Formula: Making a Dungeon

Today I thought I'd share some of my ideas on how to make a dungeon. Through a step by step process, you can make a pretty sweet dungeon adventure in only a couple hours.

Begin With a Trial
I find it nice to open with some sort of challenge to the players themselves, but it can be equally fun to challenge their characters. Regardless of whether your dealing with a meta-challenge or an in-game challenge, there still manages to be some crossover between the two.

To Implement: The trial could easily be finding the dungeon in the first place. This could require players to make a series of checks much like the challenges described in the Dungeon Masters Guide. It could also be a puzzle in itself. You might have a series of clues scattered about a forest labyrinth that eventually leads them to the entrance to the dungeon within. You could also make the dungeon easy to find in itself, but difficult to initially crack into. Breaking in could be a challenge, or there might be a puzzle that when solved unlocks the path beneath. Another possibility would be to have a guardian, or perhaps a potential guide, send the heroes on a quest for a trophy to prove their worth. All of these are great side quests to get the players excited about what's actually beneath.

Start Mapping
This part is easy, and can be really fun. Navigating a dungeon could take weeks depending on how long or frequent your gameplay is. But making the dungeon itself takes less time than a single session.

To Implement: Break out your graph paper, or even your computer, and start mapping out the different levels, obstacles, traps, and whatnot that you want in your dungeon. Even if it doesn't make sense in terms of storyline or lore, you want to make the dungeon big enough so that the players will have interesting combat with different decision points in it. Make rooms with potential combat open enough that everybody will be able to find the battle accessible. You don't want people waiting outside the door for monsters or players to move out so they can actually see some action. Also, if the players do not, or try not, to surpass certain obstacles, give them another way around, but make it equally challenging in a different way. If they get stuck solving the sphinx's riddle, let them go around and use their brawn instead of brain.

Find an Encounter Theme
Not every encounter has to be the same type of monster, such as a dungeon full of only goblins, but it's good to have a theme behind the encounters. Let the players guess why certain monsters have teamed up with each other. This makes for more interesting encounters, and can even give you ideas on how to bring the concept back around later on.

To Implement: Balance what makes sense with what makes for interesting gaming. For instance, if the players are heading into a dungeon that was sealed for many centuries, make sure there are plenty of undead in there. In fact, the only living creatures should be ones that are known to survive for centuries on very meager living arrangements. If you go with an only undead dungeon, switch it up. Don't just use zombies and skeletons, throw in a specter or a wight, even a couple ghouls now and then. And most importantly, tie all the undead in some how. You may not have them encounter a lich at the end, but give them a clue that there may be one in this realm, and that could be their followup quest. But in terms of tying the dungeon together, make sure you've got at least one big bad monster at the end. It could be a demon leading a horde of underling goblins and such, or whatever you think is possible under the constraints of your story.

Follow these three steps, and your dungeon might certainly guarantee fun and interest. Start with a trial, have an interesting geography, and make sure the monsters don't get stale. Also, it always helps to have a hook, a twist, or a big bang at the end of every dungeon.

This post is to make up for last Sunday. More to come later today.
-Lance of the Lazy People