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The Myth of Random Dungeons

There have been lots of Kickstarters, articles, and books lately dealing with the generation of random dungeons.  Over time I have found the fascination with random dungeons to be an affront to the very nature of an adventure.  The point, after all, is to visit places that could exist in the fantasy worlds we play in.  These stone underground structures require enormous resources to build and because of that, they simply must have purpose.

This purpose may have evolved over time.  The dungeon form may have been modified to take on new purposes.  There may even be elements of madness involved.  Ultimately, though, the design of dungeons should be logical.  The only exception is Undermountain.  lol

I had a party go into a dungeon that was part of a great dwarven fortress a while back.  The layout of the dungeon level was dictated by its original purpose -- an ore processing level attached to a mine.  However, time had modified its connectivity due to deep earth tremors in the area (which had a logical cause).  The level recently had been taken over by various new inhabitants.  Bullywugs had taken over a segment that was partially underwater.  A family of ogres lead by an ogre mage had walled off a few rooms and a segment of hallway to serve as a makeshift home.  A necromancer had isolated the great hall in the center of the area as his lair.

All of these elements were important.  As the PCs try to cut through various blocked hallways and came across various collapsed doors, they glared at me.  "Why are you railroading us?"  The answer was simple.  I'm not.  This dungeon is built the way it is for very logical reasons which will become obvious.  In effect the necromancer had aligned his defenses so he couldn't be reached except by someone traversing his defenses.

Now the group had taken an alternate method to get into the dungeon, bypassing some of it.  Instead of crawling into the only visible entrance, they dug a hole into the ground and pried a new entrance into one of the dungeon rooms.  I allowed it because it was consistent with rules and the construction.  In essence, the PCs figure out how to outsmart the necromancer (not the GM).

The other reason for giving the dungeon a purpose is to provide an additional context for details.  Hmmm... I'm in a dwarven mining level -- I should be able to find a pick, right?  The PCs can come to this logical conclusion and the GM can allow it and it doesn't require a bunch of preplanning every single item that might be stuck somewhere in one of the rooms.  Context = free details.  Context = expectations.

So next time you design a dungeon (or any other structure, for that matter), start with an idea of purpose, a layout for purpose, and then repurpose it by its current inhabitants and see what you get.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.


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