"This Old Dungeon...with You, The Dark Lord" Topic

You are the Dark Lord. You are about to assign your minions to build your dungeon. What would you bother with and without? For example, floor tiles. Would you have the minions carve them out of the base-rock? Have them quarry marble or other stone and lay them? Or simply forget the tiles and just have a flat rock floor?

What about walls? Would you have brick shaped walls or simply quarried walls? Water? Incorporate an underground stream for drinking and to flush out the dungeon?

Underground or in a cave system, a mix of both?

Here is the picture that prompted my question. I want to build one similar.

From here: link

The only issue with building something like this is that it is not very variable. It will be a permanent dungeon. No changing.
You may want to look into Dwarven Forge for some dungeon terrain that is interchangeable and expandable.

As for the flooring, I would have my orks pave it. All that dirt will make the dungeon… dirty. Also, since there is a river running through it, the groundwater issues will make the floor standing water soon enough without paving stones.

I would also have my orks put in some 3" drainage pipes under all of the paving stones, and with a good base of gravel or small stones over the pipes. Then covered with decomposed granite to help the drainage.

Might as well, since orks are cheap labor…

Well, I don't think that I'd want a nice wooden door for some itinerant adventurers to come knocking on. If it's underground or in a cave system, I'd hide or conceal the door. Then there would be a guard room filled with the requisite minions. Probably need to have traps with a choke point as well. Then barracks or storeroom rooms as you get a little further in. I'd also need to have my prison or cages to keep my victims/captives in, someplace to "entertain" them, as well as a eventual disposal area. Maybe a nice deep pit that could be flushed occassionally, or accessable to other minions for them to dine on.

As for materials, the minions are content with the cave/rough stone areas. For myself, I'd need to have finer things, some nice tile, pillars, throneroom, precious metals, jewels, etc. It'd be nice to have a few of the niceities to enhance my august presense.

I'd suggest two seperate drainage systems as all the blood from fallen heroes will contaminate your water supply in no time!

Definitely a tile floor, since you'll have to hide all those trigger tiles, trapdoors, pit traps, spike traps, etc. No way to do that if the floor is raw stone.

There used to be a video game (DungeonMaster?) with this theme – you're the Evil Overlord, with a limited time to build a dungeon – after X minutes, a band of heroes comes through and you have to kill/capture them. The only real problem I had with it was no "save" function – if you had to leave the game, you had to start over again from the beginning.

Will the floor tiles in your game, wargamer1972, act as a grid to show where the figures are, how far apart they may be, and where they may legally move and attack?

The dungeon pictured above is a frame with individual and removable tiles; each tile being 6" square with built in 1" grid for figure movement. Neat idea, as the tiles may be mixed and rotated to give different layouts in the same frame.

Found the rules Dungeonation that the modular dungeon was intended for, but have yet to read them. Go here and scroll down to "Dungeonation". I've been looking for a simple dungeon bash for minis, so I'll let you know.

Roderick Robertson: The name escapes me, but I remember burning a few hours playing that. There was a sequel, yes?

Al | ravenfeastsmeadhall.blogspot.com

I'm going to be quite clever. I shall build a false dungeon, with suitable traps and low level minions (zombies and skeletons are cheap, easy to maintain, and essentially renewable, especially if they manage to kill those pesky adventurers who are the irritant in my skin oil— ooh, lower babe, yes thanks, oh, that is niiiice— wait, excuse me. Minion moment. Ahem. Where was I? Right. False dungeon.

So I fill the thing with traps, minions, maybe even one moderate underling "boss" critter, scatter a few minor gems and treasure about (write it off as "insurance payments"). And then, below that, but accessible only via secret ways that do not actually connect with the false dungeon, I shall build my palatial abode of marble and gold, lavishly furnished and fitted with all the modern comforts and conveniences available to the well-heeled Dark Lord. For guards, I shall use both magically animated statues and very well-paid mercenary units, including an all-Amazon personal bodyguard, the leader of whom excels in all the marital… that is, martial, martial arts. Ahem. And of course, there will be lots and lots of closet space. And bathing pools. Lovely bathing pools for my… Ahem. Focus! Right.

As for my treasure? I'll keep it in a bank, with the bulk assigned to mutual funds and high value stocks. Just because I'm a Dark Lord doesn't mean I have to be stupid.

(As for a semi-serious answer: I'd go with tiles, and tap into natural underground water supplies. I've no objections to the well-incorporated natural passage, but there needs to be a system for prohibiting the casual subterranean beastie from entering and soiling my living and workspace. Pets are nice, but one must maintain standards!)

Will the floor tiles in your game, wargamer1972, act as a grid to show where the figures are, how far apart they may be, and where they may legally move and attack?

Hadn't considered that. Thanks.

The related videogame was called Dungeon Keeper by UK developer Bullfrog.

Oh, and there was a save feature ;)

Parzival: Evil Overlord list item #5.

"This week on This Old Dungeon we'll be watching our Goblin plumbers clear a pesky Otyugh out of the southern pipes so the pipes can be torn out, re-trapped, and re-installed. Next, we'll pay a visit to one of our suppliers, an Illithid anatomical sculptor who specializes in cutaway views and gruesome facial expressions. Finally, we'll see to the resetting of several doors dislodged by age and some unfortunate vandalism with a Maul of the Titans. Stay tuned!"

My first thought is that I would find someone else's abandoned dungeon and modify it, rather than build one from scratch. Even a Dark Lord has budget considerations, right?

@Parzival – sounds like Khadaffi's former lifestyle!

@Farstar – LOL. But we need a spinoff – Nord's New Dwarven Workshop.

Farstar that is funny.

….But we need a spinoff – Nord's New Dwarven Workshop

omg, lol

Errr, I wouldn't. I would get my minions to siege a castle and then take it.

A dunegon seems like a horribly artificial and contrived way of filling 10x10 rooms with monsters just waiting to get killed by equally artificial and contrived adventurers.

Here, yes.
In "that world", one where dragons, griffons, vampires, and a hundred other not so uncommon things can fly, then a castle becomes little more than a convenient storage box for your enemies food. i.e., you and your men.

A dungeon is much more defensible in a world like that.
Though it comes with its own issues…