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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7895554" data-attributes="member: 20323">You have some brave players! By "hell" do you mean the D&D Nine Hells / Baator, another one of the lower planes from D&D lore, or your own cosmology entirely?Instead of the dungeon being deadlier the deeper down you go – the case with most megadungeons, and how the Nine Hells of D&D are usually depicted – have it be a non-linear shape, like mazes inset within mazes like a matryoshka doll. The sphere-worlds of D&D's Carceri would be another example. Heck, even the nested dreamscapes of Inception could work.If you're using Dante's Inferno / D&D Nine Hells as a guide, then different regions of hell are reserved for certain type of sinners. In other words, those who indulged in prideful revenge would be in a different place from those whose lies harmed others. Since you probably want the PCs starting in the same area, I think they shouldn't be condemned souls, but instead victims of infernal deals who were tricked, crusaders who fought in hell and were overwhelmed, or mercenaries in the Blood War taken captive. This makes it more plausible for them all to be imprisoned in the same area.An adventure structure you might want to take a look at is Out of the Abyss, where PCs escape drow captivity in the Underdark and then have to ascend through the Underdark to the surface while pursued by drow. Along the way there are weird settlements of myconids, svirfneblin, and duergar where they can get supplies and rest. In fact, that adventure even allows the players to escape with a large number of NPCs and adventure with them.One of the advantages of D&D's Nine Hells are there are lots of infernal cities – Dis comes to mind – across the Nine Hells which serve as rest points. However, it's a lot less of a megadungeon feel, and more cosmopolitan that I think you're aiming for. I'm a big fan of Guillermo del Toro's monster design. That thing in Pan's Labyrinth with eyes on its hands? In fact, anything with displaced body parts is creepy. Hands/arms coming out of mouths has always been a body horror that gets me every time. Screening rooms, where the tormented are forced to watch their living family/descendants fall prey to infernal plots and any seeds of evil the tormented sowed while alive. Think Clockwork Orange.Dignitary chamber, where senior devils get to watch the torments, evaluating lesser devils performance, and making recommendations for cracking particularly souls. Based on Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon.Visitation room, where various creatures (doppelgangers, succubi, rakshasa) assume the guise of loved ones and are brought there to be threatened unless the captives reveal secret info the devils are after.An endless bureaucratic process for filing a simple complaint or request or transfer. The movie Jupiter Ascending had a good example IIRC.</blockquote>

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