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

[Hussar]

Realistically, K is a VERY short region. There aren't a lot of encounters there, although a honking big dragon is always a blast.

While water breathing and Freedom of Movement spells are great, I wouldn't bet on the party actually going that route. Any weakness that instantly kills PC's the first time they get whacked with a dispel magic isn't one they are going to be keen on.

 

[rvalle]

Ok... there was a thread on Enworld for a while: "Do you pull a lever in a dungeon?" or something like that. I have the definitive answer... at least for my group.

After being chased by Madness out of I, the group decides they want to go and retrieve the Holy Bastard Sword (Vronil?) that they lost to the Baghest.

As a heads up, I let them know (though Keldara) that the ghost down in E is now gone. (After several knock down drag out fights I figured the Baghest have had enough and they left. I figured they went to B as there is some notes about them having contact with them in their Goblin form).

So the party wanders around the Baghest section checking each room. At the far E side there is a room that has a lever in it. The new guy (Rogue 1/Monk4/Sorc 1/Dragon Disciple 2) says he'll pull the lever. But... shouldn't everyone get into the room first? Oh yeah... good idea. Everyone piles into the room... the lever is pulled and the floor drops out of the room!

I told them "This is why people DM... moments like this!"

After that the party went back to I and managed to meander right into Madness' home.

When we left the game for the night the party was running from Madness. Everyone was out in the hallways but for one fighter who was still in the middle of the Vestibule room. He has just been blinded by Madness and is moving towards the door. Madness has just sprouted wings and is lifting off the ground (that got a "Oh my god" from one of the party members). We'll take it up next game with rolling for Init.

I changed the room description just a little. Instead of the ground being soggy I had the floor being super flesh covered like the walls were. As the party walks they sink down to their knees in the flesh. I told them its like trying to walk on a waterbed. So far no one has tried to move > half speed.

rv

 

[chrisheff]

Session 9 updated:

http://www.geocities.com/cptzaphod/wld.htm

 

[twilko]

Heh, you're nice than me Zweihander. I let them starve. They'd been eating whatever they could find for the first three regions. I specifically nerfed VoP because it pretty much takes away all the disadvantages of the WLD.

The shadows in E are going to rip these guys a new one you realize. No cleric REALLY hurts. No arcane caster too is going to make things REALLY interesting.

Yeah but watch those damn clerics and their purify food and drink. My lot have been living on dire rat and dark mantle jerky for a while now.

 

[twilko]

Absolutely.
btw - if they are heading to F and you don't mind giving them one of the keys ahead of time then I'd suggest having one be found on the body of a dead demon (there is a description of ... Large znip.

Thanks for that erucsbo. Good ideas.

Only one of my party is Lawful Good and none have joined the Garrison. I used the Negative energy wave from Worldeater creating zombies idea that is on this thread, but that just encouraged the party to get out ASAP.

Can't wait till they get to G!

 

[rvalle]

Has anybody still reading this run Madness yet? I'll have to check BBR's postings again...

Here is the thing... Gibbering Mouthers are different in the SRD vs MM and WLD in some significant ways.

Per MM and WLD if a target is hit by a mouth he is drained 1 con point a round. If hit by 3 or more he can be engulfed and attacked by 12 mouths. Once inside the target can not attack. There are no rules for getting out implying that his friends outside have to kill the Mouther or the target inside will die.

Per the SRD a bite does not do con damage. When hit by one bite the GM can attempt a grapple. If it wins it engulfs the target and then starts to do 1d4 con damage per round. The target can 'cut' its way out (I say 'cut' as Madness has DR 15/Magic and Blunt) for 5 points of damage from the inside.

I'm waffling about which way to go. I like the con damage per bite but I like there to be some way to get out once inside or its going to be a death sentence. It probably will anyway...

rv

 

[rvalle]

The NEW Madness

I've desided to mix the two.

Madness will:

Attack as normal and drain 1 con with each bite. The bites can be smashed off with blunt weapons. I'm thinking of letting them be cut off but it causes no damage to Madness. Maybe the cut pieces will crawl back and be absorbed by Madness.

If 3 or more mouths are on a creature it can be engulfed. Once inside the creature will take 1d4 con damage per round. If he is able to cause 5 points of blunt damage he can escape. If he can cause 5 points of slash damage he can 'cut' a hole in the dough like body of Madness and atempt to escape with another grapple check.

rv

 

[Dracorat]

Come to think of it, I'm going to modify it a bit. The nourishment effect will still be going... but only in areas that are still a) in good repair, or b) still suffused with positive energy. In other words, not Regions A, D, G, H, J, K, L, M, or O.

Beyond that... I haven't read the book cover-to-cover, but something's bothering me...

How are PCs supposed to do regions K and L? I mean, some of those events take place in excess of 500 ft below the surface!

That's the bueaty of that writeup - if it happens to not work somewhere, it makes sense!

 

[Zweihänder]

The prep is finally done for my game. I'm so excited! Last time I tried to run the dugeon as a whole... well, we just stopped halfway through Region B...

Last time I tried to run a piece of the Dungeon, though, was at Albany Gameday V, in which a group of six rat bastard PCs beat Region A (Longtail and all) while STILL AT LEVEL 1.

...GRRR!!!

 

[erucsbo]

Thanks for that erucsbo. Good ideas.

Only one of my party is Lawful Good and none have joined the Garrison. I used the Negative energy wave from Worldeater creating zombies idea that is on this thread, but that just encouraged the party to get out ASAP.

Can't wait till they get to G!

Glad you like the negative energy wave idea. Suggestion: when they get to G and can hear the Trumpet Archon's song through the region, have the tone change (key change or major to minor, or tempo change, or something else musical) when the wave rolls through and then back again when it (and the souls it picked up) ebbs back to N. Will be interesting how that effects F as well, considering the random effects of the doors. You could have souls (I had high Knowledge Religion or Planes rolls I think) to sense the passage of the souls through the area getting lost/disoriented by the doorways - and interesting effects could be caused by lost souls coming across empty bodies - extending the whole body swap routine being employed by Durtenian Vaielle (the elven mage).