tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post4583440668845605449..comments2023-10-14T03:58:59.333-06:00Comments on The Tao of D&D: Why I'm Not Writing Another Tackle a Dungeon PostAlexis Smolenskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-69800653095486403972017-04-26T14:37:52.932-06:002017-04-26T14:37:52.932-06:00Given that "How to Tackle a Dungeon" has...Given that "How to Tackle a Dungeon" has made it into your top ten list, is there any chance that you'll be reviving the series?Ozymandiashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01065642299277380465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-72529105195840946822016-02-20T15:18:57.525-07:002016-02-20T15:18:57.525-07:00That seems to me a nice combination between (2) an...That seems to me a nice combination between (2) and (3), Ozymandias. I think that any really good dungeon is going to take advantage of two, three or even all four of the points I suggested.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-29786166478009786412016-02-20T14:57:31.089-07:002016-02-20T14:57:31.089-07:00The dungeon's entrance is beneath a swamp that...The dungeon's entrance is beneath a swamp that naturally drains once every four or five years and remains accessible for about as many months. The effort necessary to drain and keep the swamp drained might be too much for the locals to care about, especially if there's no proof that doing so would yield appreciable treasures.<br /><br />This seems like a topic that should be crowdsourced for ideas, if inly to produce a random chart that would actually be useful...Ozymandiashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01065642299277380465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-11078853827176713382016-02-20T13:11:45.912-07:002016-02-20T13:11:45.912-07:00In the real world, we have tour groups going into ...In the real world, we have tour groups going into caverns/sewers/dungeons, and these have been made (relatively) safe. I see no reason why a dedicated effort should not be able to do the same for a fantasy dungeon. Especially when you consider the mindset of what "safe" meant four hundred years ago! <br /><br />Just because it's fantasy doesn't mean logic can be suspended.Doughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15657793356913767894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-65043009623380929002016-02-20T11:21:10.515-07:002016-02-20T11:21:10.515-07:00I have four simple answers to that, Mujudaddy:
1)...I have four simple answers to that, Mujudaddy:<br /><br />1) The dungeon hasn't been discovered yet. Perhaps it is only a few rooms that were inhabited very recently or the entrance is profoundly hidden (beneath or behind a sealed floor or wall, or inside a cave where the entrance is only a hole that is eighteen inches across. Cavers will often find such completely unknown cave entrances in surface area that have been exhaustively explored.<br /><br />2) The dungeon is profoundly remote and difficult to find; it isn't near any sort of town or village, it isn't near any trade route, the creatures within are keeping to themselves and therefore the effort to find a dungeon that may not even be there hasn't encouraged a sizable party to search for it. Anything that remote is bound to have no fixed location, such as famous accounts of people having discovered gold in western Australia (never found) or having seen temples that then become hopelessly overgrown and lost. Only a truly dedicated party can then find it. Alternately, a single monster may be terrorizing a very small, very unpopulated island that no significant person cares about (and where no significant amount of treasure exists)<br /><br />3) The dungeon can't be reached at all by ordinary means - for example, Ternketh Keep, floating in the sky (casting of levitation/permanency/flying spells on a grand scale) and to a certain degree affected by point (1) (hasn't been taken over by harpies for very long). A dungeon may be found on another plane of existence or it may only be accessible through a wardrobe; perhaps the dungeon can only be found with a key word that has been written in a book that remains ignored and dusty inside a very large library.<br /><br />4) As far as anyone knows, the dungeon HAS been cleaned out. All evidence points to a place where high level people came in, wiped out all the easily found monsters - and yet missed some crack or crevice, some unimportant little corner or passageway, that will yet serve as a good adventure for a low level party serving as "clean-up crew."Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-40714586003992594922016-02-20T10:47:27.495-07:002016-02-20T10:47:27.495-07:00These bullet points should be considered a minimum...These bullet points should be considered a minimum standard of forethought put into the design of any dungeon. You should understand how the chambers were carved and in what order, the temperature and humidity at play, light sources, etc., etc.; the entire physical reality of the dungeon must seem, feel <b>be</b> authentic.<br /><br /><i>"why hasn't it been cleaned out already?"</i><br /><br />What is <i>your</i> answer to this? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's wondered how your game has any dungeons left, and consequently what their frequency of occurrence as a Player encounter is.Mujadaddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07698839746240695386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-85119174316263318602016-02-20T07:19:34.473-07:002016-02-20T07:19:34.473-07:00I'm glad you still put forward some questions ...I'm glad you still put forward some questions for a DM to consider, even if you aren't planning on finishing this series. Whenever I'm doing any sort of writing or creative work, I find having a few major questions to answer can really tighten things up since it forces me to stand back and look objectively at my work.Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03496502173819113887noreply@blogger.com