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

[twofalls]

My players are digging themselves a hole.
A big one.
All but one of the party Signed the bleeping charter!

Now what do I do?
Can they leave region E now?

No, no, no! This is a great opportunity! I'm hoping that all my players end up signing the charter, though I know that one of them can't (Lawful Evil). Don't you see? The Dungeon adventure takes on a whole new story dimension this way. First the players solve the schism between the Celestials and the Inevitables by having the Inevitables touch the Charter. Once they agree to return to their plane of origin to be reprogrammed the gods must replace them with some Celestials or the wards will fail. Replace them with exactly the same number of Celestials as the number of Inevitables who leave. That still leaves the Garrison drastically weakened from its original state.

Now that the players are part of the Garrison they have a whole new stake in this adventure! Kelara will consider them under her command and will use them to first clean up region E (and any trouble still in region A...ie. the portal if its not closed), and then will use them to locate and rescue other Celestials from other areas of the prison! I mean think about it... you could add in Celestials into nearly any other region of the Dungeon, and then instead of a Dungeon Crawl with traditional hacking and exploration themes, you have a rescue adventure along with all the other plots built into the game! The Garrison needs Celestials to charge the wards, once that is accomplished, certainly Kelara will want to send a powerful force into region I to deal with the fleshy horrors there, or into Region F to clear out the Shadows and Minotaurs... the possibilities for adventure here compliment the various region themes perfectly!

They signed the Charter... eeeeeeexcellent!

One of my key players will be missing for our January 22 playing session, so the other five have decided to play a WLD session rather than our Dreams of Glory campaign. We will start exploring region E that day. I’m looking forward to using your material Lee.

Oh, one other thing, if your conern was that you were planning on using the WLD exactly as written without adding or changing anything, I'd abandon that idea immediatly. In order to run this thing well, you will HAVE to change things in order for the story to make sense. I've met a lot of GM's who play adventures exactly as written, and those GM's inevtiably find themselves scrambling to keep their players invested in the game... (I'm not accusing you here, this is really more of a general warning to anyone reading this thread).

 

[BlueBlackRed]

No, no, no! This is a great opportunity!

(snip)

Now that the players are part of the Garrison they have a whole new stake in this adventure! Kelara will consider them under her command and will use them to first clean up region E (and any trouble still in region A...ie. the portal if its not closed), and then will use them to locate and rescue other Celestials from other areas of the prison! I mean think about it... you could add in Celestials into nearly any other region of the Dungeon, and then instead of a Dungeon Crawl with traditional hacking and exploration themes, you have a rescue adventure along with all the other plots built into the game! The Garrison needs Celestials to charge the wards, once that is accomplished, certainly Kelara will want to send a powerful force into region I to deal with the fleshy horrors there, or into Region F to clear out the Shadows and Minotaurs... the possibilities for adventure here compliment the various region themes perfectly!

They signed the Charter... eeeeeeexcellent!

Oh I understand the potential they have. But you and I have a different DMing style. I tend to see bad things coming. Here's the quick of it:
- They took the Holy Greatsword +2 from room E33 (I believe). The barbarian is the only who didn't sign the charter and he's the one using the sword. If I were a celestial, I'd want it back.
- They took the Ghosttouch bastard sword from room E31. Luckily the paladin (who did sign the charter) is using, but only when needed.
- They found the all-door and are using it as a trap mat.
- They found a ward staff and do not know what it is.
- And they signed the charter without any of the real background knowledge of the charter.
- I even think they took the ancient sword and book from the charter/test area.

You see, it's just a list of very important things the group has done, and it just keeps building. This is going to end really really good, or really really bad.

On the bright side (for them), they took out Morat in 3 rounds!
Round 1: A buffed up, raging, level 5 barbarian does 33 points of damage using his +2 holy greatsword with the power attack feat.
Round 2: That same barbarian does 37 more damage. Morat charms the barbarian.
Round 3: Paladin smites Morat.
This was supposed to be a TPK, but the party is playing it smart. Detect Evil let them know there were 3 moderate evils, and 1 big evil in the room. Party retreats back and casts a variety of buff spells in addition to what the "Knowledge" test room gave them.

I guess the other barghest pack leader just received a few new recruits...

Oh, one other thing, if your conern was that you were planning on using the WLD exactly as written without adding or changing anything, I'd abandon that idea immediatly. In order to run this thing well, you will HAVE to change things in order for the story to make sense. I've met a lot of GM's who play adventures exactly as written, and those GM's inevtiably find themselves scrambling to keep their players invested in the game... (I'm not accusing you here, this is really more of a general warning to anyone reading this thread).

You're preaching to the choir on this one. I may not be changing it as much as you have, but I have made several intentional changes & tweaks, and many on the fly. And if that causes some story incontinuity in some way, my players are pretty forgiving. Mosst have been DMs before.

The best thing that could come out of the "Charter Debacle" is that it will give me a chance to throw some more role-playing into this.

 

[ShadowDenizen]

Well, our "official" foray into the WLD begins tonight, and I'm eagerly awaiting it!

We have:
A Halfling Fighter/ Dog-Rider (One player wanted to try the "Mounted Combat" rules.)
A rogue
A ranger
A (NPC) cleric

I ran an "playtest" just prior to the Holidays, and it went over pretty well, so with the full group present, hopefully it will go just as well!

I'll try to post about it tomorrow.

 

[twofalls]

... it's just a list of very important things the group has done, and it just keeps building. This is going to end really really good, or really really bad.

I only see good here. Basically if they are strong enough to take out Morat so easily make the Celestials tougher, too tough to want to take on, and play them up to the Paladin so that he refuses to war against them anyhow. Give the charter some teeth... bad things happen if the signatories don't play by the rules (and have the Celestials explain that to them). In essence, make them pay for thoughtless actions like signing the Charter without understanding the parameters of thier actions. The stolen swords can be a real fun scene between the Celestials and the party, either they are relics that they want back, or are valued tools that can be given to the Garrison members in order to continue their quests for the Garrison. The Barb... IMHO shouldn't be allowed to keep his blade unless he signs... and is of the appropriate alginment.

The best thing that could come out of the "Charter Debacle" is that it will give me a chance to throw some more role-playing into this.

Agreed! And that indeed is the best thing in a RPG!

 

[hitomikitage]

My party didn't sign the charter, but they are working for the garrison anyways. What I did was had one of the end of the world plots (in my case, the one from Region N) as their mission from the garrison. I like the Pyrefaust, so I told them (in the guise of the celestial commander) that it was their mission to stop the followers of Tyrus from waking him, and then proceed into Region N to verify that none of his followers made it to N to try and free the world eater (Tyrus' ultimate plan once he was freed.) This kinda forces them into the regions I most would like to see run, as well as allows me to subtly introduce the feel of destiny and an epic scope to the adventure beyond what is already present.

My idea is to modify (slightly) a few items that they will pick up along the way (already seeded magic items) and have them be destiny's chosen warriors against the world eater. I am going to introduce elements gradually throughout the regions they will go through on their way (F, J, and N) that will start to slowly reveal to them that they are the chosen ones for this task, and are fated to confront this creature. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but I like that direction.

Thanks,
Howard Hooven

 

[ShadowDenizen]

Well, Session 1 went off sucessfully.

The party racked up a whopping kill-total of 3 Orcs (from A2), but it was still an enjoyable session. The party made a beeline towards the rubble-strewn area (the "70's"): en route, they fell prey to the fiendish Darkmantle in A9 (though it couldn't actually finish anyone off before the PC's fled in terror), but they managed to avoid the fiendish ratswarm. Of course, they also fell prey to many of the traps, despite the thieves excellent search/disable device score.

I tried to give a feeling of terror and isolation, so I added orcish bodies fairly liberally along the way, trying to reinforce the impression that the Orc's were beaten down and routed by a stronger force, though the party doesn't know about Longtail yet, however. The music selecions (again, thanks for the inspiration, everyone!!) worked pretty well: we used a mix of depressing rock (most notably "The Cure"), and some old soundtrack tracks I thought heightened the creepiness.

The Lantern Archon joined the party almost immediately, though he is (of course) more of a bystander than anything else. Of course, it was Interesting how different members of the party reacted to it. (Thanks to all the previous posters for the advice on using the Archons, BTW: I've incorporated many of those ideas into my version of the Archons.)

I anticipate at least another 3-4 sessions in Region A.

 

[jim pinto]

If they sign the charter they can still leave section E, but they're considered part of the garrison know. They get a candle in the candle room (sorry, don't have copy on hand) and I'm betting Kelara and the other celestials will expect a bit more cooperation from the PCs considering they are fellow garrison members now. Also the celestials are more likely to help the PCs since they are fellow garrison members. Any additional flavor effects (maybe a penalty to will saves against the celestials in the garrison) would be cool.

In the extra text I wrote for section E that ended up getting cut there were brooches that were given to everyone in the garrison that had a few minor abilities. I believe the file can be found at http://www.brandonsplace.net/wld/

i would also add, that its important the PCs adhere to the charter

the garrison should call in a favor, perhaps, when the PCs reach region G
or call them back from region I or M... for an important event. perhaps when
the PCs reach 11th level, the garrison can ask them to stop the horror of
rooms G99 and G100 after an event cracked the "wall"

 

[jim pinto]

My party didn't sign the charter, but they are working for the garrison anyways. What I did was had one of the end of the world plots (in my case, the one from Region N) as their mission from the garrison. I like the Pyrefaust, so I told them (in the guise of the celestial commander) that it was their mission to stop the followers of Tyrus from waking him, and then proceed into Region N to verify that none of his followers made it to N to try and free the world eater (Tyrus' ultimate plan once he was freed.) This kinda forces them into the regions I most would like to see run, as well as allows me to subtly introduce the feel of destiny and an epic scope to the adventure beyond what is already present.

My idea is to modify (slightly) a few items that they will pick up along the way (already seeded magic items) and have them be destiny's chosen warriors against the world eater. I am going to introduce elements gradually throughout the regions they will go through on their way (F, J, and N) that will start to slowly reveal to them that they are the chosen ones for this task, and are fated to confront this creature. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but I like that direction.

Thanks,
Howard Hooven

have you read room N223....?

since its a potential finale to the dungeon, some DMs have complained that there isn't any evidence to "forewarn" about this room

i highly recommend that you build in some plot hooks to hint to this room's use.

i was really just trying to write a fun alternative to another "TOMB" room, but instead i just confused and confounded a few people.

anyway. its among the top 10 most interesting rooms (hey someone should start a list of those) and deserves a pre-read.

 

[twistedoliver]

Hello All,

First off, I want to say that I hate you all with real hate on for Jim. After making me read this entire thread though while sitting in bed with my laptop, I now have to go out and find a copy to put some players from my club through this....

Seriously though, Besides all the good reviews, it is the interaction with all the designers, the extra goodies that were made and the allowance of reproducing player maps for distribution is what is really making me get this product.

Jim,

Some companies would hold on to their property very tight, you did it in such a way as to keep it yours and allowed the people use the product in a way that made it very flexible. I think that is very smart business wise. This makes me as a consumer to think of your company as primary pick when selecting from all the products out there.

As a side note, I foung the WLD while looking for new stuff for Spycraft...

I also appreciate the notes on play GM's have posted, not as much how players did, but what problems they encountered by their particular style of play.

I little long winded for my first post..

Scott

 

[hitomikitage]

Jim,

I have read region N in its entirety, so I know of which you speak. I find the coolest thing that happened related to this so far was the random encounter (I think in region B) where a pulse of negative energy animates the skeletons of a few animals for a couple of seconds and then they crumble back into dust. I have been adding pulses of negative energy doing funky things ever since region B, in order to set up that the world eater was starting to wake from it's slumber. Then, when the celestial garrison assigned them the task of stopping Tyrus, I let on that the world eater was starting to come about on it's own, and that Tyrus wanted to be the one to fully wake it and take control of it. Once they get to region N, then they are going to realize that there are more sides trying to wake and control the world eater than just Tyrus.

Thanks,
Howard Hooven