Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
I thought about this during #Dungeon23, but I don't think I want to either make or maybe even run a detailed megadungeon. It's just too much work for me, with too little reward.
I'm thinking of switching to a model where I get a detailed map (via @Dyson Logos or 0one Games), detail a few set pieces that get me excited or are "crucial," and then just create a wandering monster table for a dungeon level and wing the rest of it. With a bespoke wandering monster table with a bell curve for what can show up, I think I can still deliver a custom dungeon experience, especially with a document for adding appropriate dungeon flavor. (There are tons of "dungeon dressing" PDFs out there for all dungeon types.)
So, if I were making a megadungeon based on Diablo, for instance, I could have an overland ruins section with a wandering monster table with cultists and goatmen, a crypts level with cultists and skeletons, and then as each level descended further into the earth, fewer skeletons and ever more powerful demons. The rarest entries on each table could be for various boss encounters, who could pop out without warning, yelling "FRESH MEAT!"
Sure, I might want to detail a few rooms like a treasure vault or a special boss fight area, but I don't really want to write up "room 32b, another ruined cell formerly occupied by a monk, now a skeleton that the PCs killed higher up in the complex."
I can put my creative energies into making a few really good set piece areas each level, unique bosses and a good and evocative wandering monster list.
Has anyone done this method? Have I accidentally "invented" the way everyone's doing megadungeons already?
I'm thinking of switching to a model where I get a detailed map (via @Dyson Logos or 0one Games), detail a few set pieces that get me excited or are "crucial," and then just create a wandering monster table for a dungeon level and wing the rest of it. With a bespoke wandering monster table with a bell curve for what can show up, I think I can still deliver a custom dungeon experience, especially with a document for adding appropriate dungeon flavor. (There are tons of "dungeon dressing" PDFs out there for all dungeon types.)
So, if I were making a megadungeon based on Diablo, for instance, I could have an overland ruins section with a wandering monster table with cultists and goatmen, a crypts level with cultists and skeletons, and then as each level descended further into the earth, fewer skeletons and ever more powerful demons. The rarest entries on each table could be for various boss encounters, who could pop out without warning, yelling "FRESH MEAT!"
Sure, I might want to detail a few rooms like a treasure vault or a special boss fight area, but I don't really want to write up "room 32b, another ruined cell formerly occupied by a monk, now a skeleton that the PCs killed higher up in the complex."
I can put my creative energies into making a few really good set piece areas each level, unique bosses and a good and evocative wandering monster list.
Has anyone done this method? Have I accidentally "invented" the way everyone's doing megadungeons already?
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