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Worlds of Design: Making Megadungeons Make Sense
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<blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 8052616" data-attributes="member: 70468"><p>It really depends on where the dungeon is and what’s going on with it. Usually, there should be something that makes sense about it and a reason why it’s there.</p><p></p><p>I like to do the dynamic stuff that’s written in this article. It really helps create an opportunity cost for resting when the dungeon is dynamic and changing, especially players start worrying that something is going to move into the dungeon and while they’re away.</p><p></p><p>I run an exploration-based game, so I’m a big fan of <a href="https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon" target="_blank">Jaquaying my dungeons</a>. When there are multiple paths through a dungeon, and you can’t count on one way remaining safe, finding shortcuts and alternate routes start to become actually important.</p><p></p><p>My PCs have recently started exploring an actual megadungeon, which is my first one. One of the things about this campaign is there’s exploring a region that was devastated long ago in the War of the Giants. No one can really remember what happened, but they know it was bad. <em>I know</em> that (among other things), it caused significant damage to time and space in the region. This lead me to my first idea: they’d start exploring a cave then emerge onto a bridge between motes in the sky, and there would be a mansion they could see above them on top of one of the motes.</p><p></p><p>Designing the dungeon itself has taken some learning. At first, I just knocked out a map. I had several floors, including several sub-levels on the 2nd floor. The problem is trying to key it just got too difficult because nothing was contextualized. After sitting down and doing a stream-of-concious brain dump, I am now in a much better position. I figured out who lives there, who uses the dungeon, what everyone thinks of each other, how they are able to survive, the relationships, and so on.</p><p></p><p>I feel like having factions is an important distinction between a regular dungeon and a megadungeon. This opens up opportunities for the PCs to play the monsters against each other, and it also brings them up closer to parity with those living outside the dungeon. I’m really looking forward to when my PCs finally starting meeting the ones I’ve put together to see which ones they befriend and how they react to the antagonism between them.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and I have an entire floor inhabited only by mimics. I mean, why not? I think it’ll be amusing making my PCs develop a paranoia about whether their treasure will attack them. <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" alt="😈" title="Smiling face with horns :smiling_imp:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f608.png" data-shortname=":smiling_imp:" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="kenada, post: 8052616, member: 70468"] It really depends on where the dungeon is and what’s going on with it. Usually, there should be something that makes sense about it and a reason why it’s there. I like to do the dynamic stuff that’s written in this article. It really helps create an opportunity cost for resting when the dungeon is dynamic and changing, especially players start worrying that something is going to move into the dungeon and while they’re away. I run an exploration-based game, so I’m a big fan of [URL='https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/13085/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon']Jaquaying my dungeons[/URL]. When there are multiple paths through a dungeon, and you can’t count on one way remaining safe, finding shortcuts and alternate routes start to become actually important. My PCs have recently started exploring an actual megadungeon, which is my first one. One of the things about this campaign is there’s exploring a region that was devastated long ago in the War of the Giants. No one can really remember what happened, but they know it was bad. [I]I know[/I] that (among other things), it caused significant damage to time and space in the region. This lead me to my first idea: they’d start exploring a cave then emerge onto a bridge between motes in the sky, and there would be a mansion they could see above them on top of one of the motes. Designing the dungeon itself has taken some learning. At first, I just knocked out a map. I had several floors, including several sub-levels on the 2nd floor. The problem is trying to key it just got too difficult because nothing was contextualized. After sitting down and doing a stream-of-concious brain dump, I am now in a much better position. I figured out who lives there, who uses the dungeon, what everyone thinks of each other, how they are able to survive, the relationships, and so on. I feel like having factions is an important distinction between a regular dungeon and a megadungeon. This opens up opportunities for the PCs to play the monsters against each other, and it also brings them up closer to parity with those living outside the dungeon. I’m really looking forward to when my PCs finally starting meeting the ones I’ve put together to see which ones they befriend and how they react to the antagonism between them. Oh, and I have an entire floor inhabited only by mimics. I mean, why not? I think it’ll be amusing making my PCs develop a paranoia about whether their treasure will attack them. 😈 [/QUOTE]
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