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[crash_beedo]

Originally Posted by Raven Crowking

Tension in an Old School Megadungeon, IME, comes from the players trying to push as far as they can (to get greater rewards). The minute you allow sandbox play, you risk that players will engage only in trivial encounters. However, since trivial encounters tend to grant trivial rewards, it is my experience that players almost universally find their way out of this trap with little or no input from the DM being required. YMMV, of course.

RC

Yes, I was struggling with this issue a little bit too, with the thought of making the dungeon levels too horizontal - extending the number of encounters and parcels past the 8-10 would encourage "grinding".

I think there are lots of different ways I can handle it... first, there will be plot hooks / story reasons for the players to keep going deeper when they've hit the appropriate level of XP.

I can ensure that past a certain point, the parcels just aren't that attractive... ie, I can keep giving out magic +1 daggers all day (or the equivalents for that level item). But if you want a shot at a +2 Flaming Maul, you'll need to take on appropriate challenges.

And the Deus Ex is to have (dangerous) rival NPC groups or whatnot also operating in the same area, or dangerous wandering monsters or some other heavy-handed way to steer the group away from too much horizontal grinding; it needs to be their sandbox too but the dungeon environment is dynamic and other forces will be at work.

I like all of the suggestions around using wandering monsters as ways to string along multiple encounters, or have some guys jump in for the dog pile.

I'd love a situation like this to be able to unfold... as the PC's arrive at the dungeon, they see one of the rival groups they met in town (the Black Hats) also dropping ropes to descend the shaft into the great hall. Assume a fight doesn't break out, they agree to go separate ways... our Heroes know there are kobolds in the south wing and have decided to take on the kobold "delve".

The Black Hats circle back and attack the group as they're either finishing the kobolds, or at some other opportune time. It seems like a wandering monster, but it's been planned all along. (And depending on how the encounter with them went top-side, maybe there are no Black Hats left, or they're too intimidated, or whatever). It's going to be fun to pull together.