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So I've been trying to come up with some interesting temple dungeons for my players. I'm looking for dungeons with a really cool theme behind him. Some examples could be the Gear Dungeon from Curse of the Crimson Throne or most of the Legend of Zelda dungeons (water temple from OoT comes to mind). Any ideas or sites that have some interesting dungeons like that?
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Another GM in my area surprised me with a well put together dungeon. It was atop a reef in a storm. The wind, rain, and darkness hindered vision and the terrain encouraged the use of physical skills like acrobatics, climb, and swim. Waves and gusts of wind would strike random targets/areas with varying effects. Also, depending on the time of day (high or low tide) the dungeon changed shape based on what was above water. The lower, optional level was among the reef itself with many little tunnels. It was pretty sweet.
Ziggurat in a swamp. Giant bronze shield-disks at top (can be thrown, used as shields, slid down stairs on, etc.). Sacrificial alter room at top, secret entrance into temple. Temple full of cultists and undead. Temple is site of conflict between cultists and local lizardfolk, PCs caught in middle (3 way fight, and interesting RP potential). Some areas of temple are trapped, others sealed off. The lowest reaches are sealed, and there is evidence of water damage/flooding. Oozes. Ancient defaced carvings of cthulhu-esque monsters and such on some of the sealed doors...
Floating islands. Like a thin barrier between the material plane and the Astral or Air plane. Platforming and gliding! slowly spin a boulder-island you're on to surprise and enemy, or gain cover. Push an island into a foe to crush them, or push it out of the way as they leap for it, sending them floating off until out of the area and they plummet...
Don't you dare make your party have to go through the water temple from Ocarina of Time.
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an undead dungeon that's composed of zombies who've grabbed hold of each other to form the walls floor and ceilings, much like army ants. any AOE could theoretically collapse the roof of that section by killing the zombies and making them let go. the dungeon would be mobile because of the zombies on the bottom, and could be reconfigured by the owner if needed. this is not the place for a 15 minute work day! (note, the zombies that form the walls floor and ceiling would be unable to attack or get AoOs as they'd be too busy holding the place together.)
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The Posiden Adventure! Granted rarely there are giant cruise ships in fantasy world but that is hardly an impediment. Imagine a big structure or complex that after tsunami or earthquake is now flipped over and sinking into the sea. Not only does this offer a unique option of hampered movment but makes resting nearly impossible because after all they are sinking. Watching the 70's classic while not a fantasy movie by any stretch might make for good inspiration. This type of adventure would run very much like the opening rescue of Chancellor Palpatine from General Grivious. The environment changes and turns as the structure breaks apart and is destoryed.
Cliffside! Imagine an entire city that is built on the side of a cliff. Not dug deep into the mountain but right ont the cliffside. Like Navajo pueblos built high up on sheer mountainsides. Lot of open air natural light, if it is in ruins now you have structural problems. Perhaps the residents of this dungeon can fly. Rooms would be narrow, perhaps stacked vertically.
I had this idea I've been playing around with about the large ruins of a town underground somewhere (I am thinking either in Osiron or Mwangi). Basically imagine the mines of moria from LOTR, but the only way to get down there and move from place to place is with a series of magic "elevators" activated by using UMD. I am going to run it in a future campaign where the party races a BBEG to find an artifact of some kind and then has to fight their way out through hordes of undead. Its gonna be epic.
An upside down floating mansion with lots of gravity traps and fragile wooden exteriors that may break upon impact. Some areas (with magic) may make characters float, while other parts that may push players out of mansion/to traps/to doors. Fire spells may also break the wall and players would fall through. Some section may have antimagic field so players cannot just fly through with magical means. With a heavy-load, at some section without floating, characters may break the exterior wall with their steps. Natural flying / ropes & grappling hooks are saviors here.
The mansion would rotate each hour, so traps that may "change" according to the new position of house. For example, at 1st rotate A trap may push players to a door that leads outside, at 2nd rotate A trap may push players to a needle ceiling. Despite the spells push players to the same direction, due to different angles it may be either beneficial or harmful.
A floating lake that will always stay under the mansion can be added so players don't always die by falling out of the place. The lake can be swirling pool, or a lake with its edges leading to waterfalls, so even falling to the lake doesn't grant a guaranteed safety. =P
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an undead dungeon that's composed of zombies who've grabbed hold of each other to form the walls floor and ceilings, much like army ants. any AOE could theoretically collapse the roof of that section by killing the zombies and making them let go. the dungeon would be mobile because of the zombies on the bottom, and could be reconfigured by the owner if needed. this is not the place for a 15 minute work day! (note, the zombies that form the walls floor and ceiling would be unable to attack or get AoOs as they'd be too busy holding the place together.)
Maybe the occasional Fort Save to resist Nausea. This place probably reeks.
The "Build a Dungeon" PCs must collect a series of puzzle pieces each with a room. They then slot the pieces into the map room essentially choosing the order of the dungeon.
If you like that idea, I might recommend "Ex Libris" from Dungeon magazine #29.
I marked two favorites then got to bottom. I like the idea of posideon adventure and having a consistent save for the environment makes things interesting.
These are some pretty interesting ideas. Since I'm doing a bit more of a Cthulhu based Kingmaker anyways, I like the Zigguraut in the swamp idea. I've seen a lot of variations of the hypercube one. How do you get out of that one Kthulhu? One version I found was a 6x6x6 cube with 216 rooms total. Each room had six doors on each side and a three number designation based on the positioning of the room (like 2.6.4). There is a panel in each room that puts in the three digit coordinates and allows you to enter the room. The key to getting out is to enter prime numbers (2,3,5) in a certain order and you'd be released to a different dungeon. There was a riddle about it too that I forget but it seems interesting.
Any good Dragon/Dungeon/KQ articles with some interesting dungeons? Keep them coming!
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Sounds like that was based on the movie "Cube"...brilliant movie, and it did slightly influence my hypercube dungeon. I'd recommend watching it, not really for any use in game, but just because it's an awesome film.
As for getting in and/or out, that would basically have to be done via teleport or something similar. All the doors lead to different cubes within the hypercube.
Sounds like that was based on the movie "Cube"...brilliant movie, and it did slightly influence my hypercube dungeon. I'd recommend watching it, not really for any use in game, but just because it's an awesome film.
As for getting in and/or out, that would basically have to be done via teleport or something similar. All the doors lead to different cubes within the hypercube.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I'd seen those movies, but this one seemed better translated for players so they wouldn't get frustrated. I can't for the life of me remember the poem, but it did have a play on the word prime. There was also a list of what each digit would make in the room. The first was terrain, the second I forget, and the third was the encounter.
Currently I am designing a dungeon that's a 3x3 sliding square puzzle. You can move each of the rooms around and connect them to make a path.
Taking a page from the 'Zombie Dungeon' up-thread, why not a partially collapsed Dwarven Ruin connected by the undead remains of titanic Purple Worms.
The Demi-Plane of a Mermaid Sorcerer, filled with breathable water and populated by a Darwinian nightmare of super-evolved predators with nothing to eat but each other, until the PCs arrived and opened the Portal from there end. Telekinetic Fiendish Jaws, anyone?
The mostly-petrified remains of a Colossal Gibbering Mouther that is slowly inching it's way towards a town?
Maybe the PCs followed an enemy or ally into the Astral Plane, shenanigans, and then they find themselves inside the dreaming mind of a God. If they 'wake' the God up, they're screwed and will be assimilated. If they don't 'wake' the God up, a major catastrophe will occur and thousands of lives on Golarion will be lost!
Back in Dragon Magazine in the 80's there was Baba Yaga's dancing hut... the hut was normal size, but like the TARDIS it's bigger on the inside than on the outside. Many rooms and levels inside. So with that in mind you could make that into anywhere... Some mage made this or that place into a tesseract or an interdimensional space and...
So an idea for a dungeon I have, but I'll give some context.
I'm running a Kingmaker game, however, I have overhauled the theme to focus more on an aberration/Lovecraftian aspect. There are ruins in the lands that they can explore and slowly piece together what terrible tragedy befell the original civilization that lived here so the PCs can prevent history from repeating itself. Has some inspiration from other Adventure Paths (Runelords, Serpent's Skull, Wake of the Watcher) and some science fantasy/horror to it.
At first glance, this dungeon looks short and straight forward. A bit serpent themed. But, some of the hallways inbetween rooms have a secret to them. When activated, they turn 90 or 180 degrees, rotating a connecting room. I call these hallways 'coils'. Once the coils and corresponding room rotates, it can unlock a new passageway through the dungeon. Towards the end of the dungeon, there will be a large vault and the coils end up being like a combination lock, requiring a certain rotation setting for each coil before opening the vault.
Also what's a good place to get really good dungeons? I tried Dungeon a Day and they aren't accepting members anymore.
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An idea I've been toying with for years now is The Crypt of Illusions - dungeon built by an evil gnome. Basically, a nothing is what it seems place full of magical illusions, visual trickery that leads to deadly situations, and monsters that can disguise themselves. As I've developed it, I've also added in links to the Plane of Shadows, Cloakers, and that the gnome maybe worshipped a demon prince before he was betrayed and murdered.