Dungeon campaign

[Treebore]

When I said the campaign would be set in a single dungeon I meant the 'adventure' part. There would be a town where PCs could resupply fairly nearby, maybe a day's journey.

The campaign world would be made up of town, some wilderness, and dungeon, with dungeon being by far the most important.

My current idea is that the dungeon was a former notorious jail of the 'old empire' where many prisoners died horribly, some now haunting the place as undead. Since that time various tribes of humanoids have occupied the upper levels, sometimes fighting one another for territory.

Fairly recently a BBEG has taken residence, brought the humanoids under his dominion, and is using the place as a base of operations for whatever his nefarious plan is. He has a death knight as his second-in-command. Possibly too cliched, but then the whole thing is.

Lost City of Barakus, Tomb of Abysthor, and Rappan Athuk, with LCoB being the best of the 3.
LCoB also has its only city mapped out, Endhome. I recommend using Bard's Gate for the other two Dungeons as the nearby city. I would start all of them out at least as third levels if a party of 6 or more. 4th or 5th for a party of 4.

Assuming your looking for something already done up for you.

 

[JDJblatherings]

So, an entire campaign where no creatures were encountered but DRAGONS would be alright too?

Throw traps and hazards into the mix (as they are defining elements of the dungeon environment) along with dragons and dragon templated critters and one could certainly manage a non-boring 80 hour long campaign that featured DUNGEONS and DRAGONS over any other aspect of the game.

 

[Remathilis]

So, an entire campaign where no creatures were encountered but DRAGONS would be alright too?

Let me tell you a story bout a campaign setting called Dragonlance....

 

[JDJblatherings]

Yeah, so? Admitedly on the surface of it the name would suggest a fair amount of dungeon crawling, but I think that harkens back to the early days of the game more than anything else. While there are, of course, people who still play the game that way (a perfectly valid use) its also obvious from spending just a few minutes looking around these boards that not everyone enjoys endless dungeon delving. Its just not the way we play. Try taking a look at this thread about what constitutes 'normal' for a DnD game. Its different for every group. Don't be so shocked.

the author of the thread was asking advice for a single Dungeon campaign, not for a NON-Dungeon campaign thus my wondering why people had to chime in about the drudgery of an 80 hour long single dungeon based campaign.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm planning on running a campaign set within a single dungeon. Probably about 80 hours play total, 10*8 hour sessions.

Any advice? Anything I should look out for? I was thinking of banning Rope Trick so the PCs can't escape wandering monsters too easily.

Go for it. One one hand, it could be classic old-school dungeon crawling. On the other, it borders on Diablo. Let me throw out some suggestions...

Don't make it ONE dungeon. Perhaps a Caves of Chaos style setting where there are many smaller dungeons in an area, each with its own unique inhabitants and style. It will up the diversity (goblin warrens, tomb of the unresting dead, drow raiding tunnel) allow for easier treks back to civilization (not climbing 10 floors to go home) and can either be tied together (the Avatar of the Horde gathers his minions at Westgate! Stop him!) or not (ala Caves of Chaos).

If you don't go that route, I suggest portals that wisk PCs off to different areas. It can up diversity (levels 8-10 are actually a Frost Giant's mountain home! He must be working with the Frost Giants!) and provide distractions. The portals can lead to planar layers or other parts of the complex/world, as needed. And portals are FUN! Nothing stops a group of marauding PCs faster than a swirly door of energy!

Up the Environmental Factor: Make a level controlled by an Ice Witch and covered in ice, hampered by cold, and swarming with arctic foes. Or a level with no natural (or artificial) light full of darkvision-enabled foes. Or that an odd tunnel leads them to a partially submerged level crawling with aquatic beasts. (These can be combined with portals and or seperate dungeons nicely)

Lastly, I don't care HOW illogical it seems, USE PLENTY OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF MONSTERS! Dragons, beholders, mind flayers, ogres, orcs, goblins, displacer beasts, carrion crawlers, vampires, liches, medusa, minotaurs and golems. Don't stick to one type of beast too exclusively, esp undead (which is the easiest to overuse). Make sure you use enough diversity to not make uber-specialists common (aka a group of all Undead-hating PrCs and favored enemies) or to hose other classes (rogues vs undead/golems, wizards vs high SR, clerics vs. no undead).

Lastly, I can't think of anything to ban I wouldn't in a normal D&D game anyway. Keep in mind things like warblades, warlocks, reserve feats, and dragon shaman all allow PCs to go longer on limited resources, so you can do more before resting. Otherwise, D&D is made for this type of play.

Good luck.

 

[Hussar]

Something that might work well with the Portals idea is the World Serpent Inn from Dragon 351. Endless doors that lead to all sorts of locations makes for a really excellent nexus for an extended Dungeon Crawl.