D&D 5E Waterdeep - Dungeon of the Mad Mage

[Hussar]

I'm curious if those who enjoyed this have DMed or played other large dungeon adventures or mega dungeons? If so, where do you rank it? How well do you think it holds up to being mostly complete without a lot of DM customization?

I compare it to Caverns of Thracia, Rappan Athuk, Barrowmaze, Lost City of Barakus, and Tomb of Abysthor. I don't find it as interesting or flavorful as any of those.

Well, the other mega-dungeon I ran would have been the World's Largest Dungeon back in the 3e days.

Now, the idea of "complete" isn't something I ever judge modules on. I never run adventures straight up as written and always customize, so, that's a criteria I really can't comment on.

That being said, as a player, the first two or three levels really were very flavorful. The goblin town on the 2nd (3rd?) level is fantastic. We found the dwarven beer hidden there and took it back to our Trollskull inn. AIR, we also brought back the floating beholder corpse there too. We kept giving out free drink coupons to friendly NPC's to attract business. So, yeah, we did have fun with it and I think that had I had the earlier version of my group (of the six players, two of the more heavy RP focused players dropped out leaving a very beer and pretzels group that I was totally unsuited for), I think we would have had a great time.

 

[Retreater]

Would be curious about recommendations for big dungeons that are good at keeping up a steady supply of reasons to want more and go deeper.

I feel like this might be a "cheat" because it's not a typical megadungeon, but I LOVED the Vault of Larin Karr from Necromancer Games in the 3.5 era.

You explore "smallish" dungeons that end up being all connected by a vast cave system. Each dungeon has its own reason to explore it and are set up like thematic "nodes." Also, it contains a pretty detailed surface world.