Faeruns Largest Dungeon

[hackmastergeneral]

So, I'm about to embark on my first DMing experience, running Worlds Largest Dungeon.

I don't know how far I'll get into it before I decide to move the party out and onto other things, but it seems like a good way of starting.

I'm setting it in Faerun somewhere, as I'm by far more experienced with Forgotten Realms. I'm going to have to change the origins into a prison created by the Gods, but they forgot about it. Perhaps it was created long in days of yore, and the current gods are unaware of its existance.

Or perhaps Tyr created it on his own, and hasn't told anyone else about it, and has long since ignored it. I dunno.

Any how, after reading some threads here and on RPG.net, I have mentioned all the usual WLD warnings to the players. Here is what they have come up with so far as a party:

Dave is playing a Warlock. Hasn't settled on a race yet, probably human. To me, Warlock is a fantastic dungeon class - great ability, never needs to recharge or rest to regain it, and it works at range, and can be modified in many ways to be more versitile.

Joni, my wife, is making a Whisper Gnome Scout who will PrC into a Dungeon Delver at the earliest opportunity. Whisper Gnome is a great race for this, and the DD will be a very useful class to take. Scout is neat, as they can do anything a Rogue can, but Skirmish does not require convoluted flanking setups, as it only requires "move 10' " - a decent Tumble check can get her moving in combat and constantly gain Skirmish every round, also nice abilities.

Craig will be playing a Dwarf Wizard. He wants to get the nice bonuses Dwarves get for being underground, but has never played a wizard.

Harv has declared he will play some variety of Warrior class, but hasn't settled on what stripe/race.

Mike is having difficulty. I offered to NPC a Healer class character, to free up any potential Clerics from having to be the walking band aid, or to allow others to not play the cleric at all (trying to angle another Fighter into the group), but his first impulse - forget the healer, and he'll play a Cleric/Wizard/Mystic Theurge. My repeated attempts to point out how awful a choice this is - both in terms of party makeup (only one fighter, with a bunch of guys who need protection), and dungeon crawling (multi classing away from Cleric removes precious Heal spells, and splits your focus in bad ways) have met with no avail. His other idea was a Ninja. The guy who loves Rangers totally moves away from type. Plus he wants to ditch the NPC Healer, who heals, and do something that will detract from the parties ability to stay up and mobile.

I'm trying to convince him a Fighty Cleric would be his best option, with the Healer NPC, as it allows him to be a good 2nd line fighter, but still have the ability to drop back and act as spelll/healing support should the need arise. PrCing with Justicar of Tyr would be a great choice.

Sigh. The group that LOVES fighting classes unilaterally decides to drop them before entering a deadly and complex dungeon.

 

[Ciaran]

You can always give them some extra NPCs, for however long they last before they're eaten by dungeon denizens. Or just wait for the TPK!

 

[hackmastergeneral]

Well, I'm pretty sure the NPC Healer is a go. Just got an email from Harv that said "Need healer, not some wanna-be healer, 1 more character will not alter XP much" in response to Mikes "I wanna be a Mystic Theurge, we don't need no stinkin NPC" idea.

So, Healer is likely a go. I'm gonna add a few spells to her list - some good buff/support spells that they don't have, but fit the class idea (they really have a crappy spell list), and get rid of the Celestial Unicorn and give her something more suited to the Dungeon environment. Any ideas?

 

[Ciaran]

So, Healer is likely a go. I'm gonna add a few spells to her list - some good buff/support spells that they don't have, but fit the class idea (they really have a crappy spell list), and get rid of the Celestial Unicorn and give her something more suited to the Dungeon environment. Any ideas?

I wouldn't worry about that too much. After all, what are the chances that an NPC Healer will live long enough to pick up the companion? In any case, given that the WLD was supposed to be built and run by celestials, you could replace the unicorn with some other celestial of an appropriate power level. How about a Hound Archon, or maybe multiple Lantern Archons (with the total number of Lanterns scaling up with the Healer's level)?

 

[hackmastergeneral]

A few updates:

Craig will be playing a High Elf Wizard, to take advantage of the bonus to Intelligence.

Mike has decided on a Human Cleric, as everyone else is likely playing Human. If everyone else in the party had Dark/lowlight vision, he'd have taken Elf, but since most are human, he's gonna go human as well.

Harv is going straight human Fighter.

I have also decided to allow characters one extra feat at first level - the extra feat must be either a "X and Y skill +2" feat, or one of the regional feats listed in the FR books, for the region they are playing in - which is the Dales, Daggerdale specifically near the woods along the road leading to the smoking crater that used to be Tilverton. They are all from a village near there, so all start knowing each other, and they are near bunches of mountains, making it easier to get them to the WLD. None of these unbalances anything, and gives them a few starting bennies to round out character creation, as well as give them incentive to think about character; the extra feat must be approved by me first, and must be tied to some aspect of their character (so if the want "+2 on Spot and Listen", they have to detail that their character is super-attentive, that sort of thing).

 

[hackmastergeneral]

Ran through the first two sessions.

Its D&D Craft Time, as I picked up some huge plastic bristol-board thingies, push pins, sticky tac, and a pair of scissors.

I've been transcribing the maps onto graph paper, and cutting the rooms out and sticking them on the board as we go. So, they don't have to map, and they can see where they have to head. 4 of these things back to back in a square makes the dungeon (or, at least, the Section they are in). We put push pins on to mark unchecked doors, etc.

They are about to fight the Stirges. They got off easy with the Rat Swarm, as they failed their save vs. the wizards Sleep spell. Then they just stomped the crap out of them.

The Wizard dropped once, from a Darkmantle (early room with two in it). The funny thing was, they didn't know if there were others, so the group stepped AROUND and OVER the fallen wizard who was slowly being suffocated by the dead Darkmantle, so they could form a perimeter and check for more, while the Healer was last in Init, so she would get him safe before he died. Still, it was a funny mental image of the engulfed Wizard, the leathery wings of the DM slowly rising and falling, being stepped over while everyone piles into the room, hoping the Healer gets there in time.

Its been fun so far, and it will get better as we get in.

 

[Ciaran]

Did you figure out who built the thing yet?

Personally, I'd vote for Helm. Make the jailers intensely Lawful, possibly replacing some celestials with modrons and inevitables, and have them so attached to their programming that they're totally unable to cope with the fact that the prison's magics are breaking down. Does Not Compute!!!