The Story Driven Dungeon Crawl

[EntrerisShadow]

I'm going to be starting a new, brief campaign shortly that finds the PCs infiltrating the tower of a powerful undead whose taint is damaging the lands around it. It's very much designed to be a dungeon crawl with the PC's starting in the . . . well, dungeon and making their way up. The only encounters they are going to have after a brief introduction at a church in the beginning is with the hostile denizens of this tower.

But rather than just a go here-kill this straightforward dungeon crawl, I have a fairly in-depth backstory and world built I'd like the PC's to explore. In particular, there are hints about the BBEG's motivations and history that will completely change the way the last battle should play out - IF the players figure it out.

So my challenge is I want to create a story driven campaign that plays out entirely in the context of a dungeon crawl. That being said, there are two things I am trying to avoid:

1. Journal Entries. It's trite and overdone. I may use a couple, but I do not want them giving away the plot and, since it's such a cliche, I want to limit them to a last resort when I can think of no better way to convey backstory.

2. Helpful or way too knowledgeable NPC's. This is a dungeon crawl, after all, so the sense of danger should be everywhere. The only noncombatants they are going to encounter will still be Lawful Evil and untrustworthy monsters - they simply won't pose much of a physical threat.

So my question is what devices do you use to give your PC's the lore and history without just leaving conveniently-relevant journal entries lying around or speaking as know-it-all innkeepers?

[Schadenfreude]

Haunts. Get the PCs to experience important events first hand through phantom shifts, benign possession and memories not their own.

[gamer-printer]

You might check out the one shot module, Up from Darkness, from Rite Publishing for the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG). It starts out exactly as you describe and its definitely story driven. Lots of unique undead and traps, its a very deadly dungeon with a very unique twist. Read Endzeitgeist's review to get a good idea of what I'm talking about. The PCs begin at the lowest level of the dungeon with no memory as to who they are and why they are here...

[Kobold Catgirl]

The PCs could always interact with seemingly helpful or friendly individuals.

Portal Spoilers:

Wheately is a good example. Aside from being a bit bumbling, he seems to genuinely want to help you (albeit for somewhat selfish reasons) for a good portion of Portal 2. Then he gets ahold of a huge amount of power and goes totally mad with it in about one minute, thirty seconds. It's not designed to be terribly surprising, but it is a little sad when it happens, since Portal is otherwise a game of isolation and loneliness.

[EntrerisShadow]

gamer-printer wrote:

You might check out the one shot module, Up from Darkness, from Rite Publishing for the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG). It starts out exactly as you describe and its definitely story driven. Lots of unique undead and traps, its a very deadly dungeon with a very unique twist. Read Endzeitgeist's review to get a good idea of what I'm talking about. The PCs begin at the lowest level of the dungeon with no memory as to who they are and why they are here...

These were all really helpful, but this post in particular was awesome. I downloaded the PDF and read through it and I have to say, wow. This gave me just about everything I wanted (and some things I didn't know I did until I read through)

[gamer-printer]

I thought it might, your OP kind of pointed directly at this one-shot, IMO.