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World's Largest Dungeon in actual play [Spoilers!]
- Thread starter haiiro
- Start date
Hussar said:Oh, hey jim pinto, I missed this one too and I'm probably one of the biggest whiners about Region B. I know it's not your fault. But, I can see anyone coming up to Region B is going to have the same problems.
You don't have to appologise anymore.
Absolutely! Not blaming anyone (or at least not too much).
I'm just getting to Region B for the first time. If someone can point me to the page(s) in this thread where people talked about it the first time I'll go look there, but I couldn't really find anything!
I don't mean to throw blame, I just need help getting my group through it now!
erucsbo
Explorer
raynbow said:Absolutely! Not blaming anyone (or at least not too much).
I'm just getting to Region B for the first time. If someone can point me to the page(s) in this thread where people talked about it the first time I'll go look there, but I couldn't really find anything!
I don't mean to throw blame, I just need help getting my group through it now!
There were about 600 articles that got lost in the server crash end of last year, so if it was in there then you are out of luck.
P
PaulofCthulhu
Guest
The best bits for me were the the very start as we got into the characters and decided not to kill the Orcs in the first rooms, and Balazaar sticking his hands down latrine holes, the UBER Battle in session #29 - my favourite single episode, and of course blowing up Boyikt, just before he turned 5th level...erucsbo said:
I think the later & higher levels became more of a slog, while I've always enjoyed the freedom & quick action that lower level games provide (at least for me).
We missed Gerout the Half-Orc (Played by Fin) so it was good to have him back at the end - thus managing to complete the dungeon, but doing so while being dead for half of it!
Paul
Kanenfawder
First Post
I just picked up WLD recently, and I'm having a meeting with my 4 players tonight to work on character creation. Everyone's got ideas and roles already, but I'm helping them a little bit -- discouraging the useless skills, encouraging certain things, etc. I'm having everyone take a template or race with a +1 LA, saying that they were sought out by their benefactor to go into the dungeon.
This is my second time DMing, and the first time was very weak in actual RP. I've read over many of the suggestions for changes on here, and I'll be trying to implement some of them. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of free time to work on the campaign before each session, so I'll be winging a lot of it, using some well taken notes to keep things as plot-hole free as possible.
Three out of the four guys I'm running the campaign for like to play often, and we all like long sessions. So we'll probably be meeting once each weekend for a 12-hour-ish session with a few shorter weeknight sessions where applicable.
As I said, I don't have the time (nor do I really have the experience) necessary to tweak a lot of the dungeon. I plan on using butcher paper or something similar for the players create maps and giving them maps of regions as often as I can manage to get it into campaign, simply to speed up the crawl. Anyway, does anyone have any experience with running the dungeon without a lot of customization beforehand?
This is my second time DMing, and the first time was very weak in actual RP. I've read over many of the suggestions for changes on here, and I'll be trying to implement some of them. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of free time to work on the campaign before each session, so I'll be winging a lot of it, using some well taken notes to keep things as plot-hole free as possible.
Three out of the four guys I'm running the campaign for like to play often, and we all like long sessions. So we'll probably be meeting once each weekend for a 12-hour-ish session with a few shorter weeknight sessions where applicable.
As I said, I don't have the time (nor do I really have the experience) necessary to tweak a lot of the dungeon. I plan on using butcher paper or something similar for the players create maps and giving them maps of regions as often as I can manage to get it into campaign, simply to speed up the crawl. Anyway, does anyone have any experience with running the dungeon without a lot of customization beforehand?
Hussar
Legend
Welcome to the Carceri Mundi Kanafawder.
I ran WLD mostly as written. I changed a few bits (mostly region C) but, other than that, I ran as written. It works pretty well, with a few rough spots that have been pointed to ad nauseum in this thread.
I found running things mostly as is to be a blast. Region A could use a little jazzing up, but, you don't actually have to do much work for that. The easiest way to spice up Region A (and, as the first region, you want it to be a bang) is to start moving the monsters around from time to time. Dump an encounter into the hallways and let the PC's have the surprise. Instead of constantly getting bombed by darkmantles, have the 'mantles flying down the hallway, looking for new hunting grounds. Sure, the encounter is easier for the players, but, it makes the WLD much more "alive".
I ran WLD mostly as written. I changed a few bits (mostly region C) but, other than that, I ran as written. It works pretty well, with a few rough spots that have been pointed to ad nauseum in this thread.
I found running things mostly as is to be a blast. Region A could use a little jazzing up, but, you don't actually have to do much work for that. The easiest way to spice up Region A (and, as the first region, you want it to be a bang) is to start moving the monsters around from time to time. Dump an encounter into the hallways and let the PC's have the surprise. Instead of constantly getting bombed by darkmantles, have the 'mantles flying down the hallway, looking for new hunting grounds. Sure, the encounter is easier for the players, but, it makes the WLD much more "alive".
I am also running it mostly as written. I basically skimmed the whole book. Then when they hit a section, I re-skim that section, and read the intro to the section and all the overall section bits to make sure it all makes sense. Then each week I read in detail any room I think they could possibly come anywhere near that week and make sure I understand those rooms (I also jump around to make sure I understand anything in other regions that the part we're in might refer to).
If I hit anything that doesn't make sense, or that I'm confused about, I come here.
There is also a website with a bunch of suggestions/different versions of the map/etc, that I refer to.
http://www.james.neetersoft.com/wld/wld.htm
For Region A, for example, on that website there's a document with a few pages of additional critters if you get tired of Fiendish darkmantles.
There are also alot of customized maps that show things like where the critters are, or maps that have been edited to remove secret doors etc so you can print them out and give them to players.
If I hit anything that doesn't make sense, or that I'm confused about, I come here.
There is also a website with a bunch of suggestions/different versions of the map/etc, that I refer to.
http://www.james.neetersoft.com/wld/wld.htm
For Region A, for example, on that website there's a document with a few pages of additional critters if you get tired of Fiendish darkmantles.
There are also alot of customized maps that show things like where the critters are, or maps that have been edited to remove secret doors etc so you can print them out and give them to players.
Just wrapped up the World Eater Battle and thus the WLd is done here. Of course it wasnt exactly as written for our group, as the whole dungeon has had a bit of extra flavor added, so it might be a little bit harder for people to relate to a summary if I were to write it.
Basically all the undead from region N wound up congregated around (but not inside) the World Eater room. The doors were still closed but the World Eater was digging his path out. All the lesser undead formed sort of an Undead "Terrain" that the party had to wade through to get around. All the bosses gathered with Inivstis who had the last two keys on the west side.
Eventually the party beat, blasted, bull rushed and flew their way around until the battle began. It started well for the Undead with the lead members of the party having to retreat to the main group, but eventually the party on out and gained the remainder of the 4 keys needed to enter the chamber.
Once inside, it was actually much easier, but only because of good luck and planning. I had issued a special scroll to the party called Innocence just for this battle. They would need it since the World Eater had been boosted up to astronomical levels and I made his negative energy effects strong enough to go through Death Ward. They successfully cast the spell, and after 10 rounds of being stunned (and beat on mercilessly), the World Eater had to make a save or revert back to the form he had prior to becoming Evil (human without levels).
He made the save... but there was "spin" to be reckoned with. The party forced him to make a second save, which he made also. So he attacked and swallowed one of the party members on his turn. The next round, the party broke out its single remaining Wish (I forget where it is in the dungeon, but its there) and used it to make the World eater save a third and final time. This time it rolled a 1 and the party was victorious.
Yay! A great time was had by all. On to the next campaign where I get to play a character.
Basically all the undead from region N wound up congregated around (but not inside) the World Eater room. The doors were still closed but the World Eater was digging his path out. All the lesser undead formed sort of an Undead "Terrain" that the party had to wade through to get around. All the bosses gathered with Inivstis who had the last two keys on the west side.
Eventually the party beat, blasted, bull rushed and flew their way around until the battle began. It started well for the Undead with the lead members of the party having to retreat to the main group, but eventually the party on out and gained the remainder of the 4 keys needed to enter the chamber.
Once inside, it was actually much easier, but only because of good luck and planning. I had issued a special scroll to the party called Innocence just for this battle. They would need it since the World Eater had been boosted up to astronomical levels and I made his negative energy effects strong enough to go through Death Ward. They successfully cast the spell, and after 10 rounds of being stunned (and beat on mercilessly), the World Eater had to make a save or revert back to the form he had prior to becoming Evil (human without levels).
He made the save... but there was "spin" to be reckoned with. The party forced him to make a second save, which he made also. So he attacked and swallowed one of the party members on his turn. The next round, the party broke out its single remaining Wish (I forget where it is in the dungeon, but its there) and used it to make the World eater save a third and final time. This time it rolled a 1 and the party was victorious.
Yay! A great time was had by all. On to the next campaign where I get to play a character.
Running it pretty much 'as is' here. I read each section before the group hits it and read the rooms in the direction they are going to go in more detail.
The problem with this, and one you will face as well, is that the party will end up going in directions you did not anticipate. The rats did that to me last night. I was expecting them to explore some rooms they were near (G upper right corner) so I was ready for a fight with a Bodak and a Erinyes and instead had an encounter with a Blackguard and some Demons.
As long as you have a decent idea of what is going on in the area you can wing it ok. I am having some problems with trying to wing powerful creatures and all their abilities on the fly. Usually I go over them before the game, make a cheat sheet or spell cards with their abilities so I don't slow the game down looking them up. Else I pull up www.d20srd.org so I can make quick references as needed.
Good luck and have fun!
rv
The problem with this, and one you will face as well, is that the party will end up going in directions you did not anticipate. The rats did that to me last night. I was expecting them to explore some rooms they were near (G upper right corner) so I was ready for a fight with a Bodak and a Erinyes and instead had an encounter with a Blackguard and some Demons.
As long as you have a decent idea of what is going on in the area you can wing it ok. I am having some problems with trying to wing powerful creatures and all their abilities on the fly. Usually I go over them before the game, make a cheat sheet or spell cards with their abilities so I don't slow the game down looking them up. Else I pull up www.d20srd.org so I can make quick references as needed.
Good luck and have fun!
rv
