World's Largest Dungeon in actual play [Spoilers!]

[Ozymandias]

New region info

SPOILERS...

Hello Jim.

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was going to drop my characters into the dungeon via the celestials need into Region G. Due to the successful end of the campaign last week, almost all the characters are 12th level. So I may drop them into Region H and have the elvish paladin or the Half-Elf enlist their aid to assist with the undead coming from Region G. Then eventually I will have the drow and the demon make their move against the High Druid and/or Jacan in their attempt to frame the PCs.

Could I persuade you to post some Region Info for these 2 regions?

Oz

 

[mich23]

Sent them in via a message from a trumpet archon. so far set of every trap because they went in with out a rogue even though I told them they should have one. Add clues with a lentern arcon and they know the dungeon has a great evil they have to stop. have read all sections introduction and about to read region n any other sections i should read before i go to far, read a and b so far.

 

[hitomikitage]

Read region E. Trust me, if you only read one of the regions adjacent to region A, your players will go the other way (and they will complain loudly if you try and force them otherwise.) My suggestion is read the regions you plan on running, that way you have an idea of how to get the players interested in the over-plot of the dungeon (which can be one of many different things.) I love the idea of the 3 faction undead war in region N, thus I have ensured that my players will be going to region N by using the celestial garrison to assign them the task of stopping anyone from waking the world eater. The presence of Tyrus the ancient red dragon in a region adjacent to N (region J) just makes it that much easier, since I can send them to the Pyrefaust (a region which I absolutely love) from region I (another region I love) since they decided F would be too difficult to map with all the warp gates.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,
Howard

 

[Jim Hague]

SPOILERS...

Hello Jim.

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was going to drop my characters into the dungeon via the celestials need into Region G. Due to the successful end of the campaign last week, almost all the characters are 12th level. So I may drop them into Region H and have the elvish paladin or the Half-Elf enlist their aid to assist with the undead coming from Region G. Then eventually I will have the drow and the demon make their move against the High Druid and/or Jacan in their attempt to frame the PCs.

Could I persuade you to post some Region Info for these 2 regions?

Oz

Different Jim here, but I'll let the author of H know you're interested. What sort of information are you looking for, specifically? I helped out a bit on H (Gutless and Spineless, specifically, with some other small bits), as well as writing I and M1, so feel free to ask away.

As an aside, there was a request sent to me some time back regarding the I/M1 'director's cut' material; I've had an email crash, so could the person who sent the request (I think it was Twofalls, but I'm not sure) send me another request on that?

 

[twistedoliver]

Levling ins WLD

Hello All,

I have been trying to think of a way to level the PC's and llike the 2 per region that was suggested in the book and the leveling rooms suggest by Twofalls. I like it but I know my players will feel like they are getting a raw deal because of all the things they are fighting.

Any suggestions on how to keep it 2 to a region and make it seem a little less like a room hunt? Does using the EL of the enounter work for giving xp? meaning that if they do try to clear an area (Like A ) would they still be level 3 using the encounter level and not the CR of the monters?

The main problem is that since it is a club sometimes I have players that don't show regularly and other players whine if they get the same amount of XP as characters who have been to every session?


The second question I have is how alive is everybodies, dungeon? Does a goblin scouting party from Region B wander into Region A? I would think that it would be smart for the bugbears to slip into region A slide down to the bottom and hit the Goblins. It mentions that the goblinods seem to replish thenselves thoughout the centuries though tunnells, etc. Where is a logical place for them to get into this region?

Also once an area is cleared out, will you slowly fill it back up with overflow from other reagions?

These are things I am thinking of as I read. Maybe this stuff is explained by how they intereact (like the locked doors from B to F).

Scott

 

[jim pinto]

SPOILERS...

Hello Jim.

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was going to drop my characters into the dungeon via the celestials need into Region G. Due to the successful end of the campaign last week, almost all the characters are 12th level. So I may drop them into Region H and have the elvish paladin or the Half-Elf enlist their aid to assist with the undead coming from Region G. Then eventually I will have the drow and the demon make their move against the High Druid and/or Jacan in their attempt to frame the PCs.

Could I persuade you to post some Region Info for these 2 regions?

Oz

the finale to Region G is like a CR 18 encounter if i recall, so 12th level PCs will have
an easy go, up until the finish. since you are just dropping them in, i would use
the erinyes from Region H as a foil. she has stolen one of Jacan's artifacts and is
going to use it to kill the trumpet archon in G99 and open the dome.

this creates a timeline for the adventure, forcing the PCs to weave through the region.

i would also consider trimming down the number of celestials and moving the
ettins and night hag out of the region... saving her for another adventure. replace
the low end demonic encounters with vrock hordes

also, to create a two front war, increase the tension in region H and have a few demons from Region D escape north into G (from some fissure the duergar opened, etc.) .... after the PCs finish with Room G100, have them face the machinations of Region D

does that help? do i need to do more of your homework?

 

[jim pinto]

Read region E. Trust me, if you only read one of the regions adjacent to region A, your players will go the other way (and they will complain loudly if you try and force them otherwise.) My suggestion is read the regions you plan on running, that way you have an idea of how to get the players interested in the over-plot of the dungeon (which can be one of many different things.) I love the idea of the 3 faction undead war in region N, thus I have ensured that my players will be going to region N by using the celestial garrison to assign them the task of stopping anyone from waking the world eater. The presence of Tyrus the ancient red dragon in a region adjacent to N (region J) just makes it that much easier, since I can send them to the Pyrefaust (a region which I absolutely love) from region I (another region I love) since they decided F would be too difficult to map with all the warp gates.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,
Howard

one of the ideas i posted (or someone posted and i agreed with), was the idea of choosing the seven maps you like the most and running those - end to end

it requires a little bit of fudging, but in many cases (DMs with noisy PCs) allows for a campaign to run without a lot of hiccups.

or a lot LESS of them.

i especially like the A, E, I, M, N, O thread (also known as Amino)

A, B, C, G, K, N (shift the maps to the right), O is also good

F, J, G, D is a great combo for people who liked the Giants series from WAY back.

it can also be run as F, G, J, D or F, G, D, J

H and L make great fillers to other campaigns as well, and stand alone nicely

if you like moving the maps around, these themes are excellent

A, B, C, F, I, K, J, N

that's a lot of adventuring, but the meatiest "crawl"

E, G, D, N has lots of epic story potential (maybe with H in the middle as a rest point)

A, B/C, I, M, K is a great haunted house style adventure

G, K, J, O is just a mean, tiresome trek that DMs can foist on high-level PCs
with sort of a rescue and guard video game mentality to it.

M, J, N, O is a good high-level crawl that starts in hot lava and ends in magical ice
with an undead tomb in between. this one fits well is the PCs know they are stopping
the world eater AND if they know about the all-important scroll (or carry the replacement
scroll)

B, E, C, F, J is a good tough fight for people who like orc-like monsters, but requires a little beefing up of the 3rd and 4th regions.

um...

that's all for now

if i think of more crawl-threads, i'll post them

 

[jim pinto]

Hello All,

I have been trying to think of a way to level the PC's and llike the 2 per region that was suggested in the book and the leveling rooms suggest by Twofalls. I like it but I know my players will feel like they are getting a raw deal because of all the things they are fighting.

Any suggestions on how to keep it 2 to a region and make it seem a little less like a room hunt? Does using the EL of the enounter work for giving xp? meaning that if they do try to clear an area (Like A ) would they still be level 3 using the encounter level and not the CR of the monters?

The main problem is that since it is a club sometimes I have players that don't show regularly and other players whine if they get the same amount of XP as characters who have been to every session?


The second question I have is how alive is everybodies, dungeon? Does a goblin scouting party from Region B wander into Region A? I would think that it would be smart for the bugbears to slip into region A slide down to the bottom and hit the Goblins. It mentions that the goblinods seem to replish thenselves thoughout the centuries though tunnells, etc. Where is a logical place for them to get into this region?

Also once an area is cleared out, will you slowly fill it back up with overflow from other reagions?

These are things I am thinking of as I read. Maybe this stuff is explained by how they intereact (like the locked doors from B to F).

Scott

these are all good questions, scott and if you read through this thread you'll see people have had results with almost every different type of XP allotment.

that said, your group would most likely benefit from the EL/CR XP ratio

your other questions are great too... they imply a "living" dungeon, something that an adventure can't do well, but a DM can, with a little work.

yes, its possible the bugbears have travelled through region A to get to the lower doors of B, but that would explain why the locks are so good now. and yes, something should "move in", if the PCs kill everything, but this could take weeks or months. most creatures are used to the goblins being there. how often to the gnolls send scouts from C to check for goblins?

and how far do they progress each day when they don't see any? certainly the gnolls expect an ambush and don't move in immediately.

and some rooms imply that they occupants have been there for a long time, giving the dungeon history as well as a "living" component.

i hope this helps. i'm sure twofalls, thundershot, and hitomi have some ideas they can add

 

[hitomikitage]

Hello All,

I have been trying to think of a way to level the PC's and llike the 2 per region that was suggested in the book and the leveling rooms suggest by Twofalls. I like it but I know my players will feel like they are getting a raw deal because of all the things they are fighting.

Any suggestions on how to keep it 2 to a region and make it seem a little less like a room hunt? Does using the EL of the enounter work for giving xp? meaning that if they do try to clear an area (Like A ) would they still be level 3 using the encounter level and not the CR of the monters?

The main problem is that since it is a club sometimes I have players that don't show regularly and other players whine if they get the same amount of XP as characters who have been to every session?


The second question I have is how alive is everybodies, dungeon? Does a goblin scouting party from Region B wander into Region A? I would think that it would be smart for the bugbears to slip into region A slide down to the bottom and hit the Goblins. It mentions that the goblinods seem to replish thenselves thoughout the centuries though tunnells, etc. Where is a logical place for them to get into this region?

Also once an area is cleared out, will you slowly fill it back up with overflow from other reagions?

These are things I am thinking of as I read. Maybe this stuff is explained by how they intereact (like the locked doors from B to F).

Scott

I prefer the experience system, but the problem with it is that it will quickly cause your PCs to outstrip the monster challenge ratings/encounter levels. I have slightly over twice the number of PCs in my game as the D20 suggested party size (of 4) with 9 players. This means that the experience points that the party gets winds up being pretty close to the correct amount, and if charcters die, their backup characters will quickly be near the level of the remaining PCs. Without the experience system, it is possible to cramp the style of players that are interested in the item creation feats, or that are interested in moving into the Kensai prestige class out of complete warrior.

My dungeon is starting to get alive. Back when they were still in the relatively early stages of the dungeon, the PCs talked with the leader of the Goblin Rebels in region B. Since they had already cleared out the Goblin King and most of the rest of the region, the goblin rebels were more than ready to deal in order to be able to take the region completely when the PCs had moved on. Now with an entire region, plus the ability to expand into A, the rebel goblins, along with the one surviving goblin from the holy goblin area, are ready to rebuild from the fragments of their shattered society. Coupled with a couple of missed rooms, and helpful clues left behind by the PCs (such as the yellow mold trap, marked in chalk, as a yellow mold trap) the goblins will be able to secure region B then A in a relatively short period of time. If the PCs should ever get back there, they will find the region to be alot different than the one they left behind.

Thanks,
Howard

 

[BlueBlackRed]

I've used the EL=XP method. But for my group that might a bit too much so I've started to shave a little off for the time being (mostly rounding down on the hundreds).

And with 2 clerics in the party, I have had to throw in a couple extra critters or 2 for the normal encounters, just to keep it challenging.

And as for the "living dungeon" (something I usually do in my own games, but haven't really tried in the WLD), I'll be implementing a few changes.

#1) The party easily whiped out Morat, and a good chunk of his pack. This made Saraas's days a little easier when the remainder of Morat's pack had to join in with her. But she is now very wary of the PCs and has instructed her pack to strike a bargain with the PCs. I haven't worked out the details, but it will something along the lines of leave us alone and we'll give you information or we'll hunt you down en masse. But I have to work a few other details first.

#2) Taking an idea I read last week on here. The shadows are recruiting from region A now. If they aren't stopped soon, region B will my farmed by them as well. I'm hoping the PCs will meet up with the Garrison soon so I can implement that.

And to fill in a few other tidbits:
- The barbarian in the group with the holy greatsword +2 did go back and sign the charter.
- The group now has 3 ward staves.
- They've forgotten about the all-door but have "found" it
- One player is playing an exalted cleric, almost forcing the players to stay on the straight & narrow. There were 2, but one lucky barghest had a nice meal, a nice last meal.