Water and Fire Themed Dungeons

[chronoplasm]

OK, so I'm working on a super-dungeon composed of several sub-dungeons stacked on top of each other.

They go:

Ice dungeon
Water dungeon
Steam dungeon
Fire dungeon
Magnetic dungeon
Forest in a Dome dungeon
Portal dungeon
Time dungeon

You guys have no doubt seen my brainstorming for the steam dungeon, now I want to try and figure out its two adjacent dungeons.

I know I want the water dungeon to have lots of platform jumping puzzles and puzzles that require players to drain or fill rooms with water.
I want the fire dungeon to involve the same puzzles, only with increased difficulty since instead of water theres lava.
In fact, I want to use very similar layouts to both of the dungeons but inverted.
I also want the two dungeons to bleed into the steam dungeon quite a bit.

I was wondering if anybody could help me brainstorm.
Any ideas guys?

[streakster]

Hmm...to lead into the steam dungeon, you could have huge brass pipes. The players see them, and later learn where they were leading to. The pipes could also be part of the puzzles! They could flood the room they're in when broken, raising platforms, drowning or burning monsters, etc. Make sure the players have to go back and repair them, though - or you could have each room sealed off, so when the room floods completely the water, lava, etc keeps flowing. Might be cool to let them leave some broken, and then show them the results in the Steam Dungeon - an empty boiler, a cold one, etc.

If the Water Dungeon is wet enough, using thunder spells would likely be a shocking experience...

Have a room with a monster that's appropiate (Water elemental, Lava Elemental, etc.) There are channels that slowly fill the room with lava or water, as appropiate, that the monster can absorb to heal itself. You have to shut off the channel to beat it.

Have a water room that has a seemingly impassable lake. To make it more so, add sharks. Flying sharks, to stifle mages. The way across is to find a scroll of freezing sphere.

Have rooms of innocent-looking poisoned water. Have drinking fountains with elementals inside that possess whoever drinks them.

Lava "rafts" form in the colder part of a fast-moving lava channel - the party can move them out to ride to the next room.

There's a pipe of lava that slowly oozes. They have to clear the pipe, to empty the room next to it. To melt the lava, use a heat spell - but that will make the lava flood the room, injuring them. The solution? Stand on top of the pipe, then cast the spell.

A flaming sword is held in a channel that turns a metal mill-wheel - take it out, and you have a great sword. You'll have to put it back to keep the lava flowing to the wheel, thus powering the elevator in the next room, though. Maybe a trident version of this for the water dungeon, though they could keep that one. Heck, give it create water at will, and they can use it to make paths on the lava in the fire dungeon.

Water cannons and lava cannons - you have to use them to fill bowls on the opposite side of a crevasse, weighing down platforms enough to drop a bridge. The lava melts its bowls, though, meaning that the bridge starts to rise up. Bonus - later have them in the crevasse again, a distance away. The inhabitants let them have it with the cannons.

Just some thoughts.

[chronoplasm]

Thanks!

Heres an idea that can be reused in the water, steam, and lava dungeons (I like a certain sense of rhythm in my campaigns).

There are two rooms.
Room 1: Full of water (or boiling water, or lava)
This room has two submerged doors that you cannot open.
To open door 1, the room must be emptied 50%. To open door 2, the room must be emptied 100%.
Room 2:
This room has two doors on ledges high up that you cannot reach.
To reach door 1, the room must be filled 50%. To open door 2, the room must be filled 100%.

The two rooms have a gate between them that can be opened to allow water from room 1 to flow into room 2 so that both will be 50% filled.
Then players need to shut the gate between the rooms.
Two doors can now be accessed.

Room 1a: This room is connected to room 2a. After beating the monsters in the room, you can pull a switch that will allow more water to flow into Room 1. You will now be able to reach Room 1b. This will have effects on the sub-dungeon above you.
Room 2a: This room is connected to room 1a. After beating the monsters in this room, you can pull a switch that will allow more water to drain from Room 2. This will have effects on the sub-dungeon below you.


Rooms 1b and 2b: These rooms will have monsters to fight and treasure.

Water Dungeon Room 1: Filling this room empties the frozen lake in the Ice Dungeon.
Water Dungeon Room 2: Emptying this room causes water to flow into the Steam Dungeon creating a boiling lake. Oops.

Steam Dungeon Room 1: Filling this room empties water from the lake of horrors in the Water Dungeon.
Steam Dungeon Room 2: Emptying this room causes boiling water to flow into the Fire Dungeon dousing the fire temple. Oops.

Fire Dungeon Room 1: This room is a little different. Filling this room with boiling water creates steam that turns a turbine.
Fire Dungeon Room 2: Emptying this room causes molten lava to flow into the Magnetic Dungeon melting an important bridge. Oops.

[black dragoon]

Let's see. I'll pull some video game experience here. Have the water room have areas that are VERY deep like a hundred feet or so that are completely flooded. If the players fills a room it pulls off these rooms. However since these are being drained. It makes going back to their tops harder especially if the sides are smooth metal. This works best in the water dugeon for obvious reasons.

As for the fire dungeon...
Perhaps areas where lava has pooled forming lakes of sorts and fire based creatures now prowl. Also remember we said each area has a sort of arbiter that controls the level. Perhaps for the fire level some sort of gigantic mechanical dragon and for the water I dunno a fish or frog or something.