If you want to make your dungeons interesting, you just need one question –

“What the hell is going on here?”

You, as the GM, should obviously know the answer. That’s step 1. If you can’t answer this question, there is a problem.

If you want the dungeon to have a clear, streamlined purpose, you should be able to answer it in one sentence.

“A tribe of goblins hide in a network of caves, using them the horde the children they steal.”

“The Greyburrow held the dead from the dwarf wars, but recently, they have started to rise.”

“One thousand years ago, an elder god fell from the sky and crashed into the ice, creating the network of caves were it’s progeny lives.”

Pretty good, yeah? But more importantly, you want the players to be posing that question.

You want to factor in moments of “What the hell is going on here?” into your design. These are the hooks that keep the players exploring. If they’re asking that question, it means two things –

1. They don’t know what’s happening, but

2. they really want to know!

So let’s take those above examples, shall we?

“This room contains a little crib. A goblin with a pacifier grins wickedly from inside, it’s hands holding onto it’s diaper.”

“Upright spears line this crumbling hall, each tip seemingly made from gold. At one point, you can see a small hole in the dirt with a stone slab on the other side of it. It sounds like there is a… thumping coming from it? Like someone is pounding on the other side?” (DMs note: it’s a sarcophagus that could be dug out. An undead dwarf is inside.)

“Looking down into the clear ice, you see a hairless being frozen there, their huge, dead eyes staring sightlessly up at you. Their skin looks almost like scales with a soft blue tinge. Suddenly, the being you thought to be dead blinks…”

Each one of these descriptions adds an element of “WTF?” It asks a question without asking a question. Hooks within hooks…

Everytime you can get your players asking “What the hell is going on here?”, you’re doing it right. Just be prepared for them to stop and create a plan for the next two hours on how to proceed through a single room. 😂