Making a Dungeon That Works

Exploring Dungeons is a staple of most fantasy role playing games. Generally speaking the word dungeon is used as a very broad term that describes just about anywhere characters may adventure. This could be anything from a series of caves to a castle floating high above the earth. These dungeons are traditionally filled with creatures for the players to fight as well as treasures for them to take. Plundering dungeons is fun and a great many nights have been spent looting deep beneath the bowls of earth, but making a dungeon can be a bit tricky. I wanted to give newer DMs a couple of ideas that might help ensure their dungeons are not boring and off putting to players. These tips are more about the feel of the dungeon instead of the actual layout itself.

Make It Real

Storming randomly generated dungeons can be fun for players but there is really no staying power. Players will tire of running through random tunnels with no other purpose then to get the loot and kill the big fozzle at the end of the road. The best way to avoid this is to give your dungeon and its denizens a purpose. Monsters generally do not stand around waiting for adventures to come running down the halls to kill, so give a reason why they are there. You do not have to spend the time to create a complete ecosystem in your dungeon and hundreds of pages of back story on it but you do want to spend some time figuring out why the dungeon is there and what motivates the beings that reside there. These details can be more important than the layout of the dungeon itself as a good back story will leave lasting impressions on your players.

Hit Them Where It Hurts

Don't be afraid to challenge your players. There is nothing worse for a player then to spend hours stomping around a dungeon and never receiving a scratch. Many new DMs are afraid of hurting their players characters and will design encounters that they can waltz through. Make sure that your normal encounters are challenging as well as that epic boss fight you have planned for the end of the dungeon as well. keeping things challenging will keep your players on their toes and make them appreciate every last hit point. If you over estimated your players abilities or the dice are rolling in their favor remember, you are the DM and you can tone down your encounters at any time and they will never know.

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

Keep thing varied throughout the entire dungeon. If your players have encountered a spiked pit trap in the last 10 hallways chances are they assume there will be one in the next. Keep your players guessing as to what is around the next bend. There are a lot of traps, devices, and monsters out there that you can use to fill your dungeon don't be afraid to use them.

Risk vs Reward

This can be a big one for new DMs, and veterans as well. If you are going to give your players a challenge as I advised you to ensure the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is worth it. There is nothing more disappointing to a player then fighting his way through hundreds of foes only to end up with a handful of copper pieces and a couple rags. Make sure your reward matches the challenge of the dungeon. The other side of this coin is not to give to much. Your players will love you for the vorpal sword they got from that last pack of kobolds but it will unbalance your game to no end and cause you headaches later.

Change It Up

A lot of D&D players will run from the dungeon back to town to rest when the going gets tough. Unless there is a good reason why they cannot do this you should allow them to do this. The problem with this is it leads to players doing one or two encounters, running to town and coming back recharged and ready to go. Over the course of a dungeon this can eliminate all challenge because they are facing every encounter fresh as opposed to being slowly beaten down over the course of many encounters. One easy way to overcome this is to change things around in the dungeon. For example if the dungeon is a goblin mining community chances are someone is going to notice the bodies that keep piling up near the entrance. The next time the players come back after a quick rest in town maybe they find that the guards have been doubled at the gates and there are extra patrols roaming the tunnels. You don't want to do anything to punish the players but you do want to challenge them.

I hope these couple of tips help new dungeon builders on their quest to build an epic dungeon that their group will talk about for years to come.