D&D 5E Resting in a mega-dungeon?

[Tobold]

My group absolutely wants to play a mega-dungeon, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage. I am a bit worried on how to handle resting in such an environment. I usually try to have some story reason that encourages the players to push on, not taking a long rest after every major encounter. I don't see that working in a mega-dungeon. "You can't rest here, it's not safe" isn't going to work either, as obviously at some point they will have to rest there. So I am wondering whether I need to add some new house rules to the mega-dungeon to prevent the group from resting too often.

What do you guys think of a rule that players get half xp for the first fight after a long rest?

 

[Inanity]

I wouldnt think house rules are needed... I imagine the simplist way to approach it is to put a (maybe mini) village in the dungeon (maybe the PC's have to 'clear' the village out... ALso, depending on the layout of the dungeon it may make sense to allow the players to onwardly advance clearing out the dungeon, or at least temporarily clearing out regions of it, that act like forward bases they can rest at...

if they want to advance then they may not be able to rest (since the dungeon would most likely be teeming with enemies; take advantage of enemy home feild advantage and traps and wandering creatures, a mega dungeon isor can be a city a slum a cavern a base of operations a small hamlet anything and all in one... make the dungeon dynamic and interactive with people DOING THINGS (I know this is easier said than done believe me)... Dont penalize them for wanting to rest I would say but place reasonable restrictions on them that REFLECTS OR TAKES INTO ACCOUNT WHAT THEY CHOOSE TO DO; if they are 10 layers deep and have cleared a portion of that level; well now they are stuck; the upper layers have surely been overrun (again!) and continuing is dangerous because, well monsters are dangerous; going further means not knowing when you can rest next and attempting to reach the surface is neigh foolish as you have only one more day to reach the goal and youve been down here in a teleport locked antimagic filled dungeon for weeks... etc....

I think there are many ways to NOT in any way care how often the players ATTEMPT TO rest and still create suspense and difficult combat... the players maybe need to be somewhat understanding or concessive in action choice thogh I dont know... Hopefully this was somewhat helpful (as I am not sure if i even answered the opening question)

EDIT: also there ARE VARIANT rules in the DMG that make resting MUCH LESS attractive (1 week for long and 8 hours for short)

EDIT: as a note: clearing out a forward base in a hostile mega dungeon may be a very hard task in and of itself and may take man power time and resources, hirelings, tras, lookouts, wards, etc...Dont be unrealistic (and yes I know there is a fine line between a 'realistic' dm and a 'relentless' dm and i guess this is what we are talking about... but this balanced may be achievable and quite 'naturally' so by the DM NOT caring so much yet also placing REASONABLE restrictions on their resting (also one may have to CONSTRUCT their encounters with this i mind such as ANTICIPATING a GAUNLET like portion of the dungeon wher they are 'forced' into a series of battles due to scenario (i would say this restriction should be organic to that portion of the dungeon and what is going on) Or another exaample: maybe they want to storm a keep; it may take a whole session; mere minutes potentially in game but a series of hard battles; or the players forward base is NOW being seiged and well goodluck resting in a seige of ogre mages blasting cones of cold at the dungeon walls all day and night; at low levels exploit that feature of the party... at lower levels its generally easier to challange players; at higher levels, EXPLOIT the fact that enemies are also high level and badass and accept that high levl players SHOULD HAVE A LEVEL OF control over the terms of the combat THEY CHOOSE TO ENTER...

 

[Bawylie]

A trick I’ve used - I put enchanted fountains in large dungeons. Magical/divine seals prevent use of the water outside the seal. Drinking from the fountain confers the benefit of a long rest. But you can only gain that benefit once a day. Because magic water.

Depending on the size of the dungeon, 2 or more fountains placed strategically might do precisely what you need.

 

[Inanity]

A trick I’ve used - I put enchanted fountains in large dungeons. Magical/divine seals prevent use of the water outside the seal. Drinking from the fountain confers the benefit of a long rest. But you can only gain that benefit once a day. Because magic water.

Depending on the size of the dungeon, 2 or more fountains placed strategically might do precisely what you need.

I can only imagine how coveted such fountains would be (think swarms of Djinn from the elemental plane of s=fire beseiging such a place to harness and extend the awesome power of these most excellent of fountains!)!

 

[abirdcall]

How does the adventure handle it?

Every 5e published adventure I have played has given advice and guidelines on how resting works in that adventure.

Is there no mention of the pacing?

 

[Bawylie]

I can only imagine how coveted such fountains would be (think swarms of Djinn from the elemental plane of s=fire beseiging such a place to harness and extend the awesome power of these most excellent of fountains!)!

That’s why large complexes and dungeons get built around them!

 

[ccs]

Well if you read the book & look at the maps you'll note that there are plenty of places that an adventuring party can hole up in & fortify in order to rest.
Thee's also areas that aren't hostile. Or don't have to be, depending upon how the players go about such things.

The best way to discourage the constant resting? Simply tell the players that if they persist in doing so that you'll stop running the adventure. Because they'll be making it un-fun for you & everyone's fun is important come game time, not just theirs.

But remember, YOU also control everything. Hallister IS watching. Or can be. So if they're intent on making things "boring" or "too safe" you can easily interrupt their rest in any # of ways.
You could also have a magical bet going on at the Yawning Portal - how many rooms can the party hit between rests? Bonus xp/gold awaits them up top based upon rooms between short rests & more for time spent between long rests.

 

[Shiroiken]

It really depends on the type of mega-dungeon (I've not read DotMM). A classic mega-dungeon was largely unpopulated, with sporadic creatures spread about, but with intelligent ones gathered into small areas. In such an environment, taking a long rest simply requires holing up somewhere and making some checks for wandering monsters (of course, usually you could also just trek back to the surface, unless lost). In a tight mega-dungeon, where monsters and threats abound everywhere, a long rest likely means death unless they can ally with one of the various factions that lay within.

 

[SuperTD]

You need your players to realise they are brave adventurers, not cowards who take a days rest after every 30 second fight. If you're players understand that these mega dungeons rely on parties pushing through several fights in a day to actually challenge them, then that's what they should do if they want to enjoy the game. If they take a rest every fight, all they're doing is sabotaging their own enjoyment by removing any challenge.

I'm playing through DotMM at the moment and our party generally goes through at least 5 fights per day, and only rest when we're actually out of hit dice and spells. I'd speak directly to your players and make sure they understand that D&D (and this module especially) is intended to have you fight multiple encounters a day, and that if they rest every fight they are going to find no challenge or excitement in the module.

 

[BluejayJunior]

It's in Waterdeep and easily accessible to other adventurers. If it starts becoming a problem of resting after every encounter, start having rooms and treasure cleared out by other groups of adventurers.
And remember that characters can only benefit from a long rest once every day. If they decide to wake, fight one battle, then long rest, they are sitting in one place for 24 hours. Easily discovered by wandering monsters.