After making the Lava Rivers Battlemap a few weeks back, I realised how fun volcanic scenes were to create, as well as how many ideas I started to develop after posting (that I seriously regret not being able to include in the post). This adventure is my way of incorporating a whole bunch of these ideas and monsters, whilst also sharing a brand new adventure for this month!
When designing dungeons/adventures, there are a number of different styles that I’ve really wanted to work on, but find difficult with the sheer variety of playstyles available in 5e. You will notice that the majority of the adventures on the blog follow a linear path (begin in one place, follow a path, fight enemies, reach the end of the dungeon). This is the easiest type of dungeon to create for 5e, as it limits the players options for creative thinking, and leads to an adventure that can easily be run for any group.
The next type of dungeon design is multi-path dungeons; adventures where the party has to make a decision once (or multiple times), taking them down a different path. These usually lead to the same destination, and simply provide the players with a choice of the perils they will face on their journey (see my Cave of Two Paths adventure). These, again, are relatively simple to drop into any group, as the overall outcome of the adventure is the same, and the party simply have to make a few extra choices.
Finally, there are Central Room dungeons. These are the adventures where the party keeps on returning to a single room, for multiple different reasons. This can either because the paths they take away from the room lead them to trigger something that unlocks the next path, or because they find another way in, to allow themselves to progress down an otherwise inaccessible path. These can be difficult to integrate into 5e, as the characters can have such varied abilities, some of which may completely negate certain obstacles. A locked door is child's play to a rogue, or a caster with Knock prepared. A collapsed/missing bridge is great for stopping melee characters, but casters with Fly or Levitate can treat it as absolutely nothing. Because of these issues, creating a dungeon/adventure that relies on a central room mechanic is tough.
The Temple of the Elements was a simple example of how this can be integrated, through the four separate paths leading to the opening of a final doorway leading into the boss chamber, and hopefully, you will see this style represented in full for this new adventure.