Plumbing the Depths of Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage -- A Review

Wizards of the Coast has worked hard to provide a variety of adventure types for 5^th Edition and with Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage they're tackling megadungeons. Mad Mage can be played on its own, if the players begin with 5^th characters or better, or it can follow up the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure, which is for 1^st through 6^th level characters. Please note: This review contains spoilers.

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The dungeon in question is Undermountain, the huge complex hallowed out by the titular archmage, Halaster under the city of Waterdeep. Personally, I've always wondered why Waterdeep's Masked Lords and Black Staff didn't work to seal off Undermountain. After all, having all of those evil creatures and even another city (Skullport) underneath your city has to be a security risk – especially since the entrance between the two is in a bar, not a secure facility. But I digress...

The book starts with a history of Undermountain, Halaster Blackcloak, the mage who created the dungeon as he descended into madness, and the Yawning Portal tavern, the entrance into Undermountain previously introduced to 5^th Edition in The Tales of the Yawning Portal and the opening of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. The adventure hooks in that chapter come in two varieties – starting quests and quests that can only be offered after the players have accomplished other tasks. Both versions should work well.

The 23 dungeon levels vary widely in challenges and even type of terrain as Halaster used magic to create them or import those who did. In comments to my First Impressions article readers asked if the dungeon had to be run as a complete unit or if the various levels could be used independently and dropped into another adventure or dungeon. The latter is definitely possible with a little tweaking and Skullport could be renamed and put almost anywhere for a nefarious town. For that matter, maybe Halaster has been expanding and building an off-shoot elsewhere or a place that magically connects to the Undermountain dungeon.

While Mad Mage can be run independently of Dragon Heist, connections between the two books create a better experience together than separate. The Zhentarim and Xanathar's Guild are both active in Undermountain, especially the early levels, making it easy to tie into Dragon Heist.

Some of the NPCs and plot threads in Mad Mage are a great deal of fun and could even be borrowed for other adventures, like the bandits who are failed actors and pretend to vampires to rob or exhort adventurers. Add in bandit leaders scheming against each other and that's a great mini adventure you could use with or without a dungeon.

Mad Mage even sets the stage for a longer, more complicated story after the book adventure is done. After all, the way the dungeon is set up, permanently clearing it of evil creatures is virtually impossible so what happens if you remove the adversaries closest to Waterdeep who act as a buffer between the city and the evil creatures below?

Remember to pick a goal for Halaster from the list at the top of the adventure so you can seed aspects of it through the adventure. The seeds can spur different types of stories from political intrigue to classic revenge.

Halaster's complex is so large and old, it even contains things like a wrecked Spelljammer and a control helmet. That will definitely feed the guesses as to the next D&D setting despite claims it's not Spelljammer.

The complex also includes gates to other locations and – wait for it – a flying saucer Halaster created.

If Halaster is defeated that doesn't mean he's really dead. Similar to the options for Strahd in Curse of Strahd, Halaster can come back to bedevil future adventures. I'm not sure if I like that twist in Mad Mage or not.

I really like the maps by cartographer Tim Hartin. Having a more clear grid on the map is a huge help. While the maps in the prior books, like Tomb of Annihilation, were quite pretty, Hartin's efficient maps are much easier to read and use. GMs have to juggle enough information when running a game. Having to figure out a map because it's too busy or unnecessarily detailed is frustrating. Sometimes streamlined is better.

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Mad Mage has less new creatures than prior books, especially Tomb of Annihilation, but personally I care more about quality than quantity when it comes to monsters and adversaries. On the other hand, I really like some of the NPCs and the hooks for them.

All in all, I enjoyed Mad Mage, though for me the true test of an adventure comes with actually running it for players. It seems to have enough character-driven material and roleplay opportunities that the adventure is far more than the traditional dungeon crawl hack and slash.

If you're a fan of megadungeons, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a must purchase. For everyone else, it depends upon the type of adventure you want to run but is definitely worth consideration. Plus, if you've run Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, you could combine the material in this book with original content, for easy customization and adventure beyond the scope of events in other books.

This article was contributed by Beth Rimmels (brimmels) as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider contributing to our Patreon!!

 

[Demetrios1453]

SPOILERS, SO STOP READING IF YOU DONT WANT TO KNOW:

I got this today. Admittedly I have only browsed it for a bit but from what I read Im somewhat disappointed. For starters, and this has been going on for some time, the lack of stat blocks is just ridiculous, so on the face of it I can anticipate alot of prep being needed to run even small portions of the dungeon. Seems alot of the features that made UM unique have either been left out or severely truncated. One thing that I didnt see was a section on ways in and out and the inability to teleport in or out. All the doors are wooden?, I seem to remember other door types in previous editions. I didnt see a wandering monster table. Lack of a poster map(s) really aggrevates me. The Map Pack wasnt worth the money IMO, I was hoping for some tables to help populate/furnish the dungeon. I found two things as far as story line disconcerting as well from the two parts I did read. In Wyllowood, the Temple to Malar simply being abandoned seemed plain lazy. Stardock in its own adventure was controlled by the Twisted Rune, why not expand on that instead of just leaving them out?

Do I regret purchasing this, no, will I use parts of it, yes but I wont run it straight through. Im gonna re-read all the old stuff and this and put together my own campaign. Im not trying to discourage anyone from buying this book but I just wish that once in awhile WotC would deviate from their standard product format and release something bigger, as it seems they tried to cover too much in too little of a page count. Im sure there are plenty out there who would pay $100+ for something like the size of Ptolus or Rappan Athuk.

The inability to teleport in and out (as well as other changes to magic and spells) is detailed on pages 10 - 11.

As for the two changes you mentioned concerning Wyllowwood and Stardock - well, it's been over 100 years since the earlier products. A century of adventurers, internal conflict between dungeon factions, planet-wide catastrophes, and Halaster being just plain ornery is going to mess with the status quo. Logically, there are just going to be some changes during that time frame!

 

[R_J_K75]

The inability to teleport in and out (as well as other changes to magic and spells) is detailed on pages 10 - 11.

As for the two changes you mentioned concerning Wyllowwood and Stardock - well, it's been over 100 years since the earlier products. A century of adventurers, internal conflict between dungeon factions, planet-wide catastrophes, and Halaster being just plain ornery is going to mess with the status quo. Logically, there are just going to be some changes during that time frame!

I had considered that while I wrote my initial post but yes you are correct. I really havent kept up on my Realms lore since probably 2005. Ive never run a campaign after 1372 DR and stopped reading the novels years ago. I just thought that something should be occupying the abandoned temple to Malar, but on otherhand I suppose WotC may have just been trying to give DMs somewhere somewhat detailed to make their own. Suppose Im just used to the great writings of Dale Donovan and Steven Schend; wonder whatever happened to those guys? IIRC correctly in the Sea of Fallen Stars 2E Book Halasters origins were defined and his original name was Hilister, from Mulholrand or the Plains of Purple Dust. The Stardock adventure was so much fun. Guess Im just old and dont like change and wish I had the time to reaad, prep and play more. I wasnt trying to criticize the new adventure just have a special place in my heart for that time in my life and alot of those great products they put out at that time. Im sure once I start mining the new adventure for encounters theres good stuff in there, its just the adventure layout/format that for me is hard to get behind.

 

[Stacy Forsythe]

At least back in 2e, a spelljamming helm was a helm as in “helmsman,” not a helm as in “helmet” — more of a chair or control station than a piece of headgear. Does the book actually call it a control helmet, or was that an assumption on the reviewer’s part?

 

[Demetrios1453]

At least back in 2e, a spelljamming helm was a helm as in “helmsman,” not a helm as in “helmet” — more of a chair or control station than a piece of headgear. Does the book actually call it a control helmet, or was that an assumption on the reviewer’s part?

As it's described as a 200-pound chair in the book (page 297 to be exact), it was an assumption on the reviewer's part, I assume (heh).

 

[R_J_K75]

As it's described as a 200-pound chair in the book (page 297 to be exact), it was an assumption on the reviewer's part, I assume (heh).

Spelljammer was a great setting. no range on arrows.

 

[Jester David]

For starters, and this has been going on for some time, the lack of stat blocks is just ridiculous, so on the face of it I can anticipate alot of prep being needed to run even small portions of the dungeon.

Here's the thing... they tried that in 4e. Every statblock for every monster was included. This meant that every room took one to three pages.

Look at the first level of the dungeon. In the book it's 14 pages. If they included the full statblock for each of the 22 monsters in this dungeon, the section would be 23 pages. That's over 50% longer! And statblocks for higher CR monsters just end up taking more and more space.
This space has to come from somewhere, and just means fewer dungeons overall. (If each chapter uses a similar amount of space, it'd be 15 levels rather than 23.)

Really, what would you rather pay for? A 320-page book that was mostly dungeon. Or a 320-page book that was half a reprint of a book you already owned?

I'm sure there are plenty out there who would pay $100+ for something like the size of Ptolus or Rappan Athuk.

Yes, yes there are.
But here's the thing, you can't just double the size of a book and double the price. Because the larger a book is, the fewer people that buy it. The smaller the sales, the more you need to charge to offset the production cost. And the more expensive the product is, and the harder it is to sell, the trickier it is to convince game store to stock the product. Because they have to pre-buy every book on the shelf, and lose money if it doesn't sell.

Also, Rappan Athuk is only 70 pages more than Dungeon of the Mad Mage. DotMM is already BIG.
Meanwhile, Ptolus was $120... in 2005. It'd be over $155 now. Likely more with increased shipping and printing costs.

There's certainly room for big fancy collector's editions that cost extra. Or Invisible Sun. But that's not the thing WotC does. (So far, their collector's editions have cost the same.) They sell to the average gamer. The majority of their products are aimed at the majority of the audience.
(Although, they may do fancier products with partners.)

 

[jasper]

Ok, I typing up notes for my sessions. What page is Propeller Helm?

 

[jasper]

SPOILERS, SO STOP READING IF YOU DONT WANT TO KNOW:

I got this today. Admittedly I have only browsed it for a bit but from what I read Im somewhat disappointed. For starters, and this has been going on for some time, the lack of stat blocks is just ridiculous, so on the face of it I can anticipate alot of prep being needed to run even small portions of the dungeon. Seems alot of the features that made UM unique have either been left out or severely truncated. One thing that I didnt see was a section on ways in and out and the inability to teleport in or out. All the doors are wooden?, I seem to remember other door types in previous editions. I didnt see a wandering monster table. Lack of a poster map(s) really aggrevates me. The Map Pack wasnt worth the money IMO, I was hoping for some tables to help populate/furnish the dungeon. I found two things as far as story line disconcerting as well from the two parts I did read. In Wyllowood, the Temple to Malar simply being abandoned seemed plain lazy. Stardock in its own adventure was controlled by the Twisted Rune, why not expand on that instead of just leaving them out?

Do I regret purchasing this, no, will I use parts of it, yes but I wont run it straight through. Im gonna re-read all the old stuff and this and put together my own campaign. Im not trying to discourage anyone from buying this book but I just wish that once in awhile WotC would deviate from their standard product format and release something bigger, as it seems they tried to cover too much in too little of a page count. Im sure there are plenty out there who would pay $100+ for something like the size of Ptolus or Rappan Athuk.

Are you looking for something like this?
Skullport Page 304
Archmage AC 12/15 HP 99 XP 8,400 MM 342
Bugbear AC 16 HP 27 XP 200 MM 33
Champion AC 18 HP 143 XP 5,000 DMM 312

 

[R_J_K75]

Here's the thing... they tried that in 4e. Every statblock for every monster was included. This meant that every room took one to three pages.

Look at the first level of the dungeon. In the book it's 14 pages. If they included the full statblock for each of the 22 monsters in this dungeon, the section would be 23 pages. That's over 50% longer! And statblocks for higher CR monsters just end up taking more and more space.
This space has to come from somewhere, and just means fewer dungeons overall. (If each chapter uses a similar amount of space, it'd be 15 levels rather than 23.)

Really, what would you rather pay for? A 320-page book that was mostly dungeon. Or a 320-page book that was half a reprint of a book you already owned?


Yes, yes there are.
But here's the thing, you can't just double the size of a book and double the price. Because the larger a book is, the fewer people that buy it. The smaller the sales, the more you need to charge to offset the production cost. And the more expensive the product is, and the harder it is to sell, the trickier it is to convince game store to stock the product. Because they have to pre-buy every book on the shelf, and lose money if it doesn't sell.

Also, Rappan Athuk is only 70 pages more than Dungeon of the Mad Mage. DotMM is already BIG.
Meanwhile, Ptolus was $120... in 2005. It'd be over $155 now. Likely more with increased shipping and printing costs.

There's certainly room for big fancy collector's editions that cost extra. Or Invisible Sun. But that's not the thing WotC does. (So far, their collector's editions have cost the same.) They sell to the average gamer. The majority of their products are aimed at the majority of the audience.
(Although, they may do fancier products with partners.)

You make some very good points which I had not considered regarding page count with stats. You are correct that they are catering to a mass market rather than a niche market. Theyre going to appeal to the masses rather than satisfy a small few.

 

[Joseph Nardo]

Here's the thing... they tried that in 4e. Every statblock for every monster was included. This meant that every room took one to three pages.

Look at the first level of the dungeon. In the book it's 14 pages. If they included the full statblock for each of the 22 monsters in this dungeon, the section would be 23 pages. That's over 50% longer! And statblocks for higher CR monsters just end up taking more and more space.
This space has to come from somewhere, and just means fewer dungeons overall. (If each chapter uses a similar amount of space, it'd be 15 levels rather than 23.)

Really, what would you rather pay for? A 320-page book that was mostly dungeon. Or a 320-page book that was half a reprint of a book you already owned?


Yes, yes there are.
But here's the thing, you can't just double the size of a book and double the price. Because the larger a book is, the fewer people that buy it. The smaller the sales, the more you need to charge to offset the production cost. And the more expensive the product is, and the harder it is to sell, the trickier it is to convince game store to stock the product. Because they have to pre-buy every book on the shelf, and lose money if it doesn't sell.

Also, Rappan Athuk is only 70 pages more than Dungeon of the Mad Mage. DotMM is already BIG.
Meanwhile, Ptolus was $120... in 2005. It'd be over $155 now. Likely more with increased shipping and printing costs.

There's certainly room for big fancy collector's editions that cost extra. Or Invisible Sun. But that's not the thing WotC does. (So far, their collector's editions have cost the same.) They sell to the average gamer. The majority of their products are aimed at the majority of the audience.
(Although, they may do fancier products with partners.)

the new 5e rappan athuk is 600 pages but of course it was kick started