World's Largest Dungeon?

[thundershot]

The only problem I see... is that I can't fathom a party spending an HOUR reading runes without first hand knowing they need to spend an hour to gain any benefit out of it... It's hard to hint that without getting too "meta"...



Chris

 

[Geoffrey]

I like the philosophy of Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics:

Remember the good old days, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level? Those days are back. Dungeon Crawl Classics don't waste your time with long-winded speeches, weird campaign settings, or NPCs who aren't meant to be killed. Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl, with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the secret doors you know are there somewhere.

Can the World's Largest Dungeon be ran well in this manner?

 

[jim pinto]

I like the philosophy of Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl Classics:

Remember the good old days, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level? Those days are back. Dungeon Crawl Classics don't waste your time with long-winded speeches, weird campaign settings, or NPCs who aren't meant to be killed. Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl, with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the secret doors you know are there somewhere.

Can the World's Largest Dungeon be ran well in this manner?

yes. yes you can.

if you read some of my previous posts, you'll see that the most important
thing about this book for me is that an individual encounter be as good as it can be. now. with 1,600 (slowly approaching 1,700) encounters, there are going to be some lemons, BUT there are also going to be some A++++ encounters that you've never seen before.

we hope.

i've never been much of a dungeon crawler, myself. mostly because i found many of them silly or just plain ill-thought out (gender switching traps aren't heroic). but the old B1, B2, B3 series is probably one of the best things i've ever played, because of the wide-eyes i wore while playing.

as a DM, i always sought more unique traps and monster combinations. you're going to see things that i've done with monsters in here that will make you really fear things like ghouls and wights, that many jadded gamers stopped worrying about a long time ago. the first time you encountered an orc, was scary. i don't care what your DM says. you didn't know what it could do and you didn't know what you were capable of either.

that's what true fear is.

if a ghoul is all of sudden doing strength damage AND paralysis, PCs are going to be saying... what the ??!?! that's not supposed to happen. i'm an elf. how are these -- OW!!? stop it.

#1. dungeon crawl
#2. cool tactics, traps, encounters
#3. cool villains and story
#4. worth $200, but we're only charging you $100



i'm on the last legs of this thing and i'll be sending it to the printierin less
than 2 weeks. that means i won't be posting encounters for a while, so i can get my job done.

i can't wait for people to start playing though, since i've been writing it for 9+ months

peace

 

[Geoffrey]

Jim, thank you for your great response!

I am really looking forward to this monster of a dungeon. I've been fantasizing about something like this since 1980.

The World's Largest Dungeon, ran old-school style (like the Goodman Games modules) using the Castles & Crusades rules, promises to provide me an incalculable amount of fun!

 

[Jim Hague]

It's always good to see such enthusiastic commentary about something you've worked on. I can say, along with Jim, that the WLD is going to definitely be something you've never seen before. And has been said before - it's not just a dungeon crawl. We've thought out the ecology, politics (both internal and between the regions), economics...the WLD isn't a massive dungeoncrawl (though it can be played that way) than a massive toolkit for a campaign.

Jim, myself and nearly 20 other writers have been working hard on this project for 9+ months. I think we can say with no ego at all that it's going to blow folks' socks off.

 

[DaveMage]

And that's why I really wish Gen Con was in Florida.

I could afford to go if for no other reason than to stop by the AEG booth and pick it up.

*sigh*

I've said it before, but I really want to thank AEG for having the guts to do something like this...

Good luck with sales, folks...

 

[jim pinto]

update

edits are 99% done

the book is now in going through the office for people to poke it with a stick and see if anything oozes out. i'm cleaning up trap formats, searching for XXs, making sure NPCs can have all the vorpal weapons i've been handing out, and generally adding the last minute touches that no one is going to notice anyway...

haha

if it went out today, it would still be awesome.

there is no reason we won't hit gencon, short of me breaking my hand again in the next week.

btw.... its clocking in at 840 pages and i might have room for an index,
but who wants one of those?



thanks to everyone on the list for ideas and concerns and the outlet
for talking about it when everyone here was sick of hearing about it.

i'll be taking a much earned rest next week and i should set a date of june 21st as the day i post the first four pages of the book.

peace

 

[jim pinto]

this book is NOT atkins friendly

btw

the book finished off at just over 900,000 words

for those of you counting your calories

 

[DaveMage]

thanks to everyone on the list for ideas and concerns and the outlet
for talking about it when everyone here was sick of hearing about it.

i'll be taking a much earned rest next week and i should set a date of june 21st as the day i post the first four pages of the book.

peace

I'll look forward to the first four pages in two weeks.

In the meantime, enjoy your vacation, and thanks for stopping by now and again to give us a preview!

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

*takes out his 100$, and irons it so its nice and crisp*