I'm working on a new campaign-setting (planned so far for LotFP):

Atlantis 1897 – A Victorian-Era Megadungeon

The Challenger expedition (1872-1876) discovered remnants of an ancient civilization at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – which was quickly identified by scientists and scholars as the fabled city of Atlantis.

These findings inspired a whole generation of explorers and engineers to reach the sunken city at the bottom of the sea and, after much progress in the technology of submarines and diving suits, a first expedition was sent to the fabled city by the Royal Society in 1892. To their surprise they found beneath the ruins of the sunken city air-filled caverns and dungeons, an antediluvian labyrinth running deep into the earth. They brought back samples of metals and materials unknown to man, as well as tales of technological wonders bordering on the magical ... and of monsters and death in the dark halls beneath the sea.

The reports by the ill-fated expedition of 1892 lead to a gold rush for the secrets of Atlantis. Now agents of almost every power and nation in the world are organizing expeditions to the sunken city to claim the treasures and knowledge of Atlantis for themselves. All over the world recruiters are now searching for men and women brave or desperate enough to enter the dark halls at the bottom of the abyss and risk their body, mind and soul for the promise of fame and treasure.

So far my inspirational "Appendix N" consists of the following:

Books: Atlantis – the antediluvan world, Ignatius Donelly (for pseudoscientific ideas about Atlantis);  The Temple, Dagon, The Call of Cthulhu, Shadow over Innsmouth, At the Mountains of Madness and others, H.P. Lovecraft; 20.000 Leagues under the sea, Jules Verne; A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain, Michael Paterson (for knowledge and feel of the Victorian Era); 1897 Sears Roebuck & Co. Catalogue (for equipment)

Comics: Hellboy, B.P.R.D., Witchfinder, Baltimore by Mike Mignola and others (for style, mood and monster-ideas); From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell; Doctor Strange (inspiration for magic and the weird)

Videogames: Darkest Dungeon; Bloodborne; Bioshock (1&2)

I would like to know if you know of other material (inspirational or otherwise), that would be useful for the creation of this setting or if you have any ideas of what would be cool to have in this kind of dungeon.

Every input, comment or idea would be very welcome!

Fascinating premise. And welcome to the Site!

Monster Island is a supplement for Runequest 6, but if an island sandbox with savage tribes, giant monsters, lost civilizations and colonist cultists is a good fit, you might want to look into it.

If you want some Lovecraft in your D&D there's Realms of Crawling Chaos, and Carcosa, and Silent Legions.

On the rules front, there used to be a steampunk hack of Labyrinth Lord — Engines & Empires, I believe. But I couldn't find it; Google only turned up a dead link to a Lulu page.

I don't have any recommendations, but I did want to say that it sounds like a really cool premise for a campaign.

What a great idea! It's the perfect location for a Victorian Sci-Fi megadungeon. I wish I'd thought of this myself ;-). I would love to play and explore this version of the ruins of Atlantis.

I'd also suggest watching the Disney animated film "Atlantis". Sure it's a Disney movie but it still had some cool visuals that are right in line with anSteam Punk/Victorian Sci-Fi setting.

An awesome thread, and a great idea for a dungeon.

I agree about Disney's Atlantis cartoon. Very well done and great inspiration for the topic.

Sounds like a very cool place to adventure!
One thing that pops to mind, since you've already mentioned Lovecraft, is one of his ghost written/revised stories The Mound. It's got an explorer discovering the remnants of an ancient civilization that retreated deep into the earth... weird psychic powers and technologies, cattle/mounts/beasts bred from men... it's all very A.E. Merritt (another recommended source!)... with only a dash of the Mythos.

Another book that might bear fruit, though I personally hated it, is The Descent by Jeff Long. All about the discovery of a world-spanning cavern network and the epic attempts to explore and conquer it. Not a good book IMO but it does present some cool ideas and atmosphere regarding adventuring in deep mysterious places.

Thanks for the kind feedback and the great suggestions so far! Keep them coming!

I am still in the early phase of brainstorming for ideas and doing research (on the era as well as on the subject of preparing and running a satisfying megadungeon-game), but when it will be ready I would like to run it as a google+-game. Your responses give me hope that I might find some players

This sounds awesome, I'm already imagining adventures where the party runs into rival explorers from other countries.

Sounds very cool! Keep up the good ideas.

Quote from: ptingler;858066I don't have any recommendations, but I did want to say that it sounds like a really cool premise for a campaign.

+1

In fact I also recommend Engines & Empires (download it here) plus Realms of Crawling Chaos.

For additional  inspirational material, you may want to check Alan Moore's League of extraordinary gentlemen, Corto Maltese "Mu", and the japanese anime Nadia and the secret of the blue water.

Since you will run a lovecraft inspired dungeon, you may found some useful stuff in Kevin Crawford's Silent Legions.

Great idea! Gonna keep an eye on this.

Oh yeah at Disney's Atlantis? It was visually awesome 'cause Mike Mignola was one of the concept artists.

On that note, check out Hellboy! The comics, not the movies.

Quote from: yabaziou;858316For additional  inspirational material, you may want to check Alan Moore's League of extraordinary gentlemen, Corto Maltese "Mu", and the japanese anime Nadia and the secret of the blue water.

Since you will run a lovecraft inspired dungeon, you may found some useful stuff in Kevin Crawford's Silent Legions.

i think that idw is publishing all of pratt's corto in english. i own casterman's color hardcovers and black and white softcovers in my native language.

mu can get a little trippy/post-modern at a time but it functiones more like a dictionary of most interesting lost continent and similar tangents stories than coherent narrative. on the other hand it is one hell of a comic.

if you are readin italian you might check marty mistery comics. it heavily features atlantis vs. mu war backstory.

in 2000 ad land you might like to look through stickleback.

also, old dc arion comics, while not so good, are great for some pulpy inspiration.

as rpgs are concerned dungeon of signs has this weird victorian ship as a dungeon-world setting.

another thing: morrison's vimanarama is really sweet comic with ancient gods return storyline.

Quote from: ostap bender;858457as rpgs are concerned dungeon of signs has this weird victorian ship as a dungeon-world setting.

Which was inspired by the graphic novel 'Leviathan': https://boingboing.net/2012/04/25/leviathan-graphic-novel-of-a.html