Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
This post is part of a series analysing several aspects of one of the most recognizable parts of the TTRPGs we all love – the dungeons. The posts can be read in any order and they will be cross-linked when necessary. Throughout the series (and also elsewhere) “dungeon” is used as a technical term and can be used to describe any clearly defined environment containing multiple non-random encounters. These include natural caves, mines, keeps and castles, crypts, temples, ships and other vehicles, and many others.
In this part I would like to look at the PCs’ behaviour during their stay in a dungeon. Not necessarily about vandalism or littering, though these can also play a part in what I’m talking about.
The archetypal “dungeon crawl” consists of the party entering a complex of rooms and systematically (or not) clearing one after another, often with combat and puzzle encounters waiting in most of the rooms. While this is what many players expect and many gamemasters deliver, it often does not make sense. In the cases it makes sense for the dungeon, other parts of the plot are probably lacking. It makes for static dungeons that are easier to prepare and manage, but less immersive, believable and in my opinion rewarding. That’s not to say that people can’t have fun with such dungeons, but you might be looking for something more if you’re reading these lines.
To help make my point I will refer to master Tolkien and his works. They of course need no introduction and I will assume you are familiar with both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Reasons for entering
The best example I can think of is Moria. Khazad-dûm was an underground dwarven kingdom that has fallen at some point in the history and was occupied by goblins, orcs and cave-trolls. An expedition led by Balin, son of Fundin, aimed to reclaim (sic!) the halls of Moria. After some success it ultimately failed. The Fellowship then enters Khazad-dûm with an intent to get across (or under) the Misty Mountains expecting a welcome by the dwarves. After discovering their fate, the Fellowship takes flight through the deep halls and manages to leave through the East-gate of Moria.
We have two different “dungeon crawls” going on with Moria. The first of these, Balin’s reclamation expedition, was probably quite a massive undertaking. Though we don’t know any numbers other than a few named characters, I believe we can safely assume there were hundreds of dwarves. The fighting was of course done by the soldiers, but many others, including craftsmen and servants had to be part of the expedition. They started reclaiming Khazad-dûm from the east and established a colony in a small part of the former kingdom that lasted five years till it succumbed to the orcs and worse. The dwarves had to proceed systematically, retaking room after room, securing entry points, building strongpoints and safe zones. Clearly that’s not something a party of four to six can manage. Unless the dungeon is static and the monsters are content with staying in their rooms until the heroes get their long rest, of course. In a dynamic dungeon this could not happen and a small party would lack the manpower to keep the cleared areas clear. Ambushes and attacks from behind would happen all the time.
The other instance is the Fellowship’s crossing of Moria, where after finding out there won’t be a welcome party the Fellowship’s goal was to simply cross to the other side. They moved fast, trying not to make their presence known, and certainly didn’t go room to room slaying monsters. And the party was rather high-level even without considering Gandalf, the only low-level members being the halflings.
I want to propose several different ways of handling dungeoneering, each with its own merits and shortcomings. They can overlap slightly, or they can change during the course of adventure. There are plenty of ways to ensure the party has to explore, even if they only need to get from A to B. But I believe there ought to be a better reason for exploration or room-by-room cleaning.
Apart from reclamation (Balin) and transit (Fellowship) we can have other reasons to enter a dungeon. The party might be after a certain foe (assassination). They might be after every single monster in the dungeon, but not care about the dungeon itself, then it’s not reclamation but rather extermination. If searching for an item let’s call it treasure hunt, regardless of whether it’s an actual treasure or for example hostages.
Let’s put those into a table with some factors that interest us:
| Explore everything | Defeat everything | Time span | Manpower needed | |
| Transit | no | no | short | party |
| Assassination | no | no | medium | party |
| Extermination | yes | yes | medium to long | army |
| Treasure hunt | no | no | medium | party |
| Reclamation | yes | yes | long | army |
Many TTRPG dungeon crawls fall into the assassination, extermination, or treasure hunt categories, or their combinations. Either way you have to crawl through the whole dungeon to finish it. It is especially true in video games, where there are often items placed in a way that you have to explore everything. I guess it makes sense from gaming perspective, but not from the dungeon design one.
Does it work elsewhere?
Apart from the already mentioned Moria from Lord of the Rings, can we get some other easily recognizable and acknowledgeable examples from media? Sure we can!
What about another legend, Star Wars: A New Hope? Did the heroes clean room after room full of stormtroopers aboard the Death Star? No, they had their objectives and went after them. In this case we would talk about a combination of treasure hunt and transit. And in the prequels, did Obi-Wan and Anakin clear out the whole flagship of General Grievous while rescuing Palpatine from Count Dooku? On the other hand, when Darth Vader captured the Tantive IV corvette carrying Princess Leia and the droids the stormtroopers had to eliminate all opposition. The same can be said of the attack on the Rebel base on Hoth. See the pattern?
I believe that should be enough to get a feeling for what I’m trying to point out, if it wasn’t clear before. Unless your goal is to clear out the whole area, you won’t do it, you just do what you came to do and get out. But since we don’t want to present players with just a string of encounters, they should be introduced to a larger dungeon than necessary. More on that in another part of this dungeon series, now I’d like to finish with party behaviour.
Do’s and don’ts
Depending on the party goals and the dungeon crawl category there are some things the players and gamemasters should keep in mind. From the player point of view time should matter – if you’re on a rescue mission, you leave looting for after the rescue, and stay on the move. They should also be conscious of their position within the dungeon and of the positions of potential foes. Of course you as a GM won’t hand them a plan with marked enemies. The party should however take mental notes of unexplored corridors, rooms, and other potential risks, especially if there’s going to be a return journey or a later return to the same dungeon (more on that in another post). Battle encounters should be avoided if possible, as even weak foes can buy time for an ambush or flanking move by others.
On the other hand, if your party is clearing out an old keep to serve as their headquarters, let them take their time. It is also necessary to be conscious of what’s happening where, but there should ideally be secured areas behind the party. And those could be contested as the occupants try to expel the invaders or break out and flee. The party would try to eliminate all opposition, although fighting is not always the best option – some monsters might rather accept eviction than death, even if highly repaid.
And what about extermination? Even when your goal is to kill or subdue all enemies you could have a better plan than just room-after-room slaughter. Stealth is always your friend and if there are leaders or enemies whose presence makes other stronger, it would be wise to target them first. There might also be means of calling reinforcements, and eliminating those is also something that should be prioritized.
Note that I have omitted exploration from my categories. Of course one can imagine a party that just ventured down some stairs to see what’s down there. But I also think in this kind of situation there is something missing – motive. It’s in the meta-gaming territory when players just go into a dungeon because the gamemaster prepared it and the PCs have no real motivation. At least have them search for valuables (treasure hunt), or menaces to surrounding lands (extermination). Or if it’s a mine or something similar, they would probably want to stake their claim to it (reclamation).
Dungeon dynamics
To conclude this article I will just outline the focus of a future post, the dynamics of a dungeon. At the beginning I mentioned static dungeons and that I found them less interesting and believable. Without devouring the upcoming article I can share that dynamic dungeons are another thing that makes room-by-room dungeon clearing unnecessary. The enemies are not going to wait until you slaughter their friends on the other side of the door; they either come to their help or fortify their positions. And that’s just one aspect of dungeon dynamics, but more in the coming article. There won’t be any sources for this one, but if you have been living in a dungeon and haven’t read either The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, yet, you better do it fast!
As always, your thoughts and questions are welcome in the comments. Can you think of another dungeon crawl category? Is there an example from media that supports or even refutes that categorization that you would like to share?
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