Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

generic · Dec 28, 2018

3 out of 5 rating for Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a mega-dungeon of the kind more common in older editions. Fans of Undermountain will complain that it does not include every part of the dungeon setting. However, I prefer to think of DotMM as a sort-of "highlights of Undermountain" product. It feels like all of Undermountain without being all of Undermountain. Now, let's get into the details:

Story: 2/5

Dungeon of the Mad Mage has hardly any story whatsoever, with few justifications for hooks given. Don't buy this product expecting a pre-made story, you need to flesh out the bulk of the plot yourself.

Crunch: 5/5

If you're tired of the relative lack of crunch in 5e books, then this book will be your salvation. It has spartan, very sparse art, a high page count, and pretty much only crunch with a sprinkling of fluff.

Maps: 3/5

The maps included within are even more minimalist than those included in Dragon Heist.

EthanSental · Jan 25, 2019

5 out of 5 rating for Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

I’ll leave a longer review when I have time but suffice to day the adventure struck a cord with me and enjoyed the layout and levels of Undermountain...new things, story and monster to build off my previous edition products I owned.

Haffrung · Feb 8, 2019

5 out of 5 rating for Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

I've read or played in some classic big dungeons. Temple of Elemental Evil. Cloudland. Rappan Athuk. Castle Whiterock. Stonehell. I've spent many hours discussing and theorycrafting megadungeons. I've even taken a couple runs at creating my own.

But despite being dead in the crosshairs of WotC as a buyer for Dungeon of the Mad Mage, I frankly didn't have a lot of confidence that WotC could publish something that met my expectations. I presumed it would be too generic. One of those lifeless dungeons so common on the market - a huge and sterile monster lair. Little genuine exploration or sense of place. Just rooms and encounters. Something I might pillage for a few ideas, but which I doubted I would run as-is.

To my genuine surprise, they pulled it off - this is a great dungeon. Undermountain is vast, diverse, and colourful. It's the farthest thing from generic. The geography varies from mad-wizard labyrinths to ruined towns and underground rivers to haunted drow city to dwarven tombs, artificial forests, etc. Each level has a distinct feel, but they're threaded together by Halastor and his mad schemes, as well as a clever portal system to offer expedited travel and alternate routes.

Most importantly, great care has been taken to make most rooms interesting. Magical statues, eerie tapestries, clever mechanisms, haunted ruins. Dungeons are not all about hack and slash - they're about exploration. And DotMM is a place worth exploring.

Furthermore, it's rich with factions and opportunity for roleplaying. On every level the intelligent denizens have agendas and goals. Played shrewdly by the DM, PCs should meet an early grave if they just try to hack their way through the dungeon. They'll have far more success if they reconnoitre, negotiate, and deal. There's story here. Engaging plot hooks. It just isn't scripted the way many modern adventures are.

Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys dungeon exploration- especially grognards who may have turned their backs on WotC's recent offerings.

ClaytonStine · Jun 2, 2019

2 out of 5 rating for Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

This adventure was made for audiences that love mega-dungeons. The problem: this isn’t a good mega-dungeon. Filled with tonal inconsistencies, poor layout, and no usability tools, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, is a harder monster to slay than anything in its pages.

pogre · Jun 24, 2019

5 out of 5 rating for Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

This is a playtest review - my group is just about to finish this monstrosity! It was a ton of fun and right down our alley!

Straight forward simple maps.
Lots of dungeon action.
For those seeking an immersive roleplaying experience to allow exploration of your PCs deeper, spiritual self and create lasting relationships with NPCs and other PCs - ummm, this is not for you.
If you love to get together with friends, laugh, kill monsters, and take their stuff - this is the best thing ever put out by WOTC!

jasper · Oct 30, 2019

After Play review of Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

4 out 5

Story 2/5. No story exists unless you choose one the goals of Halaster and some of the few quests in the front of the book. It is simply a mega dungeon. Or take notes on which floors are communicating with each other. I did so and it occasionally made things hard on players and at other times easy.

Crunch 5/5. 23 levels with APL starting at 5 and going up to 17. Lots of different monsters, alliances, and possible foes.

Maps 4/5. I loved the black and white maps as I could see everything without any strange color hiding information. However some of the maps are very busy and you will need to know the room key well.

Time vs Price 5/5. I ran this as an Adventure League book. 27 sessions with almost a year of game play. Each session generally lasting four hours. At times it became boring either due to the group not making much progress. Or some players using player knowledge to short circuit some encounters.

Problem items. Lots of treasure is given out and magic items. The Archways which transport you to another level did not work in Adventure league due having such a spread of levels among the pcs. My group nickname them Carnival Cut Throughs. Because you had to be X level to pass through.

PC Killed 14 Monster Killed 931 Villains Captured 14 Villains Escaped 28 K/D ratio 66.5 to 1. The Kill count maybe low but it can be a deadly dungeon.

Homebrewing suggestions. DON’T run this a campaign. Run a few levels and then have your players go elsewhere.