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I do not want all my games to be mega-dungeons, but once in a while to deedicate some time to a mega-dungeon can be fun in my opinion.
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Thats a neat idea for a megadungeon YD. After Hama's comment, I want to go to my FLGS and yell "excuse me while I whip this out" and then pull a mega dungeon map out. Then I'd probably have to run it tho.
The cleaves was different. It was to be drawn from a deck of cards one room at a time. The deck could be expanded forever.
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Like all other settings, a megadungeon becomes valid only by the vibrancy of its setting. This is acheived by theme, style, plots, NPCs, events and so on. A million rooms full of monsters doing nothing is indescribably boring. Divide it up into communities, nations, heck, even civilizations, make memorable NPCs, interesting and far-reaching plotlines, dastardly villains, interesting problems, differentiated "terrains" and so on, and you have something far better... though it doesn't fit the traditional (Undermountain etc) megadungeon concept very well anymore.
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Like all other settings, a megadungeon becomes valid only by the vibrancy of its setting. This is acheived by theme, style, plots, NPCs, events and so on. A million rooms full of monsters doing nothing is indescribably boring. Divide it up into communities, nations, heck, even civilizations, make memorable NPCs, interesting and far-reaching plotlines, dastardly villains, interesting problems, differentiated "terrains" and so on, and you have something far better... though it doesn't fit the traditional (Undermountain etc) megadungeon concept very well anymore.
Oddly enough the cleaves had that too.
I did two back "in the day" in both cases, the idea was you were trapped and had to work your way out thru the bottom. Both were quite popular.
The Worlds Largest Dungeon is also quite fun, if you add a occ merchant and fast forward thru some of the early part.
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I've wanted to run a game where the characters awaken in a dungeon, unaware of how they arrived there, and have to escape, while trying to discover how/why they are there.
I just know it'll take awhile, and haven't had a stable group that I felt would be likely to enjoy the survival aspect.
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I've wanted to run a game where the characters awaken in a dungeon, unaware of how they arrived there, and have to escape, while trying to discover how/why they are there.
I just know it'll take awhile, and haven't had a stable group that I felt would be likely to enjoy the survival aspect.
Like the movie Cube :)
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Like the movie Cube :)I've wanted to run a game where the characters awaken in a dungeon, unaware of how they arrived there, and have to escape, while trying to discover how/why they are there.
I just know it'll take awhile, and haven't had a stable group that I felt would be likely to enjoy the survival aspect.
I don't know if this would meet your expectations, but except for the memory-loss part, the 1e dungeon module A4, In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, sounds like what you're looking for. The players wake up in an underground complex, stripped of their equipment (the encounters have been adjusted to suit), and have to find their way out. If you could track down a copy it might be good for inspiration, at least.
Going back to megadungeons, I like the idea of a dungeon "world" (kind of like the dwarves during their Race for Sky or the Underdark), where everything is underground, with dungeons and/or wilderness being connected by larger caves with more civilized areas.
There was one site that I was very interested in on megadungeons. Players were adventurers but with amnesia, locked in some truly fearsome subterranean world. A bit dark souls in flavour, you had to die many times to die permanently, but each time you perished you lost your memories. It had potential, old school art, and some of my players liked the idea.
Can't remember the name of it, and I lost the link in a reformat. Searching is not bringing it up. Garrrr.
I don't know if this would meet your expectations, but except for the memory-loss part, the 1e dungeon module A4, In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords, sounds like what you're looking for. The players wake up in an underground complex, stripped of their equipment (the encounters have been adjusted to suit), and have to find their way out. If you could track down a copy it might be good for inspiration, at least.Like the movie Cube :)I've wanted to run a game where the characters awaken in a dungeon, unaware of how they arrived there, and have to escape, while trying to discover how/why they are there.
I just know it'll take awhile, and haven't had a stable group that I felt would be likely to enjoy the survival aspect.
I planned for mine to have all of their gear, of course after that it's what they can find/make. Also, I've already drawn up seven floors (one of which is a labyrinth) of it.
There were two things I hadn't decided yet: what was at the end, and what would happen if someone went into the river (there was a river that ran through each floor, flowing toward the layer they begin at).
Thanks for the tip though, if by chance I run across that, I'll give it a read.
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I think I will stick to GMing decadungeons and possibly hectodungeons. Nothing close to kilodungeons. Too much work that will remain unused...
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Yes... but the centidungeons are just depressing.
I've wanted to run a game where the characters awaken in a dungeon, unaware of how they arrived there, and have to escape, while trying to discover how/why they are there.
Yep, that's what I did. The first was the Egyptian dungeon, where the PC's awoke to find themselves on a midden.
Turns out (spoiler) that they were all scions of various Egyptian deities, who sent them there after their worship had mostly been forgotten. The idea was to get super-powerful quasi-deities to bring back their faith.
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I love megadungeons as long as it's anchored in a campaign storyline and not just hack and slash dungeoneering. I like being able to explore a dungeon for a bit and then maybe leave and go somewhere else for a while before coming back - as long as it's all in service to the story.
Any type of campaign/adventure can be fun depending on how much time you're willing to craft and mold it to suit you and your player's style. The trick is finding that threshold with which you have to spend on adventures and making them work. Unless your PC's love to just sludge through never-ending combats and traps, you'll need to spend a ton of time to make a mega dungeon engaging.
I ran Rapan Athuk back in 2002 or so and spent several hours crafting plot points and counter-plot points to give my guys a lot of substance. They loved it and then promptly TPKed twice. So, we never got to finish.
I plan to run Slumbering Tsar next year which is a huge open sandbox with several large dungeons in it. The third act of the of campaign has an enormous dungeon set inside a 100' tall statue of Orcus and looks amazing. The wait will kill me, but it is so well done, it will be worth the wait.
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Like all other settings, a megadungeon becomes valid only by the vibrancy of its setting. This is acheived by theme, style, plots, NPCs, events and so on. A million rooms full of monsters doing nothing is indescribably boring. Divide it up into communities, nations, heck, even civilizations, make memorable NPCs, interesting and far-reaching plotlines, dastardly villains, interesting problems, differentiated "terrains" and so on, and you have something far better... though it doesn't fit the traditional (Undermountain etc) megadungeon concept very well anymore.
I believe what you describe is just a setting.
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If I ever do a megadungeon, I want it to be something like La-Mulana. Filled to the brim with hidden story and plot, ever luring the party to explore deeper, completely free-form and directionless. You wanna go this way? You go this way. Here's what you find. Oh that sounds like a thing you saw way back all this time ago, on the other side of the complex. Maybe there's a connection....
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Like all other settings, a megadungeon becomes valid only by the vibrancy of its setting. This is acheived by theme, style, plots, NPCs, events and so on. A million rooms full of monsters doing nothing is indescribably boring. Divide it up into communities, nations, heck, even civilizations, make memorable NPCs, interesting and far-reaching plotlines, dastardly villains, interesting problems, differentiated "terrains" and so on, and you have something far better... though it doesn't fit the traditional (Undermountain etc) megadungeon concept very well anymore.I believe what you describe is just a setting.
Precisely. :-)
I see them as a phase of some sort. When I was just starting RPG gaming, my friends and I would design megadungeons with no theme or plot. Just design whatever. As age, wisdom, and experience changed us, the megadungeon became best reserved for a revisiting of childhood rather than something done for a serious game.
There have been megadungeons published (Worlds largest dungeon, dungeonworld). Oddly, the settings tend to reign in classes or PC capabilities as they are written. Often making one or more players very upset if you choose not to ignore the limitation house rules the product publishes.
There have been megadungeons published (Worlds largest dungeon, dungeonworld). Oddly, the settings tend to reign in classes or PC capabilities as they are written. Often making one or more players very upset if you choose not to ignore the limitation house rules the product publishes.
As a current World's Largest Dungeon PC, I can say I very much enjoy it, and KestralZ's statement is very correct. The no-teleporting, no-summoning, limited-items nature of the campaign makes for removing the cheese of a lot of builds.
Never done a megadungeon, as player or DM. Always thought they were kinda interesting. I had an idea for one that I had been tossing around in my head something like this: Each floor of the dungeon is equal to a CR rating. 1st floor is CR 1 and under monsters, 2nd floor is CR 2, and so on. Each room would contain a certain type of monster, and the environment of the room would reflect said monster's ideal habitat. Basically every room would be a "bigger on the inside" type dimension (hallways have 10' ceilings, but the rooms would be however high the monster would require). Just go through all the bestiaries (including the AP bestiaries), and get as far as we could. After 5 or so rooms, your abilities would refresh like you just slept.
Not really so much a dungeon, as just a "I want to see how all these monsters play out, especially all these I have never seen used before" kinda thing. When the players are done with a floor, they automatically level up to take on the next level of CR.
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I see them as a phase of some sort. When I was just starting RPG gaming, my friends and I would design megadungeons with no theme or plot. Just design whatever. As age, wisdom, and experience changed us, the megadungeon became best reserved for a revisiting of childhood rather than something done for a serious game.
You realize, of course, that that's just your own bias. There's nothing that prevents a huge dungeon from having a theme or a plot, just as there is nothing that prevents a small 5-room dungeon from being nothing more than a (rather unfulfilling, given it's tiny nature) hack-n-slash session.
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I see them as a phase of some sort. When I was just starting RPG gaming, my friends and I would design megadungeons with no theme or plot. Just design whatever. As age, wisdom, and experience changed us, the megadungeon became best reserved for a revisiting of childhood rather than something done for a serious game.
The condescension is strong with this one...
Megadungeons were a staple of the early days of D&D which was created, played and DM'd by many adults including Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax to name a few.
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I see them as a phase of some sort. When I was just starting RPG gaming, my friends and I would design megadungeons with no theme or plot. Just design whatever. As age, wisdom, and experience changed us, the megadungeon became best reserved for a revisiting of childhood rather than something done for a serious game.
I was wondering how long it would take for someone with this opinion to show up (not long, apparently, at least post-wise). Hopefully clear-headed posting will keep the thread from devolving into two sides accusing each other of having badwrongfun.
Hopefully, KestrelZ, you can see that it was not your age, wisdom and experience that invalidated megadungeons for you, but your declining to add theme and plot to the megadungeons that made them unpalatable for you.
And, as Kthulhu and Logan1138 have already implied, there is no one right way to play the game, yada yada yada, rules-light, rules-heavy, plot-light, plot-heavy, in-character, no character, as long as everyone is having fun, who cares? Even as a mature, serious gamer playing a serious game, sometimes I just want to kill things and take their stuff. At least in game. Out of game it would be awkward...