Megadungeons are (still) fascinating to me. My inspirations for these is the original megadungeon architect: Rob Kuntz*.

I've been building two of them. I am most of the way through a 4-level multiplex I started a month or so ago (I'm on room 37 out of.. I dunno 50-something rooms?) called the Maze of Cherno. The Maze is a 'dwarf-themed' multi-level complex where an exiled dwarf elementalist has been dabbling in extraplanar element mining.. and eventually opens up a planar portal to someplace he shouldn't have, causing his complex to be overridden by monstrosities and horrors. This is for characters levels 2-6- it gets rougher the deeper down you go.  

Then I got Dungeonscape (cowritten by Order of the Stick artist/author Rich Burlew and Jason Buhlman). I want to incorporate some of the cool bits of that book, but at this late date I can't really work too many of them into the Maze. Luckily, I had a bunch of old maps, and I found a one from a few years ago called Xathyl's Redoubt.

By sorta working from the beginning on some of the organzation of this one dungeon, I'm getting a much better result- so that's kind of an endorsement for Dungeonscape. (also the AcidBorn template is hilarious- the only thing better than a pool of acid in a dungeon is a pool of acid with a freaking acidborn shark in it).

Xathyl's Redoubt is not quite multi-level, but actually multi-section, and it all fits on a single map. (For example, you will have to figure out how to open the gate to section two by adventuring around in the first part of the dungeon- rooms 1-10, and so on.) There are 5 total sections, one of which is only reachable by a teleportation room. A total of 37 or 38 rooms. I can't recall. There is also a secret way to bypass certain sections. Some places are intentionally breakable- so that you can jump straight from the easy part of the dungeon right into the rough part at the end if your'e clever.. and some parts are completely superfluous.

Also, Xathyl's is set for levels 1-3, so you could conceivably play through Xathyl's and then get a clue leading you straight to the Maze of Cherno. So there's a megadungeon mini-campaign right there. I even had an idea of branching one off of the other (placing the Maze of Cherno's opening in a sub-level cavern just beneath Xathyl's lowest area)

Anyhow, this is also to announce that once I get this thing finished, I want to run it as play by post here to show it off. My home group is too high level for it right now.  


* -- Rob Kuntz is the guy that made dungeon adventuring in old D&D insane. His original castle Greyhawk is described as having something like 70 levels, over 100 maps. "Castle Greyhawk (E. Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz), 1972. Unpublished. Huge multi-leveled, multi-tiered castle/dungeon (70+ levels, 100+ maps) with many unique and prominent levels and ideas, new monsters, tricks, traps, and unusual mayhem. The grand-daddy of all dungeons. Some levels from El Raja Key were used for this second version of Castle Greyhawk. Among my many contributions to Castle Greyhawk was a "portal" to my rendition of the Greek Mythology area, which was a self-contained demi-plane. I designed both the "Living Room" and the "Machine Level" (Gary adventured into both and was particularly impressed by the "Living Room"), as well as many other levels. A smaller (and rawer) version of Garden of the Plantmaster is hidden away in the Castle, but in a lonely section which few adventurers found. The most notable contribution was a four page map with text--a mini-module by itself--of my now infamous "Bottle City.""

Actually I'm kicking around a "megadungeon" idea of my own (which inspired my Game Design thread asking about making them multi-system compatible). I may just go straight d20 with it to save trouble, but the concept I have is instead of a multi-level dungeon, have it be multi-planar. Make it something like an "After you die, you wake up"-type Dante's Inferno-ish campaign across multiple planes in an attempt to return to life or become demi-gods or somesuch.

Not really a dungeon, when I put it that way. Ah well - might still be fun. My Manual of the Planes is languishing unused. Time to give it some love.

Sounds cool, are you going to post it in the map thread when you finish ?

I'd love to! The maps are cool (theyre kinda trashy in a pencil on grubby graph paper kinda way) and I want to run it as Play-by-post, so it'll be after. But definitely!

I really wanted to participate in that maps thread as I seem to create and collect all kinds of maps.. but my scanner is missing. Luckily I found an alternate scanner built into a friends printer...

Quote from: WerekoalaActually I'm kicking around a "megadungeon" idea of my own (which inspired my Game Design thread asking about making them multi-system compatible). I may just go straight d20 with it to save trouble, but the concept I have is instead of a multi-level dungeon, have it be multi-planar. Make it something like an "After you die, you wake up"-type Dante's Inferno-ish campaign across multiple planes in an attempt to return to life or become demi-gods or somesuch.

Not really a dungeon, when I put it that way. Ah well - might still be fun. My Manual of the Planes is languishing unused. Time to give it some love.

If you want some inspiration and have some spare cash, the Necromancer Games module, Vindication has a dungeon that crosses from the prime material plane to Gehenna. Also, i think the Stronghold Builders Guide has some notes on plane travelling strongholds and the like. I think one of the examples is the Yugoloths crawling city (i can't remember though).