Now that we are nearly done with the “foundational books” of the line, we’ve been looking carefully at adventures and the structure of an RQ adventure and how that differs from say D&D. And that has had me looking at the classic dungeon crawls of RQ. Here’s my top 5:
5. Rainbow Mounds. One of the most classic RQ dungeon-crawls out there, this one has all the key beats – weird setting elements, some really fascinating NPCs, and a sensible dungeon ecology. The only big weakness to me is motivation.
4. Snakepipe Hollow. The temple section is one of the coolest RQ dungeons ever in my opinion, with Baroshi, the Old Nurse, the giant Maggot and enough jade to crash the world economy. The rest is something of a mixed bag – there are just too many big encounters going on, and our big broo shaman is something of a let down. But the mythic story running through the dungeon is unforgetable and more than compensates. With a little editing, this might be my favorite.
3. Devil’s Playground. Krarsht, illumination, and bits of intrigue. Combined with what I think might be the most terrifing labyrinth I’ve ever run – those tunnels are a SAN check. This is particularly great as a stepping stone for deeper exploration and as a Cults of Terror tie-in.
2. Muriah’s Revenge. Probably the single tightest written of the RQ dungeons. This has investigation, plenty of character motivation, and a really nicely designed scenario. It can easily be detached from the Borderlands campaign and timeline.
1. Five Eyes Temple. My favorite RQ dungeon. Weirdness, fascinating NPCs, and even a dragon. Plenty of character motivation, and enough newtlings for even them to be deadly. Like Muriah’s Revenge it is easily detached from the Borderlands campaign and timeline, although it then does miss the wonderful story of Daine and the Mayor.
Ideally, a RQ “dungeon crawl” consists of mostly exploration/discovery/investigation (with a few potentially avoidable combats) that drives to a dramatic boss conflict. There’s no need to have a giant series of treasure-driven attritional combats – the combat system is exciting and dangerous enough that a single major combat is going to work.
Another thing that is wonderful about RQ dungeon crawls is that the character options are diverse enough that every approach through the dungeon can be wildly different. No need for the strict regimentation of tank, dps, healer, etc.
Now something I dig about good RQ dungeons is that they almost always tee up something else and help set up the next adventure. For old school dnd fans it is like how G1-3 set things up for the drow adventures. Except with RQ it is usually less linear and more of opening up a sandbox.
