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[MrFilthyIke]

I'd hate to be the one stuck with mapping duties while playing in that.

Yes indeed.

That's when the mapping player starts charging a FEE for services rendered.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

there is no scrying or teleportation in undermountain, they are strickly banned by the affects of the construction by Halaster

Hmmmm.... not exactly keeping with the 3.5 "roll with their abilities, don't ban them" philosophy.

Not a huge deal for me, but still.

 

[Mark Hope]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/news/20050210news
Just looked at the map. First reaction:
Holy hells, how did anyone run a game featuring that monstrosity? I'd hate to be the one stuck with mapping duties while playing in that.

A player in my campaign took a real liking to Undermountain and used to take his necromancer there on solo missions (ie. one player with a bunch of hired NPC help) whenever I could find the time to run it for him. He developed some very good maps and a fair amount of knowledge on the dungeon.

Then, one day, he got the rest of the players together and the whole party headed down there with 5 or 6 PCs and no NPC hirelings. They were deep in the southern areas of the 1st level when a nasty encounter with a bulette ended with the necromancer dead and the rest of the party badly injured. The noise of the battle attracted other monsters (wraiths, iirc) and the party started to get a bit panicky and decided it was time to high-tail it out of there.

They frantically pored over the necromancer's maps of the dungeon, trying to find out where they were. It slowly dawned on them that the necromancer knew the dungeon so well that he had never bothered to mark the entrance on the map. They ran like frightened little rabbits through the maze-like halls, pleading for a clue or a hint on how to get out. I said nothing of course, and the dead necromancer's player remained equally tight-lipped, thoroughly enjoying the growing desperation of his fellows. They made it out eventually (a few levels lighter) but mapping was dealt with a little more carefully after that point. Local knowledge is only useful when you are sufficiently alive to share it, I guess

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Local knowledge is only useful when you are sufficiently alive to share it, I guess

Classic, just classic.

 

[RichGreen]

I can't believe I never noticed it before ... but isn't one section of this map originally from module B1?

Hey, it's like the World's Biggest Damn Dungeon Ever, in real life!

I had great fun running Undermountain in my FR campaign several years ago -- I actually used it as the Undercity below Unthalass in Unther.

It's good that they're going to do some web articles on it, as I don't think it's going to be covered in great detail in the upcoming Waterdeep book.

Cheers


Richard

 

[The_Warlock]

I can't believe I never noticed it before ... but isn't one section of this map originally from module B1?

I never looked, and can't here at work, but considering that this was done during TSR days, and it was originally designed as a deathtrap by good ole Ed Greenwood for his home Realms, then got the publishing loving of TSR, it could've been either TSR re-use, or Mr. Greenwood might have just used B1 back in the day as the basis for his original stuff.

As for the anti-scrying and anti-teleport - its more of a no quick in, no quick out set of wards built by good ole Halaster the Mad. Those magics do work in Undermountain as long as you are on the same level and the target area isn't cut off by the walls, more or less. But you can't scry or teleport into the dungeon from outside, or vice versa. Certain magic items in the dungeon are tied to the dungeon and allow those magics to work freely within the confines of the dungeon. That and the sheer number of portals (many which go across the campaign world) allow for lots of transportation. As for letting characters use their skills, it is all about that, except that the singular owner of the place has enough permanent dimensional locks to make the PCs work for what they get.

 

[Ty]

Good times... good times.

I remember spending many, many, many nights in my youth mapping, killing, running, and of course, being killed, in Undermountain with friends. It is probably one of the best diversionary dungeon crawls out there. Can't wait for the update/redo. It makes for a nice change of pace from the city adventures of Waterdeep.

 

[Arnwyn]

Hmmmm.... not exactly keeping with the 3.5 "roll with their abilities, don't ban them" philosophy.

Of course not. It is from older editions, after all.

Besides, no need for it to be a universally applied philosophy. I'm sure one dungeon out of many can have such an "old skool" philosophy, I would think.

Not a huge deal for me, but still.

"Still" nothing.