Non Linear Mega Dungeon

[Alikar]

I'm starting to work on a Mega dungeon that has players starting at the center of the dungeon. I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions how to allow players to move through the dungeon in a free form way without creating a linear progression. Also I'm curious as to how to warn them off areas that may end up being too difficult without killing them. I'd like to avoid color coding the zones if possible.

 

[Umbran]

Well, if you want them to move about in a non-linear way, then make sure that each room is connected to multiple other rooms. Give them choices where to go.

With freedom comes the possibility of screwing up. if you are going to allow them to move freely, they may wander into places you don't want them to go. You have some basic choices:

1) Give them information - the captured gnoll tells them, "North of there there's a tribe of bugbears that even we don't mess with."

2) Restrict their access to dangerous spaces - you cannot enter the dangerous area until you get the key from somewhere....

3) Put the dangerous spaces far away from them, so that by the time they reach them, they are sure to have earned enough XP to be able to handle the area.

4) Don't populate an area until they get near it. You may know a tribe of humanoids lives in one section, but you don't stat them out until the players might actually come close to them, and when you do stat them out, they are more appropriate in power.

 

[jaerdaph]

I've been doing the maps for Joe Bloch's mega-dungeon, The Castle of the Mad Archmage. One thing that I've learned from Joe's design philosophy is that dungeons should have multiple points of entry and egress (now there's a Gygaxian word for you!). And entry/exit points do not all have to be to level 1, they could lead to another level of the dungeon (a cistern or well in the ruins of an old castle leads to level 3, for example). Similarly, travel between levels does not have to be limited to level 1 leads to level 2 leads to level 3. Staircases can go from level 1 to level 3, for example, or an elevator room can lead from level 2 to level 7 down a Great Central Shaft. Having more than one way into or out of a level is a good idea too, but having only one way into a dungeon level, especially a special encounter area, has it's uses and appeal too. All of this creates more choices for players - do the PCs continue on from where they are, or do they take the staircase down they just discovered?

 

[Doug McCrae]

I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions how to allow players to move through the dungeon in a free form way without creating a linear progression.

T-junctions and crossroads.

Also I'm curious as to how to warn them off areas that may end up being too difficult without killing them. I'd like to avoid color coding the zones if possible.

Deeper = more dangerous is traditional. If your PCs are starting in the centre then go with Further From Starting Point = more dangerous. That's how World of Warcraft does it.

 

[Tav_Behemoth]

I like to warn PCs of things - dangerous areas, traps, deadly monsters - by leaving the corpses of other adventurers around. It helps the dungeon have a sense of history, so that it doesn't seem like a pristine set-piece that was just waiting for the players to arrive, and it's a naturalistic way of placing items that will be useful to the PCs. If the corpses had equipment that was notably superior to the PCs, it sends a convincing message that whatever could kill those presumably higher-level heroes is too tough for the players right now.

This works best if you also have adventurers as wandering monsters - fresh ones coming into the dungeon with lots of torches, food, and oil, and wounded veterans trying to make it back to the surface with their haul. The latter is especially pleasing because, figuring that they must be depleted on HP and spells, the players might be tempted to tangle with dudes who they'd defer to back in town. Kellri's CDD #4 Encounters Reference is great for this - even if you have to stat them up for a later-edition system, using the adventuring parties listed as encounters there will help you get the classic feel.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Umbran's advice is real good. Might I add the suggestion of monster groups using gang signs and graffiti?

 

[grodog]

I'm starting to work on a Mega dungeon that has players starting at the center of the dungeon. I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions how to allow players to move through the dungeon in a free form way without creating a linear progression.

There are some excellent articles on mega-dungeon design in Knockspell #1 and #2 (warning, two of them are mine ), and you can glean some great info from threads on Knights & Knaves @ KNIGHTS & KNAVES ALEHOUSE :: View Forum - Megadungeons! and Dragonsfoot @ Dragonsfoot • View topic - Megadungeon mapping

Also I'm curious as to how to warn them off areas that may end up being too difficult without killing them. I'd like to avoid color coding the zones if possible.

Obvious traps; barricades corridors; noxious fumes; cave-ins; obvious golems; lots of shredded body parts; signs (warnings via graffiti, signs, runes, etc.); unstable floors/walls/ceilings; flooded passages; nasty dead monsters (beholder corpses should scare away anyone...); etc.

 

[kitsune9]

I'm starting to work on a Mega dungeon that has players starting at the center of the dungeon. I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions how to allow players to move through the dungeon in a free form way without creating a linear progression. Also I'm curious as to how to warn them off areas that may end up being too difficult without killing them. I'd like to avoid color coding the zones if possible.

One poster from some other thread indicated that he had special areas that would be behind some kind of unbreakable or magic-locked door. Thinking on this, if you have areas that you don't want the players to go, then you can do the following:

1. Design the mega-dungeon "forbidden" part so that the entrance(s) are not easy to find aka super secret doors that can be found with 20's and maxed out Spot checks.

2. Have the forbidden areas "wandering". For example, when the characters are high enough level to reach the special part of the dungeon, then it "shows up", maybe even behind a door that the PC's have been through. I think Raven Crowking (a poster here) has a mega-dungeon with a wandering library concept.

3. Design the area with only one entrance or one exit and then plant clues to the PC's that if they go down the "looooong corridor" they will have reached the Tomb of X and will surely meet their deaths because they've done their homework and know that a lich lives there. Given that they are only 3rd level, they know to avoid it for now unless they are feeling suicidal or think you're bluffing.

4. Leave reliable clues that the PC's will believe. Every dungeon is called the Chamber of Horrors, the Tomb of Death, the Delve of Unfanthomable Evil and that dozens if not hundreds of adventurers before the current party have thrown away their lives. Yeah, whatever, so why is my 1st level fighter here and not taking up farming instead? In order to really get the point across, the let the PC's find an NPC survivor who can describe in detail what (un)lives over in certain part of the dungeon.

5. Make it really hard to get to, but eventually worth the effort. The "forbidden" area is beyond a chasm that PC's will need fly spells to cross. Don't have fly? Well, wait until you're higher level then. Or the tunnel has collapsed. Unless the PC's are willing to invest in 1 month and 1,500 gp later in hired manpower and resources to excavate, they'll have to find some other way. Some chambers can only be accessed via a blind teleport or a scry spell and then teleport. Obviously stuff that is higher level than the current party level, so the PC's have to wait.

Now to let player's move in a free form way throughout the megadungeon without having to go the "color-coded" zone look, you'll probably need to design encounters with multiple possible monster combinations based on the level of the party.

For example, your room description can be like this:

1. Chamber of the Abyssal Goblinoids

Description and box text.

Monsters--
Levels 1-2: Fiendish Goblins
Levels 3-4: Fiendish Gnolls
Levels 5-6: Fiendish Gnolls with Fighter levels
Levels 7-8: Fiendish Ogres
Levels 9-10: Fiendish Hill Giant
...and so on.

This would be more prep for you, but every room prepared like this would then be scalable to the level of the party no matter what level they are.

 

[steenan]

If you play 4e, you may just leave the party ways to escape. Characters have enough HP to live for a round or two when facing a powerful enemy. Let them see that an opponent is out of their league and get the hell out of there to return after gaining a few levels. That is what makes a dungeon non-linear.