Looking for dungeon ideas

[Darrag Oathsbane]

I'm currently running a fun/gag campaign where the players are playing various monsters. Their goal is to create the best dungeon ever and lure lots of adventurers to their deaths. To the dismay of the local monsters, new dungeons began cropping up across the country. The new dungeons were created by the Archmage of the mages guild in a vain attempt to outperform his rival.

The dungeons are large towers that spring out of the ground near population centers. The dungeons have one hundred stories of preprogramed mini dungeons which must be cleared in order to rise to the top. However, the rule of the game is to have fun. Im looking for inventive ideas for short one to five room dungeons that show off silly gimicks. the first floor was catacomb themed and sported around 15 zombies and skeletons. the party was worried at first, but found the undead had an aggro range of 20ft. to simulate a rpg.

Im looking for similar ideas. Anything goes. Ive considered doing a level which is a small cave guarded by a ferocious rabbit. the more nerd humor the better.

Excited to see what yall come up with!

(The party is level 6 atm)

[Pizza Lord]

'The Floor is Lava' level. The floor is not real lava, it looks perfectly normal but living creatures touching it are horribly burned and slowed as if moving through deep mud (it doesn't hinder climbing out of it, but trying to run or jump out or along it is). Objects are unharmed if dropped and can be picked up, but only solid, relatively immobile or thick objects are safe (at least the size of a medium shield). They could theoretically use two such objects to move across the floor by stepping forward and picking up the rear one and dropping it in front of them. Other items, like a backpack or trying to lay out a bedroll or blanket will burn anyone on it. The rooms are well-laid out with plenty of overstuffed and normal chairs, desks and tables, as well as bookshelves along the walls. Maybe a serving cart and a broom can be used as a makeshift ferry for one person at a time (maybe 2 small ones). Figuring out how to get through doors or down long, turning corridors can be a challenge, possibly balancing along a hand-rail running along its length.. Enemies can be chokers or other agile creatures with reach and grab (which pull PCs towards them and let go, putting them on the floor), or flying creatures.

'Hall of Mirrors', this level is several rooms and corridors of mirrors along the walls, floor and ceiling (with lighting). It can be maze-like, but there should be plenty of paths through it. Light based attacks and spells are reflected if they strike a mirror (possibly at the caster, possibly at an angle, depending on the mirror's angle). There are also special illusory wall illusions of mirrors (they can't be seen through even if disbelieved except by their caster). These variants are figment-based, working on the viewer's mind, so that they fill in seeing themselves or what they believe they might see in the mirror (rather than worrying about whether an illusionary mirror can normally show an actual reflection). Enemies can by light-using creatures, like lantern archons that are proficient in bouncing shots around corners or around cover (possibly at a –2 penalty per mirror bounced off of). There could also be creatures with blindsight or blind sense that don't get confused or see the mirrors (like bat swarms or oozes). Anyone damaging or breaking a mirror takes damage (maybe just 1d4). Cracks and broken mirrors seal up or reform like liquid silver after one round.

[McDaygo]

The entire dungeon is a colossal Mimic. That has other smaller Mimics inside it as well. If the PC’s are monsters they either can or don’t know which chamber is the no no room (where they get eaten if in)

[Darrag Oathsbane]

McDaygo wrote:

The entire dungeon is a colossal Mimic. That has other smaller Mimics inside it as well. If the PC’s are monsters they either can or don’t know which chamber is the no no room (where they get eaten if in)

Not bad, but one of the PC's is actually playing a mimic so I think he'd notice it. The tower is more or less filled with extra dimensional spaces so it cannot be a mimic itself, but there could easily be a smaller room that's the stomach of a larger creature

[Pizza Lord]

Here is another thread about dungeon gimmicks.
This link...
should go to my post about trampoline floors. There are ideas from others as well.

[Darrag Oathsbane]

Pizza Lord wrote:

'The Floor is Lava' level. The floor is not real lava, it looks perfectly normal but living creatures touching it are horribly burned and slowed as if moving through deep mud (it doesn't hinder climbing out of it, but trying to run or jump out or along it is). Objects are unharmed if dropped and can be picked up, but only solid, relatively immobile or thick objects are safe (at least the size of a medium shield). They could theoretically use two such objects to move across the floor by stepping forward and picking up the rear one and dropping it in front of them. Other items, like a backpack or trying to lay out a bedroll or blanket will burn anyone on it. The rooms are well-laid out with plenty of overstuffed and normal chairs, desks and tables, as well as bookshelves along the walls. Maybe a serving cart and a broom can be used as a makeshift ferry for one person at a time (maybe 2 small ones). Figuring out how to get through doors or down long, turning corridors can be a challenge, possibly balancing along a hand-rail running along its length.. Enemies can be chokers or other agile creatures with reach and grab (which pull PCs towards them and let go, putting them on the floor), or flying creatures.

'Hall of Mirrors', this level is several rooms and corridors of mirrors along the walls, floor and ceiling (with lighting). It can be maze-like, but there should be plenty of paths through it. Light based attacks and spells are reflected if they strike a mirror (possibly at the caster, possibly at an angle, depending on the mirror's angle). There are also special illusory wall illusions of mirrors (they can't be seen through even if disbelieved except by their caster). These variants are figment-based, working on the viewer's mind, so that they fill in seeing themselves or what they believe they might see in the mirror (rather than worrying about whether an illusionary mirror can normally show an actual reflection). Enemies can by light-using creatures, like lantern archons that are proficient in...

I will definitely use the "floor is lava" idea. The mirror maze might work, but will take time to implement. Luckily I have 100 floors to work with!

I think ill make every 10th floor a fun floor. Maybe put a few secret floors like 9 3/4 floor along the stairs that leads to a snack trolly. Im also going to add a cow level.

[Pizza Lord]

The 13th floor should be a bad luck floor. Any luck bonuses secretly have the opposite effects, becoming penalties. Don't tell them this unless they have some magical way to determine this (or maybe if one happens to be holding a four-leaf clover, all the leaves fall off when they enter the first room, becoming a no-leaf clover).

Similarly, 'bad luck' penalties (most penalties are untyped but you can figure it out, like enemies in a prayer spell, evil eyes, hexes, etc.) have a positive effect.

Works especially well if the party does a lot of such buffing or debuffing. Otherwise you should place bless or prayer items or effects in or prior to the level.

Consider adding a non-enemy pugwampi that they meet at the end of the 11th level. Says he lives on the 14th level but fell down a magic hole that opened and he needs help getting back. He is lame (healing spells won't fix them). He must be carried. If the PCs put up with his unluck aura (or counter it with luck bonuses) through the 12th level, they deserve to secretly benefit from it through the 13th (unless they've negated it with luck bonuses, which will give them penalties on the 13th level). For this reason, you should secretly roll the 2nd d20s when called for rather than the PC and give them the appropriate result so they don't metagame the mystery when seeing the result (they still roll their original). If they help him, on the 14th floor he shows them a secret way through the level that bypasses his tribe (which aren't friendly). He warns them about the mighty beast(s) along that path (which is why his tribe avoids it), but they won't have to deal with cramped, barricaded passages and a tribe of pugwampi.

Also good if you added a small bad luck penalty for breaking the magic mirrors on the mirror level. Assuming it was on level 10, they've pushed through to 13 and get a small respite (unknowingly). Possibly there's a way to remove the bad luck at the end of level 13. In this case, consider adding a tribe of hobkins gremlins for their collateral damage and out phase abilities to force attackers to break mirrors (and get damaged even if you don't add bad luck). Especially good if one or two of their elites (since they aren't a great threat normally) are monks that force collateral damage with Deflect Arrows or crane wing maneuvers.