What is a Dungeon Crawler

 If you are unaware, I'm heavily involved in Dungeon Crawl Board games, and in an effort for a comprehensive list of what one is vs what one isn't, I've amalgamated this list.

Dungeon Crawlers

Top Down, in Order of Importance, These are the items that I classify as needed in a Dungeon Crawler, and a small blub about each. I will start off with a few critical points. 

I prefer Story over Stats. I would like players to choose items that match the idea of their character, rather than the 'best' item to defeat the monsters. Wiggle room permitting, a player might have a choice between a Greatsword and a Two Handed Axe, and their Barbarian is wondering what's going to chop harder. But if the same barbarian has a choice between a Greatsword that will do 7dps, and a wand of fire, that even after modifiers, does 9dps, that's too far. 
How Far is Too Far. There is often a line, between a Dungeon Crawler and a RolePlay Game. Its a grey area, sometimes I see RPGs that try to simplify things too much/quickly, and you lose the depth of an RPG, and they really should just be a Pen & Paper DC. More often, I see a DC adding in the kitchen sink, and ending up with a bloated RPG with too many tokens, too many miniatures, and too many rules to look up. Worse, if the players have to read all the rules, and act like a GM, without a GM.  

A Party of Characters/Heroes

While Solo Play is ok, I'm not ok with the idea of a dungeon that's "designed" for a single Hero. Dungeons are designed, by Evil Overlords to be impenetrable, dangerous places, where armies have failed to defeat them. A Good solo player should work for it, that said, to be honest, I'd love to see a set of quests which the townsfolk warn them are too dangerous for 1-2 heroes, and point out some crypt missions that might suit them better, so they can improve their abilities before going into dangerous places.

Character Customization

There is a middle ground, Not being able to make any choices at all, doesn't feel like your character is progressing, often pre-chosen upgrades come along with increasing enemy levels, so you never feel like you are getting anywhere. Vice Versa, full open choice, can lead to making poor choices, ones that hamper the game for everyone, its less likely in a DC than in RPG, but I do see it creep in.

Exploration of unrevealed areas

If I know, the whole layout of the Dungeon in Advance, its because I found a map in a previous location, not because the game gets me to set it all out on the table. A good DC should have some rules about placing rooms after opening doors, or setting out structures as the story progresses, especially if the game, rightly, makes it clear I should retreat and return in the future (with better preparation). 

Scenario / Mission Scope

The Idea that the players are 'crawling', at some slower pace, because its dangerous, as the core 2/3rds+ of the game. This can be split up, allowing an average pace for the town->dungeon-> travel, faster pace 'in' town, to get supplied, and the location itself being the round by round speed. Any more than 1/3rd time spent in the 'setup/packup' phase doesn't make me feel like I'm Dungeon Crawling, instead I'm RPGing.. (see above & below)

Character Progression

If we're creating a Boss Battler, Level up after the boss is defeated. But if its a Dungeon Crawl, there needs to be the ability for players to progress mid dungeon, it doesn't HAVE to be structured that way, but it feels great when it happens. One way is to have the the macGuffin be specifically an upgrade for 1 character, "Lets go into the Forests of Alderrell, and retrieve the Bow of Swiftness for our Halfling Archer." Alternating between story progress and upgrade quests is a way for RPGs to progress, why not do the same for DCs, Heroquest did it.

Scenario Goal

Which Ties in with Scenarios having specific goals. This one is important to differentiate between an open ended PRG and a story specific DC. The DC is a boiled down, quicker, faster, focused RPG. The quest is straight forward. Players know what the quest is, so they can buy specific weapons and equipment. They know why they are going, where they are going and what they expect. THEN a surprise twist is more impactful.  

Campaign Story

A little less important (to me) is the overarching campaign. I don't mean, at al, I mean, The Scenarios goals should be following a path that makes sense, but I don't need to know the names of all the NPCs that may be affected by the plot. Include a 1 paragraph TLDR at the beginning to read out to players, and hand the 1 page backstory to the person who likes to know the extra details.

Miniatures vs Standees vs Tokens & game boards.

I don't think a good DC needs miniatures, but it most certainly makes a good DC a great DC, unfortunately it also makes a poor DC into a half-decent DC, for the purposes of Kickstarting / Buying at Discount. Mostly, because I can use those minis in other DCs or RPGs. That said, it needs 'something' otherwise, theatre of the mind is purely RPG territory. Also If I'm drawing layouts on paper, for the minis/tokens to sit on? Again, RPG land. The very nature of a DC is the board, the tokens and some other parts make a DC 'exist' as a board game.

Combat; Enemies to kill/overcome

What Crawler would be complete without the reason your crawling. Monsters, While a single monster type would be the bare bones minimum (Adv Heroquest, 3 forms of Skaven) A Variety to make the game replayable, and introduce varied levels of difficulty make it even better.

Traps, Hidden objects/items/enemies, Discoverable loot.

I think of these more as, interesting quirks. Not every Dungeon is set up as a death trap for heroes. Some might be the homes of creatures, and unlikely to use Traps, easily forgotten, deadly to the inhabitants, while Crypts, expecting to be looted, would be covered with all manner of ways to dispatch intruders. Loot is likely to be hidden in secret compartments, but regular weapons should more likely be found in the hands of the guards, AND should be acquirable by players.

Other Aspects of DCs that others like: In Order of, Yes these are nice to have vs oh no, please don't.

Focusing the game on Heroic Individuals

This.. hmm, maybe it just me, but every peasant, with hard work, and the right contacts, should be able to train and become a hero. The idea that an Individual must be destined to be a Hero isn't my cup of tea. I like character progression, and I like the idea of the poor no-body, becoming the winner. BUT maybe the idea of this one, is that the game should be focused on that hero, and not side-line them for sub-quests.  

Unique Skills

Yes, a DC is supposed to be boiling things down to simplify choice, but setting aside specific skills starts to approach the line in the sand. Ok, sure, this character has trained to fight with a staff for years, and has some cool maneuvers, Why is it that no other character 'can' choose to train in the staff too? I get that the rules to allow more cross-class abilities would make things difficult, so I can sit on the fence for this. It breaks my heart when RPGs even attempt to do this, So I'll allow it for DCs only.  

Class Specific Loot

Again, a little on the nose, but maybe that's my GM/RPG Designer coming through. A sword is a sword. and the idea that a mage, cannot pick up a sword, at all, for any reason, is dumb. Yes a DC is supposed to simplify things, but this is the line in the sand, and given a choice, I want players to be 'able' to choose the sword, and wield it, (poorly) in rare circumstances, to save the day, because the rest of the party is down, the bad guy is immune to magic, and the silver sword is the only weapon that will kill him. Maybe that's just for RPGs. Because this usually doesn't need any extra rules, why its enforced I don't know. 

Tiered/Scaled Loot.

Worse still, the game actively only 'hands out' items because of the level of the group. No. Seriously No. The Dungeon is designed way in advance of the players, If my group of level 7 heroes want to slum it, and go wipe out a Goblin warren, they should not be finding a few dozen magic swords. No. The opposite side of this, it should be a small, but interesting chance that a more powerful item can be found in an average Dungeon, that 'sets' the players apart from an average heroic party. Maybe finding a Wand of Firebolt in the first dungeon, was the reason this party has succeeded where no other could. 

Scaled Monsters.

To Take things to their ultimate Doom, a Dungeon that, no matter what level YOU are, the difficulty is set to 'slightly below hard'? NOOoo. Its boring, its repetitive, it loses all meaning, now your just rolling dice for the sake of an activity with friends. Also, games are about learning too, and once you've learnt the singular tactic of taking out the dungeon, every experience after will be a pointless task of repetition. 

Dishonorable Mentions

Space vs Fantasy

While you might consider a sci-fi concept, still a Dungeon Crawler, I posit that there are certain aspects of what makes a sci-fi.. feel sci-fi. The majority of which will destroy the vibe of a 'Dungeon' and 'Crawl'. 

I Played XCOM as a kid, its certainly got a LOT of the 'dungeon crawl' feelings of the above, yet the key sci-fi things, shooting lasers down corridors, remote access to locations from a terminal, radar pings to find enemies, the focus far more on pre-preparedness, as the statistical likelyhood that any weapons you find are geared for human hands is nigh on impossible.  It all leads/lends itself more to a tactical game.
You almost need to have some military training, to structure HOW you'll enter the location, scout ahead, burst through a door guns blazing, against those green blips on screen. You might secure some tech to take back to base, but forget using any of it now. You only have what you brought in. Sci-fi doesn't feel sci fi without those elements, and Dungeon doesn't feel Dungeon *with* those elements, Can you imagine a crack team of Soldiers, bursting into the Dungeons of the Necromancer.. it's be comical.

Sure, I'd love to see that, and it might be a great and fun game. but, just don't call it a Dungeon Crawl. 

i.e. I don't like my Dungeon Crawlers to feel like a tactical game, which ties back to story vs Tactics. I prefer players to choose weapons and armour because of theme, not strategy, or at least theme first, strategy second. So a Space Marine Battle, even in corridors of a space hulk, is too far gone for me to count them.