Megadungeon Monday: Roslof Keep

The Roslof Keep campaign was originally published in multiple parts: ROS1 The Folio #1, ROS2 The Folio #2, ROS3 The Folio #3, ROS4 The Folio #4, ROS5 The Folio #5, and ROS6 The Folio #6. As I write this, all six pieces are on sale for less than $3US each! I have Folio #1, and I also purchased The Complete Roslof Keep Campaign, which collects all six Folio modules along with several short connecting adventures in between the major chapters. This is another one of those “old school” products that is written for an older edition of D&D (or an OSR clone) but also has stats for 5E.

Things I Like

• This is a full campaign, starting at Level 1. As I mentioned in some of my previous reviews, many megadungeons (old and current) start at a higher level. So finding one that starts at Level 1 is nice.
• The first chapter details Roslof Keep and Level 1 of the dungeon (which is designed for PC levels 1-3). It has a lot of detail, but it’s also somewhat generic in the sense that you could easily swap out place names, NPCs, and even noble Houses without changing the story much.
• The central premise is interesting: Several noble Houses are sponsoring different adventuring companies in a competition to get as much treasure as possible while getting to the bottom of the dungeon. The dungeon itself is yet another “mad wizard” type, but the competitive parties and machinations of the different Houses makes it stand out compared to other dungeons of this type.
• Another interesting thing that catches my attention is that each House is in possession of a magical item (a banner) that is required to open the dungeon. At least one house has more than one of these items. Since it is essentially a key, and there seems to be no other way to get in, the items are very valuable. I normally don’t like one-entrance dungeon designs…but this is fascinating, and lends itself to yet another reason for each company to be out to get the others–to steal their banner.
• There is both a simple old-school graph paper map, and a more detailed isometric map as well. I like this combo…the isometric map gives you a more 3-dimensional understanding of the space, but the 2D simple map is helpful if you can’t quite make out the layout. Numenhalla would have gotten a higher grade if it had taken this approach!
• The dungeon key does not have boxed text!! It does have a description of the room (what the PCs would see) in bold text, however. I like this as a compromise. After the bolded text is normal text that gives the DM more information. Entries are not huge, but not compact either. Middling.
• I like the formatting tricks they use to emphasize important information and make it stand out. Stat blocks, for example, have a gray background as well as being in bold. Ability checks are in bold text also. Overall the document design is not flashy or fancy, but is very practical and efficient.
• I like the abbreviated monster stat blocks used in the dungeon key. They minimize space, while including the most pertinent information a DM needs. Yet they aren’t the arcane and indecipherable blobs of text you often find in old 1E adventures. Again…not fancy but very efficient and practical.

Things I Don’t Like

• It takes WAY too long to get to the information I’m really looking for, and that I would need to run this. I am not a fan of putting all the history, background, NPC details, and so forth in the front of an adventure. Give me a synopsis and put the rest in the back for reference! I want to get to the meat of the adventure.
• There’s an emphasis on “clearing” the dungeon, which isn’t great. There is a magical barrier over the entrances to the next level, and PCs can’t get past it until they have cleared every room on the current level “at least once”.
• There’s a kind of awkward mechanic connected to this. When a room has been cleared, it stays cleared–as long as the doors are left open. Due to the competitive premise, other groups will often deliberately go around shutting the doors on cleared rooms (which leads to more monsters spawning there). Some parts of this are interesting but I don’t like the videogame-like mechanic of monsters spontaneously appearing in a closed room. I prefer a method of restocking that simulates the realistic movement of creatures into a place that has been cleared or abandoned.
• I despise most of the NPCs. There isn’t the gross racism or misogyny I saw in Numenhalla, but…there is definitely some sexism and racism here. There’s a dark-skinned guy who has like three wives, and who will sexually harass any female character in the PC party and try to get her to marry him (so he can steal their banner, of course). It’s gross. I’d probably keep the main NPC who leads the house the PCs will be sponsored by (although I’d rename him and change some details) but I’d throw out most of the rest of them.
• NO WANDERING MONSTER TABLES?! What self-respecting OSR aficionado builds a megadungeon adventure with NO RANDOM ENCOUNTER TABLES?

Verdict and Grade

While there are a number of things I don’t like here, the vast majority of them can be easily ripped out and replaced. I don’t like having to spend extra time to make my own wandering monster tables, but it’s doable. That’s really the biggest strength of this product–it’s generic in all the right ways, with elements that are easy to rename, replace, swap around, or leave out. The essential premise is interesting and solid, and I could definitely see using this for an open-table game. The only problem is that while I can think of an area in Eberron where this would work, it isn’t the area I’ve chosen. I really, REALLY want to play something in Black Pit and Roslof Keep would work much better in the Mror Holds. Still, I can probably steal parts from it so it’s definitely useful either way.

Grade: B (would have been a B+ if there were tables!!)

Thoughts About Eberron and Megadungeon Locations

I haven’t even gotten through half of my candidates for my open-table megadungeon. But I’m already thinking I may have to make a Franken-dungeon rather than just running something out of the box. So I’ve been thinking about the bits I like so far, and wondering where in Eberron I could set this megadungeon.

I’m leaning towards three different opening or framing elements:

• The above-ground barrow mounds from Barrowmaze.
• Competing houses sponsoring expeditions into a dungeon (this is from Roslof Keep, review to come).
• Starting with a mine that then connects to the main dungeon.

There are lots of places I could put the megadungeon…there are plenty of spaces on the map of Khorvaire that have a name but little to no information about them. There are a few that seem more suited to my purpose, though.

• The Black Pit, in the Blackcap Mountains of Breland: A seemingly bottomless pit, said to reach all the way to Khyber itself. The sides of the hole are rich in dragonshards, and many have attempted to mine them.
• The Mror Holds: The ancient dwarves in the Ironroot Mountains had a vast empire underground that contemporary dwarves call the Realm Below. The daelkyr and their minions destroyed that empire, and forced the remaining dwarves to flee to the surface. Sometime in the past century, dwarven miners opened a passage leading to ancient ruins from the Realm Below. Great dwarven Houses have mixed opinions on whether the ruins should be explored and plundered, or whether they should be sealed up once more.
• Q’Barra: There are ruins from the Age of Demons here, tribes of lizardfolk and Dragonborn, and a wealth of dragonshards (some of which are actually sealing either fiends or daelkyr). A small community of humans migrated here to escape the horrors of the Last War. More recently, a “gold rush” for dragonshards has occurred, causing several settlements to spring up around the area. This has led to tension between humans, lizardfolk and Dragonborn.
• The Shadowmarches: As in Q’Barra, there are ruins from the Age of Demons here, as well as a wealth of dragonshards.

These are all interesting locations, but for some reason I am drawn to Black Pit. It seems to be a combination of mining settlement and “hive of scum and villainy,” a place where deserters, smugglers, and criminals hide from authorities and conduct illegal commerce. It is said to be in “a deep valley,” making it hard to find.

My thoughts right now are that there is a Dhakaani ruined city in the same valley, and there are burial grounds outside the city ruins. I can put the barrow mounds there, with catacombs beneath them. Then perhaps have the catacombs connect up with ancient mines (the Dhakaani were extremely skilled weapon and armor smiths so mining and ore processing seem like necessary industries). Finally, the Dhakaani mines would connect to the Black Pit itself, which would be the entrance to the main megadungeon.

I have a couple of ideas about the lowest part of the megadungeon. One is that it leads to one or more demiplanes in Khyber. The other is that I could graft on the Arcana of the Ancients adventure Where the Machines Wait. Arcana of the Ancients is a 5E adaptation of material from Monte Cook’s Numenera RPG. It’s a perfect fit for Eberron, honestly. That’s especially the case for either the Mournlands, or places influenced by the daelkyr—because of the mix of tech and magic, flesh and steel that makes up the items and monsters associated with Arcana of the Ancients.

So I’m leaning towards that combination right now: Black Pit for the location, a Dhakaani ruined city in the same valley, barrow mounds above catacombs outside the ruined city, catacombs connecting to ancient Dhakaani mines, those mines connecting to the Black Pit itself as well as the “main” megadungeon.

I’m still researching the next “Steal This” article, so that should be up next week. Friday will be another installment in the Lost Mine of Phandelver Remix series. Stay tuned, Gentle Readers!

Megadungeon Monday: Barrowmaze

Next we come to Barrowmaze (I bought the Barrowmaze Complete; it was originally released in two parts). This was originally created for Labyrinth Lord (another OD&D or AD&D clone) but the Complete edition was done for 5E as well as Labyrinth Lord.

Things I Like

• It starts at Level 1, which seems unusual. Most of the megadungeons I’ve looked at (including Dungeon of the Mad Mage) start at level 5-6.
• It includes a small overland area, with wilderness, a few towns, a Duchy. So there is material there for a hexcrawl expansion or other forms of play outside of the dungeon. Fairly generic, too, so easy to drop in anywhere.
• The key uses a shortened entry style with no boxed text. I kind of hate boxed text, personally, so this is a plus for me.
• Because this is an expansive tomb, the silence of the dungeon is emphasized. Noise can attract attention in any dungeon, but it’s exaggerated and highlighted here as an additional hazard.
• There are lots of random tables to use.
• Before the main underground dungeon, there is an extensive outdoor area of barrow mounds which are essentially mini-dungeons. Each of these has a map and for most of them the map and key are on the same page. There are 70 mounds (the last being somewhat hidden however, and leading to a semi-secret boss).
• There are explicit instructions for restocking the dungeon, along with specific tables to do so (although it states you can also just use random encounter tables if you want).
• Interesting environmental obstacles and complications.
• A lot of interesting new magic items and spells.
• A few interesting new monsters.
• Lots of art and handouts at the end of the book.

Things I Don’t Like

• There’s a McGuffin at the end of the dungeon. Although to be fair, it’s not the sole reason for the evil stuff happening, and destroying it doesn’t solve all the problems caused by the dungeon, nor does it immediately destroy everything in the dungeon. So this is just so-so, not terrible.
• What is the deal with Orcus? Like Rappan Athuk, there is a temple of Orcus and cultists of Orcus. But at least you don’t fight Orcus.
• Adventure hooks given at the beginning of the dungeon are anemic and few. I skimmed through the overland stuff, there might be more material there to generate quests/hooks.
• The dungeon itself is a sprawling horizontal dungeon rather than stacked levels. This is more difficult to do with an open table.
• The full map does not have the separate “areas” marked out in any way. The end of the book has the full map broken up into 8×11 pages…but that makes it even harder to use, because some areas are spread on up to 3 pages!
• The numbering scheme for the key is…not good. It’s terrible in fact. It gave me a headache trying to puzzle it out. Additionally, there are some places where instead of a number being one room, there was a number and then a bunch of lettered rooms? I’d have to dig deeper to figure out the rationale behind that
• I know WotC has copyrighted or trademarked certain iconic monsters, but I didn’t know “dracolich” was one of them? So the “New Monsters” section has a grick-that’s-not-a-grick, and the dracolich is called a “lich-dragon”. Weird.
• There were one or two pieces of art I found…questionable. But nothing as overtly sexist or racist as the Megadungeon zine had.

Verdict and Grade

There are a lot of things I like about this. The main drawback here is the horizontal, all-one-level format. It would be time consuming to break the full map into the different “areas” or zones, and even just marking them or coloring them would be a lot of effort (especially due to the very strange numbering scheme). I do like the idea of smaller areas on the surface, with mini-dungeons, and only some of them leading down into the actual dungeon. Provides a low-level area and also provides multiple entrances to the dungeon itself. I would give it a higher grade if the sections were easier to separate, because then I could break them out and layer them in a more typical dungeon fashion.

Grade: C+

Megadungeon Monday: Dungeon of the Mad Mage

Here we start our first audition for a suitable published megadungeon. Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is an official Wizards of the Coast adventure that combines many different Undermountain adventures into one gigantic megadungeon with 23 levels. It’s an amazing feat, honestly. Undermountain was first described in Ruins of Undermountain, but despite being a boxed set this adventure only really detailed the first level of the megadungeon. Later followup products described special areas of Undermountain, but never filled in the rest of the main dungeon levels. Expedition to Undermountain (for 3rd edition) did a reasonable job of pulling all the Undermountain material from previous editions together…but it suffered from being one of the last 3rd edition adventures to be published, meaning it didn’t sell well.

Things I Like

Dungeon of the Mad Mage (DotMM) is pretty well designed. The first two levels are pretty standard dungeon levels, but as you go deeper the level themes become more and more exotic and strange. I like that each level has 2-3 conflicting factions, making each level like an episode in an ongoing ensemble TV show. I like how the dungeon key is laid out–it’s actually pretty succinct and well-organized, especially compared to the wall-of-text styles of editions past. I also really like that the end of each level chapter has a section that describes the consequences that occur depending on how the PCs interacted with the factions on that level. These consequences can affect not just that level, but they can have impacts on other levels as well.

Things I Don’t Like

Unfortunately, there are no wandering monster or random encounter tables in DotMM. These random tables are an essential part of successfully running a megadungeon, and are particularly important for the open-table model that is the whole point of me looking for a megadungeon in the first place. Additionally, the “mad mage deathtrap” approach is pretty cliched and old at this point. Halaster (the eponymous “mad mage”) is the least interesting part of this dungeon (although the backstories about his apprentices, many of which remain in the dungeon and are just as depraved and corrupted as Halaster, are actually pretty cool).

Things That Are Mediocre

There are some quests given to the PCs by various NPCs in the Yawning Portal; this is supposed to give the PCs incentive to return to the surface periodically, I suppose. I don’t find them particularly compelling, but they aren’t terrible. They’re just mediocre and dull. As a “home base” I’m not sure that the Yawning Portal itself is suitable, and Waterdeep is far too large and filled with other adventure opportunities to really make a good base town for a megadungeon. Too easy for the PCs to get distracted and pulled away.

Verdict and Grade

DotMM has some really great elements, but I don’t think it’s suitable for the open-table game I want to run. At best, I might steal levels out of it and shove them into whatever else I come up with.

Grade: B-

Thinking About Eberron and Mythic Underworlds

As I mentioned in a recent post, I’m not a huge fan of the “mythic underworld” concept for megadungeons. I’m not sure why it doesn’t appeal to me, honestly. I love mythology and mysticism (two of my favorite “M”s!) so you would think this design approach to megadungeon design would be right up my alley.

DM David does a good job of writing about it. He even mentions the “living dungeon” concept from 13th Age, which is a concept I adore. The difference is, “mythic underworld” is usually described as “haunted” or as something guided by a malicious force. A huge dungeon that’s actually a magical construct, spontaneously arising from a magical experiment or the confluence of massive amounts of evil magic, is something I can get behind and get excited about. That other stuff just doesn’t resonate with me. And it also sounds like it would be difficult to vary the pacing in that kind of place. Mostly, the descriptions of “mythic underworld” dungeons just sound depressing as hell. There is nothing worse than something that is both depressing and boring.

But since I’ve been obsessed with Eberron lately (and if I did run a 13th Age-style living dungeon I’d put it in The Mournlands in Eberron), and something I heard on the Manifest Zone podcast inspired me. The dwarves in the Mror Holds in the eastern part of Khorvaire discovered ancient dwarven ruins deep in the mountains. As they explored the Realm Below, they also discovered that the daelkyr (Lovecraftian horrors from the plane of Xoriat) were still active and their minions still dwelled in the remains of the dwarven empire they destroyed thousands of years earlier.

The thing is…the “Underdark” in Eberron is called Khyber. It is not just a bunch of super deep caverns. It is literally another plane, that is bound within the world of Eberron. This is explained by the creation myth of Eberron: the Progenitor Dragons created the planes, and then created the Material Plane by taking small bits of all the other planes and mixing them together. But there was conflict, and Khyber killed their sibling Siberys rending and shredding the body into tiny pieces. Eberron, the third sibling, was shocked and dismayed at this evil act, and grappled with Khyber in an epic struggle. Eventually, Eberron wrapped Khyber in their coils completely. Eberron became the world; Khyber was bound within and underneath the world; and Siberys remained as a ring of crystal shards surrounding Eberron.

Khyber is Eberron’s version of the Underdark, but it is so much more. Because Khyber is a plane, it contains demi-planes. These are pocket dimensions outside of our reality. Every supernatural plane in Eberron’s cosmology has layers and layers of these demiplanes, and Khyber is no exception. The daelkyr are imprisoned in some of these demiplanes, as are the Demon Overlords who once ruled the surface of Eberron but were defeated by a coalition of dragons, coatls and demigods (or heroes? Or the Sovereign Host?). Horrific evil beings are held prisoner in Khyber. But they can, and do, influence the world of Eberron. Twisted and mutated servants emerge from Khyber, into the underground ruins and caverns that are between the surface and the entrances to Khyber’s demiplanes.

Not sure if you can see where I’m going here, but this podcast about the dwarves of the Mror Holds finally made the “mythic underworld” click for me. Khyber IS the mythic underworld. Khyber IS outside of the bounds of our reality, and thus does not follow the logic and rules of the material world (either ours or Eberron’s). You can create a dungeon that begins just below the surface, descends into the ruins of the Realm Below, and proceeds into demiplanes of Khyber. This is an application of the “mythic underworld” megadungeon concept that I can actually see myself using. It makes sense to me, and even more important: it excites me!

I’m not entirely sure I will use this concept for the open table game megadungeon, but it definitely got me thinking, and I’ll be filing this away for future use.

Stay tuned for the next Megadungeon Monday article, which will be published tomorrow!

Megadungeon Mondays: Auditioning Published Megadungeons

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!

Megadungeon Monday: Types of Megadungeons

As I’m pondering this megadungeon project, I’ve discovered there are several types of megadungeon. Or maybe “design approach” is a more accurate term than “type.” So here are the ones I’ve come across. I’m still deciding which one resonates the most, and/or which will be best for this endeavor.

The Mad Mage Deathtrap Approach

This is a very common approach to megadungeon design. The idea is that an enormously powerful wizard, having lost any sense of empathy or ethics, decides for some reason to build a giant underground complex filled with traps and monsters. And he/she/they decide to lure adventurers into this deathtrap dungeon, by also placing marvelous treasure in it. The wizard devises some mechanism or magical method for resetting traps and restocking monsters.

Undermountain in the Forgotten Realms is one of the better known megadungeons of this type. Particularly since Wizards of the Coast published Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage in 2018. It’s probably the oldest megadungeon design approach, and many “old school” D&D/RPG aficianados favor this type of dungeon for that reason.

The Mythic Underworld

This is another way that old school D&D/RPG fans explain the huge, deep, often incongruous and nonsensical, perpetually resetting megadungeon. It is made into a mystical and mythological endeavor, and the mystery of how the dungeon resets, or how it keeps expanding, is a holy mystery not meant to be solved.

I love mythology and mysticism as much as the next literary nerd. But perhaps you can tell that this approach doesn’t really sit well with me. Honestly, I think I like the “mad mage” approach better than this packet of nonsense.

Gygaxian Naturalism (or The Ecology of Monsters)

This is the latter-day approach developed by Gary Gygax. There was an ecology to monsters. DMs were encouraged to figure out the food chain in the dungeon, to figure out which monsters would team up and which would fight each other. There were opposing factions in these megadungeons, that you could side with or set against one another. Dungeons also had an original purpose, but then were used by other beings until the builders were long turned to dust. Or become undead.

This is the approach most DMs and adventure designers use today (if they create large dungeons at all). However, given the size and depth of the true megadungeon (15-25 levels deep, each level sprawling and expansive) it seems to me that Gygaxian Naturalism might break down a bit. But I suppose you could have layers of ruins, mixed with natural caverns, and you could make this approach work. And perhaps the lowest levels have portals to the Underdark, or other worlds, or other planes.

The Living Dungeon

This is a concept I came across in the 13th Age RPG. The living dungeon is an actual living being–a mighty magical construct of some kind. It spends long stretches of time laying dormant beneath the ground, then breaks violently from the surface. It devours towns, cities, dungeons, ruins, incorporating some parts of them into itself and consuming the rest. The model, or prototype I suppose, of this concept is the Eyes of the Stone Thief adventure.

I admit this is the one I find most interesting. However I don’t think this would work well for the kind of open-table game I want to run. Because the living dungeon is a malevolent creature, the main objective is to enter it, survive, and make your way inward and downward until you find the creature’s heart. At least, that’s the objective in Eyes of the Stone Thief.

Choosing a Type

It’s looking like either the “mad mage” type or the Gygaxian Naturalism type is going to be most suited to the open-table format I’m going for. I do want to try out a “living dungeon” sometime, but that would be something for a stable, ongoing group that’s willing to try something a little different. So if we are going for the “old school” types, I guess the next thing to do is figure out which dungeon (or dungeons) I want to use.

So tune in next time, when I’ll start going through the copious amounts of dungeon adventures I’ve managed to collect. I’ll be doing 2-3 per post, I think. Stay tuned, Gentle Reader!

Thoughts on Open Tables and Megadungeons

These days it might seem pretty easy to pull together a group of people to play D&D, or other RPGs. Maybe you play with your kids. Maybe you have a group of friends from secondary school or college that you play with. Maybe you play online with friends in far away places. Or maybe you found some kindred spirits at work.

But maybe you have come up empty on all those choices. Maybe you’ve moved somewhere new, or your social circle has shrunk for various real-life reasons. So perhaps you try organized play (for D&D that’s the Adventurer’s League). It can be a good way to meet people, to plug into an RPG community, and is designed to be easy to drop in and out of. But organized play must, as a necessity, be full of rules and restrictions designed to standardize play and create a fair playing field for whoever sits down in any location. Over time that can feel too restrictive, too limited. The truth is, even if you can get a group together to play, keeping that group together long enough to run a standard campaign is difficult. As Mike Shea says in an article on his Sly Flourish website:

Finding and maintaining a great D&D group is the hardest part of D&D.

Enter the Open Table. Justin Alexander describes this concept using a baseball analogy: the usual lengthy campaign is like Major League baseball, but the Open Table is like playing catch. Anyone can toss the ball around a bit, right? And it’s fun. Maybe you’ll decide you like it enough to invest your time into learning more and playing more, join an intramural or community baseball team. Or maybe you just like playing catch.

Like an organized play program, the Open Table game has certain rules in place. These exist to streamline play, make scheduling easier, or make things more fair. The idea is to give folks a way to play D&D when they want to or when they can, and do that in a way that is easy for the DM to schedule and easy for the DM to prep. So what kind of adventure is easy to set up, doesn’t require a lot of planning, that players can drop in and out of without feeling lost or like they missed something? Megadungeons!

I’ve found lots of people who want to play D&D, or who are curious and want to learn more about it. What’s difficult to find is A) a group of people I know and like, who B) are able to play on a regular basis and can commit to that, and C) have play styles and/or DM styles that are compatible with mine. In order for a longer campaign to work, you need to have A, B, and C all line up together. That’s hard to find.

So my plan is to create an Open Table game, using Justin Alexander’s model. My hope is that as people come and go at this open table game, I’ll meet new people and make some friends, and maybe find a few who are interested in a longer and more involved campaign.

I’m doing research on megadungeons, and I’ve bought a metric butt ton of adventures both old school and modern in my search for the right megadungeon to use. Unfortunately, so far I haven’t found one specific megadungeon that ticks all the boxes. Alexander himself recommends Caverns of Thracia, written by the esteemed Jennell Jacquays. I actually have the 3E adaptation of that adventure, so it’s possible I could use it. But it would require some conversion and adaptation before I could use it for 5E D&D. Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage is actually really interesting…but it’s freaking HUGE even by megadungeon standards (23 levels!). It also seems to be a bit spotty on the wandering monster/random encounter tables. Some levels have them, but others don’t. So I’d have to either make some up myself or try to find some online (requiring an investment of more time and possibly money). There are some third-party megadungeon adventures for 5E that have gotten good reviews (and I’ve already bought some of them), but the ones I’ve looked at seem more like one giant spread out level rather than the typical multi-level megadungeon.

The main thing is, the whole reason Alexander recommended using an existing megadungeon adventure is to limit the investment of time and energy used on preparing for sessions. It’s a lot easier to say “yes” to a spontaneous game session if you only need to spend 30 minutes to an hour prepping for the game. Designing my own megadungeon from scratch kind of defeats the purpose. But as I said, so far I haven’t found a 5E compatible megadungeon that suits my purpose.

Enter the Frankenstein Megadungeon. I’m considering just patching together my own megadungeon using bits and pieces from the other things I have. I’m still figuring out whether I can do this in a way that doesn’t end up becoming a burdensome time-sink. So in my new feature series, “Megadungeon Mondays,” I’ll be posting reports on my efforts as well as musing about what works and what doesn’t. Stay tuned Gentle Readers!