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What is the best dungeon for long term exploration?
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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 8651567" data-attributes="member: 7026594"><p>This list is very good. Each has its own virtues and limitations, and which you want kind of depends on what your exact needs and preferences are. I also recommend having other adventure sites nearby for PCs to explore when they want a break from the mega/campaign tentpole dungeon.</p><p></p><p><strong>Stonehell </strong>has all the virtues cfmcdonald listed above. It's also a bit bare-bones, in a sense? Some folks WANT more description. The early levels are also a bit treasure poor. When I played in an open-table version online the DM literally multiplied the treasure values by 10 to ensure steady progression. I don't think you need to go that far, but the treasure probably should be increased some, assuming you're playing gold for xp. The megadungeon also has a second volume doubling the depth.</p><p></p><p><strong>Barrowmaze </strong>is great. Its layout isn't quite the norm- rather than many levels it has dozens and dozens of barrows with entrances from the surface that sometimes are as small as a single room and stairwell and can be handled in a few minutes, or sometimes are a mini-dungeon of their own, only some of which connect into the actual Barrowmaze beneath them. The Barrowmaze itself is (or appears to be) a single vast level, which gets more dangerous as you move in one direction. The book includes a nearby town and local area. The key is more detailed than Stonehell, but not excessively so. The dungeon does have a theme of lots of undead, while also penalizing Turning them. They're not the only antagonists, but you may want to have other adventure sites available if players want a break from undead. Barrowmaze also tends to be a bit treasure-light. When I've played it the DM has normally included carousing and made an NPC mage in town offer cash for the many minor magic items found in the dungeon, so the players have the option of keeping magic items or converting them to gold & xp. I recommend doing the same, again assuming you're doing xp for gold.</p><p></p><p><strong>Castle Xyntillan </strong>is basically a conceptual update to/improvement on the classic Judges' Guild Tegel Manor. A giant crazy mansion with upper floors and sub-levels, many crazy, dangerous, or even friendly(!) members of the noble family who inhabits it wandering around, who can be negotiated with or give the players tasks. There is a mix of logic and funhouse, with tons of creative areas and encounters. Also a good base town and mechanics for stuff like carousing and recruiting hirelings. Beautiful maps, lots of secrets to discover. Keying is again more detailed than Stonehell, but still designed to be quick to parse at the table.</p><p></p><p><strong>Dark Tower </strong>and <strong>Caverns of Thracia</strong> are classic 1970s designs by Jennell Jacquays. Famously creative in layout, both are large enough for extended play while perhaps not really qualifying as "megadungeons" in the classic sense. Having been published in the 70s, both do have some issues with lack of clarity in the maps in spots- figuring out where certain level connections link up can take some work, though usually you can ask around online for help. Dark Tower is in the middle of a Kickstarter for a Goodman Games OAR right NOW, and hopefully the OAR version will increase playability a little while keeping all the classic creative goodness intact. I have not played Dark Tower but I have played in and read some of Caverns of Thracia, and it's one of my favorite designs ever. Keying can be a little dense in spots; modern tricks of layout to increase readability were not in practice yet, of course.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Lost City</strong> is an 80s classic; Tom Moldvay worked wonders in a 32 page module, but naturally that amount of space does result in a bit of a bare-bones treatment and the DM needing to do some work to flesh the dungeon and the factions (which are present) out a bit. Some of the dungeon design also is a little bit nonsensical, working fine as a dangerous challenge for the PCs but not making a lot of sense in terms of how the NPCs would navigate back and forth between the dungeon/pyramid and the titular Lost City beneath. Some folks have done good work on it online and you can find an extensive PDF suggesting tweaks. Goodman also did a great OAR on this one, which fleshes out the city and adds new adventuring areas.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rappun Athuk </strong>is enormous. I don't have firsthand experience of it, but have read some reports. The maps are extensive and the levels (and sub-levels) many. It has sections which are literal labyrinths designed to be frustrating, including magical effects to confuse mappers which will generally not be well-received by modern players. I recommend abstracting those to figure out a rough estimate on how long it would take to navigate the maze (with some randomization based on character intelligence, perhaps?) and rolling an appropriate number of random encounter rolls, but not making the players actually try to map out and navigate those mazes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 8651567, member: 7026594"] This list is very good. Each has its own virtues and limitations, and which you want kind of depends on what your exact needs and preferences are. I also recommend having other adventure sites nearby for PCs to explore when they want a break from the mega/campaign tentpole dungeon. [B]Stonehell [/B]has all the virtues cfmcdonald listed above. It's also a bit bare-bones, in a sense? Some folks WANT more description. The early levels are also a bit treasure poor. When I played in an open-table version online the DM literally multiplied the treasure values by 10 to ensure steady progression. I don't think you need to go that far, but the treasure probably should be increased some, assuming you're playing gold for xp. The megadungeon also has a second volume doubling the depth. [B]Barrowmaze [/B]is great. Its layout isn't quite the norm- rather than many levels it has dozens and dozens of barrows with entrances from the surface that sometimes are as small as a single room and stairwell and can be handled in a few minutes, or sometimes are a mini-dungeon of their own, only some of which connect into the actual Barrowmaze beneath them. The Barrowmaze itself is (or appears to be) a single vast level, which gets more dangerous as you move in one direction. The book includes a nearby town and local area. The key is more detailed than Stonehell, but not excessively so. The dungeon does have a theme of lots of undead, while also penalizing Turning them. They're not the only antagonists, but you may want to have other adventure sites available if players want a break from undead. Barrowmaze also tends to be a bit treasure-light. When I've played it the DM has normally included carousing and made an NPC mage in town offer cash for the many minor magic items found in the dungeon, so the players have the option of keeping magic items or converting them to gold & xp. I recommend doing the same, again assuming you're doing xp for gold. [B]Castle Xyntillan [/B]is basically a conceptual update to/improvement on the classic Judges' Guild Tegel Manor. A giant crazy mansion with upper floors and sub-levels, many crazy, dangerous, or even friendly(!) members of the noble family who inhabits it wandering around, who can be negotiated with or give the players tasks. There is a mix of logic and funhouse, with tons of creative areas and encounters. Also a good base town and mechanics for stuff like carousing and recruiting hirelings. Beautiful maps, lots of secrets to discover. Keying is again more detailed than Stonehell, but still designed to be quick to parse at the table. [B]Dark Tower [/B]and [B]Caverns of Thracia[/B] are classic 1970s designs by Jennell Jacquays. Famously creative in layout, both are large enough for extended play while perhaps not really qualifying as "megadungeons" in the classic sense. Having been published in the 70s, both do have some issues with lack of clarity in the maps in spots- figuring out where certain level connections link up can take some work, though usually you can ask around online for help. Dark Tower is in the middle of a Kickstarter for a Goodman Games OAR right NOW, and hopefully the OAR version will increase playability a little while keeping all the classic creative goodness intact. I have not played Dark Tower but I have played in and read some of Caverns of Thracia, and it's one of my favorite designs ever. Keying can be a little dense in spots; modern tricks of layout to increase readability were not in practice yet, of course. [B]The Lost City[/B] is an 80s classic; Tom Moldvay worked wonders in a 32 page module, but naturally that amount of space does result in a bit of a bare-bones treatment and the DM needing to do some work to flesh the dungeon and the factions (which are present) out a bit. Some of the dungeon design also is a little bit nonsensical, working fine as a dangerous challenge for the PCs but not making a lot of sense in terms of how the NPCs would navigate back and forth between the dungeon/pyramid and the titular Lost City beneath. Some folks have done good work on it online and you can find an extensive PDF suggesting tweaks. Goodman also did a great OAR on this one, which fleshes out the city and adds new adventuring areas. [B]Rappun Athuk [/B]is enormous. I don't have firsthand experience of it, but have read some reports. The maps are extensive and the levels (and sub-levels) many. It has sections which are literal labyrinths designed to be frustrating, including magical effects to confuse mappers which will generally not be well-received by modern players. I recommend abstracting those to figure out a rough estimate on how long it would take to navigate the maze (with some randomization based on character intelligence, perhaps?) and rolling an appropriate number of random encounter rolls, but not making the players actually try to map out and navigate those mazes. [/QUOTE]
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