutenant, influenced by the group, mutinied. The group was divided, leaving the dwarf with just an elf sorceress he didn't even like all that much.

They weren't able to progress as a pair. They encountered a great black beast that is the size of an elephant but keeps to the darkness and "hits like a battering ram when you least expect it". The thing is patrolling one section of the dungeon, and as a pair, the dwarf and the sorceress weren't strong enough to defeat it and get to the other side of the dungeon. He has even less chance now that he's alone and the sorceress is... he trails off, gazing down at the corpse he'd been devouring and a haunted look crosses over his face.

He suspects the other mercenaries are still on this side of the dungeon as well and are facing a similar dilemma (being unable to get past the black beast). He knows this because he has seen both glimpses of the beast and the other mercenaries in the past day or so, give or take, funny as time is in the dungeon. He warns the PCs that the mercenaries are dangerous and made savage by the influence of the dungeon.

Should the PCs elect to kill him, he doesn't put up a fight, seeming almost grateful. Should they invite him to join them, he accepts. He offers some choice warnings and information about areas, though much is outdated as the dungeon continually alters, but should he see the opportunity, he goes feral and attempts to kill, trap or maim any vulnerable PCs.

A thought on the final encounter:

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What if the ultimate effect of this extreme empowerment of the relic was to resurrect the First Minotaur, Baphomet's favored champion?

Expanding on that idea, what if the players entered the final room (the Vault) and found the Curator, the individual who bought the Horn and placed it in the vault? Perhaps the entire thing was intentional.

The Curator is a nerdy individual (an Archivist, perhaps?) who lacked the courage to confess his feelings for a pretty, upper class young woman. He rigged the entire thing out of an aim to either give himself that alpha dog bloodlust he felt he needed in order to claim her... or to bring her down to an animal level. You can picture him standing there in the vault - at his feet is a woman perched on her hands and toes, wearing what was once a noble's dress. She alternately snarls and snaps at his fingertips as he pats her hair as though she were a dog. He greets the PCs as his 'blood sacrifices' and welcomes them to his final act. Where virtually everything and everyone else in the dungeon has become feral, fiendish and bestial under the influence of Baphomet's power, the Curator is cultured and tidy. He's not that tough, but he's rigged the Vault (which has expanded, he comments, from a 10' by 10' room to the size of a small coliseum) with magical protections and wards, and he is acutely aware of what is where.

As it happens, if the Curator or a PC dies in the ensuing fight, it counts as the necessary blood sacrifice and initiates the ritual which turns the Curator (or his corpse) into a reincarnation of the First Minotaur. Titanic in size, terribly strong, a few special powers gifted to him by Baphomet. Cue epic final battle.

If the PCs are wise enough to use subdual damage or the like to finish off the Curator, and the DM feels they have the resources to fight through the final encounter, there's a few options. The Curator could bite off his tongue with the intent of choking on it. The lady noble could attack a PC and due to very low hitpoints and precarious terrain (tall drops, aforementioned magical protections, traps) die if and when they try and defend themselves. A final option is for the Curator to have planned for such and have a contingency effect set up. This last one reeks of DM fiat though.

[Icedaemon]

In regard to the final encounter, why have the boss show up at all if the PCs figure things out according to plan or find some other way to stop the ritual? They saved the day and got the 'hidden good ending'. Maybe have the monster's appearance maintain or even increase the maze's growth and tainting effects? Maybe this is just indicative of my style of DMing, but evading and preventing a disaster or monstrous birth should usually be preferable to the disaster coming to pass, but the players sucessfully dealing with the result.

A thought on the final battle...

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Perhaps, instead of the curator becoming the embodiment of the First Minotaur, he's been tricked and the horn itself is the vestige onto which the minotaur rapidly regenerates?

More on the 'hidden best ending'

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If the PCs capture both the curator and his beloved, a sufficiently good interrogation/torture session might reveal that the curator knows how to reverse the magical effect, which results in the maze slowly unfolding back into the original landscape. Otherwise, destroying or banishing the relic simply renders the maze inert and possibly cures the beastly transformation of the people and creatures, so that everyone can try to dig their way up and out. If the minotaur is regenerated but defeated, the madness does not end and requires divine intervention from now on, but the maze is still inert.

Since the 'reverse the ritual' ending will also result in the vault of magical items returning to the original configuration, the PCs will possibly get some additional pieces of treasure as well.

[flabort]

Ooh! this seems interesting. Very much so, in fact. Mind if I throw some thoughts in?

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The horn's corruption has caused not just the dungeon to appear, not just the appearance of various monsters, but the creation of various other... artifacts.
That is, in the areas of the dungeon beyond the curator's control, the corruption has taken on a bit of a wild edge, has absorbed certain natural magics or artifacts, such as a dryad's tree, or the corrupt graveyard ruled by undead, and/or the hiding place of a lich's phylactery, and corrupted those into unique artifacts, which have caused their own spread-out of corrupt dungeon.
These sub-dungeons, which will/can be part of sub-quests, will not be destroyed when the dungeon itself is, or if it isn't destroyed, will fight with the main dungeon for dominance. There are only two or three, maybe four such sub dungeons, but each has it's own unique theme. Although, if the artifact is REVERSED, as opposed to just destroyed, or whatever, it could leave the other, new artifacts (which don't necessarily have ties to baphomet anymore) weakened, and their dungeons advancing slower.

On the dryad's tree:

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On the edge of the main dungeon, a huge, twisted, growing tree can be seen, rising extremely fast out of the ground, it's roots actually lifting out of the ground, and beating down the area outside of the dungeon.
Inside the sub dungeon, the walls are natural wood, as the adventurer's are within the tree itself. Those of baphomet's servants that enter find themselves slowly becoming less mobile, the dungeon's very floor clinging to their feet, providing it's own corruption. This area of the dungeon is very much LESS under baphomet's control, although everything remains feral. possibly even more so.
The Dryad who made this tree her home now directs the tree's growth much more directly, but when the PCs find her, she has been absorbed half into the wall, and her arm is entirely separated from the rest of her, as the dungeon pulls her apart, absorbs her. neither she nor baphomet have much of a grip anymore, as the tree just becomes absolute wild growth.

On the Graveyard:

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individual Graves have become great abysses, caverns with endless drops, although narrow ledges lead down into the drops more gently.
Here, baphomet has much more control. Undead roam the mazes, both zombies and skeletons, but also those resembling servants of baphomet, and those under their control, and much more bizarre undead.
Great halls are created out of bones, bridges made of the spines of massive beasts, or perhaps bones expanded, cross great chasms. Tombstones have become great towers, windows overlooking an endless expanse of decay, each window showing an entirely different view.
As to the sub-dungeon's boss, deffinately something undead. Probably not a lich, but something like an almaglamation of minotaur, dragon, even spider-like shapes and bones, decaying muscles stretched over bones where they don't belong.

Instead of growing more feral, those caught in the graveyard become... decayed, more undead. Mindless, yes, but not unkempt, just decayed.

On the third sub-dungeon:

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I dunno.
a Lich's mansion?
Emphasis on the library contained within?
And spell casting, as opposed to undead, with several members of the holy whatever inside, perusing the books of untold arcane power?
Those inside start to become... I dunno. Drunk on power?

..yeah. My contribution doesn't really mean much.

[Hyudra]

Fair enough, Icedaemon.

@Flabort: Rather than have the graveyard focus more on the undead transition than the feral one, why not go with both? Ghouls are feral and undead. As a big bad, keeping in mind that Baphomet's servants often include minotaurs, ogres and giants... why not have a grotesquely obese Ogre Ghoul as the graveyard boss? It fits the dungeon theme and makes for an interesting encounter.

But I'd personally recommend holding to the theme.

As far as other dungeon areas, what about building on aspects of the city? The church? The library?

[Temassasin]

Ooh! this seems interesting. Very much so, in fact. Mind if I throw some thoughts in?

Spoiler

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The horn's corruption has caused not just the dungeon to appear, not just the appearance of various monsters, but the creation of various other... artifacts.
That is, in the areas of the dungeon beyond the curator's control, the corruption has taken on a bit of a wild edge, has absorbed certain natural magics or artifacts, such as a dryad's tree, or the corrupt graveyard ruled by undead, and/or the hiding place of a lich's phylactery, and corrupted those into unique artifacts, which have caused their own spread-out of corrupt dungeon.
These sub-dungeons, which will/can be part of sub-quests, will not be destroyed when the dungeon itself is, or if it isn't destroyed, will fight with the main dungeon for dominance. There are only two or three, maybe four such sub dungeons, but each has it's own unique theme. Although, if the artifact is REVERSED, as opposed to just destroyed, or whatever, it could leave the other, new artifacts (which don't necessarily have ties to baphomet anymore) weakened, and their dungeons advancing slower.

On the dryad's tree:

Spoiler

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On the edge of the main dungeon, a huge, twisted, growing tree can be seen, rising extremely fast out of the ground, it's roots actually lifting out of the ground, and beating down the area outside of the dungeon.
Inside the sub dungeon, the walls are natural wood, as the adventurer's are within the tree itself. Those of baphomet's servants that enter find themselves slowly becoming less mobile, the dungeon's very floor clinging to their feet, providing it's own corruption. This area of the dungeon is very much LESS under baphomet's control, although everything remains feral. possibly even more so.
The Dryad who made this tree her home now directs the tree's growth much more directly, but when the PCs find her, she has been absorbed half into the wall, and her arm is entirely separated from the rest of her, as the dungeon pulls her apart, absorbs her. neither she nor baphomet have much of a grip anymore, as the tree just becomes absolute wild growth.

On the Graveyard:

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individual Graves have become great abysses, caverns with endless drops, although narrow ledges lead down into the drops more gently.
Here, baphomet has much more control. Undead roam the mazes, both zombies and skeletons, but also those resembling servants of baphomet, and those under their control, and much more bizarre undead.
Great halls are created out of bones, bridges made of the spines of massive beasts, or perhaps bones expanded, cross great chasms. Tombstones have become great towers, windows overlooking an endless expanse of decay, each window showing an entirely different view.
As to the sub-dungeon's boss, deffinately something undead. Probably not a lich, but something like an almaglamation of minotaur, dragon, even spider-like shapes and bones, decaying muscles stretched over bones where they don't belong.

Instead of growing more feral, those caught in the graveyard become... decayed, more undead. Mindless, yes, but not unkempt, just decayed.

On the third sub-dungeon:

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I dunno.
a Lich's mansion?
Emphasis on the library contained within?
And spell casting, as opposed to undead, with several members of the holy whatever inside, perusing the books of untold arcane power?
Those inside start to become... I dunno. Drunk on power?

..yeah. My contribution doesn't really mean much.

actually it helps a lot but i was thinking maybe some cultists of orcus came and is try to resist the horn and the graveyards their base.

[flabort]

@ hyudra: An ogre ghoul? Could work... But ghoul is a creature, not a template.
We could do what was done here, and separate the template from the creature... @V: Duh. I forgot something again.
But that's getting into rules discusion, and this here is for fluff.

@ temassasin: Hmm. The sub-dungeons all being corrupt by other demon lords/whatever, and the artifacts formed there being caused by their influence, mingled with Baphomets? Works better than the artifacts formed by wild magic.
It would (probably) make a dryad's tree an unlikely target, but...
Definitely works for Orcus + graveyard.

Again, my contributions aren't worth much. I'm just a small timer, and I'm playing with "the Big Boys" here. Take what you will from my contributions, most of you know much better than myself.

[Hyudra]

@ hyudra: An ogre ghoul? Could work... But ghoul is a creature, not a template.
We could do what was done here, and separate the template from the creature...
But that's getting into rules discusion, and this here is for fluff.

Gravetouched ghoul template?

[flabort]

In the interests of keeping this thread from falling off the front page, I present another dungeon concept (separate from the absorbing maze)

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Say an epic level wizard is messing around with enchanting items, just out of boredom, and decides to enchant an empty door frame on his back wall. Not a big deal, normally, except that door frames aren't normally acceptable objects for enchantment (and when they are, they're called traps), he uses Genesis as one of the spells in the enchantment, as well as throws in way too much metamagic.
As he is just experimenting for the fun of it, you can guess what happens: Several of his enchantments, INCLUDING THIS ONE, backfire. His small hut, which doubles as an "herbery shop", as he called it, still stood, miraculously, but several... nasty side effects, most of them sentient, remained, as well as the fact that he... wasn't there. Now, throbbing at the back of his hut, is some sort of portal, through which several of the wizard's experiments have gone.
Why the pcs have arrived now, is not quite clear. They may have been asked to find out if a younger wizard's uncle survived his own goofing around, or maybe they've been asked by the nearby viliage's mayor to clear out they wizards "nest", keep anything dangerous from coming out. Or, maybe their just after anything the old coot left behind.
Once they pass through the portal, they see first endless black. Then, they see glittery trails branching out from the doorway, twisting around, going all directions, ever splitting, and rejoining elsewhere. Several oddities roam the pathways, although picking the right path to meet them seems unlikely. When the pcs step onto a path, several of the paths fade from vision Whenever paths split, the pcs can no longer see anything on the paths they didn't take, although they can still see the paths splitting far ahead, and where old paths join up. The pcs can never see what's on the paths behind them, though. Should they move too far back, they'll fall off. And drift for who knows how long.
The paths twist in all directions, going ahead, to the sides, behind, above, and below. And besides twisting in those ways, they'll actually twist, bending until completely vertical sometimes, or even inversed. And yet, gravity will always point... Towards the path you're on. And so, you'll never fall because of it's twisting... just stepping off the edge. And the paths seem endless, with endless creatures, strange as they come, wandering on them.
Eventually, they find a door... or two or three. Walking through them brings them to almost completely random locations on the Prime, although the same door always leads to the same place. These doors are one-way, though, and putting anything partways through, and then pulling back will result in twice the force outwards.
Should they pcs go through the door, they could find an encounter there, or a plot hook, or whatever. In any case, they'll likely head back to the wizard's hut, and therefore this dungeon. The paths will remain exactly the same, no matter how many times the pcs traverse them. Eventually, some path will split to immediately end in a large door, larger than the others, or a normal one. In fact, several paths will end so, but those will take a long time to reach. Anyways, the normal one does what all the other doors do, spits the pcs into the prime material, somewhere. The larger door, when passed through... leads directly out back into the wizard's hut! Except...
All the colors in the hut are inversed, as if a negative image. There are things in it that are normally colored, but they look as if they came from or through the odd demiplane dungeon. And outside the hut is the wizard himself, roasting a bit of food over a fire. He's upset, because he's trapped, unable to affect anything inversely colored, or in other words, anything on the Prime Material, he cannot teleport, or use any sort of similar magic, (although he can make food), and trying to go back through the portal just puts him in a negatively colored version of that plane! And... there's some sort of HUGE flying beast in there... which is the dungeon boss.
The boss (A Huge sized abberation with perfect flight, focused on grappling and bullrushes) keeps pushing the pcs through the doors, which all lead to the same places, but of course with the inverse colors and inability to affect anything, but being affected. Either defeating the beast, or running through the whole dungeon, evading the beast the whole time, will get the pcs untrapped. If they do evade it the whole time, it will follow, and destroy the wizard's hut, and then ravage the surrounding country side, but the player's will be out!

Yeah, probably a bad idea, you may want to continue focusing on baphomet's relic dungeon instead. But, it's an idea.

[Temassasin]

Probably but we might be able to mix it in

anyway i think it would have multiple layers. another thing is that it might brake the laws of physics and thus do psychic damage to the PCs who don't make will saves (it should be easier for chaotic types then the (l)awful types with nuetral in between) and if they normally would be killed by it they instead go mad.

[Lemonus]

These are some really great ideas. I like the Baphomet's Dungeon idea, and I have an idea to (sort of) mix it with the Wizard's Hut idea.

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Maybe the Baphomet's Dungeon could have portals, like those described in the Wizard's Hut idea?

[flabort]

I was just thinking of this project, and then notice new posts in it! Yay, although I'm a bit late in noticing them.

Anyhow, does anyone have any new thoughts on Baphomet's expanding dungeon? Orcus's Graveyard sub-dungeon?
Like maybe what would happen if particularly perverted PCs entered and tried to increase the dungeons population?!
Or what would happen when the maze sucked in a portal to a side-realm?

[Lemonus]

Or what would happen when the maze sucked in a portal to a side-realm?

Maybe the whole side realm comes out of the portal and becomes part of the dungeon?

[Nethian]

A large nearby lake can become a murky bottomless sea full of Dagon's abominations, which are terrorizing the citizens of a local village that have also become trapped in the dungeon. It would have a very Lovecraftian horror theme as the abominations don't outright kill people, but rather they drag them down to the depths of the lake for some unknown purpose. Those who escape are either horrifically mutated, irreversibly insane, or a combination of the two.