D&D Tip: Run “blank” as a Dungeon -

In Dungeons and Dragons, one of the staples of gameplay is running your players through dungeons. I mean, it’s right there in the name. The first “D” in D&D.

Experience running dungeons is critical for dungeon masters. Plus dungeons are great fun. They provide a contained environment, constant mystery or peril, a drag on resources, a common goal, and the promise of reward. (See my video on why dungeons are so fun.)

First-time or beginning dungeon masters can cut their teeth on running dungeons because they focus play on situations that the rules can handle. The scope is limited yet you get to experience the game rules through combat and non-combat encounters. This limited scope gives you experience before you start gamemastering a giant sandbox world.

Worried about the player characters wandering aimlessly through a huge city that you need to creatine your first session as a DM? Don’t. Just run the PCs through a dungeon crawl.

Experienced DMs can use dungeons as pieces of a larger world and character development. But there’s also a trick: Run “blank” as a dungeon. Let’s break this down.

Something new? Run it as a dungeon

If you come across something you don’t know how to run, run it as a dungeon.

If your player characters need to go on a long journey you can break the journey down into sections with specific encounters that happen in the different sections. Essentially a long journey becomes a dungeon.

Playing Eberron for the first time? Do your characters need to pull off a train heist? Never DMed an adventure involving a train before? No worries. Run it like a dungeon. Each train car becomes a room in a dungeon.

There can be a puzzle, a non-combat encounter, or a combat encounter in each train car. Details and scene dressing can be added to give each car its own unique feel. Sure, your players are on a train, but you are running a dungeon. Think of the movie Snowpiercer for extra inspiration.

Castles, manor houses, haunted houses, cellars, forests, swamps, deserts, and mountains all can be run as dungeons. Break down the sections and select encounters for them.

Running Science Fiction RPG Adventures

Another example is if you are running a science-fiction campaign. Say your intrepid adventurers are hired to look for an abandoned research facility. When they arrive at the research facility they find an experiment has gone horribly wrong.

You as the game master can run the building complex simply as you would run a dungeon in D&D. There will be rooms and hallways just like in a dungeon. They will just have different things in them. Even outdoor areas like courtyards or open docking bays can be handled like dungeon rooms.

This can be done for many many things. Are your characters hunting for bounties or hauling cargo or exploring a derelict vessel? Don’t stress out. Run it like a dungeon.

Need more dungeon inspiration?

Here are some great dungeon resources.

Something new? Run it as a dungeon

Running Science Fiction RPG Adventures

Need more dungeon inspiration?

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