Building the Megadungeon

Raven Crowking said:

So, in addition to working on the RCFG Player's Guide and Big Book of Monsters, I have also started work on a megadungeon to be used with that ruleset. However, the basic ideas of any setting stuff transcend rules to a great degree, and I was thinking of posting some of my processes here while I am working, for whatever interest it might have, and for whatever comments it might generate.

First off, prior to setting pen to paper, I know that I want the megadungeon to contain both "Name" places and "Name" creatures - things that the players can use to mark their PCs' progress through the whole.

It is far more interesting to encounter an interesting location or being that you have heard many rumours about than it is to encounter the same without any buildup. So, I first devised a list of place-names to use, which can be mentioned in rumour, scrawled messages, etc. The goal is to give the players locations to search for, and to allow them the satisfaction of locating some area that they have long desired to find.

At this point, I don't know what these locations actually are, although the names themselves are suggestive in some cases.

The Amber Courtyard
The Bandit’s Roost
The Black Hall
The Burning Dome
The Cerulean Well
The Chamber of the Bronze Throne
The Cistern of the Dun Waters
The Cloudy Vault of Whispering Leopards
The Copper Pool
The Crimson Catacombs
The Crypt of Red Markings
The Crypt of Sleeping Dogs
The Dripping Garden
The Ebony Grotto
The Green Lake
The Groaning Arch
The Hall of the Bitter Banquet
The Library of Bones
The Moving Pool of Xar Yggar
The Perfumed Machine of Sparkling Crystal
The Pool of Shadowed Vermin
The Restful Chapel of St. Helmbright the Vigilant
The River of Uncertain Dreams
The Scarlet Gallery
The Sea of Ivory Stones
The Smoking Shrine of Ly Valle
The Sour Temple
The Spinning Chapel
The Tapestry of Winds
The Tawny Altar of St. McCoy
The Verdant Caverns
The Vermillion-Handed Idol of Destiny
The Wandering Library
The Waterfall of Fearful Whispers
The Yellow Fountain

The Bandit’s Roost will obviously be a place where bandits gather. The idea of a roost makes me want this place to span several levels, with criss-crossing rafters and hidey holes in the walls.

The Dripping Garden makes me think of a damp, misty place where plants are growing in a sort of hanging garden. Perhaps there is also green slime, oozes, and giant slugs?

The Moving Pool of Xar Yggar is a teleportational device, perhaps leading to other planes, or other regions of the campaign milieu.

The Perfumed Machine of Sparkling Crystal is probably an artifact, now malfunctioning, created my a madman. Perhaps I'll name him Mull.

The Restful Chapel of St. Helmbright the Vigilant should be a safe place for adventurers to hole up and rest.

The Sea of Ivory Stones suggests a beach of water-smoothed bones.

The Verdant Caverns is a series of locations with plant-based monsters.

The Wandering Library should appear on the Wandering Encounters tables. Its location literally moves, and it may well move while the PCs are within, depositing them on a different level altogether........ Yet within its mouldering tomes can be found much knowledge of use to adventuring types. The books change location with the Library, so those who "borrow" one discover that they don't have it for long. For this reason, perhaps, there is a kind of truce in the library......Perhaps even a Librarian who enforces the peace?


RC

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