What Edition/Version for my Mega-Dungeon

[Herobizkit]

I realize this is unhelpful, but I voted "don't do it". Mega-dungeons takes mega-long to play, and unless you have a pool of about 12 or so players to draw and rotate for each game day, you'll end up horribly disappointed.

Had I not voted as I did, I would have suggested True20. Fast, light cinematic rules where role-playing takes initiative over how much damage you can deal.

 

[Chainsaw]

I realize this is unhelpful, but I voted "don't do it". Mega-dungeons takes mega-long to play, and unless you have a pool of about 12 or so players to draw and rotate for each game day, you'll end up horribly disappointed.

This is a curious statement to me - why do you think they take "mega-long" to play? If it's because it takes forever "to finish" them, then.. you're doing it wrong, heh. A megadungeon is an organic thing that grows and changes and isn't supposed to be finished - it doesn't have any "terminus" that marks winning or anything. It's an entire subterranean world. In that context, my experience has been that they're extremely flexible to party size/power level and available session play time (assuming it's built right - specifically, in this case, that each level has multiple accesses up and down as well as accesses to levels multiples below).

Maybe you're thinking of some sort ultra-large lair or something that essentially has a main track from beginning to end? Or maybe you just don't like dungeon crawling? The latter would obviously be a real dealbreaker for anyone considering a megadungeon.

 

[Herobizkit]

This is a curious statement to me - why do you think they take "mega-long" to play? If it's because it takes forever "to finish" them, then.. you're doing it wrong, heh.

No no, it's my badwrongfun!

A mega-dungeon, to me, is not the same as what you describe. When I hear mega-dungeon, I think of World's Largest Dungeon, or Ruins to Undermountain, or RttToEE. While it's true that you can run the dungeon as you would a standard top-level society, the bottom line is that it has a bottom and Something Lurks Below.

I do not enjoy dungeon crawls, neither running them nor running in them for long. I played through the RttToEE, and by the time I got midway into the "mines", both the DM and I were sick of the adventure... and decided that turning a certain creature loose was the lesser of two evils... and said creature could not be touched by other denizens of said mines... and thus the lower levels were won by outside help.

 

[Chainsaw]

A mega-dungeon, to me, is not the same as what you describe. When I hear mega-dungeon, I think of World's Largest Dungeon, or Ruins to Undermountain, or RttToEE.

Alright, so it sounds like a) we are using the term differently and b) you are referencing some primitive megadungeon attempts. I think the majority of people actually doing megadungeon design/theory now (mostly O/AD&D guys, from what I can tell) use the term to refer to organic subterranean worlds that actually don't have a bottom where a BBEG sits. I'm not sure the dungeons you mention reflect the best practices of modern megadungeon design - if it can be "finished" it's not a megadungeon.

While it's true that you can run the dungeon as you would a standard top-level society, the bottom line is that it has a bottom and Something Lurks Below.

Not true at all.. well-designed megadungeons have no end - they're always growing and changing. I think what you are referring to sounds like just a really big lair dungeon, which I agree has limited appeal.

 

[Verdande]

Personally, I'd use Labyrinth Lord. But no matter what edition you use, you should design it like it's going to be in oD&D. Don't rely on nifty combat powers or DCs of 50 or whatever, but rely on original and intelligent descriptions and incredible design.

 

[Ariosto]

Well designed megadungeons have no end - they're always growing and changing.

'Megadungeon' has indeed come into use to distinguish what OD&D called "a good dungeon" from the limited affairs, more like the dungeon modules that often serve as models, that people tend to mean by 'dungeon' alone.

That is, of course, a bit more than 'mega-' might reasonably imply to those unacquainted with this usage.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, I voted 'Other' for 'Not Enough Information'.

Personally, I would go with either Pathfinder of Fantasy Craft. Pathfinder for player familiarity, Fantasy Craft for the ease of scaling. Critters/NPCs can be handled at any level.

My taste for Mega Dungeons was somewhat changed by three different takes on the concept.

World Largest Dungeon was the path that I decided I would never, ever, ever take - trapping the PCs in a hidden dungeon until they kill or otherwise deal with every creature in the monster manual? Bah.

Dungeonworld was similar in one way - you are trapped in the place, but then again, you wake up on a stone slab that has your name, and there are two coins over your eyes. Welcome to Hell, enjoy your stay. I did not much like the specifics of the place, but liked the idea quite well.

Rappan Athuk - you go into the dungeon, you do what you were sent to do, you get out, repeated with different missions. I kind of like this take on the mega dungeon, and someday may run the darned thing. You don't try to 'finish' the dungeon, you go in when there is a job that needs doing.

The Auld Grump

 

[Ariosto]

Rappan Athuk - you go into the dungeon, you do what you were sent to do, you get out, repeated with different missions.

Make that "do whatever you have chosen to do" (which certainly could be a service to someone else), and you have the OD&D/AD&D 1st ed. version.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Make that "do whatever you have chosen to do" (which certainly could be a service to someone else), and you have the OD&D/AD&D 1st ed. version.

Yeah, Rappan Athuk is a very old fashioned dungeon. You almost expect to run into Tucker's Kobolds.

The Auld Grump

 

[Stormonu]

Just out of morbid curiousity, was there a reason 4E D&D was left off the poll?

Personally, for a mega-dungeon of the Ruins of Undermountain size, I chose Basic D&D. Not much muss or fuss for set-up or play.