Last week I talked about the different “types” or design approaches I’ve come across for creating megadungeons. I’m not a huge fan of the “mythical underworld” approach. That could be a personal taste thing…maybe I just don’t like the particular individuals who have explained that approach or who use that approach. The “living dungeon” concept from 13th Age is probably my favorite, but I’m not sure that it works for the open table, and that is the whole reason I’m looking for a megadungeon in the first place. That leaves me with either the “mad mage deathtrap” type or the “Gygaxian Naturalism” type.
Luckily, there are a TON of published megadungeons to pick from. In fact it kind of surprised me how many options were available. Of course, there are plenty from earlier editions of D&D, and there are also quite a lot for so-called “Old School Renaissance” or OSR systems. What surprised me is how many there are specifically for 5th edition D&D, or that at least have mechanical stats for 5E in addition to some other system. The main issue I’m having is that there isn’t one single megadungeon that suits my needs. I don’t want to spend a huge amount of time converting something from an older edition or another system. That would undermine one of the biggest strengths of the open table model I’m following: prep should be lightweight in order to maximize flexibility (which hopefully leads to me being able to run more sessions).
I could just figure it out on my own, of course, but I figured if I go through the candidates here in my blog, I can show you all how I’m analyzing and evaluating each one. Plus you might find out about products you didn’t know were out there, and who knows? Things that don’t work for me (even ones that I don’t like at all) might be just the thing for someone reading this. No judgment! People like different things and that’s totally fine.
So here’s the list. At some point soon I’m going to have to make a page (or pages?) that list and link all of my articles, grouped by series. For now though, I’ll do what I did with the Lost Mine of Phandelver Remix series. I will turn the list items into links as I complete the relevant content.
5E or 5E Compatible
- Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
- The Complete Roslof Keep Campaign
- Numenhalla/Megadungeon ‘zine
- The Complete Barrowmaze
Older Editions
- The Banewarrens (3E)
- Caverns of Thracia (3E version)
- Rappan Athuk (3E)
So next week we’ll start analyzing these megadungeons. I’ll try to do at least two at a time, but we’ll see how much I have to say about each one. Until next time, Gentle Readers, keep exploring!
The Cool Mama 