World's Largest Dungeon?

[Hand of Evil]

This dungeon could be interesting to insert into a campaign as a known feature. Every now and then, the players might have to enter a specific area of The Great Dungeon for a specific quest or something.

I'd get bored to tears if we just ran through the whole thing as a campaign in and of itself.

Which makes you wonder if a reason for return trips will be built into it.

 

[Jim Hague]

Greetings! Long-time lurker, first-ish time poster here. I'm one of the freelancers that works on The World's Largest Dungeon, and I'll see if I can answer some of the specifics here without giving too much away.

*Maps: Every section has its own fully-detailed map. Every room is detailed, even in cases where you're (infrequently) dealing with an empty room. We've got a very, very talented cartographer working up the final versions based on the descriptions by myself and other writers.

*Campaign in a box? sure! But we've also taken steps to ensure that the WLD can be fitted into nearly any campaign - run a single section, series of sections, or the whole thing. It's modular, though it won't fit in your back pocket.

*Story? We've got it. Everything, and I do mean everything has a reason for being in the WLD. We're also running the gamut - some sections are tooth-and-nail fights for survival, while others are intrigue and politically-oriented. We've got horror, romance, dastardly deeds and incredible heroics.

So, any other specific questions?

 

[Trainz]

Thanks Jim ! Of course I have questions !

I have suggested the following earlier:

Stat out some rooms (more or less half of the encounters), and use generic encounter descriptions for the rest.

For example, lets say they have 26 generic rooms numbered A to Z. Generic room E could be a room with 3 orcs for example.

Dungeon rooms 14, 78, 132, 567, 570, 598, 1093, 1130, 1450 and 1543 could have for description: "Generic room E".

Do you have a similar system in that dungeon ? If so, what percentage of the dungeon uses it ?

 

[Jim Hague]

Always happy to oblige. (And edit when I goof up).

To quote our specs here: even empty rooms have a purpose, even if it's only to allow weary PCs to rest.

Every room in the WLD is unique - even places where you run into a patrol or gang of similar creatures.

We've gone to some serious effort to make the WLD engaging and exciting. I can't speak to exact ratios as far as encounters go, but I think you'll find very, very little 'dead' time when PCs venture forth into it.

 

[Trainz]

Thanks Jim, but what is the ratio of such encounters ?

Would you say half the dungeon is redundant ? 10 % ?

 

[Jim Hague]

Thanks Jim, but what is the ratio of such encounters ?

Would you say half the dungeon is redundant ? 10 % ?

Again, I can't fully speak to everyone's section, but 10% sounds about right, looking at everything so far. That isn't, I note, a hard and fast number. We've gone to every effort to balance the time spent in play out - giving PCs places to rest after a battle, allies where needed, and things to do generally.

 

[BlackMoria]

I am concerned with the viability of running a 1 to 20+ level campaign based on a dungeon. I've heard negative things about RttToEE because people have said that there is far too much dungeon crawl for their liking and this was for a adventure for levels 4-13 that had a solid plotline selling characters on going through the various dungeons.

What make the WLD different, that players are not going to be sick of the dungeon crawl in short order or after a few levels?

 

[Jim Hague]

I am concerned with the viability of running a 1 to 20+ level campaign based on a dungeon. I've heard negative things about RttToEE because people have said that there is far too much dungeon crawl for their liking and this was for a adventure for levels 4-13 that had a solid plotline selling characters on going through the various dungeons.

What make the WLD different, that players are not going to be sick of the dungeon crawl in short order or after a few levels?

I can answer you with one word: Variety.

The WLD is diverse, moreso, I think, than any product of its kind before it. This isn't your father's whack-'em dungeon - entire sections have been devoted to intrigue, character and story driven plots, and other sections are a fight for survival. Care's been taken to provide interesting uses for skills and feats...it's just enormous. The team working on the WLD is just awesome, and we've done a lot of conferring with one another to make the encounters and denizens of the WLD interesting. You will believe a gibbering mouther can fly.

We've also done a lot to make it modular - each section isn't a single adventure, but a potential series of adventure. Think of the WLD as a toolbox: we're providing a set of tools and adventures for you to use as you see fit.

 

[Psion]

DM's who complain about it being undetailed have no time on their hands and might want to consider letting someone that has the time run the game while they play.

Um, I would say the DMs who complain about empty space in undermountain should stick to running their adventure in areas that are detailed.

I've run many forays through undermountain, and have never had a problem with the players straying into undetailed areas I didn't want them to. Guides, distractions, new walls, and teleports easily keep them where you want them going, and generally the designers tended to only put the entries and teleports in statted areas in the first place.

I think UM was a great product. Gave you room to expand, and it's not as if 160 pages are "undetailed."

 

[DaveMage]

Jim: Welcome to the Boards!

This sounds like the type of product I've wanted to buy for, oh, about 20 years.

My questions:

1) What's the estimated street date on this?

2) Will the format be a boxed set, a single book, or multiple books?

3) Will there be player handouts that are included in it?

and, finally, if you know,

4) Will there be on-line downloads that accompany it to make it easier for a DM to run?

Thanks!