Which Edition for a Megadungeon Campaign? Why?

[Reynard]

I'm not asking for advice. I am not planning on running a megadungeon campaign anytime soon (although I have a long genstating one I'll get to eventually). I am more interested in the discussion broadly.

If you were to run a magadungeon campaign -- by which I mean a campaign focused around the repeated exploration of a single large, complex, dynamic dungeon environment -- which pre-5E version of D&D (or retroclone or simulacrum, I suppose) would you choose for such an endeavor? Why would you choose that version of the game?

And just for giggles, what is your theoretical megadungeon like?

I would be inclined toward B/X I think -- mostly for its simplicity, even if I think AD&D is actually "better" for a campaign never meant to move into wilderness exploration. Note that I have never played OD&D so maybe it is a better fit.

Also, my megadungeon is called The Hellstair. The first couple levels are undercity levels of a long lost, ruined capital city that has only recently been rediscovered. it's basically a California gold rush town except it's dungeons not gold mines. It is called The Hellstair because it actually came up from below (that's what killed the city) and the farther down you go the literally closer you get to Hell.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I'd personally favor a not-too-lethal system, just because is dull to have a TPK far from the opening and have the new party go through the already visited layers/levels.

For megadungeon, I'd go for having a party follow the tunnel of an ever-digging giant worms who swallowed your village/dear ones/whatever, so you go through various regions that the worm dug through, like a old necropolis, a dwarf-hold, a underground forest etc, hoping to catch up with the worm and take back what's yours. In the end, the worm itself could be one living dungeon.

 

[Parmandur]

Probably 5E, because it doesn't force combat, but when it does it is fast and not excessively lethal.

I'd build a scenario similar to the old Interplay game "Drafon Wars" or the recent "Hades": the PCs trying to get out of some sort of magical prison realm.

 

[Reynard]

I'd personally favor a not-too-lethal system, just because is dull to have a TPK far from the opening and have the new party go through the already visited layers/levels.

For me personally, i think the better solution to that potential problem is to make sure there are plenty of alternative entrances and paths. Also, a megadungeon really shouldn't be "cleared" anyway.

 

[Reynard]

Probably 5E, because it doesn't force combat, but when it does it is fast and not excessively lethal.

::checks sub-forum::

I'd build a scenario similar to the old Interplay game "Drafon Wars" or the recent "Hades": the PCs trying to get out of some sort of magical prison realm.

The only thing I don't like about that setup is it takes a little more work to include the "home town" element I think is important to megadungeon campaigning.

 

[Cadence]

What is your favorite way of getting replacement characters in and do you ever want character background to show up in important ways?

One of my all time favorite memories is a mix of B/X, OD&D, 1e (varied by player) where every new character started at first level (basically teleported in effectively if the party wasn't leaving to camp) and it seemed a big accomplishment to live to 2nd. I was a pre-teen/young teen at the time and so part of it might have been me not knowing better. I'd still love to be able to go back and play in Bev's game at Toad Hall in Rockford IL though.

If I want lethal, the character set-up time required in 3/3.5/PF feels a bit annoying to put the effort into.
If I made days actually be days and didn't make me do montages as a player then 13th age might work.
Of the old school things 2e is my favorite system, but I'm trying to remember if we did many big dungeon crawls with it.

If I want the characters to have a better chance of living so they could explore more (checks sub-forum), nevermind.

 

[John R Davis]

This forum section for older editions so 5E can't be an answer .

I'd make it for BECMI. No skills to get in the way of narrative exploration. Get lots and lots explored per session so it doesn't take forever to complete!

 

[Parmandur]

::checks sub-forum::

I don't view the forum through that lens, I browse new posts from all at the same time. So I'll go B/X, since it seems the most amenable to my playstyle.

The only thing I don't like about that setup is it takes a little more work to include the "home town" element I think is important to megadungeon campaigning.

Simple enough: the core of the prison, something like The Village from The Prisoner, can be a homebase.

 

[Retreater]

I'd choose 4E. It provides a richer, more tactical encounter experience than any other edition. Each battle can be a cinematic set piece encounter, while exploration can be handled with skill challenges or simple narrative discussions.
And I'd probably use my home mega-dungeon, Zwaarhold. Thematically it's located in the borderlands where humans have no idea they're building atop a lost civilization of duergar who are now starting to rise to the surface.

 

[Reynard]

I'd choose 4E. It provides a richer, more tactical encounter experience than any other edition. Each battle can be a cinematic set piece encounter, while exploration can be handled with skill challenges or simple narrative discussions.

Out of curiosity what do you do with random encounters or wandering monsters? Do they become ad hoc cinematic set pieces, or do you deal with them by way of a "combat skill challenge" (does 4E have a "fast battle" system like Savage Worlds?) or do you just not include random encounters?