Large Dungeon Near College Town

[XCali]

Glad I could be of assistance!

You have many options for getting the attention of the PCs, so I wouldn't necessarily say there is a "best" way to do this. On a basic level, you have a hook just in the sheer fact that a mysterious new cave has opened up recently. This draws the attention of dungeon delvers and archaeologists alike, especially being just outside of a college, which normally serves secondarily as a hub for news. You also have a hook in that the professor has been acting strange, which could easily tie into the mysterious new cave. If you plan on using an attack to get the attention of the PCs, it could be spun into the former two as the initial hook, which could work well to bring a multifaceted angle to it, allowing the GM/DM a couple options for intrigue. The attack could even be how the GM/DM introduces the PCs to your setting. "As the grand crown of the college crests the hill, you can faintly hear cries of distress in the distance".

As far as how to decorate it, my best advice would be to keep it to simple outline. Who/what resides there? This answers most of the questions about what physical means are held there, and combined with how you decide to spin the professor acting strange, there could be many options. Is the professor actually a cult leader who has been secretly operating in the cave, and a portion of the faculty/students are a part of that cult? This is just an example, but shows how the college could be involved in some way. It doesn't even have to be evil, say the professor has stumbled upon an ominous secret inside the cave, and knowing this dreadful knowledge has him on edge, givien the implications. This could give the PCs some information gathering role playing options. Maybe his mind was hijacked by an artifact he found in the cave, say an ancient tiara, that he has not adorned himself with, until now. This could lead the PCs to eventually find a means to remove the tiara, which normally is an unremovable cursed artifact. The options are truly unlimited, just remember, always simple, never complicated.

Generally, caves are pretty abstract, lending to the idea that there is no one set path, especially when a chamber could have multiple entries/exits. You may not even want to include room numbers. What may work better, are events/notable areas listed by A.) B.) etc.

Again, I hope this helps. I feel like my 18 years of learning to design dungeons could convey nicely into a tutorial, I may just have to sit down and write one..

Cheers!

IR

PS: Make sure you have a solid motivation for the PCs to be doing what they're doing.

That is incredibly useful. It gives a good idea to how I can go about writing adventure hooks that can have multiple options in approach. Thanks, really.

My biggest dilemma basically is, I'm not the one who is going to DM/GM this adventure, I'm creating this set of maps for many other DMs/GMs to pick up and run the adventure. Again, I have never DM'd a game. So, that is why I want to gather as much information about how to approach this map set as possible. Hope it makes sense.

Again thank you for the tips!