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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ruleslawyer" data-source="post: 2809282" data-attributes="member: 1757">At the risk of derailing this thread:Undermountain didn't drive Halaster insane, per se. It was his researches into immortality, the various magics he worked on himself to increase his power, and, probably, the sheer fact of his incredibly long lifespan that drove him mad. As for mega-dungeons, I feel the same way as you do, apparently:I find that mega-dungeons work as settings rather than as individual adventure locales. That's really the point of Undermountain (and, in fact, why all those barrier magics exist; to prevent ambitious players from trying to clean the place out and drive an incredibly boring game for the DM.). Located below Waterdeep as it is, it serves as a fun locale in which to stash McGuffins, send PCs on various errands, and serve as a place for bad guys to carve out lairs. The same thing seems to go for Castle Greyhawk; EGG seems to have used it as a "duck in and out" venue rather than a target for cleaning out.This is actually the major problem that I have with RttToEE and the Banewarrens; both require you to traverse huge stretches of dungeon in a finite time span to achieve a particular set of goals, which leads to a "mega-dungeon-crawl" feel. I never had this problem running a Waterdeep/Undermountain campaign (and, incidentally, I find the UM boxed set one of the most flavorful and interesting campaign supplements I've ever seen for ANY locale, FR or otherwise); PCs formed an adventuring guild with the express purpose of exploring Undermountain and "mapping the entirety of the Underhalls," but that was just a silly ambition on my players' part that served as the overall frame within the actual campaign (consisting of numerous noble house intrigues, clashes of rival thieves' guilds, a long-term romantic ordeal involving a bride with an odd destiny, and a brief foray into buccaneering on the high seas) actually evolved.So, in short, Psion, I think you're just accumulating a resource that will be useful in all sorts of great ways if you put it to the proper purposes.</blockquote>

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