D&D General Populating a dungeon

[robus]

So now that I’ve ventured into the interesting times of creating my own adventure, I’m now grappling with the fine art of dungeon population. Dyson Logos maps are saving me a ton of time when coming up with an interesting layout, but there’s still the task of figuring out what goes where.

So I was wondering how folks here approach this? Do you start with monsters and add traps and puzzles? What about adventuring day concerns?

 

[Reynard]

The first step is deciding on the intent of the dungeon. Maybe the PCs are just exploring for their own sake. Maybe the dungeon is the villain's lair. Maybe it's a deathtrap designed for foolish adventurers. Whatever the purpose, that's going to inform how you populate it.

The second step is to identify what encounters, set pieces or monsters you want or need to showcase. If it's the villain's Lair, obviously you need to put the villain and their henchmen in the dungeon. If there's a cool deathtrap you want to showcase, you have to make room for it.

Finally, you have to consider pacing. Where are the big important encounters? How much time and effort do the PCs need to go through to get there? Are you expecting to give them a chance to rest, or is there a Clock? That sort of thing.

 

[MNblockhead]

I go both ways. Sometimes I start with the denizens and, assuming they or their forebears built the dungeon, I come up with the denizens and place appropriate traps and other features.

But often the denizen moved into and populated the dungeon long after the orginal builders created it. In that case, the dungeon may be designed as a Dwarven hold, but now has new inhabitants. Whether these new inhabitants have altered the dungeon but adding traps, new sections, etc. depends on the nature and abilities of the inhabitants.

I like for my dungeons to feel like there is some rational ecology to it. I'm not a fan of randomly populating rooms. I like to think about how they are feed themselves, dealing with waste, protecting themselves from various threats (including adventurers). That said, I try not to over think it.

There are some rare occasions that I use randomization. For example, I had a miles long network of kobold tunnnels in a mountain range. I had a large number of tunel tiles and I would shuffle them like cards and just lay them down as the party explored, rolling on tables for what various areas were used for, what they contained, and what could be encountered. But everything on that table fit into what could reasonably be found in a massive network of interconnected kobold warrens.

 

[Celebrim]

I start with the adventure. Then I decide what role the dungeon has in the adventure.

So for example, the adventure might be, "There is a plague going on in the city, and it's overwhelming the healing abilities of the local priesthood. A priest acquaintance of the PC's suggests it would really be helpful if they had some magical assistance in the form of a famous item that once belonged to the priesthood."

And the dungeon might be, "The item last was known to belong to an acetic hermit who built a rambling structure on top a remote tor which can be reached only by a long and steep staircase."

Having decided what the backstory might be, I then brainstorm what might be in the dungeon both in terms of the sort of rooms that might be in a hermitage, and what sort of things might have since come to occupy that structure and repurpose it. The later is done with an eye to a combination of believability (simulationist reasoning) and current PC level (gamist reasoning), as well things that might led to a variety of different types of game play or at least different tactical situations. As a further level of refinement, I might consider if I'm providing enough spotlight to all the party members, and try to avoid creating a lengthy scenario where one or more party members might feel they have little to do.

And since this is an adventure that revolves around 'finding the foozle', then both for gamist reasons (finding the foozle should be fun) and simulationist reasons (if the foozle hasn't been found before, it must be somewhat hard to find) I work out how the foozle is hidden and what clues might help lead the players to its hiding place.

Actually, maybe before a I type a whole lot more, let me just give you a link to build off first:

Dramatic Dungeoncrawling

Something else: Don't make the dungeon your typical 10' wide flagstone corridors, if you want to capture the imagination. Make it strange and dangerous, all on its own. For example: - Collapsed sections that require Climbing checks to pass. - Flooded sections that will drown armored players...

www.enworld.org

 

[Zardnaar]

I use a rough 1/3rd guide.

1/3rd of the dungeon will have an encounter
1/3rd will be something interesting. Trap, treasure, clued etc.
1/3rd empty. Might have have art or incidental treasure.

 

[robus]

The later is done with an eye to a combination of believability (simulationist reasoning) and current PC level (gamist reasoning), as well things that might led to a variety of different types of game play or at least different tactical situations.

That’s very much what I’ve been doing. The PCs are at level 19, so that’s making the gamist side interesting

 

[Celebrim]

That’s very much what I’ve been doing. The PCs are at level 19, so that’s making the gamist side interesting

Yeah. For anything over 15th level, which I confess is not a lot of experience for me, I would make increasing use of the planes to provide separation between normal reality with its great but still mundane challenges, and the sort of things that can actually challenge nigh unto demigod level PC's. This of course has the problem though of needing to up the ante in terms of the scale of your dungeons if you are to make them believable representatives of the iconic and archetypal.

 

[robus]

Yeah. For anything over 15th level, which I confess is not a lot of experience for me, I would make increasing use of the planes to provide separation between normal reality with its great but still mundane challenges, and the sort of things that can actually challenge nigh unto demigod level PC's. This of course has the problem though of needing to up the ante in terms of the scale of your dungeons if you are to make them believable representatives of the iconic and archetypal.

Funnily enough they’re already in a mage’s custom designed demi-plane so yep, things are definitely atypical.

 

[Celebrim]

Funnily enough they’re already in a mage’s custom designed demi-plane so yep, things are definitely atypical.

Demiplanes seem to be the solution Gygax hit upon, and so you are in good company. They have the advantages of one of the full planes with respect to providing challenges, but owing to their smaller and more intimate scale, they are much easier on the would be dungeon designer to map and populate.

 

[Quickleaf]

So I was wondering how folks here approach this? Do you start with monsters and add traps and puzzles? What about adventuring day concerns?

When I created the Catacombs of the Lizard Kings (for my home Tomb of Annihilation campaign), I started with the theme & making the map. The theme was a dungeon used by lizardfolk priests of Semuanya to house the never-decaying corpses of Lizard Kings so that the "possessing demonic essence" could not leave them once the corpses decayed – thus, preventing the demonic spirits from going back to the Abyss, only to return in another Lizard King. So it was both a tomb and a containment site. I also knew I wanted it organized around a water feature, so some amphibious/aquatic monsters would be good, probably some undead. When figuring out the inhabitants, I created a big messy list of monsters that might fit, including:

Giant slug*, dracolisk*, skeletons or mummies (of lizardfolk), allip, shadow demon, ankhegs (jungle variety), pterafolk, quasit, guard drake, basilisk, giant subterranean lizard, giant crocodile, black abishai, hezrou, hydra, etc.

Then I compared some of my ideas to other parts of the adventure, and quickly realized that pterafolk & basilisks & giant crocodiles could feature elsewhere, and that a hydra was already present in another dungeon in TOA. I also added black pudding (as a place to dispose of innards from mummified corpses & a trap) and babau (vaguely reptilian looking) to the list as I worked. Be flexible. New monster ideas/connections will emerge as you work.

What I ended up with was this: