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World's Largest Dungeon in actual play [Spoilers!]
- Thread starter haiiro
- Start date
Each and every region as far as i've seen, but first one is between room A3 and A4, second between room A4 and A6, and so on,
my guess is they are either secret doors or magical traps but i'm not really sure, also there are magical traps where there isn't any blue mark, still a long way to read.
also, new question, are there any friendly NPC with prestige class that a PC could learn from?
i'll keep reading as much as i can, but any help like this is great.
my guess is they are either secret doors or magical traps but i'm not really sure, also there are magical traps where there isn't any blue mark, still a long way to read.
also, new question, are there any friendly NPC with prestige class that a PC could learn from?
i'll keep reading as much as i can, but any help like this is great.
erucsbo
Explorer
whoops
my group's chances of escaping the WLD this year have taken a setback.
Overconfident in their ability to push the giants back without taking much damage they rushed in, and got hit by two dispel magics (I've upped the 2 clerics to level 10 instead of 9) that got rid of some invisibility, stoneskins, heroism and the like.
There was an obscuring mist in the middle of the entrance chamber. They thought the spell casters might be hiding there so a flame strike hit it - which cleared the mist and allowed 2 Frost Giant fighters to use their readied action to throw boulders at the approaching party before running away.
An Acid Fog was dropped on the retreating giants, slowing them to 10' a round and a Wall of Force was cast within the Acid Fog. The party didn't know if it had worked but they hoped it would trap the giants in the Fog so they could go in and kill them (party being reistant to acid).
It didn't.
By the time the 3 party fighters had made their way through the acid fog the others were hoping to flank the giants by going a different direction (they knew the caves joined up from previous scouting). Leading the way was a cleric who had had Iron Body and was polymorphed to look like a Frost Giant - the dispel magic had removed the Iron Body but he barrelled on regardless.
He got hit by a blade barrier, and a Storm of Vengence went off outside the caves, extending in to the complex to where the party was.
The cleric failed his fort save vs deafness but thought it was fine because they were all talking by telepathic bond.
He dispelled the blade barrier then chased after the Frost Giant cleric, who was running back deeper in the caves, rather than following the original plan to flank the giants who had gone through the acid fog.
He ran into the temple area where the were-polar bear decided to come and have a 1-on-1.
At this time the dwarf had managed to get to the edge of the acid fog, to be met by three giants including the Taskmaster, who has a dwarf-bane warhammer.
Now for some time the party has been reaping the benefits of having fighters being able to dish out HUGE amounts of damage courtesy of Power Attack. I had been saying for quite a while that the monsters could play by the same rules.
Polar bear hit the polymorphed cleric once, easily (given the cleric only had an AC of 18), and for his next round of attacks went to town with Power Attack - 150+ hp dropping the cleric like a stone.
Taskmaster hit the dwarf with Power Attack - 250ish hp dropping the dwarven eldritch knight like a stone.
The rest of the party grabbed the bodies and retreated as fast as they could - back in to the Storm which is now obscuring everything beyond 5'
and this is where we left the session.
1 more for the year - not looking promising on them being able to get out unless they do something special
Rule #1 broken - don't split the party
Rule #2 - if two high level fighters go toe-to-toe, the first one to attack usually drops the second.
Rule #3 - don't get in to a melee with a high level fighter if you aren't one yourself (or you can't be hit).
In open terrain the party is too deadly against the giants - they can take them down before the giants can close.
Inside the caves, buffed with protection from energy, the giants are deadly.
running count of deaths in the WLD
2 not resurrected
4 (IIRC) resurrected
2 currently in effect
my group's chances of escaping the WLD this year have taken a setback.
Overconfident in their ability to push the giants back without taking much damage they rushed in, and got hit by two dispel magics (I've upped the 2 clerics to level 10 instead of 9) that got rid of some invisibility, stoneskins, heroism and the like.
There was an obscuring mist in the middle of the entrance chamber. They thought the spell casters might be hiding there so a flame strike hit it - which cleared the mist and allowed 2 Frost Giant fighters to use their readied action to throw boulders at the approaching party before running away.
An Acid Fog was dropped on the retreating giants, slowing them to 10' a round and a Wall of Force was cast within the Acid Fog. The party didn't know if it had worked but they hoped it would trap the giants in the Fog so they could go in and kill them (party being reistant to acid).
It didn't.
By the time the 3 party fighters had made their way through the acid fog the others were hoping to flank the giants by going a different direction (they knew the caves joined up from previous scouting). Leading the way was a cleric who had had Iron Body and was polymorphed to look like a Frost Giant - the dispel magic had removed the Iron Body but he barrelled on regardless.
He got hit by a blade barrier, and a Storm of Vengence went off outside the caves, extending in to the complex to where the party was.
The cleric failed his fort save vs deafness but thought it was fine because they were all talking by telepathic bond.
He dispelled the blade barrier then chased after the Frost Giant cleric, who was running back deeper in the caves, rather than following the original plan to flank the giants who had gone through the acid fog.
He ran into the temple area where the were-polar bear decided to come and have a 1-on-1.
At this time the dwarf had managed to get to the edge of the acid fog, to be met by three giants including the Taskmaster, who has a dwarf-bane warhammer.
Now for some time the party has been reaping the benefits of having fighters being able to dish out HUGE amounts of damage courtesy of Power Attack. I had been saying for quite a while that the monsters could play by the same rules.
Polar bear hit the polymorphed cleric once, easily (given the cleric only had an AC of 18), and for his next round of attacks went to town with Power Attack - 150+ hp dropping the cleric like a stone.
Taskmaster hit the dwarf with Power Attack - 250ish hp dropping the dwarven eldritch knight like a stone.
The rest of the party grabbed the bodies and retreated as fast as they could - back in to the Storm which is now obscuring everything beyond 5'
and this is where we left the session.
1 more for the year - not looking promising on them being able to get out unless they do something special
Rule #1 broken - don't split the party
Rule #2 - if two high level fighters go toe-to-toe, the first one to attack usually drops the second.
Rule #3 - don't get in to a melee with a high level fighter if you aren't one yourself (or you can't be hit).
In open terrain the party is too deadly against the giants - they can take them down before the giants can close.
Inside the caves, buffed with protection from energy, the giants are deadly.
running count of deaths in the WLD
2 not resurrected
4 (IIRC) resurrected
2 currently in effect
erucsbo
Explorer
And we are done
After 4 years and 4 months the party has left the World's Largest Dungeon.
Players were well and truly sick and tired of being stuck there and in retrospect it might have been better to have them escape much sooner and use some of the sections as stand-alone adventures.
After retreating from the giants wth 2 dead characters I forced the pace.
In the distance they heard a trumpet sound, the bard identifying it as the Trumpet Archon from the Garrison in G.
Then the earthquakes started.
(The Garrison had finished its cleanup of the WLD and the NPCs had assisted in hitting activating the Final Solution in the Tomb.
The Elves had heard the 3rd pronouncement from the tree and could leave through the rift in the ceiling.)
The roof started collapsing so the party took shelter within an extra-dimensional space (I allowed this as it was artifact level magic and they were on the periphery of the WLD and the protections were being dismantled.
20 minutes inside the sanctuary saw both the dead cleric and dead eldritch knight resurrected and on leaving the caves had collapsed down to unstable crawlways and passages.
They made their way north and I had a rift open up to the eastern cavern (I wanted them to get to the Titan and if they had gone the normal way then it would have been exit and that's all folks).
Encountering a wall of ice in front of them (within which they could see the titan) they retreated to the extradimensional space and had a blade barrier operate for 12 rounds chipping away at the ice until enough damage had been done to free the titan.
He polymorphed down to medium size and they headed west to an encounter with Jardarir, who was trapped under lots of rock.
He had cast Divine Might to increase his size to get out.
The party went on the offensive and cast acid fog, cloudkill etc while Barcellus used Fire Storm.
A dispel magic by Jardarir failed to get rid of the acid fog and the party eventually dropped him.
Barcellus accompanied them to the exit and they saw the destruction of the WLD from above as the elves could be spied in the distance emerging high in the mountains, a beam of light showing where the garrison celestials were escaping and huge rifts filled with lava showed that the river of lava had expanded and was now filling out the rest of the dungeon.
Word reached them that the drow and driders had the option of escaping back via the source of the river of lava before it expanded.
The residents of the Pyrefaust were not fussed with the lava expansion and could now move away since the roof had collapsed.
Regions B, C, D, F and L were not explored by the party and thus didn't need to explained.
Barcellus would deal with any Frost Giants that managed to escape before going back to find the body of his brother.
I am now taking a break from DMing and will enjoy being a player again
I'd like to thank the posters on this thread for all the help you have provided over the years and I'll try and stick my head in from time to time to "pay it forward".
After 4 years and 4 months the party has left the World's Largest Dungeon.
Players were well and truly sick and tired of being stuck there and in retrospect it might have been better to have them escape much sooner and use some of the sections as stand-alone adventures.
After retreating from the giants wth 2 dead characters I forced the pace.
In the distance they heard a trumpet sound, the bard identifying it as the Trumpet Archon from the Garrison in G.
Then the earthquakes started.
(The Garrison had finished its cleanup of the WLD and the NPCs had assisted in hitting activating the Final Solution in the Tomb.
The Elves had heard the 3rd pronouncement from the tree and could leave through the rift in the ceiling.)
The roof started collapsing so the party took shelter within an extra-dimensional space (I allowed this as it was artifact level magic and they were on the periphery of the WLD and the protections were being dismantled.
20 minutes inside the sanctuary saw both the dead cleric and dead eldritch knight resurrected and on leaving the caves had collapsed down to unstable crawlways and passages.
They made their way north and I had a rift open up to the eastern cavern (I wanted them to get to the Titan and if they had gone the normal way then it would have been exit and that's all folks).
Encountering a wall of ice in front of them (within which they could see the titan) they retreated to the extradimensional space and had a blade barrier operate for 12 rounds chipping away at the ice until enough damage had been done to free the titan.
He polymorphed down to medium size and they headed west to an encounter with Jardarir, who was trapped under lots of rock.
He had cast Divine Might to increase his size to get out.
The party went on the offensive and cast acid fog, cloudkill etc while Barcellus used Fire Storm.
A dispel magic by Jardarir failed to get rid of the acid fog and the party eventually dropped him.
Barcellus accompanied them to the exit and they saw the destruction of the WLD from above as the elves could be spied in the distance emerging high in the mountains, a beam of light showing where the garrison celestials were escaping and huge rifts filled with lava showed that the river of lava had expanded and was now filling out the rest of the dungeon.
Word reached them that the drow and driders had the option of escaping back via the source of the river of lava before it expanded.
The residents of the Pyrefaust were not fussed with the lava expansion and could now move away since the roof had collapsed.
Regions B, C, D, F and L were not explored by the party and thus didn't need to explained.
Barcellus would deal with any Frost Giants that managed to escape before going back to find the body of his brother.
I am now taking a break from DMing and will enjoy being a player again
I'd like to thank the posters on this thread for all the help you have provided over the years and I'll try and stick my head in from time to time to "pay it forward".
Raven Crowking
First Post
I have at least one player in my group who is hungry for another crack at the WLD, using our new ruleset. One of the problems we had was the combats taking so long in 3e that even really cool ideas, like having to deal with swarms of fiendish darkmantles upfront, were kind of boring.
One of the things I will be doing, though, is changing the nature of the prison so that its wards fell long, long ago. Characters can come and go as they like, some creatures/encounters will be changed, some added, some deleted. Definitely adding some sublevels, so the thing isn't so one-level, as well as links to a larger underdark.
Which means I'll be doing a lot of re-writing and expanding. It's a big job, and I am very thankful that this thread is here to supply some ideas. A very large "Thank You" to you all!
RC
One of the things I will be doing, though, is changing the nature of the prison so that its wards fell long, long ago. Characters can come and go as they like, some creatures/encounters will be changed, some added, some deleted. Definitely adding some sublevels, so the thing isn't so one-level, as well as links to a larger underdark.
Which means I'll be doing a lot of re-writing and expanding. It's a big job, and I am very thankful that this thread is here to supply some ideas. A very large "Thank You" to you all!
RC
Questions
I tried to read this entire thread, but gave up after 3 days of reading. So if these questions have been answered, I apologize.
1) What is the A in the corridor to the north east of B10 supposed to be? I'm guessing it is one of the region F warp gates, but it is in a different color and such.
2) Room A46 states that "the" door is trapped, and that the room is safe. However, there are two doors. I have decided that in order for it to be safe, they must both be trapped. Otherwise every room with just one door would be safe. Is there any official word on this, or anyone else do it differently?
3) Is there an official Errata somewhere? All of the websites I saw at the beginning of this thread from 5 years ago seem to be dead or changed to other topics, and the WorldsLargestDungeon.com doesn't list one.
4) For those that have finished the dungeon, how has using the EL for XP worked out? Has it seemed to be workable?
5) Finally, I'm real big on the "benefit of the doubt" concept. I realize that there are a lot of arguments for imbalance between various powers and such, but I always start from the premise that the designers of a module or campaign have balanced that module in regard to the availbable material. In this case, since the module is using SRD creatures, I have to assume, barring any official notice to the contrary, that the dungeon is balanced for the SRD character races, classes, and prestige classes (with the exception of psionics, which I have already read is not included in the book). So I have limited my players strictly to the PHB, and later the prestige classes from the DMG. Has anyone seen any problems I am going to run into with this approach? I have already denied an artificer request by one of the players, because I don't want to open up the whole eberron suite, on the assumption that then I will have to throw in eberron monsters and npc to balance it. However, I have also pretty much decided that if they end up with a TPK fairly quickly, I will probably open up the selections.
I tried to read this entire thread, but gave up after 3 days of reading. So if these questions have been answered, I apologize.
1) What is the A in the corridor to the north east of B10 supposed to be? I'm guessing it is one of the region F warp gates, but it is in a different color and such.
2) Room A46 states that "the" door is trapped, and that the room is safe. However, there are two doors. I have decided that in order for it to be safe, they must both be trapped. Otherwise every room with just one door would be safe. Is there any official word on this, or anyone else do it differently?
3) Is there an official Errata somewhere? All of the websites I saw at the beginning of this thread from 5 years ago seem to be dead or changed to other topics, and the WorldsLargestDungeon.com doesn't list one.
4) For those that have finished the dungeon, how has using the EL for XP worked out? Has it seemed to be workable?
5) Finally, I'm real big on the "benefit of the doubt" concept. I realize that there are a lot of arguments for imbalance between various powers and such, but I always start from the premise that the designers of a module or campaign have balanced that module in regard to the availbable material. In this case, since the module is using SRD creatures, I have to assume, barring any official notice to the contrary, that the dungeon is balanced for the SRD character races, classes, and prestige classes (with the exception of psionics, which I have already read is not included in the book). So I have limited my players strictly to the PHB, and later the prestige classes from the DMG. Has anyone seen any problems I am going to run into with this approach? I have already denied an artificer request by one of the players, because I don't want to open up the whole eberron suite, on the assumption that then I will have to throw in eberron monsters and npc to balance it. However, I have also pretty much decided that if they end up with a TPK fairly quickly, I will probably open up the selections.
My changes to the dungeon
I have only recently bought the book and will start running my players through it in late January. I realize I'm getting to this thread 5 years late, but here are the modifications I have decided to make so far...
First, I have been calling it Wollarsun (WOrLds LARgeSt dUngeoN). At least that is the name external NPC's that know of it at all use. The denizens will most likely call it simply The Prison.
Second, I hadn't read region O before I found this thread, so the Titan at the entrance never made any sense to me. If he had been stationed there since the beginning of time, 500lbs was nowhere near enough paper for his journal. So I gave him a magic pocket that is basically a portable hole, only larger. The pocket itself is large enough for a medium size creature to enter, and there the pc's find a warehouse worth of additional notes, not that it does them any good. Of course, the magic of the pocket is part of the clothing, so the pocket itself does them no good either.
I didn't like having no cause of death for the Titan. So, the titan died of boredom, after first going insane. Most of his journal is unreadable, but in his insanity, he occasionally wrote in common in the later entries. Unfortunately, they still don't help the party any, as they talk about things like flying rainbow monkeys.
I also didn't understand why someone trying to hide a dungeon would stand a permanent guard outside the entrance, especially if the rest of it was buried. So the titan was originally stationed in room A1. However, A1 collapsed in the earthquakes, since it wasn't really a part of the dungeon in the first place, and wasn't as well supported by the magics. The titan survived that (although his death then would probably have been better than dieing of boredom, but I came up with the collapse later, mainly because I misread the description and thought the entrance to A1 was the black barrier and I already had an encounter set up there), but the southernmost barrier entrance into A2 is buried in debris, while the northern one is now exposed. His guard post is now external, and he dealt with a lot more chance visitors before his death than he used to.
I know my party (although this is the first time I am a DM and not a player), and "save the world" type quests and quests with no rest or escape are very stressful. So I have added an out. An ancient order has established an outpost slightly further up the mountain than the current entrance. The watch is held by a high level mage (chaotic neutral lich, but the party doesn't know this) who is building a tower. The tower will probably go further down than up, until it breaks into Region A. I haven't decided where, but I'm thinking the westermost edge, although this plays havoc with where the tower is located above ground (if time is different inside, perhaps space is as well?). I originally had a hard time deciding how to get around the magic protecting the dungeon. I was imagining the barrier extending around a goodly portion of the dungeon, so that it would be encountered even when trying to dig in. The lich is high enough level to dispel it at the front entrance, but doesn't want to risk releasing anything else. So he has managed to recreate something similar to the all-door. This way, he can open a doorway across the barrier without actually breaching it or using extradimensional travel. Of course, having read more, I will probably just make it a mundane basement door, which he will then protect with his own spells. Perhaps working in something to hold it open so that the dungeon seal it closed as it does the holes of the frost worms in region O.
Anyway, this mage will offer them patronage, supplying them in exchange for first pick on magic items coming out, but mainly for information about the dungeon. His first instructions to them are to find out what Longtail went looking for, whether he is still alive, and whether he found it or not.
Later, I will add a city. I haven't decided which city. Currently, the nearby river is over its banks and impassable, so the PC's can't get to it anyway. I have been working on my own city off and on for a year now. I don't know whether to finish it up, get Monte Cook's Ptolus, or get World's Largest City. A friend has Ptolus, so I have seen it and like it. My FLGS (the only one still left around here, anyway) doesn't have World's Largest City in stock, though. Honestly, with the cost of these things, I wouldn't have bought World's Largest Dungeon if I hadn't found a PDF version to look at first. One of the online retailers (RPG something, I forget the name) has online previews, but the World's Largest City previews really don't show anything useful, and I haven't found a PDF of it online. So I'm leaning more toward Ptolus at the moment. But regardless, that will give the PC's a place to truly rest, gain new spells, and sell equipment. It will also give a place for urban encounters if they really need something above ground. I've already started working up one involving a Splinterwaif from MM 3.
I have only recently bought the book and will start running my players through it in late January. I realize I'm getting to this thread 5 years late, but here are the modifications I have decided to make so far...
First, I have been calling it Wollarsun (WOrLds LARgeSt dUngeoN). At least that is the name external NPC's that know of it at all use. The denizens will most likely call it simply The Prison.
Second, I hadn't read region O before I found this thread, so the Titan at the entrance never made any sense to me. If he had been stationed there since the beginning of time, 500lbs was nowhere near enough paper for his journal. So I gave him a magic pocket that is basically a portable hole, only larger. The pocket itself is large enough for a medium size creature to enter, and there the pc's find a warehouse worth of additional notes, not that it does them any good. Of course, the magic of the pocket is part of the clothing, so the pocket itself does them no good either.
I didn't like having no cause of death for the Titan. So, the titan died of boredom, after first going insane. Most of his journal is unreadable, but in his insanity, he occasionally wrote in common in the later entries. Unfortunately, they still don't help the party any, as they talk about things like flying rainbow monkeys.
I also didn't understand why someone trying to hide a dungeon would stand a permanent guard outside the entrance, especially if the rest of it was buried. So the titan was originally stationed in room A1. However, A1 collapsed in the earthquakes, since it wasn't really a part of the dungeon in the first place, and wasn't as well supported by the magics. The titan survived that (although his death then would probably have been better than dieing of boredom, but I came up with the collapse later, mainly because I misread the description and thought the entrance to A1 was the black barrier and I already had an encounter set up there), but the southernmost barrier entrance into A2 is buried in debris, while the northern one is now exposed. His guard post is now external, and he dealt with a lot more chance visitors before his death than he used to.
I know my party (although this is the first time I am a DM and not a player), and "save the world" type quests and quests with no rest or escape are very stressful. So I have added an out. An ancient order has established an outpost slightly further up the mountain than the current entrance. The watch is held by a high level mage (chaotic neutral lich, but the party doesn't know this) who is building a tower. The tower will probably go further down than up, until it breaks into Region A. I haven't decided where, but I'm thinking the westermost edge, although this plays havoc with where the tower is located above ground (if time is different inside, perhaps space is as well?). I originally had a hard time deciding how to get around the magic protecting the dungeon. I was imagining the barrier extending around a goodly portion of the dungeon, so that it would be encountered even when trying to dig in. The lich is high enough level to dispel it at the front entrance, but doesn't want to risk releasing anything else. So he has managed to recreate something similar to the all-door. This way, he can open a doorway across the barrier without actually breaching it or using extradimensional travel. Of course, having read more, I will probably just make it a mundane basement door, which he will then protect with his own spells. Perhaps working in something to hold it open so that the dungeon seal it closed as it does the holes of the frost worms in region O.
Anyway, this mage will offer them patronage, supplying them in exchange for first pick on magic items coming out, but mainly for information about the dungeon. His first instructions to them are to find out what Longtail went looking for, whether he is still alive, and whether he found it or not.
Later, I will add a city. I haven't decided which city. Currently, the nearby river is over its banks and impassable, so the PC's can't get to it anyway. I have been working on my own city off and on for a year now. I don't know whether to finish it up, get Monte Cook's Ptolus, or get World's Largest City. A friend has Ptolus, so I have seen it and like it. My FLGS (the only one still left around here, anyway) doesn't have World's Largest City in stock, though. Honestly, with the cost of these things, I wouldn't have bought World's Largest Dungeon if I hadn't found a PDF version to look at first. One of the online retailers (RPG something, I forget the name) has online previews, but the World's Largest City previews really don't show anything useful, and I haven't found a PDF of it online. So I'm leaning more toward Ptolus at the moment. But regardless, that will give the PC's a place to truly rest, gain new spells, and sell equipment. It will also give a place for urban encounters if they really need something above ground. I've already started working up one involving a Splinterwaif from MM 3.
erucsbo
Explorer
Hi Sevlow
good luck with this monster.
1) - I didn't do region B so can't help you there
2) - my players bypassed most of A (and headed in to E) so can't help with that one either
3) - there is errata, for some sections including stuff in this thread, particularly from jim pinto and Jim Hague, but honestly most of the suggestions in here are worth including.
4) - I ignored XP and just had the party go up a level at appropriate story times
5) - don't assume that things are balanced. Region N is supposed to be a place for the clerics to shine, but the conditions screw them over. Some encounters (boss monsters) were too easy while others (rasts, darkmantle en mass) can be deadly.
This dungeon is a long hard slog and druids and wizards get screwed, characters can get very one-dimensional as there are some skills that are not worth developing (climb, swim etc) and feats that are next to useless (anything involving mounted combat).
Might also be an idea to set some regional goals in addition to the normal plot ones (as most didn't interest my players) - like retrieving an item or spell components.
good luck with this monster.
1) - I didn't do region B so can't help you there
2) - my players bypassed most of A (and headed in to E) so can't help with that one either
3) - there is errata, for some sections including stuff in this thread, particularly from jim pinto and Jim Hague, but honestly most of the suggestions in here are worth including.
4) - I ignored XP and just had the party go up a level at appropriate story times
5) - don't assume that things are balanced. Region N is supposed to be a place for the clerics to shine, but the conditions screw them over. Some encounters (boss monsters) were too easy while others (rasts, darkmantle en mass) can be deadly.
This dungeon is a long hard slog and druids and wizards get screwed, characters can get very one-dimensional as there are some skills that are not worth developing (climb, swim etc) and feats that are next to useless (anything involving mounted combat).
Might also be an idea to set some regional goals in addition to the normal plot ones (as most didn't interest my players) - like retrieving an item or spell components.
