Your favorite mega dungeon

[Tarondor]

I'm thinking about running a mega dungeon. In particular, I'm thinking of running the Emerald Spire, but I'm also considering re-running the Banewarrens.

I am aware of perhaps six or seven mega dungeons and I've GMed a few (Temple of Elemental Evil, The Banewarrens and the Shattered Star AP.)

I am interested in your opinions, from the perspective of either GM or player, on which mega dungeon you most enjoyed and why.

[Tarondor]

Personally, my all-time favorite is the Banewarrens. It had a lot of wonderful variety and flavor.

[Carla the Profane]

Rappan Athuk? HAH! No-one gets out of that place alive.

[Andre Roy]

I would say that my favorite show my age :P

AD&D
Greyhawk Ruins
Undermountain
Dragon Mountain
Night Below
The Temple of Elemental Evils

D20
DCC #51 Castle WhiteRock

Pathfinder
The Slumbering Tsar

[Seneh Gibbraneh]

I suggest you look at Velcro Zipper presents AEG's - The World's Largest Dungeon...

[Tarondor]

Andre Roy reminds me that I've also GMed Greyhawk Ruins, Undermountain and Dragon Mountain. Never did Night Below, though.

Folks, what are your -reasons- for liking what you list? Are they your favorites? Why?

[GM Rednal]

Rappan Athuk is probably the ultimate choice as far as mega-dungeons go. The sheer scope of it is absolutely incredible - and it's certainly much more challenging than things like the Emerald Spire. XD If you're gonna go for a mega dungeon campaign, why settle for anything less than the best? Make your players anticipate a real challenge each time you game, rather than assuming they can comfortably handle everything.

[Andre Roy]

I'm on nightshift and leaving soon but I'll give a brief highlights.

Greyhawk ruins and Temple of Elemental Evil is mostly nostalgia. However both presents interesting challengestuff to the PC.

Undermountins is the sheer size, background and the mix of detailed and "unlabeled" area giving a lot of flexibility to GM. Skullport is also quite interesting.

Dragon Mountain was the creative use of a weak monster as you main antagonist...making kobold scary again for high level PC. The first book could be skipped thought.

Night Below is the back story and has one of my favorite monster the big A. I like the progression and bone cation between the surface bit and the underground crawl.

Castle Whiterock is generic enough to fit anywhere and the increased challenge level and connection between the monsters of the various level feels organic for the most part, not shoehorned.

The Slumbering Tsar...Orcus, my favorite demon lord.

[Tarondor]

BUMP!

[Burnscar]

The World's Largest Dungeon is really bad.

Rappan Athuk or Slumbering Tsar would have my vote, I think.

[Coffee Demon]

Slumbering Tsar gets two thumbs down from me. Rappan Athuk I like.

Maybe not a mega-dungeon, but Caverns of Thracia is a good mid-sized dungeon that every fantasy RPG player should play. That would be my vote.

[Tarondor]

To all thre: why?

[Seneh Gibbraneh]

Never played Rappan Athuk...
And I do agree (somewhat) that WLD is poorly written... but I had a lot of fun, and died like 5 times in 4 years of play (my first character was Troy, if you read the link)

[Snowlilly]

Carla the Profane wrote:

Rappan Athuk? HAH! No-one gets out of that place alive.

Has not killed me yet.

The rest of my party? Not so fortunate :P

I enjoy Rapan Athuk because it is challenging. You need to play smart and have a character capable of performing well both in and out of combat.

Not all fights are meant to be won, and stupidity is lethal.

Sometimes, the correct answer is "Run Away!!!!!"

[GM Rednal]

Size: Rappan Athuk is massive, although it is split into distinct levels, which helps to give a sense of genuine progression. That said, it's unlikely they will actually complete it. o wo/ Something like Emerald Spire is more realistic for that.

Non-Linearity: Most of Rappan Athuk's floors have more than one way to enter and leave them. It's not a predetermined route that characters will ultimately end up following. This does, in fact, mean that they can end up getting waaaaay over their heads. XD

Secret Goodies: There's an amazing amount of stuff hidden if people know where to look. o wo/ Also, what happens if they go down the well. *Snickers*

Value: You can get a PDF copy for $40, or a Print/PDF bundle for $100. That sounds expensive, yes, but then you realize it's about fifteen cents per-page of content. That's something like half the per-page cost of an adventure path book, and the tome is almost solid adventure, without too much fluff or other content to distract you.

[Tarondor]

Is there anyone (besides me) able to contrast The Emerald Spire with The Banewarrens?

[Azrodon The Red]

To anyone who has played Rappan Athuk. Using the "In the company of dragons" Pathfinder character rules, would it be feasible to play through the dungeon as a Dragon or are there too many tight and tiny spaces to crawl through?