Dungeon Crawling: Difference between revisions

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[['''Dungeon Crawling]]''' is the act of exploring a dungeon (or other dangerous area) while looking for treasure or [[Plot Coupon|some other]] [[MacGuffin|important object]]. The characters must [[Everything Trying to Kill You|battle enemies (usually monsters)]] and use their [[Video Game Items and Inventory|skills and equipment]] to negotiate obstacles (usually [[Booby Trap|traps]]). Usually, but not always, there is a [[Boss Battle]] at some point, and a [[MacGuffin]] or [[Plot Coupon]] at the end.

This is basically what many [[Role Playing Game|Role Playing Games]]s (especially video game ones) are all about - at least historically - but it is actually one of [[The Oldest Ones in the Book]], since even myths feature it (a trip into the underworld is part of [[Hero's Journey]], after all). However, it was the ''Cliffhanger'' film serials of the early 20th century [[Trope Codifier|that defined the trope]], and the ''[[Indiana Jones]]'' movies that made it popular again later.

The term comes from early [[RPG|RPGs]]s, such as ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'', that often had the player characters exploring some wizard's dungeon. "Dungeon crawl" is analogous to "pub crawl," a continual stroll from dungeon to dungeon to dungeon.

Note that in [[Real Life]] a "dungeon" was a type of prison, often in the lower parts of a castle, but the games expanded it to mean "any ruins or subterranean area." In fact, the term is used today for ''any'' dangerous area in an RPG, even open-air ones, as long as the same fight-your-way-across logic applies to it. This is usually to distinguish it from the two other kinds of locale in such games, [[Thriving Ghost Town|towns]] (generally defined as anywhere that has [[Talk to Everyone|peaceful NPCs]] or [[Adam Smith Hates Your Guts|businesses]] like [[Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness|stores]], [[Trauma Inn|hotels]] and [[You All Meet in An Inn|bars]]) and [[World Map|the overworld]] (which, in most cases, is exclusively for getting between towns and dungeons, with the only real obstacles being [[Random Encounter|Random Encounters]]s.)

With the increasing trend towards [[Wide Open Sandbox]]-type game designs, the term "Dungeon Crawl" has taken on a certain derogatory connotation when used to describe a game. It is usually synonymous with [[The Maze]], which not only represents the opposing [[Sliding Scale of Linearity vs. Openness|linear]] game design tradition, but also implies developer laziness. The ease with which a dungeon generally forces players to follow [[One True Sequence|one path]] through a game and [[Fake Longevity|keep them tied up for a long time in a small space]], all without having to [[Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence|resort to illogical barriers]], is all too easy for developers, and annoying to players. Dungeons, after all, are reasonably expected to be fully enclosed structures whose walls are well reinforced -- oftenreinforced—often by the very earth itself, if located underground, as they often are -- makingare—making a single, static path through them more or less "justified". Dungeon Crawls often cheaply limit options for traversing them using a spaghetti strand of enclosed corridors, keys and doors, and other barriers requiring unique items to surmount them -- allthem—all of which are less realistically implemented in a wide-open setting.

* As its title suggests, the majority of the plot of [[Percy Jackson and The Olympians|Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth]] is [[Dungeon Crawling]].

* The very core of ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' and its many, many sequels is [[Dungeon Crawling]].

* ''[[Master of the Monster Lair]]'' features this -- withthis—with a dungeon you make yourself -- alongyourself—along with a deconstruction of some of the assumptions usually implicit to this premise; having a dungeon near your town is considered ''desirable'', as it acts as a tourist attraction, lures monsters out of the wilderness where they pose more of a danger to ordinary people, and the items monsters hoard in dungeons can be quite valuable. In this game and ''[[My World, My Way]]'', which is an [[Intercontinuity Crossover|otherwise unconnected game that takes place in the same world]], "Dungeon Maker" is a respected profession.