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Hi all, I've got an itch to create a truly Mega-sized Megadungeon for my players. Basically a location my players could delve into for the entirety of the adventuring career.
My rough idea:
The Megadungeon should either be beneath a city, or no further than a day's walk from a city (to more easily buy and sell treasure, and to give the players a home to care about).
The Megadungeon should have a mix of "natural cave" levels and artificially created levels.
The Megadungeon should have three layers of story:
The overarching history of the Megadungeon that PCs can piece together, ultimately revealing the greater threat in the deepest levels.
The current story: I.E. What the inhabitants are up to now.
The intrigue story: What factions in the city might be interested in or interfering with.
In any case: What would you recommend for a GM attempting to build a massive Megadungeon?
What dungeon adventures would be the best to use?
(I was thinking of opening with Shackled City #1, and expanding into the Underdark, rather than following the rest of the AP)
Castle Whiterock did this. It was a dungeon that sent the party into different levels at different times of their career at the behest of varying factions from the nearby city. Perusing it could give you some solid ideas.
I would recommend dungeonaday. The first dungeon is finished, goes all the way through level 20, and is far larger than any other dungeon I've seen. Even if you don't use as is, you could use whole levels. It is certainly the most complete mega dungeon I've ever seen.
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The Megadungeon concept gets a lot of discussion at sites like Grognardia.
Maliszewski makes good points about the need for a Living environment, which often goes at odds with the wishes for publishers to nail down everything in a long product line.
I.E.; I've never felt the need to use products like Undermountain, except for their maps, since the distribution of creatures, and their tactics would be thrown in the air, after the first contact with the PCs.
Same with the Delve format from late 3.5; it assumes everyone sits around in stasis, until their door is opened by a PC.
Dungeonaday avoids the stasis effect with lots of "if x hears y, z happens. Most rooms also have a revisit section that tells you what happens if the pcs return to an area.
Maybe have 2 competing monster types (and their allies) plotting to take over the city, and undermine or destroy the other monster type. Rakshasa vs Naga? Vampires vs Vegepygmies? Aboleths vs Inevitables?
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Thanks for the great suggestions guys.
I think the trick to maximizing prep for such a game is to take a massive map and divide it into "zones", each zone with a unique theme and hook. Build random encounter tables and "challenge rooms". Essentially the "challenge rooms" are fixed encounters, they don't move but are different based on level of alertness.
For the campaign I decided that my players will be Sootscale Kobolds clearing out a secret cyclopean dungeon beneath their caverns. Many Darklands critters have found their way inside. I'm using a large map from WotC's website, it will be a little old school and a little wacky, just a way to change up from the heavy RP aspects of Kingmaker.
AEG did one for 3.5 called 'The World's Largest Dungeon'
it's fairly epic. It takes you from 1 to 20 (easily) given it's pathing you most likely will skip entire maps of the dungeon. It even is designed so you can insert your own areas.
But it's got a nice over arching meta plot with smaller 'zone plots' for 'what it was' and 'what it is now' stuff going on.
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Hahaha!!!!
I like the Nymphs vs. Pimps idea too!
Paladins vs. Pale Eidolons?
I don't know if she did that one; I'm sure she did the 'Nagas vs Nazis' suggestion.
That's my wife's art, by the way, not mine, though she took over my dA account (hence the name). She was in Wayfinder 2, the cartoon of Jacobs being chased by Malfeshnekor.