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

[jim pinto]

Hey thanks for the response and I think I have this under control now but I've been trying to figure out the meta-plot and I have some questions...

1. Did Longtail know that he would be trapped in the Celestial's prison (WLD) ? Or did he figure after he raised his army he would win his way out?

2. The dungeon was originally built before Orcs,Minotaurs, goblins, etc. even existed right?
So, how did so many humanoids get in? Was there a mad rush after the first tear in the dungeon to plunder riches or gain nefarious allies? After a wave of invasion was it warded a second time by Celestials?

3. Was the Dungeon deep in the earth and "raised" closer to the surface because of the earthquakes? I don't understand why the Derro are digging(because of the Xill). Did the Derro digging cause the massive landslide effectively close off portions of the Dungeon that were open to escape?

4. It states that there is an entrance and an exit. Why is there an exit?(if its a prison of eternity)

5. It says that while the Angels looked the other way creatures migrated to Region B. I thought the Celestials/Angels were active eons ago before the existance of creatures like minotaurs, orcs, goblins, etc...is there a timeline of activity between celestials and earthquakes and such.

6. I dont understand how the wards can still be active in some sections if the dungeon is broken open?

7.Is the whole idea that the "good" races must finish what the celestials started and somehow repair the dungeon or are they suppsoed to defeat the World Eater and defeat "evil"?

I guess my main concern/confusion is how did all these humanoids of relatively low power get into the dungeon and why? It doesn't sound like a good place even for them!!

sorry for all the questions but before I start I would like to get a firm grip on the meta-plot so I can wing-it when I have to.

thanks,

Alex

let me do my best here...

1. this was subtly hinted at... and i think you're the first person to ask...

the answer is up to you... what part do you want him to play in the dungeon?
major role? then yes, he knew. if not, he was just making the best of a bad situation.

2. they all got in the same way the pcs did. except the derro and drow, who came
in from the northwest. and yes, there was sort of a mad dash. the climate is hospitable.
and one could say the level of magic, certainly attracts supernatural beasts.

that and curiousity killed the kobold.

3. the derro themselves do not understand what they are digging for. but they are looking
for something buried after the first earthquake.

and no... the dungeon was always that far "below" the surface.

4. its a metaphorical exit.

5. the angels have been there since day 1. when their numbers dwindled, creatures slipped in. again, a metaphor.

6. you don't under how magic can work where the stone crumbles? what sort of degree in magic do you have? (insert smarm)

7. there is no WHOLE idea... there are 1,000 possible ideas and the DM uses the one he likes.

one of them, and my favorite, is that the pcs defeating the evil in the dungeon are the final proof that mankind is ready to manage itself, without the will of the gods. once completed, the heavens open, everything goes back to normal for the pcs, and the world outside slowly begins to develop technology and self-sufficiency...

an end to magic, if you will.

To be honest, it seems like you're searching for a literal interpretation here, when in fact, we've specifically designed the product to be just flexible enough that literalism is the one ingredient the DM could add himself.

You decide the function of the dungeon, which maps you'll actually use, what the climax will be, and what role each monster plays. Take out the nighthag story in Region G if you don't like it, add firebreathing toads to Region H for the elf calvary to ride, put a store in the middle of Region J where the azer's trade anything and everything for gems, remove the entire maps E and D because they don't fit your version of the game, and put the final map on the elemental plane of ice... its all up to you.

Hope that helps.

 

[Hussar]

Heh, I guess I'm a little boring. I'm not making huge adjustments to the Dungeon just yet. We've just entered it (completed a grand total of 3 rooms heh - bloody computer problems) and I'm waiting a bit to see how things play out before I get too energetic about making changes.

That being said, I had thought that maybe a dream plane, similar to Xorlat could make some sort of an appearance. Because everything in the Dungeon dreams (by and large) there could be a sort of dream plane that permeates every region. The PC's could possibly enter this dream plane once in a while and interact with the beings trapped there. Since this piece of the dream plane is cut off from the rest, the dream beings cannot escape any more than anyone else can. Perhaps by cutting a deal with some of these beings, they can enter the dream plane, trade with whatever is there, and gain access to items not necessarily found in the WLD. My thought was to use the Diaboli from Dragon 327 and give him the Shaper of Form PrC from Dragon 326. That way he could take items and turn them into similar items - good for creating spell components and the like. Add in some Far Realms critters and maybe some Scarred Lands goodies to discourage the PC's from taking too much advantage of things, and I think it might work.

Any opinions?

 

[Barak]

Alright, first a little background to explain my question(s), and explain why I'm bringing back a thread from page 7.

Our group's problem, for a long time, has been the lack of someone who likes DMing. As the one who dislike it the least, I've pretty much been saddled with it for a couple months now. Now, my main problem with DMing has always been the prep work. I don't mind DMing on game night, and I do have good ideas for plots/villains/whatever, but I hate making statblocks, writing things down, etc, especially since as a busy parent, I have little time for it. That led to quite a few gaming sessions spent on board games, etc. Anyway, With Amazon's great 40$ special, I broke down and bought this, and I have to say, I've been pretty hyped since, especially reading this thread.

Now for the question. Our group's next gaming session is wednesday, and the book should get to me on thursday. Now, I plan on "finishing" up the current campaign on that night, so that's fine. But we play again friday after that, and I would like to come to it with my players at least knowing what they'll want to play, so character creation can take a minimum amount of time. Here's what I gleaned I should tell them on wednesday (in fact, if I get enough info before wednesday, I might just go ahead and make them make characters on that night, which would reduce the amount of time I have to run that boring campaign of mine). So here is what I plan on telling them, based on what I've read on here and all. Any additions, or anything I got wrong?

-Druids and Wizards, while allowed, somehow end up somewhat screwed, so play at your own risk.
-Obviously, it's a dungeon. Keep that in mind (IE. This might not be the best time to play that mounted character you've been eyeing.)
-While not absolutely essential, a rogue and a cleric would be a great help.

As for character creation, here's what I'm thinking. Any comments/suggestions?

-We're playing 3.0. Is WLD done for 3.0 or 3.5?
-PHB races and classes. -Perhaps- AU race and classes, but they'd need alignments, and I'm still doubtful I'd allow all of them
-32 point-buy
-Max starting GPs, strongly suggested to spend all your starting cash.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

So here is what I plan on telling them, based on what I've read on here and all. Any additions, or anything I got wrong?

-Druids and Wizards, while allowed, somehow end up somewhat screwed, so play at your own risk.
-Obviously, it's a dungeon. Keep that in mind (IE. This might not be the best time to play that mounted character you've been eyeing.)
-While not absolutely essential, a rogue and a cleric would be a great help.

As for character creation, here's what I'm thinking. Any comments/suggestions?

-We're playing 3.0. Is WLD done for 3.0 or 3.5?
-PHB races and classes. -Perhaps- AU race and classes, but they'd need alignments, and I'm still doubtful I'd allow all of them
-32 point-buy
-Max starting GPs, strongly suggested to spend all your starting cash.

Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork.
What we've found out is that a point-buy forces PCs to be more specialized in their main areas. You may want to sprinkle a few stat magic items out there after a while.

What I did for our group was to take their expected max starting money, and combine it all to buy all kinds of things they might need. Then let them grab what they needed.

I limited the PCs to classes, races, prestige classes, etc. to PHB, DMG, FRPH, & BoED. I figured since the monsters in the WLD were pretty much limited to the SRD (and it appears a few borrowed ideas from BoVD) that it may be unbalancing for the players to get to use all of the books out there.

Strongly suggest to them that they play good PCs, especially if they go into region E. Region E will kill anyone with an evil alignment if they aren't careful.

And expect to play a boardgame on Friday.

 

[Barak]

Thanks for the quick response! I guess it's a sign of how hyped I am that I check this thread for responses every 20 minutes now.

Strongly suggest to them that they play good PCs, especially if they go into region E. Region E will kill anyone with an evil alignment if they aren't careful.

And expect to play a boardgame on Friday.

The first is not a problem. While I personally have no problem with evil PCs, my players, at "worse", make neutral ones. I think that has to do with previous DMs being very, very against evil PCs.

And.. Any specific reason to expect playing a boardgame on friday? I do plan on spending 2-4 hours reading the book as soon as I get it.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Any specific reason to expect playing a boardgame on friday? I do plan on spending 2-4 hours reading the book as soon as I get it.

2-4 hours is a good start. And you will probably be able to make characters and start playing. But you need to remember; nearly 1,000,000 words within 840 pages.

Overwhelmed is a good word for it.

 

[Barak]

Well.. I don't plan on reading the whole thing through before playing. Region A should get read easily in 4 hours, and I can skim the others in that time too, I'm pretty darn sure.

 

[Qwillion]

Scaled Owlbear (no Not That Kind Of Scales)

ROOM A100

The scaling for room A100 says
"To increase the challenge of the encounter, increase the fiendish owlbear's HD to 8."

Doing that affects hp, base attack, grapple, attack, full attack, DR, SR, energy resistances, saves, one ability point (if you award them every 4 HD, if you do that can change other stuff), one feat which can change other stuff, and it effects CR (by two becase it effects the template as well as just advancement)

Now doing all this on the fly and being 100% accurate is beyond me so I took the time to write it up this evening.

I took some liberties and changed the feat selection to be more challenging in combat and I made the skills more useful for the owlbear to track down food in the dungeon. I also awarded the owlbear a stat point upon gaining monster level 8, putting it in strength.

I hope this will make it more useful for for DM's whose PC's come back through region A and did not fight the Owlbear, for those DM's who are Bastiches use a pair or a pack of these.


Advanced Fiendish Owlbear
Large Magical Beast (Extraplanar)

Hit Dice: 8d10+40 (84 hp)
Initiative: +1 (+1 Dex)
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +5 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+18
Attack: Claw +14 melee (1d6 +6)
Full Attack: 2 Claw +14 melee (1d6 +6) and bite +8 melee (1d8 +3)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab, smite good
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/magic, darkvision 60ft., low-light vision, resistance to fire and cold 10, scent, spell resistance 13
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +7, Will +5
Abilities: Str 22, Dex 12, Con 21, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills: Hide -3, Listen +1, Spot +1, Survival +12
Feats: Iron Will, Track, Weapon Focus (Claw)
Environment: Region A
Organization: Solitary, pair, or pack (3-8)
Challenge Rating: 7
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral evil

 

[Hussar]

Hey, here's a question. What would you do to PC's that decide to eat fiendish creatures?

 

[DaveMage]

Hey, here's a question. What would you do to PC's that decide to eat fiendish creatures?

Make sure they have the right wine to compliment it?