Anatomy of a dungeon
A tomb viewed anew
When possible, a dungeon should tempt, challenge, engage and reward a full range of character classes. For example, a classic crypt or catacombs adventure may have traps and undead as its main themes, offering opportunities for rogues, clerics and paladins to employ their specialized skills. But this is just the core.
The addition of magic, puzzles and lost lore can engage a wizard or bard, and guardian constructs or feats of strength can further challenge a fighter or barbarian. Various wards or puzzles might give opportunities for skill checks involving climbing or acrobatics to reach levers or pressure plates (making use of a monk), or all manner of knowledge or linguistics checks for other more skill-oriented classes. All this can be placed in the relatively static confines of a sealed, inner ossuary area.
Further combat and social encounters can be added to an outer, dynamic area with burrowing vermin, humanoid marauders, rival tomb robbers, and hopeful necromancers hunting for replacement puppet parts. This allows charisma skills and charm-based magic a chance to shine, and also provides additional favored enemy categories for a ranger. Sandwiching the static between dynamic encounters affords additional role-playing opportunities, rather than being reduced to sifting through skulls and reciting Hamlet’s Act V, Scene I.
Why is the party there? Goals beyond simple looting might include renewing a blessing, cleansing corruption, or seeking out specific items such as a legendary weapon or ancestral crest required to progress in a larger quest. In addition to the plot-specific content which initially attracted adventurers, every dungeon needs dressing: furnishings, flavor and mundane items such as remembrance shrines, commemorative busts and memorials, and themed treasures suitable for the region and the past lifestyles of those interred.
A tomb might contain further hooks and lore, such as a curse, a missing body or relic, or the uncovering of strange histories that contradict current knowledge. If the burial chambers are especially ancient, they allow characters a glimpse into a time beyond their own, granting the opportunity to give more depth to the campaign world. Though it might prove an especially brief glimpse, if they don’t get that pesky curse lifted.
Example encounters for a low-level catacombs adventure:
outer (dynamic):
burrowing vermin: centipedes, beetles, or spiders
humanoids: goblins, hobgoblins, or bugbear marauders
tomb robbers/ rival party
necromancer and henchmen
inner (static):
traps:
mechanical and magical
ward/ seal/ puzzle
constructs:
caryatid golem, animated armor
undead:
skeletons/ zombies
ghouls/ skeleton champion
ghast/ shadow