Do i need Expedition to Undermountain?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I'd like to get more detail on that.

That just makes me gnash my teeth and exclaim "what were they thinking?" Oy.

The adventure is "mission-based" which takes you into sections of the ruins on an in-out basis without expecting the party to actually wander around in Undermountain (and doesn't have enough map to allow you to -- it just sort of hand-waves dunegon adventuring off the map). They have scanned pieces of the original maps, but don't have the entire map of each level in the product. The first section sort-of corresponds to a section of Level I (if you ignore the Yawning Portal map, which lacks, well, a yawning portal) , but you can't correspond any of the subsequent sections to actual locations on the total Undermountain maps.

I haven't cross-walked the EtU encounters with RoUM encounters to see if there is any correspondence ... frankly I was just too disappointed in the product to bother.

I think they wanted to give a flavor of Undermountain, without actually being UNdermountain as usable by a DM. Personally, I can't see running an UM-based campaign with just the 3.5 adventrue. I'd want the RoUM boxed sets for when the players decide to go off the rails.

 

[Psion]

The adventure is "mission-based" which takes you into sections of the ruins on an in-out basis without expecting the party to actually wander around in Undermountain

So, is this where I admit that is how I basically ran my RoU adventures?

Then, that was ME; I was taking advantage of the RoU product for letting me sketch in the missions I wanted and appreciated having the whole maps to do so. So I can definitely see the shortcoming.

(and doesn't have enough map to allow you to -- it just sort of hand-waves dunegon adventuring off the map). They have scanned pieces of the original maps, but don't have the entire map of each level in the product. The first section sort-of corresponds to a section of Level I (if you ignore the Yawning Portal map, which lacks, well, a yawning portal) , but you can't correspond any of the subsequent sections to actual locations on the total Undermountain maps.

Large poster maps seem to be a real weak spot of 3.5 era D&D. The really chinced out on Sharn, too. Wonder if this is a printing cost issue. Then they seem to have no problem printing out colored battlegrids and giving them away like cigars at gameday. (shrug).

 

[Psion]

The ENWorld storefront seems to be back up. Here's the Dungeon Under the Mountain product page:
http://enworld.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=408

 

[MerricB]

The adventure is "mission-based" which takes you into sections of the ruins on an in-out basis without expecting the party to actually wander around in Undermountain (and doesn't have enough map to allow you to -- it just sort of hand-waves dunegon adventuring off the map). They have scanned pieces of the original maps, but don't have the entire map of each level in the product.

pages 19-35 have substantial portions of the maps, however.

The first section sort-of corresponds to a section of Level I (if you ignore the Yawning Portal map, which lacks, well, a yawning portal) , but you can't correspond any of the subsequent sections to actual locations on the total Undermountain maps.

Chapter 2 is in a (modified) Dungeon Level, and is identifiable on the original maps, although there's been some structural damage.

Chapter 3 is in the the storeroom level, and is identifiable on the original maps.

Chapter 4 is on a new level (Citadel of Belkram's Fall), somewhere to the south of Skullport via river.

Chapter 5 is on the Maze level, the Obstacle Course, and the Runestone level. I'm not familiar with the original source for those levels (RoU2?)

Cheers!

 

[Keefe the Thief]

Thanks all for chiming in. I´m still undecided, though. I´d love to have a good hardcover book about UM, and i don´t need a "complete" treatment now that my preparation has ripened thus far.
The "plot" of the book turns me off, though. I need rooms & concepts, even factions that i can drop into the dungeons where i need them.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

pages 19-35 have substantial portions of the maps, however.

"Portions of maps" doesn't constitute a usable product in my book. In EtU, there's no expectation that those partial maps be used, of course.