I have no idea what ROTRL is, but I guess this counts for dungeons crawls overall.
First a question, do your players like the dungeon crawls? What they like might give you good points to start from to make it more interesting for yourself. If they don't like it you could think about trying to work around them.
I had a big dungeon crawl in the first dungeon I made. What made it interesting for me was they found out more about the plot along the way. The rooms each "revealed" a parts of the story.
It also helped to think about the way the creatures in de caves would react to the party. Some set up ambushes, tried to hide from them or made new traps in places they had allready explored.
If you really dislike long dungeon crawls with only a goal at the end you could try to make subgoals. Something like someone they know being abducted and being somewere in the dungeon.
Hope I helped a bit!
Captain Marsh, I echo your sentiment in every arena. I'm new to the fantasy setting, so dungeon crawls in general are foreign territory to me. Thank you Skylark and Marsh for your thoughts.
I suppose the devil is in the details. Doing a dungeon crawl, often the party (one of which is me) spends alot of time searching every room and figuring out where they are and where to go. It helps to have it mapped out before hand, and be descriptive of where they are in relation to other places. The adventure itself provides the hooks and monsters, same as any other. One of the things I miss is the downtime in a dungeon crawl. You camp, converse and take care of the simple things like eating and sharpening weapons. Splash some of the ambiance in, "you're eating rations for the 5th day, and haven't taken off your boots in 6". Good luck.
Dungeon crawls pretty much require player buy in to work. If they're not fully immersed in the concept, they're not going to enjoy it no matter what you do. It's an old school feel--something newer players are unlikley to "get."
Dungeon crawls pretty much require player buy in to work. If they're not fully immersed in the concept, they're not going to enjoy it no matter what you do. It's an old school feel--something newer players are unlikley to "get."
You really think a new group to this would have a hard time buying dungeon crawls? Our whole group, including myself, are rookies to fantasy and have never played a minute of D&D. Any tips for making this old school activity click with players who have spent nearly all of their RPG time in the school of d20 sci fi?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You could play up the feeling of the dungeon. Every chance you get, remind the heroes that they are going through an ancient, underground passages and monster filled rooms.
"Okay, this room is clear. Which direction are you going? North? Okay, who is leading? Alright, Zoth, the tunnel to the north is built of thick stone blocks, with dust trickling out of the cracks, half of which is caught in the spider webs that cling to the ceilings. Your footsteps seem to bring more dust from the roof."
"The door is old and warped, but the lock seems to have aged well. You're going to pick it? Okay. Roll it. A 32? Good. Good. Now, which hand to you open the door with?"
"The room is clear. The bodies of the orcs are collecting between the segmented floor, and the stink of the their blood is mixing with the old air, making you feel a little light headed."
Basically, have fun describing the dungeon, and creeping the players out.
Many, if not most, dungeon crawls are difficult to accept from any realistic ecological perspective. The orc horde living next door to the owlbear just down the hallway from the gelatinous cube all co-existing with the otyugh family...
I am just about to embark on a custom "dungeon crawl" but it will be one that has some semblance of rationality in terms of monster distribution and residency...
To add to what Gator said: perception checks aren't just about what the players see. Give them a perception check to smell the rusty tang of blood wafting down the hall, or hear the dungeon "breathe" through cracks in the wall venting in air from the surface.
I came of age in a very role-play-centric environment and never really got into the whole "kick in a door and loot" mentality as a player. As a result as a GM I tend to make my dungeons places of the living or at least places where SOMEONE had intended to live. Every so often the party will come across an opulent lectern or a well crafted easy chair; they're not clues or treasure, just elements to remind the PCs that the guy who designed the place had intended to live here.
Finally there's the personality of the place. Think about it - evey place has an attitude, even beige government facilities. Their creators intended to make a statement with the place. Try to make that statement to your players in the descriptive elements. Recently I ran a tomb haunted by an evil pixie sorceress. She was a playful sort, so in one room she used illusions and her trapsmithing ability to create an effect where when the PCs came into the chamber they were greeted by identical replicas of themselves that mimicked their movements exactly. The only difference was that the illusion selves had mustaches, even the girls.
Now personally I also try to throw in some NPC personalities as well. Some comic relief (if that works in your playstyle) goes a long way to immerse some players. If the party stops and makes a perception check, what if they pick up a bit of goblin chatter from the next room: "No Gryblyx, I didn't call your girl a dog-lover! And if I had, I certainly wouldn't have said it loud enough that she'd notice me there beneath her in the warren bedchamber..." or something like that.
Maybe the PCs could try and chat up one of the dungeon denizens. Maybe there's a talking worm with a cockney accent that wants the PCs to come to tea; maybe a living fungus offers them singing lessons. It YOUR dungeon after all; make it live the life YOU want it to.
You could play up the feeling of the dungeon. Every chance you get, remind the heroes that they are going through an ancient, underground passages and monster filled rooms.
This.
This isn't Huck Finn finding Injun Joe in a cave. It's an ancient underground complex, that goes on for miles, and it's been centuries since people like the PCs have explored it (successfully, anyway).
Play up the uniqueness of the party being the first in a long time to brave the place, the lack of light, and the overall spookiness of being in a claustrophobic nightmare that was once inhabited by gods know what.
The fact that most PCs are screwed without a light source, potable water, and decent food makes a dungeon a scary place to be.
Read up a little on spelunking, and toss in a few tight spots and make them use ropes and such. It was once an easy place to move around in 500 years ago. It's a deathtrap, now.
Give them bits of treasure from the mangled, decomposed corpses of those who have gone before. What else could they find if they keep going?
Another idea; sorry for the double post:
remember that the heroes are invading some thing else's home.
The orcs they just slaughtered had wives and kids a couple rooms away.
The trolls you just burned to ash? They were the husbands of a (much larger) troll ranger.
The kolbolds (and other small or smaller creatures) could have dug holes in the walls that only they can fit in. This would make hit-and-run ambushes so much more fun.
Or you could have them run into another adventure band, one that is trilled with the idea of helping clear an area out...only to turn on the party mid-battle.
A shape-shifting hag (in little girl form) could be rescued, then attack the lone person on guard. Depending on how much fun you want to have, have the hag call in her doppelganger buddies, and just hand the character on guard his new character sheet (that has doppelganger listed under race).
Hope these ideas make it more fun for everyone. I usually did dungeon crawls when I started getting worn out from GM'ing, and needed a break.
Keep them short or make them really major and grand, and trap the characters down there. They can't just walk away.
Another idea; sorry for the double post:
remember that the heroes are invading some thing else's home.
The orcs they just slaughtered had wives and kids a couple rooms away.
The trolls you just burned to ash? They were the husbands of a (much larger) troll ranger.
The kolbolds (and other small or smaller creatures) could have dug holes in the walls that only they can fit in. This would make hit-and-run ambushes so much more fun.
Or you could have them run into another adventure band, one that is trilled with the idea of helping clear an area out...only to turn on the party mid-battle.
A shape-shifting hag (in little girl form) could be rescued, then attack the lone person on guard. Depending on how much fun you want to have, have the hag call in her doppelganger buddies, and just hand the character on guard his new character sheet (that has doppelganger listed under race).
Hope these ideas make it more fun for everyone. I usually did dungeon crawls when I started getting worn out from GM'ing, and needed a break.
Every veteran adventurer knows you kill little girls found in dungeons, tunnels, empty woods and underground lairs immediately on sight.
Didn't you read the handbook laddie!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I know this is a plug for a really good dungeon writer, but look up the Mike Shel dungeonology...I mean, his gamer cred. Most importantly, look for Mud Sorcerors Tomb. A beginning DM will see it and crap themselves.
Just read the damn thing anyway, it is only slow for the first paragraph.
Get an idea of how to do 'awesome', and while the first level dungeons in ROTRL are kinda 'meh', when you get to Runeforge, understand your players will WANT to check out all of the college wings. Until the disjunction trap.