How to Run A Maze in D&D (Ep. 98) 

I laughed when the Executioners' theme started playing again, nice attention to detail! Professor DM creating his Leitmotifs.

I like this depiction of the minotaur, the labyrinth, and how the encounters are handled. It is a very creative and innovative solution to the problem of managing them in a maze.

That minotaur roar chilled me to the bone! Monsters like the minotaur have become so passe in pop culture but this just goes to show how easy it can be to make a classic Greek monster into something to be feared by modern players. You play that little sound bite or something similar as you're describing how the players hear a fearsome bellow echoing through the labyrinth and it's going to build tension! It's inspired me to sort of reinvent some of these old folklore/mythology creatures! "You round another identical corner only to see a large nude man with what appears to be the head of a massive bull, hunched over... something. You only hear the sickly sound of smacking and gnashing as it suddenly turns to you! Its yellowed eyes wide with madness, behold you with a detached intensity the way a predator beholds the weakest points of attack on its prey. Your legs wobble and defy you as scraps of gore and saliva infused ichor flop from his frothing tongue, darting back and forth in hungry anticipation. He lets out a blood-curdling bellow which belongs not to a man or bull and then ... he is upon you!"

Love the Minotaur roar.

You should write a book, literally. With your dungeon tips and The Keep & Caves as its base. Great stuff.

I ran this last night!! Oh my, thank you so much. My players were so creeped out and cheered at the table when they finally killed the minotaur. But I took your advice and had the mask fall off his head to show he was the cook in the inn they were staying at. But keeping the rooms in the theater of the mind the whole time creeped them out. Thank you so much

I just realized that your adventures are twisted Scooby-doo episodes where in the end the monster is revealed to be a human wearing a mask and before they die says, "I'd gotten away with it if it weren't for these pesky adventurers."

Love the mechanic for creating the confusion of the maze. Frickin' sweet!👍

I was unaware of the Crete association with cannibalism but I did know the rest. Looks like those arky classes paid off after all... Great video Professor!

I paused this as soon as I saw the notes page and damn that's visual organization at its absolute finest for dnd notes

You're right that the low to mid fantasy works better for the creep/horror factors than high fantasy/magic. Bringing in some real-world grit lends to this sense of dread as well. It's refreshing that you're inspiring so many players to think outside of the WOTC-HASBRO-only box. Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars! (Casey Kasem)

You do these module re-workings so well, breathing life into the original modules is very inspiring.

Now I can throw out the 100 pieces of cavern tiles I made 6 months ago!!!! Once again, thanks Dungeon Craft! Seriously, this way of navigating though a maze is really great and does cut down on time wasting.

This idea is so perfect. I was specifically looking for how to properly run a Minotaur's maze without it being boring and this sounds so much better than endless turns and boring hallways in a huge maze. Plus the idea that the Minotaur is really a person in disguise is amazing. I decided to make my Minotaur a taxidermist who works for the Adventurer's Guild. He was the last survivor of an endeavor against the real Minotaur and the maze drove him crazy while trying to find the exit. He eventually escaped and fashioned the Minotaur's head into a headdress for himself and suggests the maze as an idea to traveling adventurers who he then stalks and kills in his own twisted game.

I like the idea of monsters having a human origin or being a living metaphor like your Minotaur. My campaign has talking animals that people can understand like it was any other language, same with monsters so they can be negotiated with but are strange like in The Last Unicorn. I outright use a fun house mirror maze for the magical effect of the labyrinth. Party must save vs magic or be ambushed, succeed and they find what the Minotaur, and critical success means they find the sleeping Minotaur.

That d6 system is incredible! Thank you, I'll happily take inspiration from it!

Used this maze concept in my DCC game last night and it worked well. The characters were tasked with taking a magic item to the center of a labyrinth. I made my own random table and instead of a treasure room I marked that as progress. When the characters had rolled "progress" three times they would discover the center of the labyrinth. The abstract idea of the maze worked great and the players felt lost with no defined map. Thanks for sharing this.

I tried running this for a group who got exceptionally high beforehand. My hook was that they woke up in a forest with no memory of how they got there. They ran across a shepherd and his son (the dumb muscle). The son said they can probably find their memories in the labyrinth, the shepherd said it was too dangerous, and the players were all, "Fuck that, let's get some tacos!" So yeah, the shepherd took them to a town built on to of the labyrinth, but the only taco chef had been kidnapped by the Minotaur. Rather than save him, the players decided to shop for raw ingredients and make their own tacos. I mean... they had a blast.

It's good that you mentioned the Executioners nicking the gold, Professor. But if I ever ran this adventure to my players, they would not feel frustrated by the fact they've been robbed (they're used to it by now), but they would immediately ask me "How didn't we run against any of them, and how did they avoid the minotaur and the other monsters? Are we to believe everyone in their party passed the check?" So, Professor, how would you proceed against inquisitive players like that?

Finally back to your campaign! I always look forward to your Thursday video drops, but your campaign updates are by far my favorites!

I was thinking of running an arc where the players have to escape a prison, and then further escape a labyrinth that the prison was the centre of. This seems like a really cool, streamlined way of doing things...hmm... If I were better at puzzles, I think I'd sprinkle some of those in, too, for extra annoyance! 😁 Thanks for posting!

Brilliant way to run a maze! Love the minotaur concept, too.

I think a bull lycanthrope would be a nice variation. The PC's would encounter a man in rags who tells them about the monster in the maze. The man leads them on a wild goose chase before revealing he was the monster all along.

This type of content is absolute gold, and it's the very reason I became a patron. I hope to see similar content in the future. Additionally, I cannot wait for Professor DM's retirement (from whatever it is he does 😉) in the next a few years. I have high hopes that we will finally get a book or two after retirement 😁🤞

Love your take on The Caves of Chaos. I'm running my own take with my daughters and our best friends two young boys its been great to see your take. Ive used many of your ideas to play with this group of kids. Trying to make it go faster and get to the killing as kids attention comes and goes . This is my favorite channel. Keep it up.

I like the concentric rings on the terrain. In my theater of the mind campaign, rather than using feet, I use far, near, and adjacent. That would translate well if I threw in some minis for combat.

Wow. This is such a brilliant way of running a maze. My players have not yet done the minotaur cave either, but I'm going to rework my plans to use your method since it looks like so much fun.

The mix of homemade terrain and store-bought is very well planned and executed I looked up buying some and noticed very quickly you buy the cheaper but difficult terrain to make homemade and build the pricey stuff. We all are on a budget so that is much appreciated. Also, the minimalist way of depicting dungeon Terrian is cheaper to pull off and speeds up the game. Very easy and quick to execute, the player's imagination with fill in the blanks. Will done, great vid, new fan.

Your approach to this dungeon really works! Recently, I ran it with my niece and took much of your advice on how to run this dungeon. She was scared to death and she loved it! LOL. I've uploaded a video series to my own channel covering Dungeons & Dragons Online's approach to this module, and this dungeon in particular should be up later today. I gave your channel and this video a shout out for your priceless advice. Cheers.

Here's how to do this: Make a dX table, "random dungeon rooms" for your dungeon. Take notes, numbered, for each room. The entrances and exits don't need to be described, nor do the passages between. When players go out exploring into the passages, roll a random room, and describe the contents. Players can "map" the dungeon by creating a flowchart of dungeon rooms they've visited. After mapping, they can now backtrack along the path they drew, without you rolling a random room. "Soft" connections become "hard" with all the boring details abstracted away. When a room is rolled twice, a loop in the dungeon is created, potentially allowing a shortcut through. Navigation gets easier as the players explore the space and improve their maps. You can design sub areas by nesting more random rooms tables within your room descriptions. For example: Room # 16. The Underground Garden might contain d4: 1. A boulder field. 2. Orc lair. 3. Lost tomb. 4. Lion den. You can also create hard connections between rooms by placing them within the room descriptions. Ex. A secret bookshelf passage in the library always leads to the gnome workshop. This system can work similarly well for wilderness and city crawling adventures. No maps are required to prep, not even the flowchart or spreadsheet kind. It also creates a true sandbox for the players to explore without any GM guidance. You create the content, they create the structure, and pacing. Easy as pie.

I love that Max Mannheim and the Executioners have a theme song! Or they played the song? Great video as always!

That's a great way to do a maze! I don't know if you ever played MUDs - but this reminds me a bit of spin rooms from them. MUDs are text games which have rooms that are linked together via the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west). You travel between them by typing the direction. But when a room is marked as a "spin" room, the actual direction you leave is randomized. Your design here is kinda like 1 spin room. If you want to make it extra mazy, you could have a couple. But less is definitely more when it comes to this, they can get frustrating very quickly!

you just saved me a ton of planning

Another fantastic video. I really like your torch markers as well. Great perspective and advice Professor, keep'em coming. Cheers!!

THIS is why I love your channel! Please more videos on how you run your games!!

I forgot just how good this video was. Well done PDM

Wish I had seen this before I made a huge maze for my party to deal with.

Interesting abstraction for the maze, and with the added complications of the hallucinogens affecting the players! Plus, the twist ending! 👍👍👍👍😎😎😎😎 Do you remember how quickly your players took to get back together to attack the Minotaur?

I can't tell you how much this channel is making my brain fizz - in the best ways.

Whenever I run Keep On The Borderlands for a brand new level 1 group, they always, without fail, head straight for the Minotaur’s cave.

One of the best videos for DMs made by PDM

Brilliant - abstract space, the "feeling" of being in a labyrinth.

I leave a comment for you Mr. Defazio. -Your maybe favorite student, Joseph Malak

Another fantastic video, Professor!

Awesome as always, Professor! Very interesting on how you “set up” the maze and your spin on the Minotaur. Thanks for sharing! 😁👍

Thank you Professor! The idea with the Labyrinth is amazing! Also i want to make a guess that every classmate of yours (in every era of your life) were asking to photocopy your clean and minimalistic notes :p I was trying to make a joke :D but for real you should think to publish something like an adventure written in that style. Organised, clean and comprehensive!!

Oh wow! I wanted to put together a maze dungeon and thought it was becoming tedious. This is perfect! Thank you!

Thanks! Referenced this for tonight's therapeutic gaming with autistic teens. The group loves the vibe you taught viewers!

This is inspiring! Beginner to D&d and DMing for my four kids. This is awesome! Thank you

I totally agree with not describing every turn. If I would go specifically for a minotaurs labyrinth I would make it so that they would keep on seeing like a shadow of the minothaur or maybe get a glance of his shape in a long hallway. Something to set the mood for the upcoming battle. I also like the idea of them getting lost in the labyrinth AFTER battling the minothaur - but that means taking the risk of them taking measurements against getting lost or just using teleportation to leave the labyrinth which I both would allow because I like to reward thinking ahead and because being like "no - TPing is prevented in this dungeon" is cheap.

Definitely read for the patreon and house rules document. Excellent episode!

Great advice! I recently lost my play space and now we play at a table that leaves only about foot and a half open in the middle and I have been stumbling trying to represent things like this. So this video has given me some solid ideas to use. Thank you

Assassin's Creed Odyssey did a nice job of explaining the Minotaur as a group of thugs bilking would be heroes out of their coin. Dressed up as the Minotaur in a maze. Selling heroes a map to the maze and then ambushing them at the end claiming to all that the Mighty Minotaur claimed another victim...

I plan on using a minotaur labyrinth, using a premade labyrinth with some custom adjustments, but the twist is the minotaur is long since dead. It was a man who was wearing a head of a bull, similar to yours. but the labyrinth has long since been forgotten, so what is left is the remains of previous adventures. I'm trying to figure out the best way to have them progress through the labyrinth, likely having a few walls blown out from previous adventuring groups, and puzzle rooms half solved or long since solved and overgrown with dead bodies with keys or such. I'm not sure if I'm asking for advice, but this is what I'm doing. I'm open to suggestions to bolster this concept though. I'm using roll20 and have the maze built already.

I just used this concept to run a one-shot last night to great effect! My players were swallowed by a behemoth created by kuo-toa worshipers. I created 3 acts each with their D6 table and they only moved to the next act by completing the encounter of that table. Each table essentially looked like this: 1 - starting point 2 - foreshadowing 3 - treasure 4 - role play encounter/foreshadow 5 - mechanism that might separate the players/hazard 6 - encounter/ transition to next act It worked great! My players emphasized how they felt lost and it was extremely rewarding when they ran into each other.

Thanks for this video! It really helps solve that issue of avoiding mapping out a maze, which is just kind of boring. I really like how you went through the mechanics of this dungeon in a methodical way "first I would do this, then after do this. You can show the player pieces like this", it really helps me to imagine how I would run it and how I would do it differently.

Great ideas with lots of twists and originality!

Okay, I know this was made 3 years ago, but I just found it because I'm trying to incorporate a labrynth in my first mini campaign as a dm. I'm trying to do a trip to the underworld. Players will enter through a spirit door and automatically be separated from each other. Each player will end up being confronted by people from their pasts who have died. Those people will try to convince/trick the players to eat/drink something from the underworld so they will have to stay. The players need to weed through those people, avoiding temptation, to get to their own entrance of the labrynth. They need to get to the center of the labrynth where, what they came here for is being kept and guarded by an underworld cerberus. Players will need to navigate the maze and either kill/avoid the minotaur and a couple minions of cerberus. It's one of the many campaign ideas I've had, but this one feels a bit complicated, so I've asked a more experienced dm to co-host it with me. I hope it goes well lol

Love the channel and content!💯🤘💰

I like not having any visual for the maze. Showing the players a physical representation of NOTHING and making them twist that nothing into something in their mind can be very confusing for the brain I think. Good call!

Hello professor. I recently came across your channel doing some research for my homebrew campaign Library of Infinite and came across your channel looking into how to build a maze for my players. I love the system you have here with the d6 encounters and the mechanics of them potentially getting lost! I can imagine it can really build some tension. I did have a question though about how you ran this. The exit. When did you decide, or what in your setup decides, that the players regroup and find the end of the maze? Your d6 has dead ends and the entrance, but what about finding the exit?

I love this idea so much. I’ve watched this video multiple times. I’m going to use it in an upcoming boss fight for my Rifts Minion War campaign. PDM do you ever do mapless dungeons with the flow chart idea? The older I get the harder it is to make maps. I’m looking for a more abstract way of doing it.

Noooooo the video ended!!!!!! Now what do I do!?! Awesome set up and video Professor. Really neat rendition of a tried and true enemy. I really like the idea of making the Minotaur attack in a hit and run manner, I was thinking based on your set up, that the characters split up and facing the monster one at a time was a sure recipe for a TPK. I also really liked your “grounded” set up, adding mystery to the encounter without having to have fairies and magic overly involved. Side question, how do you keep the party from losing their sh*! and just going crazy on the rival NPC party?

Lots of really great ideas in here! This sort of thing even works for dungeons that aren't disorienting labyrinths; it reminds me of a blog post Rob Schwalb wrote called "Dungeon White Space": web.archive.org/web/20131127211158/www.robertjschwalb.com/2013/11/dungeon-white-space/ Slogging through the Temple of Elemental Evil inspired him to develop a system of randomly determining what encounters the party has as they progress, with adjustments based on whether they are exploring at a cautious, normal, or rushing pace. (I would handle the details a bit differently myself, but it's a good starting point.) Between Schwalb and the Professor, these are some great ways to keep the fun parts of old-school dungeon crawls, without all the boring and tedious minutiae!

That's such a cool idea.

Love this!

In your first several encounters, there was a knife edge deadliness to how you described your campaign (through the goblins warren encounter). How do you keep that tense sense of mortality over several sessions? How many of your PCs have died? How do you roll new PCs into the party?

Abstract space. We have been using that very effectively in our table. Generally with a deck of cards, either in a linear path when crossing a forest or climbing a cliff face. At a convention, I played this on more of a grid with a few cards in there that were more important encounters. ie to move from one card to the next the players make a skill check, on a success another terrain card, a different player makes a skill check. (at an increased difficulty), repeat until failure. On failure players need to each make a check to avoid a trap or whatever (Darts, gas, pits etc) once resolved then move them to a new card with a reset difficulty. Every player is involved in the exploration and engaged at the table.

wow that minotaur roar scared me... I usually write as I leave the video in the background :)

Wow, this was some really great advice. 🤯

Do you post your notes anywhere? Scrubbing through the videos trying to find what you've written down is a lot more work that I'd like, but I love how you do stuff!

That's s really clever way to play a labyrinth! I have to try it!

Create every room and passage in a maze complex? I've done that with Wave Echo Cave, and my players loved it. They were new to the hobby and it helped them to be able to see everything and they loved the feeling of exploration as I placed another piece on the table from the Closet of Secrets (patent pending, all rights reserved). It is a tremendous amount of work to create, craft, and organize all your dungeon parts. Not something I'd want to do with every session. Another time I described the dungeon to the players, which they had to map for themselves on a sheet of graph paper. I did that with B1, and my players found it frustrating. They did like having and using the map to plan future forays (the complex is too large for a single run to complete it). It is easier for the DM to offload this onto the players, but you do have to take time to communicate what they see in great detail, which slows down the game. I've also played Theatre of the Mind with no minis, grid, or maps. I've done that with my own creations and my players found it confusing when things got complex or a fight broke out. They had a hard time picturing the scene in their head and asked a lot of clarifying questions. It is easier for the DM to leave things undefined and only explain as needed, but there will be misunderstandings to overcome. Playing narratively until a fight breaks out, and then laying down a battle board that clearly displays ranges, obstacles, line of sight, and enemies is a great mix of styles that gives the fastest flow, reduces DM preparation, yet still allows cool visual elements to enhance the game. PDM and his UDT utilize this methodology to great effect.

If they like Max Manhym have him play into it & then rob them blind & leave them to die in a dungeon.

Cool!

I shout out your channel at every convention I attend.

Great insights as always! A question for you, how do you treat saving throws in your game?

Wow. I am going to find a place to stick this into my ongoing campaign just because it's so good. I may actually go ahead and run the module, as they're in an area (and just started) where it would fit in nicely. I've got an assassin amd a druid with different reasons for being out on a frontier town that's been dying out as the forest encroaches and grows more dangerous year after year, and the closest barons decided to give up on it when they lost a sizable patrol to the unknown dangers of the forest- and all the search parties. The druid wants to discover and cleanse the evil, the assassin is looking for someplace to lay low after a botched job. When they're done with their current mission. Of cleansing the old temple in the forest south of town from its demonic taint, the namesake keep could be placed not too far away.

Masterful

Hallucinogenic Fungus...Brilliant.

I'm a little late to the game, sorry. I like this method of playing out a disorientated group of PC in a maze. I am going to be running the Rime of the Frost Maiden campaign. Because it's a store bought adventure, anyone can find it online, and read ahead, I will be greatly modifying it to keep the players guessing. I intend to insert your minitour maze concept into this adventure. Yes I know I'm stealing your idea, please don't hate me. Thanks for your insight. Your instructions are a great help to me.

Such great content, but sadly too short. I hope that as the number of subscribers grow, that you'll be able to create more great content.

This is fantastic! And I can use this in my October game 😈😈😈🐮

What do you think about darkvision? How do you use it? I love your content

The ideas here are superb. Very, very good. For my table, I renamed Max Manheim to Max Arschloch...

Thanks again professor great as always. I just need players who'll show up on game night. any help there. lol

Perfect way of running it. Even if one doesn't share the same design goals, I agree with every decision you have made here. Though I wonder about the 'Grounding in reality' when we have player characters with magic spells, orcs and goblins. Can you explain how you derive your aesthetic sense for your campaign in a video? I am not sure I follow why the decision was made so rather than be critical, I would rather ask what informed your decision. Is it that it is a mythological creature from real world myths?

My wife's bday is in October so I'm doing a Halloween one shot for her, everyone is level 13 (her idea and I loved it) I'm using a festival for shenanigans, gonna use this to run a corn maze, first time is happy fun... second time it tries to kill you and the big bad is a corrupted treant in the middle of it all that was tainted while developing because it was used as a hanging tree

Solid!

This is awesome! How do you handle the minotaur chase not getting tedious if he attacks once then runs away over and over? I feel like, at least in regular 5e, it won't necessarily be super scary since it takes several hits to kill someone. So they might lose 10% of their health, then the minotaur runs away... then next time someone runs into it, it'll probably be a totally different person. Is there supposed to be a real chance of the player character dying in those skirmishes?

Why don't the dozens of tribes realise that there's a couple parties of adventurers that keep picking them off one by one and so make a unified defence?

my head spins like the ultimate terrain

You should be a pretty high level DM, I would expect at least a +3 jacked with a couple extra properties! :P

What happens if the players try to lay a trail or breadcrumbs in some form to crack the maze? Yes I know the maze is dealt with abstractly but players may not approach it abstractly AND laying a trail IS a sensible thing to do

Hi Professor, I wanted just wanted to ask what happens if a player rolls or enters another chamber that was already cleared (the stirge cave for example). Do they just wait until all the other players are finished with their turn?

You should buy TSR and write a module of this. Make it a big thick hard cover tome, and you'll be laughing all the way to the dungeon. Mwa, ha ha, ha.

what retainer rules do you use? Do they get actions etc.

Interesting use of abstraction! You do apply the very same concept anyplace else in the game?

Love the fact that the executioners have a super-douchey theme song! Really makes the PC's go "Oh God, these assholes again..."

Great idea for handling exploration. But I've been wondering, Prof. Dungeonmaster -- do you have your players map at any time? Do they map certain dungeons? Or does this slow it down too much and suck the life out of the room? Once they have mapped an area, they can go through it faster...