Has anyone run a dungeon without monsters?

I never have. I wonder if a dungeon where there are only traps and puzzles would be interesting enough for players.

My only semi-experience was a dungeon where the PCs knew they are heading into specifically to release a Big Bad from a vault to kick its ass, so the adventure was all about trying to get to the vault with the least suffering for the climactic fight scene.

Wasn't there a Grimtooth's dungeon that was just traps?

But I tried it once with a treasure map location (in AD&D 1e, sometimes players would get maps that led them to treasure as part of the treasure tables). Most of the players found it boring

Quote from: Spinachcat;1088739Has anyone run a dungeon without monsters?

I never have. I wonder if a dungeon where there are only traps and puzzles would be interesting enough for players.

My only semi-experience was a dungeon where the PCs knew they are heading into specifically to release a Big Bad from a vault to kick its ass, so the adventure was all about trying to get to the vault with the least suffering for the climactic fight scene.

Not really, I don't find it alluring unless it's a small to medium/small dungeon. And if it doesn't appeal to me it will almost never end up in my table. Guess you could manage it with enchanted traps that can follow the players. Or does that count as a monster?

Technically yes, in the spirit of the question, no.  Once I ran an "all traps" dungeon that was quite large, but rumored to have a great treasure.  By the time the players found it, a group of orcs and their shamans had made their way in, and several other rival groups were a few days behind.  So no creature was native or understood how it worked, but there were plenty of monster encounters.  

The players managed quite well, got the treasure, and made it back to the entrance.  Then they almost got wiped out by an NPC group that had seen the carnage in the first few chambers and decided to ambush the survivors.  At that point, the survivors retreated into the dungeon, holed up, figured out how to use the treasure they had found, and eventually recuperated enough to fight their way out.  

It was fun, but painful to run fairly.  I had to be very cautious with time, as any rest meant more creatures converging on the complex.

Tomb of Horrors almost qualifies. Are there any monsters besides the demi-lich?

Maybe. I don't know. I've done plenty where monsters are sparse, so that you'd easily go a session or two without meeting any. The most recent one only had a couple of traps. It's all about the exploration and atmosphere.

A single crypt? Yes. An entire dungeon? No. I'm not sure about the players, but I'd be bored running the Dungeon of Traps.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1088739Has anyone run a dungeon without monsters?

I never have. I wonder if a dungeon where there are only traps and puzzles would be interesting enough for players.

My only semi-experience was a dungeon where the PCs knew they are heading into specifically to release a Big Bad from a vault to kick its ass, so the adventure was all about trying to get to the vault with the least suffering for the climactic fight scene.

Sure. A dungeon full of traps and nothing else can be a nice change of pace. I especially liked to do those when DMing Oriental Adventures. That and a dungeon with traps and monks inspired by the two 18 Bronze Men martial arts movies.

Also did one where there were no monsters or traps or people even. All the problems were environmental. Chasms, narrow walkways. Slippery slopes and other things that needed skill and thought to defeat.

And one dungeon that was all puzzles. No traps. Just various puzzles to access deeper into the complex.

My first dungeon was almost monsterless (except for a  Kraken). The rest was environmental hazards and exploration until the final fight.
The reason was that another party of adventurers had entered the dungeon a few hours earlier and cleaned house. The final confrontation was with this other group who didn't want to share the reward.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1088763Tomb of Horrors almost qualifies. Are there any monsters besides the demi-lich?

To answer my own question TOH has a few critters in it. It's still primarily a trap dungeon, and most of the monsters are of that variety. (Asps in chests kind of thing)

I'd never say never, but to me monsters are an essential ingredient to the recipe.

I once ran a dungeon that didn't have monsters per se; rather, the dungeon itself was biological and sort of functioned as one large, ever-present monster/terrain hazard/trap. A giant magically-engineered series of mucus layers, winding passages, tendons that when wrenched would open sphincters (doors/passages) or activate bio-luminescent light sources, egg rooms protected by electrically-charged neural strands.

Background: It was originally an invulnerable/ageless dragon which was (ages ago) chained and experimented on, slowly mutated and expanded via a series of sorcerous biology experiments due to the dragon's unique traits and abilities, inherent mana production and magical volatility (useful in engineering the invention of weapons, defenses, new beings to reinforce ancient armies, etc.) but the nation that funded and conducted the (highly secretive) experiments had long since been decimated.

It was more of an exploratory dungeon, but with plenty of hazards; teeth, "antibodies" in the form of nightmarish little things crawling through capillaries in the walls and heat-sensitive tentacles, lots of traps in the form of sticky/angry cilia, unknown/unexpected biological functions, the equivalent of stomach acids, etc. It ended with the players slaying the heart at the center of the mass, then running towards the exit for dear life as the entire place began to scream, bubble, and burst; all of its eggs hatching and scrambling to meet the invaders, antibodies going wild, etc.

Ended up having a sort of Aliens vibe to it; it was pretty neat as a one-off, the players had fun, pushed pretty heavily on the body horror angle and it seemed well-received.

There was a small dungeon that I ran that was the site of a pirate treasure.  The cave could only be accessed through an underwater passage, and the treasure area itself was only accessible during low tide.  There were some creature encounters outside the dungeon, but once they were in, there were only traps.  The PCs knew there were only traps, so they were engaged.  The traps were somewhat more complex than might be considered typical - they had to provide the full challenge, after all.

More recently and in a different campaign the PCs had discovered a (mostly) abandoned Dwarven Citadel.  The last reigning monarch was the only living person in the place; after an encounter where they spoke, the PCs obtained permission to try to recover some powerful magical items to avenge the dead dwarves.  Once again, the final resting places of the Dwarven Kings was not guarded by living creatures, but it did include some animated statues.  They were part of several traps, and once again the PCs were aware that the area was supposed to be protected by devious traps; they seemed to enjoy figuring out what would happen if they took certain actions.  

In either case, if the PCs know that the traps are the challenge, I think they can be engaged.  If the PCs keep running into traps that just sap them of hit points as they try to deal with their real objective they can be frustrating and not offer much for the game.

Quote from: Antiquation!;1088841A giant magically-engineered series of mucus layers, winding passages, tendons that when wrenched would open sphincters (doors/passages) or activate bio-luminescent light sources, egg rooms protected by electrically-charged neural strands.

THAT sounds awesome! DCC would publish that as a module.

Quote from: deadDMwalking;1088847In either case, if the PCs know that the traps are the challenge, I think they can be engaged.  If the PCs keep running into traps that just sap them of hit points as they try to deal with their real objective they can be frustrating and not offer much for the game.

Agreed. Gotcha traps like pits and poison darts wouldn't be good here. Definitely need puzzle traps where solving the way beyond the trap is the challenge.

My players like role-playing -- especially with monsters/opponents. They'd hate a traps/riddles/exploration only dungeon.