[plamzi]

If I was designing a MUD world from scratch, I would probably go with a hybrid solution. I would split zones into "travel" vs. "dungeon", lay out the travel ones on a consistent grid (using the grid to ensure spacial consistency only, with only some of the travel rooms actually existing, or being generated on the fly if needed). Then I would use different rules for actual dungeon areas, not enforcing spacial consistency. The end result would be very much like the world of the Morrowind / Oblivion / Skyrim games.

The advantage of not enforcing spacial consistency in a dungeon is that you can design it in a way that the user can experience in an efficient way (e. g. dropping them at the entrance of the zone when they are "done").