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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rounser" data-source="post: 1054246" data-attributes="member: 1106">No, you're not alone.  In fact, your entire post is more or less a rewrite of a thread I began a while ago.  I'll add that you can mislead people with the "back to the dungeon was a mistake" line; what you really want (IMO) is the "back to the megadungeon was a mistake".  There's a difference....a big difference.  With dungeons, as with mexican food, it's possible to have too much of a good thing.  I'm yet to see a fully written megadungeon (Undermountain doesn't count in that respect) that doesn't get dull as doornails reasonably swiftly.The problem with megadungeon crawls is that the idea of them seems a lot cooler than the reality of them, which is boredom IMO.  Because things sell on image rather than reality, they sell well, at least initially - but given that WotC has written off modules, perhaps the sales are reflecting the reality.Yup.  As seen in this thread, there are a lot of apologists who make up excuses as to why PnP D&D has nothing with the scope and depth of, say, Baldurs Gate II.  Either Bioware designers are a lot more talented than TSR/WotC designers, or there are other things getting in the way, like restrictions on development funds, page count and marketing decisions.I can think of several modules that skirt the edges; the Dragonlance Classics series, Night's Dark Terror, Dragon's Crown and Dead Gods, for instance, but they're few and far between.  I think part of the reason is D&D publishing culture - there's almost an invisible Thou Shalt that says that modules lend themselves to 32 page booklets, but if it's a rulebook or setting material, hell, batton down the hatches; we're going hardcover, 320 pages, easy!  I'm sure that helps crunch and settings sell; all the largest, most attractive, detailed, cohesive products are all rules and settings, whereas modules are little more than magazine articles.  I'd love to see what could be done with FRCS scale resources applied to making a campaign purely in, say, the Eveningstar region, with multiple fully detailed dungeons and lairs waiting to be explored, grand adventures to support an overall story arc, plus multiple side treks and detailed locations.  Megadungeons support little but "dirt adventuring", whereas such a product would support most all styles of play.I doubt we'll ever see it from WotC; Ryan Dancey has given the reasons - logistically speaking, they're too hard for a designer to develop whereas by comparison megadungeons are easy to create, and TSR noticed that just slapping the words "dungeon crawl" on modules sent sales up.  Plus, you've got folks like many of those in this thread, who are satisfied with the status quo, and will keep buying the megadungeons.  Happily, they must have seen poor sales, else WotC would be making more of them.  My theory is that D&D players noticed they're dull unless you like combat combat combat, and stopped buying them.See above.</blockquote>

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