"A wizard did it".

We all fall back on this sometimes, especially if its a published module I find, but I prefer the vulcan dungeon where all is logical and makes sense, in fact, half the fun for me as DM is making the damned thing make sense and watching players grok that on a subconcious level at some point during their run through..."the drain grates appear on the eastern end of the structure at regular intervals, we can probably access that pipe and bypass half these rooms..."

Yes gentleman this drain pipe "cafeteria" is a shortcut...but also pretty popular with things that like to drink water.

I am presently charged with sewing together a campaign using mostly osric but with becmi ability score chart, weapon mastery, domain/stronghold rules, war machine ect...which must be set in castellan keep in the grand duchy of karemeikos and which must make use of modified maps of the ruins of undermountain as a dungeon below the starting hub, and the keep itself must be changed to barovia and castle ravenloft. Challenge accepted.

So I find myself asking "what was this room when dwarves lived here" and "what is it now after 300+ years of ruin" quite frequently, and struggling with the details of keeping or altering strahd. On the one hand that shit'll hold your border against giants, on the other, the Duke is probably not keen on having a bloodsucker about at all...still drinking this one over.

I like a middle ground, myself.

Things do not have to make perfect sense, but having some thematic coherence is nice.

Just ran Tamoachan, my players loved the mesoamerican feel, and the thing with the poison works nicely too.

I don't think you could get that from a randomly generated dungeon.

Quote from: Eric Diaz on August 20, 2024, 04:26:04 PMI like a middle ground, myself.

Things do not have to make perfect sense, but having some thematic coherence is nice.

Just ran Tamoachan, my players loved the mesoamerican feel, and the thing with the poison works nicely too.

I don't think you could get that from a randomly generated dungeon.

I love Tamoachan! I feel like the authors worked hard on having the encounters roughly make sense from the history of the shrine, and be thematic.

Are there published examples that exemplify "The Mythic Underworld"? I'm not sure what I picture is what others picture.

Quote from: Eric Diaz on August 20, 2024, 04:26:04 PMI like a middle ground, myself.

Things do not have to make perfect sense, but having some thematic coherence is nice.

Just ran Tamoachan, my players loved the mesoamerican feel, and the thing with the poison works nicely too.

I don't think you could get that from a randomly generated dungeon.

Agreed wholeheartedly.

While actual mythic underworlds in myth and legend may not make fully rational sense, there is a level of thematic or dream logic to their structues.

You may not have a solid answer to how a massive dragon got into a room with very small doors, but the dragon isn't in the room for no reason. They are there to bar access to something important to the quest and unlike say, a sphinx, are clearly something meant to be overcome through skill more than cleverness or deception (you might need to sneak past it without waking it, but it's not going to give you a riddle to solve to get past it).

"Your way of playing is BadWrongFun, but my way of playing is the right way!"
"Will we ever play together?"
"Probably not, no."
"Then go fuck off."

I joined sites like this to not be apart of dopamine drama framing. don't drag it in here.

Sounds silly.

Quote from: Socratic-DM on August 21, 2024, 06:47:52 PMI joined sites like this to not be apart of dopamine drama framing. don't drag it in here.

Then you joined the wrong site as this place is all about pointing out the stupidity infesting the gaming community on all levels. Its the same with board games and probably video games too.

Quote from: Socratic-DM on August 21, 2024, 06:47:52 PMI joined sites like this to not be apart of dopamine drama framing. don't drag it in here.

You sound like a blast at parties. 

Quote from: THE_Leopold on August 22, 2024, 07:03:41 PM

Quote from: Socratic-DM on August 21, 2024, 06:47:52 PMI joined sites like this to not be apart of dopamine drama framing. don't drag it in here.

You sound like a blast at parties. 

Partying is for unproductive losers, and Twitter/X is for dopamine addicts

Quote from: Socratic-DM on August 22, 2024, 10:34:55 PMPartying is for unproductive losers, and Twitter/X is for dopamine addicts

That damn Delta House will never amount to anything!