Ok, so I have been DMing for YEARS. But one thing I feel I never did correctly is DMing a dungeon. I just haven't seemed to be able to get a fluid way of doing it and it just seems to take forever. My current style is that they get to a room, I describe the room or show them on a map. But, I have them move little by little and not just show them the whole map, as I feel this is not the best way to do things.
I am just trying to get some feedback from folks on how they DM dungeons because I know they can be fun, but I am trying to get rid of the "dungeon crawl" feel that seems to just drag and drag.
There are a lot of different strategies for revealing a dungeon to players. You'll have to get a feel for your group for which works best for you.
If I know the party is about to enter a "dungeon" style setting. I typically will have predrawn then map with erasable marker on a grid mat. I think will have strips of paper hiding what the players can't see, and will slowly remove those as the players explore.
If it's a small room, then a few random dungeon tiles can also work.
For other situations, theatre of the mind (with nothing drawn out) works.
Depending on what your characters like, one of them could be a cartographer, and use grid paper to draw out what you describe, Then when you have combat, you can simply zoom in and use a small tile or grid map.
Hope some of that helps!
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"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Dungeon exploration is fairly slow paced in my experience, but its lots of fun.
It's nice when a player volunteers to map for the group. That way there is always at least one player that knows exactly where the party is and where they just were.
You can use passive rolls to speed things up. When a player asks to search an area I might use a passive check, especially if they are vague about exactly what they are doing.
Keep the range of dark vision in mind and describe as far ahead as they can see each time you give a new block of description.
Have the group establish a standard matching order that they are assumed to be using unless they say otherwise.
Work with scouts to shorthand repeated calls to perform multiple actions. I know when my rouge says he will examine a door he wants to search for traps, see if it is locked, and listen at it. Saves time.
And, don't be afraid to skip ahead sometimes. If the party gets top a place that is lacking in challenge or choice, gloss by it.
I have often thought about also using passive rolls (thank you 5e!) for dungeons and many other situations. i have also considered doing the whole "give me 10 perception checks before we start playing" to speed things up as well.
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Ok, so I have been DMing for YEARS. But one thing I feel I never did correctly is DMing a dungeon. I just haven't seemed to be able to get a fluid way of doing it and it just seems to take forever. My current style is that they get to a room, I describe the room or show them on a map. But, I have them move little by little and not just show them the whole map, as I feel this is not the best way to do things.
I am just trying to get some feedback from folks on how they DM dungeons because I know they can be fun, but I am trying to get rid of the "dungeon crawl" feel that seems to just drag and drag.
There are a lot of different strategies for revealing a dungeon to players. You'll have to get a feel for your group for which works best for you.
If I know the party is about to enter a "dungeon" style setting. I typically will have predrawn then map with erasable marker on a grid mat. I think will have strips of paper hiding what the players can't see, and will slowly remove those as the players explore.
If it's a small room, then a few random dungeon tiles can also work.
For other situations, theatre of the mind (with nothing drawn out) works.
Depending on what your characters like, one of them could be a cartographer, and use grid paper to draw out what you describe, Then when you have combat, you can simply zoom in and use a small tile or grid map.
Hope some of that helps!
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Dungeon exploration is fairly slow paced in my experience, but its lots of fun.
It's nice when a player volunteers to map for the group. That way there is always at least one player that knows exactly where the party is and where they just were.
You can use passive rolls to speed things up. When a player asks to search an area I might use a passive check, especially if they are vague about exactly what they are doing.
Keep the range of dark vision in mind and describe as far ahead as they can see each time you give a new block of description.
Have the group establish a standard matching order that they are assumed to be using unless they say otherwise.
Work with scouts to shorthand repeated calls to perform multiple actions. I know when my rouge says he will examine a door he wants to search for traps, see if it is locked, and listen at it. Saves time.
And, don't be afraid to skip ahead sometimes. If the party gets top a place that is lacking in challenge or choice, gloss by it.
I have often thought about also using passive rolls (thank you 5e!) for dungeons and many other situations. i have also considered doing the whole "give me 10 perception checks before we start playing" to speed things up as well.