I need to up my dungeon game, so I'm looking at getting a megadungeon for inspiration. Right now, Rapan Athuk is the one I'm leaning toward, but I figured I would ask here to see if others might be better for my purposes.
Most of my games tend to focus on adventures related to faction conflict, but my players for one campaign keep going back to dungeon areas and I want to keep those from getting stale. I'm especially interested in weird stuff, like unusual traps and tricks. I'm unlikely to run whatever I get straight, and will instead pull ideas from it to fit into my own campaign. Here's my research so far:
Considering:
Rapan Athuk
The Forbidden Caverns of Archaia
On the fence:
Castle Xyntillan: might be too whimsical for my campaign's tone
Gunderholfen: might not have enough weird stuff
Didn't make the cut:
Arden Vul: too expensive for me at the moment (does AV work if you only by one book at a time?)
Barrowmaze: the focus on undead won't work for me
Stonehell I & II, but especially II, is brilliant for this. It's deliberately modular so you can extract whole sections for your own dungeon. II has the weirder stuff, though there is some in I.
While I haven't actually seen it, from the review I watched for BrewKessel it looks pretty amazing. Despite its HarryPotteresque themes and childish art, I would definitely consider lifting more than a few items I picked up just from the review, and it appears to be absolutely laden with clever tricks.
dupe
Quote from: atomic on March 02, 2022, 10:24:10 AM
Didn't make the cut:
Arden Vul: too expensive for me at the moment (does AV work if you only by one book at a time?)
Barrowmaze: the focus on undead won't work for me
Arden Vul is amazing and I would suggest you buy the first PDF, or email the writer and see if he can get you a discount on the bundle.
I own the hard copy AND the PDF's and the black and gold leather books are beautiful on the shelf and to read. AV is a phenomenally well written MD and worth supporting.
Also, you can check out /r/Megadungeon on reddit and there's plenty of free sources to pull from there.
Quote from: S'mon on March 02, 2022, 10:58:31 AM
Stonehell I & II, but especially II, is brilliant for this. It's deliberately modular so you can extract whole sections for your own dungeon. II has the weirder stuff, though there is some in I.
Thanks for the recommendation, this one looks pretty useable. It's also cheap enough that I'll probably pick it up regardless!
Quote from: Zalman on March 02, 2022, 11:10:10 AM
While I haven't actually seen it, from the review I watched for BrewKessel it looks pretty amazing. Despite its HarryPotteresque themes and childish art, I would definitely consider lifting more than a few items I picked up just from the review, and it appears to be absolutely laden with clever tricks.
I might take a closer look when it's complete, but I do find the style very off-putting. You're right about pulling ideas, though. Having a dungeon that was transported to a lovecraftian nightmare realm for a while has a lot of potential :D .
Quote from: THE_Leopold on March 02, 2022, 11:37:49 AM
Quote from: atomic on March 02, 2022, 10:24:10 AM
Didn't make the cut:
Arden Vul: too expensive for me at the moment (does AV work if you only by one book at a time?)
Barrowmaze: the focus on undead won't work for me
Arden Vul is amazing and I would suggest you buy the first PDF, or email the writer and see if he can get you a discount on the bundle.
I own the hard copy AND the PDF's and the black and gold leather books are beautiful on the shelf and to read. AV is a phenomenally well written MD and worth supporting.
Also, you can check out /r/Megadungeon on reddit and there's plenty of free sources to pull from there.
Arden Vul does look amazing. I didn't know the books were that high-quality, I assumed they were standard PoD. I might start buying this one piece-by-piece, since I'd love to have it on my shelf. If discounts are available, this might be the one I go with...
Quote from: atomic on March 02, 2022, 05:33:17 PM
Quote from: THE_Leopold on March 02, 2022, 11:37:49 AM
Quote from: atomic on March 02, 2022, 10:24:10 AM
Didn't make the cut:
Arden Vul: too expensive for me at the moment (does AV work if you only by one book at a time?)
Barrowmaze: the focus on undead won't work for me
Arden Vul is amazing and I would suggest you buy the first PDF, or email the writer and see if he can get you a discount on the bundle.
I own the hard copy AND the PDF's and the black and gold leather books are beautiful on the shelf and to read. AV is a phenomenally well written MD and worth supporting.
Also, you can check out /r/Megadungeon on reddit and there's plenty of free sources to pull from there.
Arden Vul does look amazing. I didn't know the books were that high-quality, I assumed they were standard PoD. I might start buying this one piece-by-piece, since I'd love to have it on my shelf. If discounts are available, this might be the one I go with...
the hardback copies are the ones you want. Find the name of the company/author and email them directly. I did and they sent me a discount since I was buying both hardback+PDF and double dipping was a bit much.
Although for 5 tomes the price was reasonable considerably cheaper than Rappan Atthuk's full littany of releases.
Quote from: atomic on March 02, 2022, 10:24:10 AM
I need to up my dungeon game, so I'm looking at getting a megadungeon for inspiration.
The best megadungeon ever published was Goodman's Castle Whiterock. It has everything, varied levels with different themes, multiple entrance and exits, secret sublevels, and an overall logical setup. However, the best thing it does is create story elements that forever drive the players deeper and deeper. It starts with a simple quest to stop a gang of kidnappers but as the players solve one quest, they are given information and clues that lead to quests located on lower levels. It does this in a very natural way so the players are free to follow these story beats or they can just explore as they like.
I like Stonehell I. Don't have II. My one reservation for it is that it's almost better to lift sections from it than use it straight. I found the overall premise kind of flat, and the effort to make the dungeon easy to lift and rearrange also make it difficult for any area to stick out.
Barrowmaze shares some of those traits, which makes it a more useful product to me than it otherwise would be. I don't want the heavy focus on undead all the time, but it makes a good source for grabbing a section to use as a smaller crypt.
The one I really want to run is Lost City of Barakus (Frog God Games). Haven't had a chance to yet, but out of the ones I own, it most reminds me of the kind of games I used to run when I first started with D&D.
Quote from: hedgehobbit on March 02, 2022, 09:33:41 PM
Quote from: atomic on March 02, 2022, 10:24:10 AM
I need to up my dungeon game, so I'm looking at getting a megadungeon for inspiration.
The best megadungeon ever published was Goodman's Castle Whiterock. It has everything, varied levels with different themes, multiple entrance and exits, secret sublevels, and an overall logical setup. However, the best thing it does is create story elements that forever drive the players deeper and deeper. It starts with a simple quest to stop a gang of kidnappers but as the players solve one quest, they are given information and clues that lead to quests located on lower levels. It does this in a very natural way so the players are free to follow these story beats or they can just explore as they like.
Only $758.99 on Amazon right now.....
No love for Undermountain?
Quote from: THE_Leopold on March 02, 2022, 11:37:49 AM
Quote from: atomic on March 02, 2022, 10:24:10 AM
Didn't make the cut:
Arden Vul: too expensive for me at the moment (does AV work if you only by one book at a time?)
Barrowmaze: the focus on undead won't work for me
Arden Vul is amazing and I would suggest you buy the first PDF, or email the writer and see if he can get you a discount on the bundle.
I own the hard copy AND the PDF's and the black and gold leather books are beautiful on the shelf and to read. AV is a phenomenally well written MD and worth supporting.
Also, you can check out /r/Megadungeon on reddit and there's plenty of free sources to pull from there.
As for Arden Vul, here's where personal opinion comes in. I bought it right when it was released in hardcover, read the whole thing and promptly sold it to someone else online because I deemed it basically unplayable. Too big, too detailed, not particularly well-written and some of the worst maps I've ever seen in a published game. I did a full-length review on the Hyperborea forum. That doesn't mean it doesn't have some pretty cool ideas and elements, but I have to draw the line with room descriptions that can run in excess of 5 pages. And yes, you basically need all 5 volumes to run it, or at least volumes 1-4, plus the pdf maps. This is because all the monsters and magic items are in volume 4. So at all times you need the maps, the volume you're running, and volume 4. Maybe it's easier with a tablet, but I only game with physical copies.
I do think Rappan Athuk is very good. Archaia is fun too, but it's a collection of lairs as opposed to a single megadungeon. As others have noted, Stonehell is solid, and it's certainly among the cheapest of the well-known megadungeons. Gillespie's HighFell is fun, but it's floating wizard towers.
Quote from: Jam The MF on March 02, 2022, 11:12:57 PM
Only $758.99 on Amazon right now.....
Yeahhhh...
I "found" a PDF copy of that (because fuck that price) and tried having it printed for me, didn't all translate to print properly. Still, was good.
Anyway.
Castle Xyntillian was fun, and was written by a forum regular. Not that he needs pimping, but hell - spend local.
Rappan Athuk has like fifteen print versions (okay not that many but what, four?) and has a shit golem.
Stonehell is probably your best bet for inexpensive and easy to find.
Quote from: hedgehobbit on March 02, 2022, 09:33:41 PM
Quote from: atomic on March 02, 2022, 10:24:10 AM
I need to up my dungeon game, so I'm looking at getting a megadungeon for inspiration.
The best megadungeon ever published was Goodman's Castle Whiterock. It has everything, varied levels with different themes, multiple entrance and exits, secret sublevels, and an overall logical setup. However, the best thing it does is create story elements that forever drive the players deeper and deeper. It starts with a simple quest to stop a gang of kidnappers but as the players solve one quest, they are given information and clues that lead to quests located on lower levels. It does this in a very natural way so the players are free to follow these story beats or they can just explore as they like.
Intriguing. But 60 bucks for a PDF is pretty steep. If it were a physical copy, I'd be more likely to buy in.
Quote from: Steven Mitchell on March 02, 2022, 10:13:43 PM
I like Stonehell I. Don't have II. My one reservation for it is that it's almost better to lift sections from it than use it straight. I found the overall premise kind of flat
I think it gets a lot cooler in #2, though there is good stuff in #1. #2 has the decadent city of the Vrilya on level 7 and the Frayed Tapestry, the reality-warping interdimensional hell-dungeon of the Nixthisis, on level 10, where you can encounter eg a couple Pinhead expies at the Battle of the Somme... you can also encounter The Author. if you don't like gonzo it's not for you, though.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 03, 2022, 06:00:03 AM
Intriguing. But 60 bucks for a PDF is pretty steep. If it were a physical copy, I'd be more likely to buy in.
Wow. I think I got it for $1 BiTD when WoTC announced the d20 System License was going away, and Goodman dumped everything dirt cheap. Never gave it much of a look though, hate Goodman's house art style and grew to hate 3e.
Thanks for the input, everyone! I ended up going with Stonehell for now due to price and availability. I might look into Arden Vul at some point, just for inspiration and the pretty books.
Quote from: atomic on March 02, 2022, 10:24:10 AM
On the fence:
Castle Xyntillan: might be too whimsical for my campaign's tone
I had quite a bit of fun as a player in Melan's Khosura: City State of the Four Mysteries, which is not quite a megadungeon
per se, but rather a very decent-sized dungeon (I guess some people might consider it a megadungeon) and the city above it. It's more of a traditional Middle Eastern-ish Sword & Sorcery fare, and was published in issues 9 and (I think) 10 of Fight On! magazine back in 2010.
Quote from: Ratman_tf on March 03, 2022, 06:00:03 AMIntriguing. But 60 bucks for a PDF is pretty steep. If it were a physical copy, I'd be more likely to buy in.
As much as I like Castle Whiterock, I wouldn't spend $60 for a pdf copy. It is a solid three inches stack of books, maps, and handouts. That would be a nightmare to deal with as a PDF.
MERP - Moria
Quote from: Mistwell on March 10, 2022, 12:50:11 PM
MERP - Moria
While a good setting book you will need to do a legions amount of work to morph that into something useful. It's a great coffee table book nonetheless.
Quote from: Mistwell on March 10, 2022, 12:50:11 PM
MERP - Moria
Okay, that was pretty funny..
mining... mega dungeon...
good one.
ha, that joke went right over my head! In this case, I'd actually be looking for the Balrog!
Admin: if this crosses a line, please delete.
If it's alright to plug my own products, I would suggest "The Sunken Temple of Chloren-Var". The temple itself has 60 unique areas to explore. The module is very descriptive and there is plenty to pick and choose from.
Quote from: wolfhillrpg on March 12, 2022, 07:51:21 PM
Admin: if this crosses a line, please delete.
If it's alright to plug my own products, I would suggest "The Sunken Temple of Chloren-Var". The temple itself has 60 unique areas to explore. The module is very descriptive and there is plenty to pick and choose from.
Link?
The Sunken Temple of Chloren-Var
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/271274/The-Sunken-Temple-of-ChlorenVar?affiliate_id=2005698