D&D General grodog's favorite mega-dungeons

[grodog]

New blog post, for the curious: grodog's Favorite Mega-Dungeons

Allan.

 

[werecorpse]

You‘ve listed a lot of “Best” categories (“Most fun encounters etc”) and I appreciate mega dungeons can just be explore, kill, loot but which ones would you say have the Best Story or Overarching plot?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Of those listed, I've only run Ruins of Undermountain and Rappan Athuk. It still amazes me that some of the parts of the maps for Undermountain are taken from the maps of other modules. Not on the list, I've run Temple of Elemental Evil (albeit a long time ago).

 

[GlassJaw]

Cool post!

To answer the question you posed, I've played in ToEE, some of Rappan Athuk, and most of The Vault of Larrin Karr (which you didn't list, although it isn't "mega" per se). I've read Lost City of Barakus, Tomb of Abysthor, and a host of others.

My favorite mega-dungeons are those that have context, and especially ones that have a surrounding sandbox region that brings the dungeon to life. I like mega-dungeons that make some kind of sense in the world.

I also like mega-dungeons that give the players a break and allows them to "come up for air" so to speak.

 

[Lem23]

Highfell and Archaia aren't on the list as far as i can tell.

 

[MNblockhead]

I've been running Rappan Atthuk for a little over a year. Love it, but it will be one of my longest campaigns and once done, I'll probably be done with megadungeons for a while.

 

[grodog]

You‘ve listed a lot of “Best” categories (“Most fun encounters etc”) and I appreciate mega dungeons can just be explore, kill, loot but which ones would you say have the Best Story or Overarching plot?

Hmmm. I'll have to ponder that one a bit. None of the classic mega-dungeons had a single story or plot, per se---most either had none, save what was created during play at the table, or had several.

Of those listed, I've only run Ruins of Undermountain and Rappan Athuk. It still amazes me that some of the parts of the maps for Undermountain are taken from the maps of other modules. Not on the list, I've run Temple of Elemental Evil (albeit a long time ago).

Agreed re: Undermountain's maps. That some were created by Dave Sutherland for an EPT game (perhaps played in by Rob Kuntz!) is a bizarre chain of coincidences!

I didn't list ToEE intentionally, since I don't classifiy it as a mega-dungeon. It's a large dungeon, certainly, but it can be, and is designed to be "completed" which is one of my litmus tests for making the list.

To answer the question you posed, I've played in ToEE, some of Rappan Athuk, and most of The Vault of Larrin Karr (which you didn't list, although it isn't "mega" per se). I've read Lost City of Barakus, Tomb of Abysthor, and a host of others.

I love Larin Karr too, but again, it's not quite a mega-dungeon to me.

My favorite mega-dungeons are those that have context, and especially ones that have a surrounding sandbox region that brings the dungeon to life. I like mega-dungeons that make some kind of sense in the world.

I also like mega-dungeons that give the players a break and allows them to "come up for air" so to speak.

Agreed, and I do think that variety is essential for successful longer-term viability of a mega-dungeon campaign. If you only eat steak, every meal a day, for two years, you'll hate steak by the end of the two years.

Highfell and Archaia aren't on the list as far as i can tell.

I haven't read either of Greg's newer books, but I also didn't recall them being mega-dungeons either. Will go take a look again, thanks!

I've been running Rappan Atthuk for a little over a year. Love it, but it will be one of my longest campaigns and once done, I'll probably be done with megadungeons for a while.

Quite understandable !

Allan.