Justification for "The Usual Dungeon"

[Ninja D!]

sometimes we think they're offensive and blow them up (I'm looking at you, Taliban).

At least there is someone as bothered by that as me.

[LordVreeg]

sometimes we think they're offensive and blow them up (I'm looking at you, Taliban).

At least there is someone as bothered by that as me.

Sign me up, as well.  

[Nomadic]

*

Bees.  BEEEEEEEEEES!
[/list]

Let it be noted that I heartily support this explanation.

Furthermore while I abhor the destruction of art in any form I much prefer it to blowing up the artists (see: people). Just my 2 cents on that...

[Ninja D!]

"There is a bottle of 1999 Pio Cesare Barolo Ornato reserve sitting on the table in the center of the room. It seems like it hasn't been touched in years."
"Ok I open up the next door"
"Lord Vreeg is standing in front of you"
"Ok hold on... my suspension of disbelief just crumbled"

Ah, this place can usually send me off to work with a smile.

[LordVreeg]

"There is a bottle of 1999 Pio Cesare Barolo Ornato reserve sitting on the table in the center of the room. It seems like it hasn't been touched in years."
"Ok I open up the next door"
"Lord Vreeg is standing in front of you"
"Ok hold on... my suspension of disbelief just crumbled"

Ah, this place can usually send me off to work with a smile.

Yeah this one is getting a link for my PCs...I cracked a smile on that one...

[Eladris]

On dungeon ecology:

I generally use Aether as the physical form of magic in my campaigns (derived from the philosophical concept of ether that survived until the turn of the last century).  Direct and prolonged exposure to aether warps the mind, body, or soul, which in turn creates abominations of nature.  That's my (relatively) simple explanation for stuff like oozes, many-armed-and-tentacled-beasts, etc.

I often struggle to include traditional monsters into any setting.  The ecology needs to make sense to me, and it appears rarely considered by game designers.

[EvilElitest]

I like the Goblin/Kobold arms race, it could be even more interesting if they are trying to do it while avoiding the other monster in the temple, like mummies or mindless horrors
from
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[Moniker]

The more "traditional" dungeons I've had in my game were cities buried beneath earth and rock. The halls of these "dungeons" were nothing more than the old city streets, the chambers are old buildings. Earth and sand had settled and hardened into the areas, giving the appearance of what would be at first sight assumed to be artificially crafted to fit the standard dungeon, but were in actually the ruins of a city buried by the ravages of time and spells.

[Superfluous Crow]

Following up on Drizztrocks dungeon, you could have an entire prison complex, made in ancient times to imprison immortal/powerful creatures. Over time the prison was forgotten but the defences (traps/constructs etc) remain effective and the immortal prisoners on the bottom floor survive as well. Maybe they've even found a way out of their cells and have taken control of a prison level, waging war on the other prisoners.
of course, this is a pretty specific idea so i don't know whether it helps with your general question

[sparkletwist]

It does.

These are all good ideas. Thank you. :D