World's Largest Dungeon?

[Ranes]

(whispers): The kid... Listen to the kid...

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Actually, it is a fair comparison - they're comparing how much work they did for you vs. how much work you have to do yourself. The undetailed portions of Undermountain were one of the biggest complaints I've heard about the set.
J

I guess then that I belong to the silent side of the arguement. I liked the fact that Undermountain was left mostly blank so I could have plenty of room to throw in my own stuff. DM's who complain about it being undetailed are just being lazy DM's. Any mook can run a published adventure which doesn't require any creativity on the part of the DM. All that takes is a decent voice and an ability to use inflection. I've never run a module exactlly as published, instead I'll read through it, use some ideas and put in some of my own.

As a bad side to having this SUPER DUNGEON fleshed out is that normally most DM's want to read through a module so they'll be prepared for every encounter. It helps to know what equipment different encounter creatures have and what special abilities they'll use (I'm not one of those DM's who has an Orc using a plain battleaxe to defend a treasure which happens to contain a +1 Flaming Battleaxe). Seems like it will take a while with this product to read through the whole thing. Nope... seems like this will be a product for DM's to just read the little gray boxes, draw out the rooms, and roll some dice.

 

[Ranes]

I guess then that I belong to the silent side of the arguement. I liked the fact that Undermountain was left mostly blank so I could have plenty of room to throw in my own stuff.

Fair enough.

DM's who complain about it being undetailed are just being lazy DM's.

Really?

Any mook can run a published adventure which doesn't require any creativity on the part of the DM. All that takes is a decent voice and an ability to use inflection.

Ah.

I've never run a module exactlly as published, instead I'll read through it, use some ideas and put in some of my own.

I see.

As a bad side to having this SUPER DUNGEON fleshed out is that normally most DM's want to read through a module so they'll be prepared for every encounter.

Great idea!

It helps to know what equipment different encounter creatures have and what special abilities they'll use

Right.

(I'm not one of those DM's who has an Orc using a plain battleaxe to defend a treasure which happens to contain a +1 Flaming Battleaxe).

You're jolly clever!

Seems like it will take a while with this product to read through the whole thing.

Is your real name Mycroft?

Nope... seems like this will be a product for DM's to just read the little gray boxes, draw out the rooms, and roll some dice.

Seems like that's definitely a maybe and maybe a probably.

 

[Orius]

carrion crawlers too I think

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!


How can you have a dungeon crawl without carrion crawlers?!

 

[Orius]

First of all, they are comparing it to Undermountain by the number of encounters that were written up for it. The VAST majority of Undermountain was left BLANK so that DM's could pop their own encounters into it so that is an unfair comparison.

I disagree. There are comparisons to Undermountain and Dragon Mountain, for that matter, because those are among the largest dungeons ever published for D&D. It's kind of a frame of reference thing, though I'm sure even they will be dwarfed by this monster.

 

[thundershot]

Lazy?!!? I use published adventures (and work them into my own world) because I don't have any frelling time, not because I'm lazy. I live for stuff like this... as long as the dungeon has an 'eco-system' feel to it, not just a series of random encounters, and there aren't tons of empty rooms, I'll have this bad boy...



Chris

 

[drnuncheon]

I guess then that I belong to the silent side of the arguement. I liked the fact that Undermountain was left mostly blank so I could have plenty of room to throw in my own stuff. DM's who complain about it being undetailed are just being lazy DM's.

Boy, have I got the perfect dungeon for you, then. The map alone covers 200 8.5x11 sheets of 1/4" graph paper, the room descriptions another 250 pages (pre-punched for inclusion in a binder!) and the best part is, it's all left for you to detail!

The price for all this boxed goodness? Only $50!

OK, I'm going a little over the top, but the point is there - I'm perfectly capable of adding my own stuff to an adventure, whether or not the author put in mostly blank areas. Like you, I buy adventures to raid for ideas, plots, and characters...

...but there aren't any in those blank rooms, are there?

J

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Seems like that's definitely a maybe and maybe a probably.

Thanks... my head hurts now...

 

[d4]

...but there aren't any in those blank rooms, are there?

exactly. why would i pay money for an adventure where i have to do most of the work myself? what am i paying for, if not to have other people do the work for me?

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Boy, have I got the perfect dungeon for you, then. The map alone covers 200 8.5x11 sheets of 1/4" graph paper, the room descriptions another 250 pages (pre-punched for inclusion in a binder!) and the best part is, it's all left for you to detail!
The price for all this boxed goodness? Only $50!
OK, I'm going a little over the top, but the point is there - I'm perfectly capable of adding my own stuff to an adventure, whether or not the author put in mostly blank areas. Like you, I buy adventures to raid for ideas, plots, and characters...
...but there aren't any in those blank rooms, are there?
J

I've kind of gravitated away from large, multi-level dungeon crawls. It starts to feel too much like I am running a Diablo RPG (yes, I know there really was one). I generally use dungeon crawls with new groups to get them a few levels, some decent coin, and to get a feel for how the group works together but once they hit 3rd level I start working them into some more far reaching, campaign effecting world events.

Gotta agree with Thundershot. I don't mind a dungeon-crawl as long as there is a reason for being there besides the fact that it is a dungeon. It also needs to have an eco-system. If you are exploring the ruins of an old castle then there had better be barracks, a kitchen, an outhouse, and some of the other things that aren't as glamorous as the treasure room. Personally I thought Sunless Citadel had it right. Why wouldn't there be only one or two predominant humanoids races in a "dungeon" and not much else? Would a Troll really have gotten along with a bunch of Kobolds, Orcs, or anything else that isn't a Troll? Nope... they'd be Troll food and that needs to be taken into consideration. The same goes with Gelatinous Cubes and other "dumb" creatures. They don't understand alliances, they eat and make baby cubes and that is about it.