D&D 5E Megadungeon delving as a campaign’s core; is it compatible with modern play?

[Micah Sweet]

Yes and you don't need to tweak anything.

Can you expand on that? I really don't think the PC-as-superhero, mechanically-anemic exploration pillar playstyle in WotC 5e is compatible with megadungeon play without some adjustments.

 

[payn]

Well, there is a mechanical element to this and narrative element. Often, megadungeons get pigeon holed as some type of resource attrition skill play old school pre-Hickman revolution thing. I mean, they certainly started that way, but I think as the game evolved so does its myriad of play loops. If you have the idea a megadungeon must be old school, then a background plot of continuity within the campaign is likely to be seen as undesirable. That is not to say, that you cant have a megadungeon eco system with a great story to explore and jettison all the skill play and resource attrition old school playstyle too.

TL;DR You can have old school, new school, or hybrid megadungeons, though its likely best to be up front about the game play loop and style used for the campaign at session zero.

 

[DarkCrisis]

As long as its wheelchair and Centaur accessible and you consider that the so-called "monsters" are there possibly because they were kicked out of their homes and had no where else to go and you may in fact be the invaders.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I love the idea of a campaign based on reclaiming a “mega dungeon” that was once a great citystate.

Most if not all the campaigns I’ve been exposed to the party is nigh constantly travelling or visiting new ‘dungeon’ locations, But the idea of repeatedly going through the same places, knowing that they’re going to be returning multiple times and encouraging the players to actually invest thought into ‘what will make my next visit smoother’ or ‘what do we want to establish in the dungeon so we don’t have to return all the way to the surface every time and how are we actually going to manage to do that’

Where you actually consider the nature of your environment and what can be done with it beyond ‘can i loot anything from it’ or ‘it’s mossy temple wall style 3’

 

[Stormonu]

Considering Undermountain (a megadungeon) was recently republished in 5E in Dungeon of the Mad Mage, I’d say it’s perfectly usable as an environment right now. There’s also Rappan Athuk (another mega dungeon) from Frog God games that’s been revised for 5E.

The back of the 5E DMG even has a random dungeon generator set of tables (Ala the 1E tables) if you wanted to do a procedurally generated dungeon on the fly for a campaign game.

And I don’t think it’d be difficult to get players on board to play such games, either.

 

[iserith]

Most if not all the campaigns I’ve been exposed to the party is nigh constantly travelling or visiting new ‘dungeon’ locations, But the idea of repeatedly going through the same places, knowing that they’re going to be returning multiple times and encouraging the players to actually invest thought into ‘what will make my next visit smoother’ or ‘what do we want to establish in the dungeon so we don’t have to return all the way to the surface every time and how are we actually going to manage to do that’

Where you actually consider the nature of your environment and what can be done with it beyond ‘can i loot anything from it’ or ‘it’s mossy temple wall style 3’

All you really need there is a big dungeon location with monster factions. The more factions, the more complex the relationships can get, but even just 2 offers the players some interesting decisions to consider as to dealing with them.

You'd also want a town as a safe haven - adventure doesn't happen here, but you can do interesting things that can benefit you later in the dungeon.

 

[Maxperson]

I'm currently running a home built mega dungeon (that's the extra dimensional library of a Lich) in my main campaign and it's very viable.

For clarification the campaign is a 1 to 20th level one I wrote. The characters are currently 10th level and met when they were 2nd level (I ran an individual session 0 for each player as an individual adventure which explained why they were contacted to find the library). The first part of the campaign was the characters finding out about the library and traveling to it. They reached the entrance when they were 5th level and have been exploring the depths since.

When designing the actual library I made sure to design it where there are options for social interactions along with options to resupply, sell/buy magic, and downtime.

As an example I wrote in a small tribe of Azer that were once magically compelled to help the Lich, but at some point they were able to gain their freedom. The Azer have taken over a corner of the third level and are mining a small attached pocket of the elemental plane of earth (the Library is an extra-dimensional one that's mostly cut off from other dimensions, but has small attached pockets of other planes fused to it). The players managed to earn their trust by ridding the level of a cursed sword that was whispering corrupt suggestions to the Azer clergy. As a result the characters can interact with the Azer for food, items, and magic.

Another example happened on the 12th level of the Library. There was a decent size room where the Lich had bound some devils. The party defeated the devils and cleansed the room and when they checked their mapp found the room was a major choke point between the multiple levels. As a result they spent some time outfitting the room as a shelter and reinforced it so it's almost an underground keep. The characters have warded it and tend to fall back to it if they need to research, repair, or perform other downtime activities. This "keep" has become well known enough that it's attracted other residents of the Library that aren't thralls of the Lich.

So yeah they can work.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage has factions and story going on with its levels, and I'd count that as a Mega Dungeon. I think Mega Dungeons absolutely work with modern play, but as Snarf said, you might have to tinker with things if the party will be unable to freely leave and come back.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

The back of the 5E DMG even has a random dungeon generator set of tables (Ala the 1E tables) if you wanted to do a procedurally generated dungeon on the fly for a campaign game.

Sure ... but .... um ....

no one reads the DMG.

 

[Maxperson]

Considering Undermountain (a megadungeon) was recently republished in 5E in Dungeon of the Mad Mage, I’d say it’s perfectly usable as an environment right now. There’s also Rappan Athuk (another mega dungeon) from Frog God games that’s been revised for 5E.

The back of the 5E DMG even has a random dungeon generator set of tables (Ala the 1E tables) if you wanted to do a procedurally generated dungeon on the fly for a campaign game.

And I don’t think it’d be difficult to get players on board to play such games, either.

If you can find it, Central Casting: Dungeons is fantastic for random dungeon generation.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If you can find it, Central Casting: Dungeons is fantastic for random dungeon generation.

I'd also recommend the recently-Kickstarted Dungeon Delver's Guide for Level Up. Some great dungeon use and creation tools in there.