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Editorial

The Evolution of the Dungeon Encounter

“Hey what dat noise?”

“What noise dat you talk’n bout Oloorin?”

“Sounds like fight’n, maybe we go see?”

“Wha you talk’n bout? We have important job, we guard chest in 10 x 10 room. We stay put.”

“Uh… ok, if you say. What we do if someone come through dat door?”

“Probably we die. Dat da life of two orcs guarding chest in room.”

Sound familiar? Ok, maybe I’ve gone a bit too far with some stereotypes, but how many DMs have designed a dungeon that had a room with a few monster that just waited for the door to open?

Categories
Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: Taking The Dungeon Out Of Dungeons And Dragons

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2009. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

The concept of the dungeon crawl has had a great deal of debate since the release of 4e. The design of encounters in 4e, has changed the nature of the dungeon. Rather than a large, traditional-style dungeon that players explore five feet at a time, dungeons in 4e are more about large set piece encounters. The dungeon is little more than a series of hallways connecting the rooms that drive the plot or adventure forward.

The focus of this article was to debate whether the dungeon crawl could be removed in favour of a skill challenge. The article generated a great deal of discussion amongst the community. Looking back on those comments it’s apparent that the community has a great deal of interest in trying out new concepts. It was also apparent that there is a great deal of passion and debate about how this classic aspect of Dungeons & Dragons should be handled.

Without desiring to launch an edition war, we decided to bring this article out of the archives for a second look. There are a great many concepts presented that we at Dungeon’s Master will be following up on in the new year.

From April 7, 2009 Dungeon’s Master once again presents: Taking the Dungeon Out of Dungeons & Dragons.

Categories
Editorial

Taking the Dungeon Out of Dungeons and Dragons

Throughout the life-cycle of Dungeons & Dragons, dungeons have been evolving. Recent discussion around the RPG Bloggers Network has revolved around the Mega-Dungeon. The nostalgia brought up from this discussion is fantastic and brings to mind memories of exploring vast labyrinths. For that matter, it reminds me of playing The Bard’s Tale on my Commodore, but I digress.

Recently, Ameron has written about dungeons. He’s covered the topic through a skill challenge and as a DM aide on pacing the adventure. His articles got me thinking about dungeons and the place they hold in the game. First and foremost I’m not advocating that dungeons be removed from our great game and that we rename it Dragons. I do think there is a case to be made towards handling dungeons in a different manner and the mechanics of 4e lend themselves to it.