Alternate Themes in Dungeon Crawler (Let's Throw Fantasy out the Window)

Cyberpunk could make an awesome theme. A group infiltrating a large corporation to steal their top secret plans and gadgets, with security personnel and robots trying to stop you. Like Shadowrun, which is a hybrid of fantasy and cyberpunk.

Or something like Metroid, investigating ruins of highly advanced civilizations on alien planets, fighting strange alien creatures and automated defenses.

I nearly posted this exact question last week!

I'm currently working on a dungeon crawl as well (aren't we all?!) and it's still somewhat fantasy-based, but all the creatures are animals. Some of the heroes include Goatius Verata (goat) Wrenlo Bedwick (wren) and Zhiyahk Mutus (yak). The common enemies have more generic names like Lydian Shark or Blind Panda.

The locations are also not always dungeons. Some of the maps (created by card layouts) are plains, islands, forests, etc.

Some other theme possibilities:

-Island Exploration, more realistic, crawl to find a way off the island, find a villain, hunt a Yeti-like beast.
-Haunted Mansion, a la Ghostbusters style.
-Inside a Living Creature, think of the oft-used sci-fi setting where the team shrinks themselves down to microscopic size to kill a virus inside their friend.
-Metroid, genius! Someone license this asap.
-Abandoned City or Ghost Town, although this has the potential to create yet another zombie game...
-Pyramids! Fight off ancient Egyptian myths while searching for the Pharaoh's treasure.
-Ever played the video game Psychonauts?

I'm sure there are non-fantasy dungeon crawls out there, but perhaps they didn't gain much ground because the style was too far from the norm?

Anyone remember the Redwall series from years ago? I'd like to see someone use a similar theme/characters.

From Wikipedia: "In the Redwall universe, species almost invariably (with very few exceptions, including change of character mid-story) determines a creature's nature, whether good or evil. Some common noble species in Redwall include mice, otters, moles, hares, squirrels, hedgehogs, shrews, birds, voles, and badgers, while common vermin include rats, foxes, weasels, ferrets, ravens, snakes, stoats, ermine, sables, wildcats, magpies, rooks, and crows."

Haha - well played sir.

Have you thought of a possible escape or espionage idea? You can use those concepts in different themes (ex. Fantasy,Sci-fi).

First day of high school. Try to get to all your classes and make new friends while avoiding the local bully, the drama queen, the grammar police, and the frogs that escaped from the lab.

Coma patient trapped in an alternate reality inside their own brain. Try to collect enough memory fragments so that you can wake up, while avoiding/battling the dark creatures of hate, despair and apathy.

Space explorer discovers a pyramid on an alien world. Only after the door slams shut does he/she realise that the pyramid is not deserted.

After crash-landing on a barren planet circled by constant sandstorms and random lightning strikes, an astronaut must battle not just the weather but also hostile silicon-based creatures while gathering enough supplies to repair the ship. Be careful not to get disoriented in a sandstorm though, because if you lose the way back to the ship you will be trapped here forever.

Well, let's look at some of the big appeals of the Fantasy setting to see why it's so popular for this genre:

-Imaginative Characters – This is fun for both the player and designer since there are a million different ways to stray from the typical mythos and Tolkien-esque creatures. Helps transport the character to a new world.

-Strength vs. Magic – Gives a good variety of play styles that will provide a fun match for most people. Some people really enjoy being a Paladin, or a Mage, or a Warrior, etc. which is tougher to recreate in any real-world setting.

-Unique Items – The fantasy setting gives the ability to create and use items with odd abilities, or strange curses/hexes. These aren't possible in most real-world settings unless you're going the techno route.

-Familiarity – As I mentioned before, I'm sure there are non-fantasy crawls out there, but they just never got much attention because of the jump from the familiar. Nearly any gamer can tell you what a Necromancer does, or a Thief, or a Priest.

-Each Game Plays Differently – This is something that would be a plus to other genres. I know that D&D, Pathfinder, Thunderstone, Mice & Mystics, Super Fantasy, and Descent all have very different play styles while still being rooted in a similar universe. You don't have to completely relearn the world of the game to play it. It's like a driving a car - yes, there may be different features, button placements, etc. but it's still a car. Now try driving a speedboat...

-Rebellion vs. World Theme - Most good fantasies carry this theme often represented in The Hero's Journey (look it up). Heck, even most fantasy-based video games do this! Just thinking of the Final Fantasy series alone, numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, and 13 all do this. It's a classic theme that lends itself very easily to the fantasy genre. A small ragtag group rises up to take on a powerful foe... kinda tough to pull off in a setting with cell phones and the internet. You want to feel like you're the underdog, one reason why the co-op design is great for many dungeon crawlers.

-Nameless Enemies – It feels good to destroy a Frenzied Buck or a Blue Orc because:
1) They not only are a necessary obstacle towards your goal, but they also can provide you with assistance afterwards (loot)!
2) Their destruction is justified since you can imagine that they attacked you first. Think of how rare it is to see an enemy that doesn't actually attack you.
3) They're not humans with names, so there's no guilt or attachment to the character.

Now, how do we apply all these appeals to a different setting?

A game set in sewers, where the flow of, er, "water" is a factor could be quite interesting. Especially how the board would change as doors are opened and closed, opening essential areas, presenting the threat of drowning, etc.

Didn't one of the old Tomb Raider games have an old Roman cistern or something similar?