World's Largest Dungeon VS Rappan Athuk

[Kri8or]

Don't know if this has been covered already or not, but how do the two compare? I've never tried to run RA straight through but I rip off individual levels all the time to use in my campaign as bits of the Underdark, lost temples, whatever. I know it's 3.0 and has some typos/incorrect info, but it has lots of tasty mid/high level badness and tends to be a whole lot of fun. Could WLD be used this way? Does it have any real ecology/history/interesting trappy/fighty bits or is it just encounter after encounter? I read lots of WLD descriptions of low level dungeon crawling with cloakers and fiendish rats, but what about higher level?

Any info would help.
Thanks

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Just make Rappan Athuk level one of WLD. Heheheheh

 

[pogre]

Could WLD be used this way?

I will be the only one on these boards who ventures to say something negative about WLD, but here goes. I bought it with the idea you presented - to rip mini bits out of it to use for my campaign. I found it to be inappropriate for that. It is well put together in some ways and the whole thing kind of makes sense - it just was not modular enough for my tastes. I sold it last month to a friend.

 

[Alzrius]

Honestly, this thread is best saved for when the 3.5E Rappan Athuk comes out. It'll have the necessary errata, all be in one book, and even be expanded. (I think/hope it'll have the extras from the web enhancements in it too.)

 

[Kri8or]

I will be the only one on these boards who ventures to say something negative about WLD, but here goes..

Yeah, what's with that? I've tried to ask about WLD a couple times and rather than actual information I get responses that border on fan boy silliness. Most of the "WLD in play" threads make it seem pretty tedious. I can't even find a decent review of it and the several stores near me that have it have it wrapped in plastic. Unless someone can give me a compelling reason to pick it up (And I'd like one! Really!) I think I'll have to keep using bits of RA and hoping I don't need to wait till GenCon 06 for Necromancer to release the update.

 

[reanjr]

Yeah, what's with that? I've tried to ask about WLD a couple times and rather than actual information I get responses that border on fan boy silliness. Most of the "WLD in play" threads make it seem pretty tedious. I can't even find a decent review of it and the several stores near me that have it have it wrapped in plastic. Unless someone can give me a compelling reason to pick it up (And I'd like one! Really!) I think I'll have to keep using bits of RA and hoping I don't need to wait till GenCon 06 for Necromancer to release the update.

I'll give you a review. It's pretty good. Very well presented. Story line is lacking. Challenges are appropriate. Some of the suggestions in the book (about eating, light sources, druid ban, etc.) are too heavy handed, but they are there for a reason. DM's dream to run, it's so simple. Gets a bit boring to dungeon crawl for weeks on end.

Overall 4/5.

 

[Ds Da Man]

WLD=hack, slash, hack, slash, hack some more......
RA=better story, easily renamed and dropped into or by any city.

 

[Soel]

I played some of the WLD and found it to be the most monotonous, grinding adventure I have ever taken part in. Some of this might have to do with the dm who ran it for us though, who went by the book, very very un-wetly. Perhaps if you're willing to make some changes, it could be made better. I have read bits on some of the people's sessions, and it sounded a lot better than what I was shown.

 

[spectre72]

I am currently running WLD so here is my and my groups take on the product.

If your group likes dungeon crawls (like mine does) then you will love this product.

If you don't like exploring HUGE dungeon areas with no chance of going elsewhere and coming back (you are trapped in the dungeon once you enter) then this is not the product for you.

I have done work to tweek the first region because the encounters repeat too much.

 

[Derfel]

The biggest difference I've seen between the two dungeons is that RA is easier to play right from the book. The WLD is, frankly, boring at the begining and requires far too much work to make interesting. Rappan Athuk is much more engaging. I buy modules because I don't have much time to prepare for a session. With RA I can read the level the players are currently in and start DMing. With WLD I would need to spend hours creating replacement encounters, modifying the map and fleshing out the story to make it useful. This is why I wasn't able to keep DMing WLD for long.

The best way to describe my feelings of the two dungeons is that RA feels more organic, while the WLD is very calculated and formulaic.

I also found the story in RA to be more interesting and cohesive. The overall story in WLD is fairly light. The sub-plots in each region are generally better, but the regions feel very disconnected from each other. The WLD is better served as a series of seperate dungeons, not one large complex.