Mega-Dungeons and Multiple Adventuring Groups

[Tonguez]

I'm wondering - other than humanoid adventurers how do you justify finding monsters in this kind of setting?

Realy the discussion above seems to have cast this dungeon as more of a frontier city with lots of dangerous 'ghetto neighbourhoods' rather than a dungeon infested with monsters. The Dragons dead, the Darkmantles have been wiped out three weeks ago, the Zombies were disintegrated by the Cleric Bobby from Kalifor and anything using the place for a lair left because of all the noise.

I can see a few refuse areas occupied by Otyugh and maybe some dire rats hanging around, but really what else is there to do?

 

[The Cardinal]

on the isssue of "real" dungeon monsters (i.e. not members of your rival parties):


- a *large* dungeon could easily have the area of a city, with dozens of miles of tunnels, thus taking many months to explore even *without* monsters, traps, etc.

- it might be a good idea to make this dungeon containing many smaller areas which are only accessable under the right circumstances (e.g. puzzles, key items, astrological constellations, etc.)

- also make it so that the dungeon is infamous for being dimensionally "unstable" in many locations, thus granting access to strange creatures from all over the multiverse (who are then trapped), and sometimes even making whole weeks of mapping obsolete by "rearranging" tunnels, rooms, and stairs...

 

[Norfleet]

And let's not forget, the presence of the other adventuring groups, who want you dead, and thus have set up cunning traps and tricks like the Head of Vecna.

 

[blackshirt5]

Man, now I wanna run a campaign like this; oh well, another one to put on the list.

 

[Breakstone]

Wow! This is great stuff so far, folks!

I especially like the idea of dividing the dungeon into "blocks" where different adventuring groups are detailed out.

To specify on the campaign I'm planning:

The player characters will be the first ones to discover this dungeon, which is located inside a huge mountain. So, yes, I'm going for that "miles of dungeon" feel. There will be a small town right next to this dungeon, which will have to deal with the sudden boon of adventurers that flood the mountainside.

So I figure at first it'll be just the adventurers.

Then I'll introduce another group.

Soon enough, two more groups will show up.

Then four more.

Then sixteen.

And so on.

I'm thinking that, for each group, I'll have the times that they delve into the dungeon, the "blocks" that they often are seen in, and the percent-chance that they'll be encountered.


Thanks for all your help, folks, and keep the advice coming!

 

[Norfleet]

You want to DM for several groups of players? Sounds rather masochistic. And what in the WORLD would you do if the two of them were to encounter each other? Schedule a meeting where both groups show up?

 

[blackshirt5]

We used to do something like that, although the campaign wasn't a massive dungeon crawl; if two groups met up, we would bring the players together for that session.

Of course at that time we were all game junkies, gaming like 6 times a week. I don't think it would've worked otherwise.

 

[Breakstone]

You want to DM for several groups of players? Sounds rather masochistic. And what in the WORLD would you do if the two of them were to encounter each other? Schedule a meeting where both groups show up?

No, no, no... all the other groups would be NPC groups.

However, Monte Cook did run a campaign with two groups of characters, going in the same dungeon, but on different sessions in his Ptolus campaign.

 

[Endur]

There are many ways to make this work.

Imagine the analogy with a tv police show. The PCs are a group of cops. But they are only one group of cops, and there are many groups of cops, feds, corrupt cops, etc. chasing the bad guys. There are relationships, competition, and outright mistrust of each other, and that is taking place in a much more lawful society than your typical dungeon environment.

Another example would be gold miners staking their claims. A group of adventurers might consider a "stocked" dungeon as their property.

Also, it depends what sort of dungeon is it. Is it a lengendary deathtrap tomb (a la Indiana Jones)? Or is it actually a place where someone lives (evil temple, orc fortress, etc.).

 

[Breakstone]

Great analogy, with the Cops show.

The dungeon itself is going to be the cursed barracks of an ancient army, where the inhabitants have been twisted into evil abominations, and new monsters have found their ways in to stake claims.

Now how do you folks suggest I plan for this mega-dungeon?

I'm thinking that different parts of the dungeons will be blocked by magically-sealed doors that require certain keys, so I'll be able to control the advancement of exploration (at least, for the lower character levels).

But should I map out everything? How do you suggest keeping such a big dungeon interesting?