Megadungeon!

[monk]

My players have been working out of the city of Pentastadion for some time now, and love the flavor. The city was originally written up for the world of Fomalhaut by Gabor Lux and appeared in Fight On! magazine #5. It was simple with some great ideas and we've taken it and made it our own--kind of a Moroccan/Turkish-type seacoast city ruled by wealthy merchants and full of odd characters. The party has explored the countryside some and had a few city adventures, but most recently started to explore the undercity and the labyrinths below. I drew up a side-view of the main levels and let the "map" get into the hands of the PCs. They're excited about it, so I'm starting to make a legit megadungeon out of it. Never actually executed this kind of creation, though I've started a couple and read a lot online about it.

I'll be posting some ideas and questions here as I work, and I'd be really happy to hear any advice from you guys.

Oh, and John, Brian, and Bob, if you are reading this---stop! Don't ruin your fun by reading on.

[monk]

Here's the side-view of the main levels Under Pentastadion.

http://wizardsmutantslaserpistols.blogspot.com/2011/05/under-pentastadion.html

[monk]

I have about half of the first level map finished, I think. This level is the old sewers and consists of some long, large, sewer canals with rooms built off of them and connecting some of them. Once I finish it a bit more I'll scan and upload it.

How many rooms do you all have on a megadungeon first level? I'm assuming it will be lots, as they'll need to be able to wander a lot and there'll need to be room for places that are hard to access, far from the common traffic, where treasure troves might be hidden, or the nastier of the monsters.

[Thakazum]

I really like your side-view map. It gives a vague view of what's down there without getting into any specifics.

[monk]

Yeah, that vagueness is always something I'm trying to include. Partly to preserve the mystery, as you mentioned, but also because I end up going back and adding details and changing things and I don't want to contradict myself!

[bathwizard]

How many rooms do you all have on a megadungeon first level? I'm assuming it will be lots, as they'll need to be able to wander a lot and there'll need to be room for places that are hard to access, far from the common traffic, where treasure troves might be hidden, or the nastier of the monsters.

One method I have used is to create the dungeon 1 sheet of graph paper at a time, with entrances/exits off the sides as well as stairs/slopes up and down. The sheets (with about 100 rooms or encounter areas per sheet) are A4/letter sized, and become sort of huge geomorphs. 2 sheets (200-300 areas) should be enough to start with, but if you want you can add more, linked to the edges of the initial sheets.
Locked, unbreakable doors or undiscoverable secret doors that later become accessible can be used to fence off areas still under construction.

[monk]

Oh, I like that idea a lot. Seeing as how the dungeon is below a city, and involves the sewer system, it could easily be very large. After all, the sewers would extend to the edges of the city, at least.

Do you use the standard ratio of empty to occupied rooms with maps that big? I'm wondering if there needs to be more empty rooms, maybe.

[bathwizard]

Do you use the standard ratio of empty to occupied rooms with maps that big? I'm wondering if there needs to be more empty rooms, maybe.

If you are using random encounter generation, it doesn't matter. If you are designing and writing up each encounter, then yes, spread them out more unless you are willing to put in the extra work.

[monk]

I think I'll place some of the unique encounters, as well as the main lairs, and then just roll out the other rooms on the dungeon stocking table. That way I'll have a good deal of empty rooms and the right ratio overall.