Big Dungeons - An unrequited love?

[Psion]

I loved undermountain. And various other large dungeons.

But I find them very unpractical. I feel stifled by a large dungeon.

Anyone else feel this way? Is there a way to extend the longevity of the big dungeon experience? Or should I just admit that we aren't right for each other?

 

[diaglo]

i somewhat agree. stationary big dungeons are just too hard to 'splain.

but i've always cut mine up and placed pieces of them over the entire campaign. with clues, hooks, or quests to get to the pieces that work best at the time.

much like adventure paths do now.

 

[ForceUser]

When Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil came out, I scarfed it up and got my buddy Hjoirmir to run it. Shortly after we defeated the blue dragon at the moathouse, he told me he didn't want to run it anymore. When I asked him why, he just pulled out the module and flipped through 100 pages of dungeon. I understood. That's way too much dungeon. The whole campaign would have just been a crawl through that place. Bleh.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I loved undermountain. And various other large dungeons.

But I find them very unpractical. I feel stifled by a large dungeon.

Anyone else feel this way? Is there a way to extend the longevity of the big dungeon experience? Or should I just admit that we aren't right for each other?

Do what Gygax's groups did -- find a way to go away and come back, sometimes for the loot, sometimes for other goals.

That means the dungeons need to make this practical, of course, and that it's not set up as a never-ending series of treasure vaults to crack and loot.

I find that every campaign world can comfortably support one or two of these. After that, the silliness of it becomes too hard for me to ignore, personally.

But lordy, every world needs at least one super-dungeon.

 

[ForceUser]

But lordy, every world needs at least one super-dungeon.

An implied super-dungeon works just as well, IME. As long as my players feel like one is out there, they're satisfied without having to actually crawl through the whole thing--though they'll happily do part of it.

 

[DaveMage]

Do what Gygax's groups did -- find a way to go away and come back, sometimes for the loot, sometimes for other goals.

Exactly.

I love huge dungeons, but breaks are important for sanity purposes (both for characters and players).

 

[trancejeremy]

IMHO, they are only bad, when your players are forced to do it it all at once (or most of it).

That's what really turned me off about the WLD. It's designed to be played non-stop (or close to it).

It's better when players can just go in when they want and leave when they want. Or at least relatively easily. Multiple entrances/exits.

 

[Mark CMG]

I feel stifled by a large dungeon.

As a DM or as a player?

As a player, when I was younger, a vast dungeon was a very cool thing to want and explore in total. As a DM, and somewhat older, I find them to be somewhat silly and hard to justify, which makes them relatively difficult to present in a game. I've got a few of "some size" but no where near the rambling monstrosities like WLD or Undermountain and such.

 

[Psion]

As a DM or as a player?

As a DM.

I buy every one of 0one's "Under the Mountain" maps as soon as they hit the street. I just can't help it.

But I just don't think I can use them. Am I sick or what?

 

[Mark CMG]

As a DM.

I buy every one of 0one's "Under the Mountain" maps as soon as they hit the street. I just can't help it.

But I just don't think I can use them. Am I sick or what?

Not for liking great maps, you aren't.


Maybe I'll run a really big dungeon in `06 just to see how it goes. Maybe I only think it wouldn't work as well as when I was younger . . .