I need a replacement dungeon.

[Reynard]

Due to issues with the website and the quality of customer service, I am ending my subscription to Dungeon a Day and stopping using Dragon's Delve for my bi-weekly in-store game.

The game is pure dungeon delving with whoever happens to show up that week 9usually 4 or 5 people, but sometimes up to 7). Each session, they leave town, explore the mega-dungeon further, and 15 minutes before the store closes, they head back to town. I need a dungeon that supports this style of play, preferably one with multiple entrances and accesses, with an interesting history but no overarching "story" or "plot". If it is made for Pathfinder, much better, but I'll convert 3.5 or even 3.0 adventures, too.

I have considered both Rappan Athuk and Caverns of Thracia, but the former seems too small and linear, while the latter seems to present some difficulties in the wake-delve-leave necessity of the game.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Mark CMG]

Have you checked out Castle of the Mad Archmage?

 

[Reynard]

Have you checked out Castle of the Mad Archmage?

This module looks great but, alas, I am running Pathfinder.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I would recommend taking another look at Rappan Athuck, then running it as 'mission based' - don't just have them explore the place, give them jobs to accomplish while down there. Find a missing courier, then deliver the message themselves when they find the poor bugger's corpse; recover a lost manuscript; kill a bugbear overlord that is organizing (after a fashion) the goblins and bugbears; on one of the missions let them find a map to a lesser dungeon, only to discover that it was either a trap, or just a way to keep the adventurers out of the way for a while; etc..

Don't be afraid to have some missions be beyond the means of the party to complete. Give them a rival team of adventurers that steal missions out from under them - and make it personal.

Don't just make the exploration the only point. Sending the party into an area that is just beyond their normal level makes a return trip to that same area more daunting, especially if their first mission failed. More personally rewarding if this time they take the blighter down.

One that is in the works, available as a subscription that culminates in a full hardcover when the beast is complete - The Slumbering Tsar by Frog God - the folks that brought us the complete Tome of Horrors rewritten for Pathfinder.

The Auld Grump

 

[Vascant]

I find myself in your same exact boat as far as leaving Dungeon-A-Day, I really miss Monte running the show there. I have a lot time available to play with so started doing my own maps for a massive underground based campaign. If the maps help with your issues they are free to download and can use for your own personal needs.

 

[Mark CMG]

This module looks great but, alas, I am running Pathfinder.

I've always found the "static location" mentality of older mega-dungeons makes conversion from older editions to newer systems fairly forgiving. It's such a broad strokes presentation that it seems to lend itself to on-the-fly adjustment and narrative solutions when needed. Plus, it keeps the players on their toes regarding when to fight and and when to flee.

 

[Reynard]

Grump: That's certainly a possibility, but at the moment anyway the simple goal of exploration has been plenty of motivation. A combination of treasure hunting, XP winning and potential grisly death has kept things fun and fresh. Of course I stretch believability in some ways: we handwave the trek to and from the dungeon, mostly ignore the walk through previously explored areas, and minimize in town play. I'll take second look at RA though.

Mark: it's the pathfinder part I am less comfortable with converting or inventing on the fly. IME, 3.x and PF require more care for balance and since, in this game at least, I am a "killer GM" I want to be sure I'm well within the established guidelines. Were I running a retro game I would probably be creating the dungeon myself and more freely improvising.

 

[Mark CMG]

Mark: it's the pathfinder part I am less comfortable with converting or inventing on the fly. IME, 3.x and PF require more care for balance and since, in this game at least, I am a "killer GM" I want to be sure I'm well within the established guidelines. Were I running a retro game I would probably be creating the dungeon myself and more freely improvising.

Indeed. I see your point. I wonder if there is a way to collect a number of fairly large separate 3.XE dungeons with similar regional aspects to their locations, plop them down next to one another, then connect them yourself via some underworld passages, making a sort of megadungeon of your own.

 

[Hussar]

Well, there's always donjon; Random Dungeon Generator which will generate random dungeons and fill it for you. Makes pretty decent dungeons.

 

[DnD_Dad]

You could always buy the worlds largest dungeon. 800 pages of everything 3.5. Check this out on AMZN: World's Largest Dungeon (Dungeon & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying) http://amzn.com/1594720290