Epic Dungeons All have These...

[@Taking20]

Who can tell me what's on my shirt? ;-)

[@CharlesBalester]

Wrong answers only?

[@aaronbrady9579]

Caleb Lee Jacob from XP to level 3

[@PotatoesAreElite]

A guy with an afro

[@woohahcatrim9780]

Plinkett's dead wife.

[@quantum6812]

A Picture

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Dungeons are also a great place to put "long lost" lore about your game world, or your BBEG, or a place to find an item of wonder. Words carved into the walls, a sealed scroll, a ghost that tells you a tale, a mosaic map of the area in days past showing the location of a city lost to the swamps...

[@pedroscoponi4905]

Yessss. If your world has secrets, keep the answers hidden in the darkest, creepiest possible places.

[@zaphodbeeblebrox8459]

I have always liked the out of place room that is confusing. Sometimes it has something to do with the dungeon and sometimes it doesn't. And the classic upside down room, sometimes with reverse gravity and sometimes not.

[@Ultra_DuDu]

Your players didn't explore all of the optional paths? Good! You'll need less prep for the next dungeon.

[@adfdasdfadfadsfareae]

I can never bring myself to "recycle" content like that.

[@b.giovanni4824]

Or let them meet a rival party buying rounds in a tavern to celebrate finding the treasures the PCs missed!

[@halycon404]

Or, don't actually make the optional path at all. Slamming a door down to lock a path once another is chosen is an easy fix to make it look like we did more work than we did while making players wonder what could have been.

[@KHfanz]

@@halycon404 ah yes, the classic illusion of choice, both paths lead to the same end

[@epicawsomeguy208]

@Zach Cooney, the illusion of choice is an amazing way to keep the plot on track, it's implicit railroading which is the best railroading. But honestly, optional paths are dope, I like to prep andDM optional paths when I have the time and see what my players choose.

[@Kilbia]

My most recent "dungeon" had a social encounter of sorts that I was really proud of: one of the rooms had the ghost of a Cleric of Pelor. He didn't speak, but he'd written letters before he died. The party was in a keep that had been buried in a landslide, and Senquirus ultimately decided to offer himself up once the food stores ran out. In his mind it was a calculated risk - if it kept folks alive long enough to get rescued, they could be shriven of their sin. Well, that didn't happen, and after the PCs got through all the ghouls, they wanted to help Senquirus move on but didn't know how without any remains to purify. They brought a nearby High Priest of Pelor back later, who got to successfully test his hypothesis that a Cleric's vows are as much a part of them as their flesh ever was. He recited the ageless words over and over, and eventually Senquirus finally spoke to recite them with him, and then the ghost faded.

[@abot4029]

This is awesome and I'm stealing it

[@gustavobeio7535]

I once gave my players a magic map that do a lot of cool things like real time update of terrain, zooming, 3d terrain topography when laid down on a table, etc (and gave locations of a quest marked on it). There was no magic sword, no piles of gold. Just a really cool map. To this day they say this is the best treasure i've gave them at the end of a dungeon

[@mebeksis]

Stealing this idea, such an amazing, yet non broken, reward!

[@gustavobeio7535]

@@mebeksis Oh, please go on and give this to your players, they will love it for sure. Also if you want to meme like me, name the map "The chad map"

[@mebeksis]

@@gustavobeio7535 gladly. I stole the interconnected magic shops idea from an earlier video on this channel and my players loved it too.

[@gustavobeio7535]

@@mebeksis oh yeah now it's my turn to steal this magic shop idea lol

[@MrFerkles]

Stealing this! I've been wracking my brains for a way to get my players on track to defeating the BBEG. It's not that they aren't picking the plot points, it's that they get distracted and never follow through. I think this will be a perfect antidote.

[@grindsaur]

- Something weird. This can be covered under “Magical Obstacles”, but doesn’t have to be either. Just something odd without further explanation. - “Empty” spaces. Great for pacing and explaining why every creature in the dungeon doesn’t just pile on to the PCs at the first noise. Heightens tension. Remember that empty doesn’t have to mean bare and devoid of contents - rooms without monsters, treasure and challenges can still tell stories and provide clues. Finally, empty rooms might be useful for resting in... - Wandering monsters. Seriously. Something to keep the PCs on their toes. Something to show them that, despite perhaps appearing abandoned, this place is actually inhabited. This can also provide important clues, for example to the factions that others have mentioned and tensions between them... - Treasure or resources that can’t be easily carried out and away. A Wellspring of Healing, a golden sarcophagus too large to fit through the doorways (and too heavy to move anyway), beautiful gems that turn opaque and disintegrate in sunlight, the ghost of an incredibly knowledgeable sage who just happens to be bound to the place...

[@Alex-sf5uz]

A trap at the entrance is one I've seen, its a good way to let your players know that there will be traps in the dungeon. It should be something simple like a pit trap, a crossbow trap or maby just an alarm

[@Taking20]

Yes. Foreshadow as much as you can

[@mistercmartin]

Better yet, you put a small series of traps in the beginning part of the dungeon, but then you don't put any traps deeper in the dungeon. It will make them cautious and can make for interesting moments when they keep looking for traps but don't find any. Then just when they finally start to relax and think that there are no more traps, you throw in a small trap just to spike the paranoia.

[@dougsundseth6904]

If your objective is to slow down play, that's a really good way to do it. The prologue section of Raiders of the Lost Ark plays fast on the big screen because the director and editor have control of the pacing. With an RPG, the result of that kind of thing will be obsessively testing everything for traps through the whole game: "I search the next bit of the floor for traps." "Roll your search check." "16" "You don't find any traps." "I search the left wall for traps." ... This might be fun for some GMs and some players and if it works for your group, then go for it. But I wouldn't want to be a part of that group.

[@kyleweir689]

@@dougsundseth6904 I was thinking the same thing... I don't know of a way to not boil the game down to "I check ____ for traps" every time they move forward. Colville talked about the 10' pole in old editions and how you'd have a minesweeper, effectively, using the pole to sniff out traps... Doesn't sound like fun to me.

[@Alex-sf5uz]

@@dougsundseth6904 do you honestly run traps as a series of skill checks? Do you have to roll to spot the sything blades? I prefer running traps where you discribe what is there and the PC's discribe what they do, finding a pit trap takes no longer than the PC's saying im going to tap the floor as i go with a 10' pole.

[@Dinofaustivoro]

A time limit (days). An NPC/trader. An antagonist party. Conflicting factions.

[@souleclipse1109]

Best video ever; was having a horrible stroke of writer's block before this. 👍 Thanks Cody!

[@tilenbox]

Honestly at first I thought this was a "How to decorate your D&D war room" guide. And I was all for it

[@coleserfass3101]

This is your reminder to turn on notifications for Cody! He doesn’t upload enough to get swamped with them, and you won’t regret it!

[@terranloudenback2102]

I have them on for him, and for some reason I didnt get a notification for this vid :(

[@altonisika1023]

To me, secret doors or passages are a staple to dungeons, as long as it isn't the main path through the dungeon.

[@elgatochurro]

Make them more obvious if they're the main path, make the players question "is this all that's there?" Or things that don't make sense, a stick coming out of a wall, a brick deeply inlaid in the brick wall, a corridor that goes nowhere. Don't forget passive perception is a thing as well which could give hints or even the answer. From "there's a draft in the hall" to "there a draft from this wall right here"

[@nicka3697]

I love the big impressive entranceway that has been sealed and barred multiple times from your side. To keep whatever is in there in there. It may be magically sealed, you may need to find the side entrance or literally dig your way in. But knowing someone else decided that this dungeon was not worth it and the best thing was to seal it away. That's cool.

[@cchapa7470]

Along this same vein, I've used dungeons that have been "interacted with" from previous campaigns (w/ diff players). One group actually Did the "collapse the room to defeat the BBEG" and when I used it with a different group they were really surprised that the dragon they came to kill was already dead... dracolich was a nice surprise though! XD

[@hoi-polloi1863]

I saw this notion in a novel once. There was a dungeon with a big inscription by the front door, saying something like, "This place is dangerous, keep out. If you go in you will die. If you somehow survive, you will be cursed. Keep out. Signed, the gods" Of course the characters go in *anyway* ...

[@Vgy1592]

As someone who is a bit of an addict for the concepts of "megadungeons" -- dungeons so huge they'd be likely to be a multiple session expedition -- This video is a huge help! I have yet to really run a dungeon, but have been wanting to at some point for a while, now. I also get a lot of inspiration from series like Etrian Odyssey, where the early areas tend to have a few possible interactions with other adventuring parties also trying to explore the dungeon -- Perhaps another group is injured, giving the party the difficult choice of whether to sacrifice some of their own resources to help another party. Perhaps another group is making their way out with a bit of treasure, tempting the party to steal from them. There are a lot of things you can do with mid-dungeon social interactions! Another threat I see mostly come up in megadungeon style dungeons is the idea of, well. Not only having to worry about the way *in.* Some settings have dungeons where you really have to think about saving supplies for the way *out,* too. It's something I feel most adventures don't make you think about, -- I usually see exiting being relatively handwaived -- but I think there's some value in making the way out dangerous too.

[@betterrpg189]

I enjoy placing the answer to a riddle in the backstory. Watching the players figure it out is very entertaining.

[@tjrooger1092]

The mind scramble. Like a traitor, or the bad guy isn't really the bad guy.

[@gregsmw]

id say thats not really needed, and its very much a thing that if used often very quickly starts to feel low effort to a player the whole "oh the bad guy has a sob story and isnt actually bad" thing very quickly feels "anime" if used too often

[@silverpenguinx3884]

More broadly and commonly known as a plot twist

[@derboeseVlysher]

The betrayal, if used too often, will be equally annoying. And, if overused, it might lead to your players not trusting anyone anymore, so they won't interact with your NPCs like you would like them too.

[@4saken404]

Ahh, the twist. There's a bunch of different ways of going about this but it's considered so integral that it's one of the 5 parts of the "5 room dungeon" concept.

[@pandadantheman7726]

This video reminded me of when I wrote out and mapped an entire drow cave dungeon and city underneath my Dwarven capital, I had every offshoot and side encounter planned and ready stats and all. My players ended up running through every turn and choice just right enough to end up at the drop outpost. But instead of investigating or assaulting it they collapsed the tunnel and went back for their reward. I don't regret the work I put into everything I was just.....disappointed. lol but still fun all and all l, that was the point of everything as always

[@Taking20]

Good on you for letting it happen!

[@keksjanik2138]

Well since they never saw it, just use it in a different place. Maybe even a different campain?

[@pandadantheman7726]

I still have the maps, and after I should them the *booklet* they didn't see they said to please use it in another place they might go. It was a good amount of work and I'm excited for them to go through it but I've learned to never plan for them to see everything, but if they end up missing a lot of story and items to just pick it "elsewhere" still was fun for what they played thats the point of the game lol

[@pandadantheman7726]

@@Taking20 keep up your awesomeness my man. I've learned ALOT watching you and was able to come up with tons of material because of your creative mind!!

[@pedroscoponi4905]

It might fit into Tip 1, or just be a generally good idea, but I think more than any other situation in a D&D game, a good dungeon crawl has great _sensory information._ The everpresent skittering of the Kruthiks living in the cave walls, the wet-fur smell of the troll lair... Also architecture and decoration. Make the rooms themselves interesting spaces! Huge caves with natural columns of stone reaching up 100ft or more; a staircase of tiny, eroded steps going up a lore-carved wall; stretches of claustrophobically tight spaces that force everyone to crawl helpless on their stomach... Hell, some good old-fashioned "Non euclidian, alien geometries" if you can get away with it :^P

[@justsomeartstudent]

Thanks so much! The first step of my new campaign for my family is a dungeon, so this is really helpful! :)

[@giovannigennaro9732]

My dm tends to give magical perks as the dungeon's treasure, such as innate spells.

[@DM_Curtis]

The dungeon is not giving magical perks -- it's unlocking them. The Destroyer of Worlds came not all at once but in pieces. By the time It knew what it was, 'twas already too late.

[@giovannigennaro9732]

@@DM_Curtis If that's a reference I don't recognize it. If it's an idea then it's a cool one (that I might have to steal).

[@DM_Curtis]

@@giovannigennaro9732 You can't steal it if I just give it away!

[@giovannigennaro9732]

@@DM_Curtis Fair.

[@hondawilky]

Cody: “...gaping maw!” Matt Mercer: *heavy breathing*

[@gregsmw]

id say there has to be a feeling of "discovery" to really be memorably the players should feel like they are the first to have been there in years, that they are discovering something forgoten or burried to the world exploring a castle or lived in goblin cave can be a great experience but it never feels like a "dungeon", it needs that secret spot or hidden away section that even the inhabitants never found, that the party can find and realise they are the first to set eyes on in generations

[@livylovez1444]

Your videos are always so fun to watch and helpful for a new DM like me. Thank you very much for taking the time to make these videos.

[@Taking20]

You're too kind!

[@isaiahsabo4728]

everybody say it, happy birthday Cody's Dad

[@zaphodbeeblebrox8459]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CODY'S DAD!

[@Fluffman78]

Happy birthday Cody's Dad!!!

[@greyingproductions]

Happy Birthday!

[@rubysecules1312]

Happy Birthday Cody's dad!

[@busterampleforth9806]

Happy birthday codys dad!

[@p23570]

night hag create sense of unease: check fun social encounter: check conduit to create thematic magical obstacle: check aid to epic boss fight: check if your epic dungeon doesn't contain a night hag, it should.

[@Griffex394]

I think a good dungeon should also include a moral dilema. Like having to choose between the pot of gold or freeing an emprisonned soul, for example.

[@TheScurvyBruce]

I find the "safe room" useful. When players are overwhelmed being able to have a place to set up a "base camp" maybe it's just the easiest to secure room, or it's where friendly NPCs have made their home or maybe theres a well of fresh healing water. This especially useful in extremely long crawls that might take several sessions

[@Alex-sf5uz]

Yeah this is why old dungeons have so many empty rooms, it also serves as a pallet cleanser to prevent the players being overloaded by weird or dangerous things.

[@b.giovanni4824]

Also good to enhance PC paranoia..."there must be danger here somewhere!"

[@rriosl]

Multiple entrances, I’m making a dungeon whose entrance is trough a temple and they need to solve a puzzle to open a secret door, in case they failed and pissed the stone guardian (of course) they got 2 alternative entrances hidden outside the temple, but the two have an encounter (a homebrew boss spider and a carrion crawler)

[@DM_Curtis]

Preferably one-way entrances and exits. Use gravity to enforce these.

[@WildVii]

Always start with the end in mind and then figure out how many hurdles you want to throw on the way to that goal. Once you have that basic path down, put in some appropriate monsters, some secret passages to bypass some major traps or encounters, and pop in some interesting points for loot drops. And that...is a dungeon.

[@rpgquestboard]

Trapped treasure! Permanency on a delayed blast fireball that looks like a big ruby. Odd...this treasure room seems to be covered in a light film of torch oil. Could play it up with messages like in Aladdin warning the characters to touch nothing but the lamp.

[@BarnCat1691]

I made an Indiana Jones themed dungeon in a temple devoted to Death, that local lore said killed everyone who entered it, most of the team died and when he got to the end he found...a Tiki Bar being run by a Lich who bought the dungeon from the necromancer cult that used to use it for their dark magic. It had am easy entrance to the underground network and was a favorite hangout for, Goblins, Orcs, Kobolds, Duergar and Drow (all weapons checked at the door). I even played Kokamo as the background music. The Lich had been showing the progress through a crystal ball which had the image displayed on a giant mirror for everyone to watch and take bets on. The surviving member was given a purse of the winnings and a bundle of free drink tickets

[@DM_Curtis]

The real treasure was the brunch we ate along the way.

[@メガスガミアス]

Since most of my players have darkvision(ofc),i have started throwing shadow like monsters in my dungeons that are 100% invisible withought any light,no matter what vision you have.Now they know that darkvision isn't so good when you only rely on it in a world that beings evolve.

[@Jedi.Yanis2000]

Extremely inspirational video. In one of my dungeons I tried to put two stories going on. The basic was Kobold infestation in a city's jewel mine. The second story was hidden and it was clues of a smuggling operation, prior to the Kobold take over. I think of it as an optional bonus thing, that expedited other parts of my campaign, as a hook.

[@kvidobenak]

In the final treasure chest after the BBEG lies a note: "A job well done is a treasure by itself."

[@nickmerryman1666]

oo that gave me an idea of a BBEG who is more like a dramatic chaotic neutral quest giver who puts the adventurers through hell to test them and make them stronger both as individuals and a team just for when they confront them they give the party the real quest

[@Zac_Frost]

I like the idea of having a Dungeon have its own history, or the Dungeon also giving insight into what your game world was like at the point in history when it was built. The best have an overarching sense of mystery for the players to uncover as they traverse it. A Dungeon I've been working on for my players is a massive, ancient, abandoned castle and castle town that have been overtaken by the forest, and date back to between 700-800 years before the events in game. Legends in game tell of how the area used to be crawling with people, but suddenly everyone disappeared, as if they all ceased to exist overnight.

[@DM_Curtis]

Three eras of the set-piece dungeon: who's using it now, who used it in the past, and its original purpose.

[@Zac_Frost]

@@DM_Curtis That's kinda what I'm going for lol.

[@Euclidean0]

Couple other things I think make a great dungeon: 1. Great foreshadowing. Generally in the form of legends, rumors, and story elements. This helps build up suspense for the dungeon, gives players hints about what they might face, but should be vague enough to leave plenty of surprises for them. One thing that made Moria so memorable in Fellowship was how strenuously it was avoided by those who knew about it, so they only went there as a very last resort. 2. Unique theme or flavor, especially to any other dungeons in your campaign. What makes this dungeon different than any other in your campaign world? This informs every other aspect of dungeon building.

[@chrismiranda9232]

My all time favorite dungeon was a sprawling cave system that was once used as a smuggling highway during the last war, which tapered into an underground ocean called the Sunless Sea. It played into one of my character’s backstories (he was a Drow lich) because the massive, drowned cavern held the now sunken city he was born in. Along the way, they were given the chance to side with any of the warring tribes of the underdark: Drow refugees from the sunken city, the Merfolk that had come to inhabit it, and a chaotic community of Chuul. It wasn’t unsettling in any way, but filled my players with wonder and they were fascinated by the denizens and the derelict beauty of the place. The dungeon could have very easily been its own campaign

[@sanctusinfernusrecords]

Just something to keep in mind: make sure your traps fit with the creator of the dungeon; wizards make magical traps, clever crafty races may make elaborate mechanical traps, low intelligence creatures probably won't get much further than falling boulders, etc.

[@Kithanalane]

The treasure is the friends you make along the way.

[@axelz4316]

Someone had to say it.

[@edstevens1503]

Good video and great advice as always. One thing to include is a cohesive theme to the dungeon. Try and keep everything within a concept box, so to speak. It helps both you and the players to build the story of the dungeon.

[@MyrrdynWhitefall]

Forgot magical doors that don't seem to correctly connect to the room that it should.

[@eiv-gaming]

I refer to ours as "Goblins & Guards" We befriend goblins and have slaughtered waaaaaaay too many guards.

[@ronniejdio9411]

Goblins? Mmmmm

[@Liguriolol]

Great video as usual. Gave me the idea to turn an encounter in a trapped room with two ghouls and a eaten corpse to an encounter in a trapped room with three ghouls, one of which doesn't attack, just clench a book against it chest.

[@GaryDunion]

Damn, this rules.

[@JMtheGM]

I would include 'an epic setting'. To extend your Tolkien reference, this would be the Halls of Khazad-dum and Durin's Bridge - a set piece that gives the dungeon a sense of grandeur, ancient magnificence, that gives the party that "we are small in the grand scheme of things" feeling.

[@cj2737]

I really like that you including giving dungeons a good history. One of the most successful methods I've had when planning dungeons is to create a story of what had last happened, and then giving the clues to those events throughout the various rooms of the dungeon. The players may never put 2 and 2 together or understand why something is the way it is, but having that story and sequence of events in your own mind helps description and planning be more engaging and thorough.

[@spencerbodine7118]

Personal favorite optional trope: The Miniboss. Having a moment where the party fights something strong to make them go "Whoa, that's a big thing!" but not quite strong enough to kill them (knocking them unconscious is definitely on the table though) is something that I really enjoy. It lets the party have that discussion afterwards where they debate whether or not they should keep going, and then inevitably decide to, and then of course get absolutely wrecked by the actual boss

[@LadronPiraton]

It's video's like this that confirm, I mastered the Way of the Dungeon Crawler as a DM. The Fun House effect with Zany Social Interactions is how I always plan out my crawls. Awesome Video.

[@silverpenguinx3884]

This is actually one of the best guideline dungeon videos I’ve seen in a while, I really appreciate that he didn’t just say, “exploration, social, and combat”

[@Spite_Lip]

I player tested a blind guardian monster for my DMs dream project. Basically gained ranged attacks of opportunity on movements. Super cool and fun to solve, dangerous, and really required players to act without table talk or any planning and learn by doing. These encounters are great for newer players as they teach fundamentals while being super rad.

[@mikegould6590]

As a fan of both designing an running through dungeons, one trope I think you missed was the "travel trick" or "move challenge". All good dungeons have that rope bridge/stepping stones/levitating disk method that in integral to success. Using your movie examples from before, the travel through the Mines of Moria using collapsing pillars of stairs is an example. I also tend to link rooms together in some way. The toggling of a switch or activating a rune in one room tends to have an effect in another room. Having a synergy between locations ties the dungeon together. Keys are another element - be they actual physical keys, small gemstones, pieces of a riddle that have to be collected, and the like.. Keys become the desired object to unlock riches and success. The small a dungeon, the more complex it can be. However, the larger it is, the more necessary the Red Herring trop becomes. Players can let their imaginations run wild, and Red Herrings become a way to use that imagination to see where their heads are at. I use false leads to test the commitment or focus of certain players, or to perhaps pry fresh leads or hooks from them without their knowledge. A Dungeon, usually, has a theme. This theme tends to tie everything together, if only in a superficial way. That theme, though, should also have some sort of clue as to why the denizens of this dungeon live here. What is the ecology of this dungeon? Are the denizens cooperative because of a powerful overlord, or are they existing in a tribal sense - ruling sections of the dungeon in competition with each other?

[@cade5400]

This is a ridiculously helpful video. I'm literally taking notes. Thanks Cody!

[@terrenaven]

Loved the video. I will be referring back to this video often!

[@riderviper]

Something I include in my own dungeons, is a base camp for the players, something they can fall back onto when the going gets tough or a spot they can use to lure monsters into so they have a vantage point to defend from. Sometimes it's a secret room that gives them the boost they need.

[@TheAmericanPirate]

Just wanted to say, you are easily my favorite D&D content creator here on KZbin. Keep up the great work!

[@Rawkr57]

Love your videos. It's greatly helped me ignite my passion for D&D and spark my creativity both as a future player and maybe one day a DM. May your rolls be blessed!

[@BillAllanWorld]

This video is so awesome that I will NOT be making a video response to it. You nailed it, bro. Well done!

[@GamerTagCaptCluel3ss]

I dig this thumbnail style. Catchy, sleek, attractive. I think there’s almost always room for growth/improvement, but I like this one a lot.

[@Taking20]

Appreciate it.

[@imreadydoctor]

Absolutely essential: something cool for the characters to tinker with. Not really a trap or puzzle, just a device that can be interacted with for various results. I also like to occasionally do a metroid-style item which allows them access to an area that was previously off limits. Certainly not essential, but like twice within the entire campaign it is awesome.

[@patrickmooney4135]

Wow. Wandered in and agreed with everything. Subscribed! Thanks Cody.

[@ericjohnson709]

Nicely done! I would only add, that you need a friendly NPC companion, this can really help keep them from stalling, and fill in any plot points and get them unstuck, as well as help set the atmosphere.

[@AnunnakiAaron]

Or a neutral creature that can somehow give them the answer

[@jdxv134]

something i think was missed was a sense on suspense through the dungeon. this will keep your players interested and invested in the task of clearing the dungeon they are clearing

[@Nurriek]

I totally agree with you, about the Nothic. They're great creatures for interactions.

[@seankearns2903]

This is one of your best videos, how does it not have more views?

[@wolfjack5802]

Secret doors, tunnels and alternative routes are great in dungeons. Also places that are strategic that you might end up coming through multiple times like a large room with a spiraling tower and several bridges on each floor that extend out to other areas of the dungeon. Can make a great piece.

[@magoilic1048]

A cool bonus is to put a time constraint in the dungeon. For example, a certain action activates the volcano underneath and now the players have to rush out of the dungeon before they could finish taking out the huge pile of gold

[@playlien99]

I like including traps that have already been set off by previous explorers that are triggered to reset later in the dungeon. That way when they have backtrack they will have to remember where it was, and someone figure out how to avoid setting it back off

[@DonKrypto]

I love leaving dead adventures bodies in trap like deep pits

[@VeganBeerSnob]

Keep the videos coming. They mean a lot to me.

[@axelz4316]

Also heard a good tip from the Dungeon Dudes on YT. They said to have the players experience a feeling of deep hatred or dark magic that sets great tone but also prevents players from long and short rests that makes dungeons feel more high stakes.

[@steveholmes11]

The "First encounter" - a horde of mostly harmless goblins or kobolds - seemingly put there to provide the adventurers with a warm-up fight.

[@gnarthdarkanen7464]

Good or Great... Every dungeon should include one thing that's totally unique, kind of the spark in the centerpiece that makes THAT dungeon special... Might be a particular stone formation, a peculiar phenomenon that got incorporated into the operations or upkeep, and it might be that one time someone was actually goofy enough (in the head) to make that scroll or magic item... and it doesn't even have to matter about a certain grade of power or enormous importance, but the spectacle when you find it should be something... It's okay if it's an over-arching theme of the thing, but again, it doesn't have to be. It's just totally unique to THAT place... Your players can't just build one, or find it anywhere else, either... ever. ;o)

[@ChristopherChinwinkwink]

I purposely like to throw in early traps and encounters where if someone is hit, they're struck with something debilitating that I won't let dispel or restoration get rid of. Usually forcing them into an actual struggle through the dungeon until they can find a cure at the end. For added measure, the dungeon is long. The problem can be a poison, something that inhibits magic, reduces a stat, or even blindness or being mute.

[@joshuahendershot196]

I should say one of my favorite dungeon tropes is the point of no return, basically a "once you go past this point there's no going back."

[@ronniejdio9411]

1. Big comfy rooms for long rest 2. Lota of magic and healing potions the monsters dont use 3. Ramps got wheelchair accessibility

[@DM_Curtis]

4. Murderous monsters who nonetheless refrain from racial slurs.

[@ronniejdio9411]

@@DM_Curtis and allow adventures to LONG REST

[@DM_Curtis]

@@ronniejdio9411 Welcome to the Temple of Four Seasons!

[@ronniejdio9411]

@@DM_Curtis turn down service and complementary breakfast

[@ronniejdio9411]

@@DM_Curtis the tomb of mild inconvenience

[@ZeMalta]

Multiple entrances or exits are always good I think. Chance to make History, Religion, Lore and etc. Skills have useful and real uses, not only fluff. Show what dungeon delving does to people. Be it killing them (no one comes back, lot of corpses in the dungeon), making them mad (be it with adventurers roaming the wilds or the dungeon still), or turning explorers into greedy bastards who are not going to share nothing. Make a comprehensible ecology inside, just to not make everything giant and evil inside without having eaten each other up years ago. Maybe tribes of sentient creatures, making use of monsters as defense and the dungeon as home. Maybe a food chain, with ever bigger things on the inside of the dungeon. Sometimes, when possible, a link to the PCs history and background could be nice (like Gimli family in Moria). Change of pace, be it with a timely threat, something barring the group from going back, something too strong to fight that is seeking the group, making them have to run and short rests only until they find shelter... etc

[@davidmcfall9169]

my DM had us go through one that was based off World of Warcraft's entirety of Blackrock Mountain, which was just awesome. We went into Blackrock Depths, the Molten Core, Upper and Lower Blackrock Spire, Blackrock Caverns, Blackwing Lair, and Blackwing Decent.

[@KnicKnac]

I spooked a player using an abandoned Asylum as a "dungeon" so I used the environment as a character. Had some fun with planet monsters in a section they thought was safe.

[@BrandonBaum]

Late to the party, but really love the content you have posted. It has helped so much as I try to learn to be a better DM. Thank you for your time and knowledge.

[@GaryDunion]

This fits into point 1, but as well as traps and mystical threats, I love some good environmental hazards in my dungeons, especially if they are wholly or partly made of natural caves. Waterfalls, scree slopes, pockets of unbreathable or poisonous air, flooded tunnels that can only be traversed underwater, roofs or floors that are prone to collapse if hit by a Fireball or a Shatter, gorges blasted by gale-force winds, even go full Minecraft and throw in some molten lava!

[@MasterCrafterFish]

I'm a fan of hidden rooms for the party to find something interesting. Whether they find on a long dead corpse a scroll with a useful spell or a map with half the dungeon on it and the other half damaged in some way, an adventurer's journal cataloging their experience there, or a tablet with a riddle on it that tells of the dangers ahead. It helps tease the party that there is danger up ahead, shows that others have tried before them and failed. I also like adding some mindless sentries that are easily dispatchable by the party to give them the option to fight or sneak or even interrogate. Give them options!

[@SBaby]

1:35 - I find that one of the best ways to create unease is to forcibly split the party. Pretty much what I do is I start rolling dice behind the screen. The dice don't do anything, but any dice rolling a DM does always makes players nervous. Then I might tell the players, 'Ok, you're heading down a long dark, dank corridor, and the next thing you know, the character in the lead isn't there anymore.'. This immediately makes the players start to panic, since the person in front seemingly disappeared, and nobody knows where they went. Then I might write the player in question a note telling them where they are and how they got there. Often it's a problem that can easily be solved, but when you split the party up in any way whatsoever, it will make the players nervous.

[@Zakiel97]

not sure it's required for a great dungeon but I like to give my dungeons a feel of practicality, like it's lived in by these creatures that dwell in it. If there are living beings in there they need food and water, so is there a breach in one of the walls or a halfway flooded room around that fulfills those needs, with scratchmarks etc to clue them in that something is frequenting this area? If it's an abandoned underground city of dwarfs or gnomes, how much of their infrastructure is intact or has been repurposed, are there sturges living in that abandoned well (hint, there are always sturges in the well), and that weird room with that ventilation machine, what was it's purpose and how is that trapped air elemental gonna react when the players play around with those levers? Well there we go, now we got an environmental encounter (flooded room) and a puzzle room that can include a social encounter, fun stuff. Questions like that help me a lot when I build rooms in my dungeons so I can basically build on logically from the idea I've chosen to a pretty decent place for adventure that feels like an actual place in a world rather than a crazed wizard's play area (which is a valid way to build a dungeon but not every dungeon should resort to that explanation, unless that is part of the worldbuilding, like an entire array of lost catacombs built by the same goddamn wizard of legendary status, that could be cool I guess).

[@Dinofaustivoro]

We are in a new wave of dungeon crawling and old-school play style. I feel it in the algorithm...

[@madcinder257]

Haven't gotten to dungeons yet, but my players are in a warehouse fighting a gang of bandits. It's a slog, it's rough, they went in with more than ten NPCs (they split up into three different groups, and the two all-NPC groups I'm running between sessions) to fight a gang of more than 70 badguys. There are bandits, Lizardfolk, Orcs, Hobgoblins, treasure, a big scorpion monster person, and at the end of the last session the Minotaur appeared. Spell slots are almost all used, potions are all drank, NPCs both random and beloved have died, but my players stand strong. I'm proud of how well they've taken this challenge. I also gave them a single-use magical glass ball with a Moonbeam spell trapped inside, so that might help with the Minotaur.

[@Smoldar]

For boss fights I personally love for the boss to look big and scary, the kind that feels like it can cause a metric shit ton of damage but is only very tanky and the real danger are the minions that will slowly but surely overwhelm the party. Burning the boss down hardly looks feasible, but if they pay attention, they can notice where the minions are coming from or how they are being summoned and stoping that will ensure that the party can win and survive

[@loganfalvo7349]

Enjoyed the vid thanks Cody, glad to see you hope you and your family are well. Good vibes in your time of grief. Stay healthy out there.

[@Para2normal]

"Undermountain! The greatest mass grave in the Realms"

[@1Jamesinator]

I think the only other thing I would add is that an epic dungeon evolves as it's explored. An example could be opening a door to another section, which creates a partially or fully flooded area changing a place the players have already been. This also lets you partially reuse maps for new encounters that wouldn't have made sense, but now do and that your players weren't prepared for.

[@josephb7594]

Some really good ideas here. I always struggle thinking of plausible social encounters in dungeons, thanks for the tips!

[@CDMudd]

I think the boss fight is essential, like you said, but I'm glad you used a movie monster rather than a video game boss battle as an example. Video Game boss battles probably do not belong in your dungeon. This is linked to 'The Thing' dungeon option since that monster is the personality of the whole location. The memorable monster doesn't even need to be killable, or require to be killed. Just as it gives the Fighter a time to shine, it could give the Rogue or Bard their moment too (linked to the social encounter mentioned before). Great video, all these points wrap together like an Ouroboros and so should any great dungeon ;)

[@SBaby]

Something people often forget about dungeons is that you don't necessarily need a ton of combat encounters to have a great dungeon. I remember a published adventure that took place in Ravenloft where there really weren't very many combats, and most of the adventure was just the story of one of the Dread Lords escaping (which is supposed to be impossible, but he actually managed to find a way to do it). Almost the entire adventure is the party just watching things happen.

[@greenhawk3796]

I include hints to at least 1 other dungeon, in a note found on either a body or an enemy. To see if the players seem interested so I can make it a dungeon in the future. I also include lil jokes between enemies, or make it seem like 1 of the enemies is just some innocent nobody.

[@grindsaur]

Ah yes! The good old treasure map among the scrolls!

[@dungeonsdispelled3866]

An Epic dungeon and indeed all dungeons need a solid theme. An over arching asthetic that ties the rooms and encounters together and tells a story using the environment alone.

[@Kahadi]

In my opinion, there's some things that need clarification. For giving players choices in the dungeon, they do not necessarily need to be meaningful as long as the players don't know that. I'm not saying to give the choice to go left or right and then mirror the contents whichever way they go, though I suppose that can work if done right. But what I mean is that it doesn't always have to be that left is the deadlier path while right is a little safer or that left is the way forward while right is a dead end or loops back to the beginning. Some instances of that are good. But sometimes the choice can really just be "go left and there's a trap to avoid, go right and there's enemies to slay, but in the end they lead to the same place", so they still have that choice but don't get screwed over for making the "wrong" choice. It could even just be a matter of difference in small rewards (while not the main draws of the dungeon, the right has a treasure room with about 100 gold worth of valuables while the left has a few magic items, for example). It can also be good to make it worthwhile for players if they choose to explore every room, rewarding them with bonus loot now and then if they do so, such as one path being a dead end but giving some extra treasure or a hint to a later puzzle while the other path they have to traverse to reach the boss or exit. As for the sense of foreboding, the sense of danger, this does *not* mean you must kill PCs, just that they need to feel they are in constant danger. If they have the skills to get through without dying, that's great, but that doesn't mean they didn't feel they were in danger. And if you are that worried about killing a PC, there's nothing stopping you from making up for it with the grand reward, having it include something to revive the ones that died if the PCs want to do that. And if your dungeon ends in a full wipe, there are ways to make it work still, especially if the cause was you accidentally making things too tough. If its in a dungeon, it could work to have the PCs wake up outside of the dungeon afterwards, their deaths having been a warning vision or them having been taken pity on by one of the gods, giving them a chance to get better prepared before returning or to be a little more careful as they try again. This kind of thing wouldn't work well outside of a dungeon, and wouldn't be good to do often through the same campaign, but a single use redo doesn't hurt if done right. Similar can also be achieved if it was a dungeon they wanted to clear as a challenge or for fun but with their main campaign PCs, just make their failed attempt like a one shot thing. If you do this, I wouldn't recommend letting them keep any treasure they found prior to dying, as a bit of a punishment, or maybe just something small like a single gemstone or coin, to put into question if it really happened.

[@terranloudenback2102]

Thanks for making another great video Cody :)

[@DM_Curtis]

The treasure was here, in our hearts, all along!

[@Centaur255]

Long time sub to the channel, but I just want to say thank you so much Cody for the hard work you put into these videos. I always find the content useful. Keep up the good work!

[@viking2163]

EPIC MOMENT: start in the middle of a dungeon! how? the party was on the way to a dungeon... in the night, they heard a noise and wanted to investigate it... one partymember felt into a rim on the ground into the dungeon they searched for... the ohers joint him... i started the dungeon in the middle with a 3 way crosssection...it was amazing btw i love your tips, learned a lot from you, thank you for your amazing work!

[@andrewweirny]

Maybe not for everyone, but I think a situation that forces the party to split is always fun and raises the tension.

[@bilJeschke]

Great video! I was at an impasse as what to do on the next arc of the game other then place it in the faywild. What do they do other then try to get home? Epic quest for the fay! What is at the end of the quest? Hand of Vecna holding the Wand of Orcus. But the players should renew the magic on the seals by having one of them sacrifice themself and have the vault go back to elsewhere. But if they want to break the seal and take the power, so be it. Now to figure out the first part of the quest.

[@MontyBeda]

I have one dungeon in few sessions planned and it will be like Moria, so the treasure is just for them to get through it to the other end of the mountains to continue their journey. And if they screw enough it will be really the only way for them to go and they should feel like they have to go there because of their choices. So I hope that will be fun :D