This CW rocked! I love everthing Dungeon prints with almost no exceptions, and I steal steal steal from every adventure and article for my home games, but rarely do I see an article where I say "I'll steal this...and this...and that!" Every idea is really fun in this, and adds soooooo much more flavor to a dungeon crawl than "there's a ladder against the south wall."
The whole thing is goodness. I can't wait till my PCs try to climb the skull pillar and lose some fingers. No real D&D hero can survive past 5th level with all their fingers, at least in my games. :-)
I agree. Normally,obviously after the adventure content, the Dungeoncraft and Campaign Workbook are my favorite part of the Dungeon magazine. Even when I can't use some of the material immediately it spawns great ideas and is almost always an enjoyable read. That being said, the usually stellar Monte Cook left me a little flat this month. Something about Dungeoncraft just didn't *click* with me. Much of Campaign Workshop was a bit weak, IMO, in #133 too. But not Chutes and Ladders. My initial disappointment was relieved by Tim Hitchcock's work. I was like "hey! This is cool!". It was so imaginative and unique. It adds immediate spice to any encounter. I also appreciated his inclusion of balance and climb checks. Game mechanics applied to great descriptors is always a good thing.
I had the same thought as you - I am sooo stealing this!
Frankly (on the subject of articles that aren't actually adventures), I've found that pretty much anything that Monte Cook writes is absolutely gold. The man is a genius. Every article I've ever read by him has made me go "Oh yeah!" Not to mention, if I find something that he suggests that I've been doing, it makes me feel like a really good DM. =P