I thought I was being all clever submitting a sunken tower for this year’s One Page Dungeon contest, and now that the full list of entries is up I see FOUR other “sunken” entries — another tower, a pyramid, spires, and a ship. Though the ship is only semi-sunken. Great minds think alike, right? Or is it sick minds run it the same gutters? Something like that. Though really the idea of a structure that has sunk or been buried is not exactly something new under the sun.
There is also a “panopticon” entry this year. I’ll be watching that one with interest, since I entered a panopticon a couple of years ago and I’d like to see another take on one.
Swords & Dorkery 
I think there is just an incredible need for people to have dungeons underground, and having things sink is a perfect excuse for why something that would not make sense to have be built anywhere but above ground is now in the subterrene? Which is funny, because very little actually “sinks”; sure you get stuff covered by undergrowth, subsumed by sand and whatnot, but most human-built stone structures -even built in the swamp/jungle, like Angkor Wat- don’t actually “sink”. Maybe there needs to be some sort of meta explanation for all of these sunken ruins, like soil in D&D is extremely porous and loamy.
I entered a tavern, though, so I have no comments or opinions on the originality of such entries.
I didn’t give much of an explanation about why my building sank (purple worm issues) but it is kind of self-defeating, isn’t it, to rationalize having an underground complex with such an irrational device….
The thing is, in D&D, there’s enough crazy BS going on in the world that one could rationalize it, though more often than not mod-writers/gms don’t. I mean, we’re talking a game where a jerk wizard could stone-to-mud the foundations of an entire city and go flying off cackling on a magic cloud.
Also: ewww, purple worm issues! scary-gross.