D&D 5E Princes of the Apocalypse rebuilt as a megadungeon?

[Lauguz]

Hello Gamer Nation!

My Roll20 group is looking for a new campaign and we want to play a megadungeon that is heavy on action archeology (combat + exploration) and low on politics, overland movement and investigation. I was flipping through PotA and thought it might remix into a megadungeon without too much trouble, with each of the above ground areas being moved to a single location and all leading to the deeper levels. Would this work without major reworking? Thanks!

 

[robus]

It's my understanding that PotA is 4 large dungeons that all meet up in a final central location (the game in which I was a player ended before we got much beyond the Earth temple).

Given that each of the dungeons is of a similar level combining them into a mega dungeon will be tricky. I could imagine some kind of stacking:

Air(1-4) -> Water(5-8) -> Earth (9-12) ->Fire (12-15) ->Final epic battle/treasure (adjust PC level range to suit your campaign objective)

but you'd have to rebalance most of the encounters along the way. And I have to say there wasn't much mystery in PotA. It was just combat encounters all the way down...

I think megadungeons really need a good DM who can keep things interesting (and the objectives in sight) or else it can turn into a slog (oh no not another level...)

The AngryGM is working on a megadungeon and has some very useful discussion on things to consider: http://theangrygm.com/megadungeon-intro/

 

[designbot]

Check out Barrowmaze.

 

[Lauguz]

Check out Barrowmaze.

I backed both Barrowmaze 1 and 2 and have considered running it. Worried that it gets very repetitive. Do you have any experience running or playing it?

 

[designbot]

I backed both Barrowmaze 1 and 2 and have considered running it. Worried that it gets very repetitive. Do you have any experience running or playing it?

No, unfortunately.

 

[ninjayeti]

Sure you could do it, but I don't think it would be ideal. Feathergale Spire and Scarlet Moon Hall work best with some level of social interaction so I think just a hack and slash approach would fall flat there.

If I were doing it I would probably start the party at level 5 or 6 and run just the dungeon section and maybe one of the keeps (Riverguard or Sacred Stone). If you really wanted to start the campaign at level one you could use a couple other dungeon-based adventures first - the Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury adventures from Yawning Portal are both really good. It would not be a megadungeon per se, but I think it would provide the experience your group is looking for.

Barrowmaze is good, but really is intended to be run as an old-style dungeon - henchmen, wandering monsters, unbalanced encounters, etc. I don't think it is great unless that is the specific style you are after.

 

[ephemeron]

It seems like most of my (rare) posts lately have to do with the Temple of Elemental Evil, but... what you're suggesting sounds a lot like reconstructing the Temple of Elemental Evil, after Princes of the Apocalypse deconstructed it. Which means that, if you're the sort of DM who enjoys research, there's lots of stuff about running and improving ToEE out there on the Internet that you can read and steal!

 

[Daern]

Im running Barrowmaze. It is really great, but for a specific style. It's repetitive in a good way. Like, players can start to get a lay of the land and feel that they understand the place. But I think it works best for simpler, faster D&D, so fights are quicker and more can be explored. With VI it would be more of a slog, and characters would get too tough too quick.
I think you could run the Princes dungeons pretty straight up if you just minimize the overland travel and make some sort of "quest tickets". Basically, make it really easy to get to a find each temple and dungeon. Might actually be better than the campaign as written.

 

[TallIan]

There is a fair bit of social interaction in the nearly above ground parts, but it's not too hard to redo as hack and slash. My group were more sense on combat as well.

As for lumping all four zones together, it might not be necessary. With plenty of clues, there should be very little need for exploration, just travel.

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