Blitzdelve: Crush the Dungeon

Based on speed, coordination and devastating attacks, adventurers employing blitzdelve hit hard and move on instantly. Sowing panic among a dungeon’s defenders and causing doubt and confusion among its leaders, they deny their enemies time to mount a meaningful, coordinated defence.

In my experience, dungeon-based adventures can turn into a grind. Adventurers often obsessively clear each level before descending ever deeper toward their goal. There’s nothing wrong with that approach—you can gain loads of XP and find tons of treasure that way—but sometimes, it’s not the right strategy. (It can also be boring.)

Sometimes you want to crush your enemies’ will to resist and slaughter their leader before they know what’s going on. That’s where blitzdelve comes in.

There are three distinct phases of blitzdelve:

• Breakthrough: Once you’ve got into the dungeon, move faster than the enemy. Exploit weaknesses and act before the defenders can mount a defence. Use their shock and surprise against them. Action is always better than reaction.
• Crush or Bypass Pockets of Resistance: Destroy enemies in your way, but ignore those requiring too many resources to destroy or whose position has no tactical value.
• Mop Up: Once you’ve achieved your objective, mop up any remaining pockets of resistance and comprehensively loot the dungeon.

To successfully wage blitzdelve, you need the following:

• Speed: Strike quickly. Don’t sneak about searching everything for traps. Don’t spend minutes or hours searching a room after you’ve slaughtered its inhabitants. Grab any obvious treasure and move on.
• Overwhelming Force: Employ overwhelming force at the decisive point to eradicate your enemy. The dungeon defenders are likely more numerous than you, but by controlling the time, pace and location of the attack, you can achieve tactical superiority.
• Initiative & Flexibility: Don’t blindly follow the plan. If an opportunity presents itself that furthers your objective, take it.
• Self-Sufficiency: Carry everything you need. You don’t have time to stop and rest or retreat. You should have everything you need to crush your enemy.
• Coordination: Coordinate each party member’s efforts to the greatest effect. Be aware of your companions’ abilities and create tactical situations in which they can use them.

Help Your Fellow Players!

So that’s my concept of blitzdelve. What did I miss? Have you tried something similar? Leave a comment below and help your fellow gamers crush their enemies more effectively than ever before!

History of Blitzdelve

I love this concept; I've always been intrigued by how to complete a quest in the "right," perhaps even "professional", way. I'll be posting more on this subject, in the future.

I originally posted this article--well, its antecedent--to my old blog. I've tided up the text and so on for this posting. I hope you and your players find blitzdelve useful and that it makes your dugeon delves more exciting and dynamic.