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Worlds of Design: Making Megadungeons Make Sense
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<blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 8053294" data-attributes="member: 6796661"><p>Back in the 80s I didn't run many mega dungeons. I liked more sprawling stories, often with a lot of wilderness travel (something that is much less part of my current campaigns).</p><p></p><p>When I did make dungeons, I tried to make them make sense to some degree. A good resource for this style of dungeon design from that period is "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Central-Casting-Dungeons-Robert-Sassone/dp/0922335524" target="_blank">Central Casting: Dungeons</a>" by Task Force Games (from 1991).</p><p></p><p>But now, I'm more happy with "an evil wizard did it".</p><p></p><p>I've been running Rappan Athuk over the past year and I love to take any opportunity to share one of my favorite quotes from a gaming book's forward:</p><p></p><p>[EXCERPT]Once upon a time, there was an idea — an idea formulated by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson who got together in 1974 and published in a little paperback book set (maybe you’re heard of it?), including a little tome called Underworld Adventures. The idea was simple: it is a lot of fun to go into a dungeon and kill evil monsters. Why is the dungeon there? No one knows. Why do the monsters usually fight rather than talk? We aren’t really sure. Why are there 16 trolls in a cave with a jug of alchemy? No one cares. What do all the monsters eat? We don’t know that either (although “adventurer” probably tops the list). And we don’t have to know these things. This isn’t an ecology experiment, it’s a dungeon — the quintessential setting for pure swords and sorcery adventuring.[/EXCERPT]</p><p></p><p>I'm quite happy with this style of play. No more happy, I still like more modern styles of play as well, but I don't have to throw out my beloved dungeon crawls. I can enjoy both. Personally, I think that even the most realistic or at least logically consistent campaign should have at least one WTF fun-house dungeon thrown in without any explanation.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MNblockhead, post: 8053294, member: 6796661"] Back in the 80s I didn't run many mega dungeons. I liked more sprawling stories, often with a lot of wilderness travel (something that is much less part of my current campaigns). When I did make dungeons, I tried to make them make sense to some degree. A good resource for this style of dungeon design from that period is "[URL='https://www.amazon.com/Central-Casting-Dungeons-Robert-Sassone/dp/0922335524']Central Casting: Dungeons[/URL]" by Task Force Games (from 1991). But now, I'm more happy with "an evil wizard did it". I've been running Rappan Athuk over the past year and I love to take any opportunity to share one of my favorite quotes from a gaming book's forward: [EXCERPT]Once upon a time, there was an idea — an idea formulated by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson who got together in 1974 and published in a little paperback book set (maybe you’re heard of it?), including a little tome called Underworld Adventures. The idea was simple: it is a lot of fun to go into a dungeon and kill evil monsters. Why is the dungeon there? No one knows. Why do the monsters usually fight rather than talk? We aren’t really sure. Why are there 16 trolls in a cave with a jug of alchemy? No one cares. What do all the monsters eat? We don’t know that either (although “adventurer” probably tops the list). And we don’t have to know these things. This isn’t an ecology experiment, it’s a dungeon — the quintessential setting for pure swords and sorcery adventuring.[/EXCERPT] I'm quite happy with this style of play. No more happy, I still like more modern styles of play as well, but I don't have to throw out my beloved dungeon crawls. I can enjoy both. Personally, I think that even the most realistic or at least logically consistent campaign should have at least one WTF fun-house dungeon thrown in without any explanation. [/QUOTE]
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