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Worlds of Design: Making Megadungeons Make Sense
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 8052674" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>I ADORE mega-dungeons. I really do.</p><p></p><p>One of my proudest times DMing was AEG's The World's Largest Dungeon. Had a FANTASTIC time.</p><p></p><p>Y'know, thinking about it, [USER=30518]@lewpuls[/USER] notion of starting with a dungeon seed and then running a sort of quasi-sims program where successive waves of inhabitants rule, govern and expand the dungeon, would be an absolutely freaking fantastic dungeon generator program. Imagine if you could start with a small seed map, add in a few parameters, and then "grow" your dungeon until you reached a point where you were happy, and then the program would spit out a pdf with your dungeon all done for you. Or, even better, a Fantasy Grounds .mod. :salivate:</p><p></p><p>That would be fantastically cool. Someone must have done this already.</p><p></p><p>Megadungeons are very cool and so much fun if done well. Unfortunately, I think some people really get turned off of them after a poor experience or two. There's a lot to running a successful megadungeon. Here are some starting hints:</p><p></p><p>1. Set goals and make the goals achievable in a reasonable amount of time. </p><p>2. Randomly wandering a dungeon is fun for about ten minutes. Then it just becomes a grind.</p><p>3. Give information to the players. ALL THE TIME. Drop maps, have prisoners tell about areas ahead, drop clues (whether tracks or actual droppings <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" />) See #2</p><p>4. Add verticality. One problem in a lot of megadungeons is each level is a perfectly flat plane. That's BORING. Up slopes, down slopes, ledges, exits from a room that are fifteen feet off the floor, all add variety and interest.</p><p>5. Place encounters in corridors from time to time. If every encounter only occurs in a room, then corridors get boring and pointless. Why bother sneaking and being tactical to flesh out the map, eating up all this table time, when there are no actual encounters in the corridors. Just unfog the corridors and move on.</p><p>6. Add bits and bobs to rooms. The World's Largest Dungeon had an excellent list of about thirty different room effects, all labeled. So, maybe this room is a bit colder or warmer or that room is noisy or quiet or smells good or bad. Whatever. Again, variety is key here.</p><p></p><p>I'm sure others could add more.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 8052674, member: 22779"] I ADORE mega-dungeons. I really do. One of my proudest times DMing was AEG's The World's Largest Dungeon. Had a FANTASTIC time. Y'know, thinking about it, [USER=30518]@lewpuls[/USER] notion of starting with a dungeon seed and then running a sort of quasi-sims program where successive waves of inhabitants rule, govern and expand the dungeon, would be an absolutely freaking fantastic dungeon generator program. Imagine if you could start with a small seed map, add in a few parameters, and then "grow" your dungeon until you reached a point where you were happy, and then the program would spit out a pdf with your dungeon all done for you. Or, even better, a Fantasy Grounds .mod. :salivate: That would be fantastically cool. Someone must have done this already. Megadungeons are very cool and so much fun if done well. Unfortunately, I think some people really get turned off of them after a poor experience or two. There's a lot to running a successful megadungeon. Here are some starting hints: 1. Set goals and make the goals achievable in a reasonable amount of time. 2. Randomly wandering a dungeon is fun for about ten minutes. Then it just becomes a grind. 3. Give information to the players. ALL THE TIME. Drop maps, have prisoners tell about areas ahead, drop clues (whether tracks or actual droppings :D) See #2 4. Add verticality. One problem in a lot of megadungeons is each level is a perfectly flat plane. That's BORING. Up slopes, down slopes, ledges, exits from a room that are fifteen feet off the floor, all add variety and interest. 5. Place encounters in corridors from time to time. If every encounter only occurs in a room, then corridors get boring and pointless. Why bother sneaking and being tactical to flesh out the map, eating up all this table time, when there are no actual encounters in the corridors. Just unfog the corridors and move on. 6. Add bits and bobs to rooms. The World's Largest Dungeon had an excellent list of about thirty different room effects, all labeled. So, maybe this room is a bit colder or warmer or that room is noisy or quiet or smells good or bad. Whatever. Again, variety is key here. I'm sure others could add more. [/QUOTE]
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