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marycatelliWas reading an essay -- "The Dungeon as Underworld" -- complaining about realism in dungeons.
Now, you can recently have a lot of fun with that. Recently read (I just realized) a prime case: a top-secret weapon research facility, abandoned for two centuries. Some of its top-notch security is still functioning. Other parts have gone haywire. Others have just failed -- and it was containment as well as exclusion.
But he proposed that it be treated as a manifestation of the underworld, bound by magical logic. In the original rules, all doors had to broken down by the party -- but would automatically open for monsters.
OTOH, it would naturally put either a horror element or a psychodrama in the story to play that up. Useful in some places, but not appealing to every party. (Plus, the atmosphere to create such an unearthly place needs description.) Though it would have its uses.
Now, you can recently have a lot of fun with that. Recently read (I just realized) a prime case: a top-secret weapon research facility, abandoned for two centuries. Some of its top-notch security is still functioning. Other parts have gone haywire. Others have just failed -- and it was containment as well as exclusion.
But he proposed that it be treated as a manifestation of the underworld, bound by magical logic. In the original rules, all doors had to broken down by the party -- but would automatically open for monsters.
OTOH, it would naturally put either a horror element or a psychodrama in the story to play that up. Useful in some places, but not appealing to every party. (Plus, the atmosphere to create such an unearthly place needs description.) Though it would have its uses.