Mega-dungeon tips and tricks?

Gaming
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I am trying to get a mega-dungeon table ready and am wondering if any of the fine folk here have some wisdom to share on the topic.

There are two floors mostly finished and a third one about halfway done (leftovers from dungeon23) and I have some vague ideas about the town (basically a post-goldrush sort of place) where players would get equipment and hirelings. However, I don’t know if this is enough and what I would have to flesh out if it isn’t.

I am already familiar with the mega dungeon podcast by Ben L., but have no personal experience running or making something like this, so am eager to hear any and all tips and suggestions from those with first hand experience with mega-dungeons.

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So Tentpole Megadungeon Play does generally benefit a great deal from making sure you and your Players are on the same page. The first thing I’ll do is frame those expectations:

“Hey everyone, I’m thinking of running a Megadungeon type game, this means we’ll be exploring a vast and dangerous location for a big portion of the game. Usually, both the dangers and rewards are greater the deeper you go, so it might take repeat attempts to fully explore and reveal it’s secrets.”

This framing really helps to make sure that Players have the appropriate expectations about what the game is going to be “about” initially and where the focus is going to be.

Sounds like you’ve got some Mapping/Stocking underway which is great! There is seldom anything swirling with more potential than a big ol’ keyed Dungeon! Dungeons provide a very interesting space in these games: They restrict some choices in favor of making others a bit more interesting or difficult. You are constrained by the Map (unlike with Overland Journeys) which is helpful for Players who are learning the ropes, rules, and general conceits of that kind of Exploration.

I would recommend, even if this is going to be the central focus of Play, to generate some Rumors and Hooks to provide your Players. I usually generate these from the Monsters, Treasures, Traps, Factions, and other Wondrous things that I’ve stocked on the Map! If there’s a big nasty thing on Level 3, then that gets a Rumor, if there’s a Strange Pool on Level 4 that turns people into Fish, that might get a Rumor or Hook (Local Magic User wants some water from it to experiment with!), or if a Powerful Magic Sword was lost by a Previous Adventurer…perhaps someone remembers that happening!

Rumors/Hooks help Players make Informed Choices so I try to shy away from the ones that are outright false, they might be a little distorted or inaccurate, they could even be a bit outdated but there will usually still be a grain of truth to them.

I mention Factions above, and these are another pretty vital feature of a sustained Megadungeon campaign for me: Being able to Ally with or Engage with Groups of Denizens like this can really expand the capabilities of the Players. Remember that Information Currency is pretty powerful in these games, so having some Allies who can tell you “Don’t drink from that Strange Pool unless you want Gills!” is really helpful (and they can also be a source that confirms/elaborates or provides new Rumors/Hooks. They can also provide small “Safe Havens” within the context of the Dungeon, allowing the Players to Rest/Re-Supply, etc. As they go Deeper, these become pretty valuable sometimes.

Of course, making Friends is not without it’s potential downsides: The Red Claw Kobolds are friendly to you, but the Brine Goblins on Level 3 hate them so now that you’re allied, the enemies of your friends become your enemies too. It can be really entertaining and rewarding to juggle all those relationships for the Players!

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What purpose are you making it for? To run a game or to publish as a module or something else?

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The goal is to get a table going. I have no interest in publishing this (at least not at the moment).

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Ok in that case, depending on the table size, you may have enough to get a game started already, and then can just start to fill stuff out as they go deeper? Don’t feel like you have to have 10 fully complete levels. Some playtesting can also help a lot for new ideas as well

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This is really thorough, thank you for taking the time to give such an in-depth answer!

I have some faction connections in the first two floors (the orphan gang of level 1 has a deal with the giant spiders if level 2 to hand over imprisoned adventurers in exchange for not being eaten by the spiders). The orphans won’t be appearing much deeper into the dungeon, nor will the spiders past level 3.

There are also some giant beasts on the first floor, and some insane undead and mindless constructs on the second, but those aren’t currently written to have any explicit relation to the other factions (other than most spiders disliking the flavour of undead people).

Is this level of interconnectivity sufficient going forward you think, or would it be smart to have factions (these or future ones) span multiple floors and connect more intricately to each other?

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I tend to feel that more interconnectivity is better than less most of the time. Of course, some areas may be more isolated or self-contained, but it can really add to the dynamism of a Place when the Players are slowly able to discover answers to questions via Factions like “Why does that Monster stay on this Level?”

Just entertaining some “high level” notions at the early stage is generally sufficient though, but I like to look for opportunities to create more triangular relationships when I can: It just makes those Alliances/Rivalries that much more complicated sometimes :rofl:

Extending the “range/reach” of a Faction is often something I’ll also do over time to reflect the Changes and Impacts produced by the Players. Should they clear out the Spiders than this creates a vacuum that something else is bound to fill at some point…this can sometimes lead to Surprising situations on those repeat visits through an already “explored” area!

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What procedures are there for managing factions in a megadungeon? I’m wondering if there is anything like the Mausritter faction sheet, but tailored for a megadungeon. My gut feeling is that the goals/resources from that wouldn’t be as useful in practice (though I might be wrong). Maybe a reputation system?

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There’s nothing that I know of that is specifically geared for megadungeons, but there are quite a number of procedures that can be lifted pretty directly into a megadungeon with only a light retheming.

I tend to use something that is kind of a cross between HeroQuest 2e and Stars Without Number (which iirc are pretty much rethemed in Worlds Without Number, but I just got used to my version of the SWN system so I still use that).

I think really all you have to do is think about the megadungeon as large series of interconnected ecosystems, and then kind of work out the idea that factions operate in 3d, although that’s kind of reducable down to 2d where a floors can kind of operate as land-locked regions or what have you.

Arden Vul has an interesting spreadsheet that you use to track factions with, and its probably pretty translatable to a generalized system.

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Regardless if the player’s ever learn the truth, for me dungeon design (of any size) requires me to answer “Who built this and Why?” and then “What’s happened since then?” A tomb is usually built by a king to protect his body, perhaps his soul and definitely his wealth after his death. If its not a secret tomb, its also built to honor the king and his legacy. So knowing that, we can think about how that tomb dungeon would be designed, and then we can think about what happened between Then and Now. Perhaps the tomb and the king’s nation is long lost and forgotten, raided many times over many centuries and has actually be repurposed multiple times by different factions - all who left their own legacy within the tomb.

My favorite way to design dungeons is random tables. I still use Gary Gygax’s original tables and I don’t fudge any rolls so there’s quite often LOTS of WTF bits all over the place. Once my giant pile of random is done, then I sit with everything and look for interesting oddities and that’s what I use to build the story of the dungeon’s past and present. Never forget the undead were once living! Who were they and what killed them and who raised them? Why did that odd out of place monster choose to live here and why does it stay? All sorts of interesting questions pop up from peering long enough into the randomness and when you answer those questions, your dungeon deepens in flavor.

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I just found this post from a blogger I didn’t previously know. It’s a list of links to their own blog posts, ENWorld threads, tables, lists, etc. for megadungeon play. It looks like a mix of basic design and philosophy, and concrete stuff you could put in. Maybe you’ll find something that’ll get your gears turning…

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