22 Dungeon Levels Are Not Enough - Congradulations to Pete

Today Pete, a player in the group(s) I DM, obtained "The End of the World" achievement trophy (worth 1100 xp), for his PC, 1st level Fighter Orpo, via. the party's cunning use of Levitation and Invisibility spells, reaching the uppermost edge of the mapped & stocked Fortress Eibon megadungeon. (There is still an unplumbed bottom of the mapped and stocked dungeon).

Mind you, he didn't find a staircase or corridor blocked off with "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" signs; he climbed a ladder up to the 11th (upper) level, looked around, and bailed after seeing the 8' brightly coloured snail shell in a corner next to his ladder.

Looks like I need to finish mapping and stocking the next quarter of the dungeon, which currently has 22 levels suitable for PCs of levels 1 through to 7; at this rate the complete megadungeon should have 88(!) levels and be able to handle PCs of up to 20th level.

[Fortress Eibon] Worst Adventure Ever!

"While it could be argued that Zodar's following (SaSS) expedition was a worse adventure than this, as it cost the party something close to 20,000gp, several magical items, and, with that second ambush, possibly the lives and/or sanities of a handsome dwarf and an experienced fighting-man, it should also be noted that before being ambushed the first time, they managed to level up a total of three characters. When compared to the total losses/loot, one must concede that this was truly the worst adventure ever.

Featuring:
Belbarrick and Zodar Khan, clerics of Orderon.
Kalikarr, cleric of the Church of Law.
Ranndy Serpenthelm.
Mern the Blue.
Murg Serpenthelm the slaver.

Summary
Balbarrick and Zodar Khan enlist Mern the Blue and somebody who claims to be Bonspiel but is probably Ranndy Serpenthelm, but Balbarrick is destroyed by explosive mushrooms, and Mern is slaughtered by evil cultists. When Zodar and Ranndy replace Belbarrick with another Lawful cleric and Mern with another Serpenthelm, a second foray into Fortress Eibon goes even worse and a small army of slaves are immolated. Zodar and Ranndy leave, dejected.

Two Worlds Collided and They Could Never, Never Tear Us Apart
Balbarrick and Zodar Khan are a couple of lawful clerics, new in town and eager to brave the terrible chaotic blight that is Fortress Eibon. Floria the Viperhearted sends them to some of her fellow adventurers, and unfortunately for them they run into crafty ol' Ranndy Serpenthelm who seems to be masquerading as a cleric named Bonspiel. Since he's not even a lawful cleric, Balbarrick and Zodar take no notice. This "Bonspiel" is also accompanied by Mern the Blue, a wizard of some repute.

Trying to Find Heramphalmos
Ranndy has nothing but disdain for the mercenaries, who hold him in equal if not more contempt. A young kid and an older stalwart determined to look out for him decide to accompany the party. He also buys a slave and sends Balbarrick to look for Heramphalmos. The doughty cleric follows a convoluted trail that leads to Jezehell, his wife, who is a whore at a place called Bitches with Whips, on Whip Street. Balbarrick gets nothing he can use from her, so Mern the blue goes down to harrass her. He tries casting Charm on her, but the other whores realize and forcibly detain her, while threatening Mern as well. He leaves frustrated.

Into the Fortress
The four heroes go to the Locust Courtyard and check out the lone door. Some men trying to catch locusts there tell them it's the door to the thieves' clubhouse. The party enters, and finds a room full of mushrooms. Balbarrick and one of the slaves touch a mushroom and are immediately immolated in a flash of light. Ranndy Serpenthelm uses his ring of telekinesis to move Balbarrick's body all over the room and explode all the other mushrooms. A little piece of Zodar Khan's faith in the goodness of law and order dies.

All That for Nuthin, Damn
Below the thieves' clubhouse, they find some caverns and a chaotic cult. Ranndy asks for the priest, and he shows up. Unable to get free stuff reach a compromise, the party attacks. Mern and the young mercenary are killed by the cult's fighters, but their reinforcements are blocked by Zodar Khan's flaming oil. However, when things seem to be going badly for them, Zodar and Ranndy look at each other and, in an instant, reach a decision. They flee for their lives, leaving the older mercenary to fend for himself. When he decides not to follow them, Zodar blocks their exit with flaming oil, and they return to the camps outside Yam.

Slave Drivers
Instead of more mercenaries, Ranndy decides to buy slaves, and recruits yet another of his many cousins. Zodar Khan recruits yet another foolhardy cleric of law, Kalikarr, and the lot of them return to Fortress Eibon. They decide to go up through the killing floor in the main entrance, but as soon as they send two slaves up there, they cut the rope and flee! Ranndy uses his ring of telekinesis to drag one of them back, and then punishes the other slaves for his betrayal.

Finally, Some Action!
The party goes up into one of the towers, but sadly runs into some sort of dragon-like spider creature, which breathes fire at them, immolating all their slaves at once. Ranndy is paralysed, but uses his ring of telekinesis to float away from the fight while Zodar Khan watches his back. The rest of the party is killed.

Accidental XP and a Final Note
On the way out, the escaped slave ambushes the duo and is killed."

By Johnstone of Red Box Vancouver

[Fortress Eibon] Yes my friend? I am Mustafa!

As you see Mustafa is tall like a mountain with arms as massive as a fat woman's thighs. You can tell how mighty Mustafa is by his massive gut...watch me shake it!

Mustafa wields a great shamshir as he is very strong yet Mustafa is graceful too. I wear a shirt of mail as plate armor is too restrictive as it slows one down.

My other brother mercenaries were angry with conniving adventurers and their dangerous delves into Fortress Eibon and sought easy work guarding fat merchants. Not Mustafa, I am brave and mighty, yet not foolhardy as I have a lovely plump wife and happy children.

So Mustafa stood alone in the mercenary square, shirtless to show off my virility with my big arms and great hairy belly. Some adventurers came and sought Mustafa's shamshir for their delve and after they found that elderly idiot Heramphalmos we sought out Fortress Eibon.

There were four adventurers. A handsome warrior with a voice like music named Ballard who Mustafa had heard many good things about. There was also an ill-favored Sorcerer name Bugoso who spoke with a rasping croak and seems unsavory and unclean. There was a fighting-man named Tangroth the Tepid who seemed simple. And another swordsman named Mezinkine.

Ballard had two magic swords, one of the the legendary serpent-thing bane named "Scalesplitter." He is open handed and gave his lesser magic sword to Tangroth.

We ventured into the Fortress and found what looked like the remains of a tavern. There was an attached inn and the delvers searched the rooms.

In one room they found several delicate butterflies of blue, green and purple glass. One of the delvers tried to grab them and they started flying. A fool tried to knock one out of the air with a spear shaft and it exploded, making others explode. Also the bones of some men attacked us.

In the ruins of the larder several bottles of valuable spiced brandy were found. One of the fools of an adventurer drank one and was woozy from the narcotic spices in the liquor!

While searching through rubbish Ballard found a grub burrowing in his arm; the creepy sorcerer Bugoso used a charm to render them both asleep and the foul worm was slain.

We searched a stable and found a huge pile of bloody horse bones with a severed arm and the body of a brother mercenary with a crushed head lying on top. We left quickly.

There was a well and the adventurers sought to explore it, but the fools did not bring sufficient rope! Fortunately Mustafa has a long, strong silk sash and he lowered them down into wet caves. They said they found gold and silver coins, a battered broken copper statue of a satyr that the sought to bring up, but it was far too heavy. I know not why but fool adventurers scoff at copper coins yet drool over heavy, old copper statues.

They said that they found many huge toads and fled the caves. Mustafa is mighty and was easily able to hold his sash while they climbed up.

We explored a tower and found a mural of gladiators as well as many coins and a secret room. We heard hissing and smelled a foul stench so we used the secret room, which had two entrances, to avoid these unknown reeking hissers.

After we exited the tower Ballard sneaked back in and returned immediately; he said that he saw scaly things that used illusion to look like walls!

Later we explored another part of the tower where there was a huge pile of man-bones, coins and stairs leading up the tower. But a huge gray lizard ran on the wall like a gecko and grabbed Ballard's handsome head in it's huge jaws. Another one grabbed Tangroth the Tepid while a third grabbed Mizenkine by a leg, pulled it off and ran away with the bloody limb.

Seeing that Mizenkine was dead and the two other fighting-men were being eaten by huge geckos the cowardly sorcerer Bugoso fled!

Heramphalmos beat the lizards with his broom while I cut them to pieces with my mighty shamshir.

We tended to the two unconscious warriors; Tangroth recovered his sense, albeit in a feeble state, so we left him to catch up while Mustafa carried Ballard back to the outskirts of Yam. Bugoso was shocked to see us, the cur!

A week later the two injured ones recovered and the adventurers brought another sword into their fold; I remember not his name but he did survive.

We found a fighting pit littered with the debris of gladiatorial games; we ascended a stair where we found of room with many heaps of tentacled jellies that terrified the party. We also found the ruins of decadent luxurious lounges.

In the fighting pit there were three doors. From two was heard the sounds of an unceasing battle; behind the other was stairs descending to a gaol with many cells full of the bones of unfortunate souls. There was also an exit full of a putrescent green mist from which was also heard the sounds of battle.

Coins and a magic shield were found in the cells before the fighting-man whose name escapes Mustafa was struck down by spinning discs fired from strange mushrooms; the party fled but went back for their struck down companion who was yet still breathing and we returned to the outskirts of Yam.

Although Ballard is a gentleman, the others conspired to short the idiot Heramphalmos of his fair share of treasure as the old fool cannot count higher than ten. Such behavior is talked about, you can be sure of that my friend!

A week later another group of adventurers solicited Mustafa. A short warrior name Griswold; a shifty Cleric named Bonspiel and his henchman, a Thief that also dabbled in sorcery who was named Kronen; a very short man with a beard named Dreg; and another Thief named Carter.

Dreg and Carter bought several kebabs of heavily garliced and curried camel meat and we ventured to the Fortress; vultures and jackals were following us and I told the delvers to not pass out drunk in the scrub or such beasts would eat their faces!

We ventured down the stairs of the southwest tower and found a catacombs full of neatly swept broken bones and a pair of luxurious black silk pantaloons with gold trim. They offered them to me, but even such fine baggy pantaloons were far too small for Mustafa the Mountain!

A room with skull pillars and a pit was found. It looked as if heavy furniture had been pushed into the pit, scraped the stone floor. Bonspiel laughed and said that obviously other adventurers had been here before.

There was also a branching tunnel only five feet wide and tall; we had to enter it single file and us tall ones had too crouch. As it was far too cramped to use my shamshir Mustafa took his great knife and held it between his teeth as he crawled through the passages.

We found a dead end, but not before Bonspiel was shot by a poisoned dart! Fortunately the venom was weak and only made him pass wind of an incredibly foul nature. After Griswold spotted some watery feces on the floor Bonspiel admitted that when he passed the wind he also passed liquid night soil and it was dripping down his leg.

He took off his pant, used a flask of holy water and a waterskin to clean himself, and than put on the fancy pantaloons that we found earlier.

The pantaloons began writhing and Bonspiel started screaming that they were twisting his testicles off! Fortunately the pantaloons were cut into ribbons before the Cleric was made into a Eunuch!

Further down the tunnels Griswold was caught by spores ejected by mushrooms and started coughing a choking uncontrollably; he recovered and oil was used to burn the mushrooms.

We found cells full of bones; in one we found silver and in another there was several round boulders the size of heads and the glint of coins.

Griswold investigated and the boulders revealed fanged jaws and began rolling at him! He retreated to the cramped tunnel and used his shield to block the entrance. It sounded like giant hail as the toothy rocks bounced off his shield, but one got past and bit his elbow while another rolled under him and bit his rump!

I cut that one in half with my great knife and a crowded battle with the rolling hungry stones began. I smashed more with my knife hilt and we kept shouting at Carter the Thief that if he shot his bow he would strike one of us instead in these tight quarters.

The rocks were defeated; they had bloody red insides and Dreg took them, claiming that they should be good to eat. Mustafa is dubious of eating such unnatural things; I will stick to goat and camel thank you.

We found a stair and descended further into damp, slimy caverns where we stumbled across a pack of squat, man-like toad things. They began croaking and one spoke like a man.

It turned out that Griswold was able to parley with them and they asked us to slay a band of shaggy men that had been plaguing them. Griswold asked if any of them would aid us in this task and their spokestoad, who was named Bogodugog, agreed to guide us.

As the toad-thing led us through the tunnels we were surprised by a slithering babbling reptile that resembled a King-Tyrant Lizard, if it was only slightly of more stature than I Mustafa. It had several Lizard Man followers and it looked like a battle was imminent but Bogogadugog was able to convince them to leave us be and let us pass in his croaking, babbling tongue.

Bogogadugog led us to a spot just before the entrance to the shaggy men's lair. Dreg and Kronen advanced with the intention of ambushing them with flasks of flaming oil, but they had been anticipating us and were attacked by two greasy men with filthy long hair and beards.

They were clad in tattered leathers and had crude morningstars. One of them struck Kronen's arm off with a mighty blow and the Thief-Dabbler fell to the ground where the flask of flaming oil shattered on his face and set his head afire.

There was a might battle! Mustafa disemboweled one with my great knife and had a hearty laugh at the cur's death!

I should have not laughed at such, as I was struck in the gut by one of the spiked clubs and was sorely wounded!

We pulled back where we could attack from both flanks. Blood was gushing from the grievous wound in my belly but we continued to cut down these filthy jackals. I grabbed one by the eyes and with a mighty stroke of my knife cut off his head and threw it at his brothers!

Soon we had slain all of them, with even the toad-thing aiding in the battle. We found their coins and a foul larder of rotting corpses. We returned to the outskirts of Yam with our bounty and Mustafa returned to his plump wife and his beloved dear babies to recover from the deep wound in my belly.

It's Culumbo...

...Mern and I went back into Eibon with Ballard and some more men.

Floria's divinations show a cache of gold just below the main courtyard, so rather than blindly roaming around the halls getting lost and trying to find our way I decided that we'd try to smash directly through the floor bypassing whatever ghosts and coopers and giant dogs were waiting around for us to come by.

It was a bad plan and it went badly. More undead horses attacked while we were digging, they must have come from the adjacent stables and they killed a couple of the men. Digging through the floor is too slow and attracts too much attention. I guess we'll have to go back to prowling the halls for gold instead of mining for it.

It's getting harder and harder to find men to accompany us into the fortress. The surviving mercenaries are upset by how things went today. I dont think the cleric who lost his arm will be coming back either.

…

I don't know how he did it but Ballard convinced the mercenaries to come back with us. Another professional came with us too. I don't believe his reasons for coming to Eibon are good, but whose are? He seems like he can hold his own in a dungeon which is nice since I've been surrounded by amateurs and sorcerers since Merrigold was lost.

We were able to actually make our way pretty efficiently, coordinating ourselves and cutting down some spider creatures and coopers without any injury or loss of life to speak of.

Everything went to shit when we found the impaled man. He had already been run through and half a dozen swords were stuck in him. The creature (I do not like to call it a man) should have been easily dispatched but it was unfazed when we struck and our weapons became stuck in its flesh. The Serpenthelm figured out that the weapons in it seem to empower it and we pulled them out, felling it but not before it struck Mern down. The old man was in rough shape but we were able to get him out of the fortress and heal his internal injuries.

I don't know or understand the details of Mern's connection to myself but I do not think it can be mere luck that such a feeble man is struck down so often and always recovers. It demonstrates a resilience which he does not otherwise appear to posess.

While we waited for Mern to recover I sought out Heraphalmos. The poor man is still searching for his prodigal wife. I fear we do him a great disservice every time we bring him into Eibon as the coins which he inevitably squanders cannot be worth his risk of life and limb. On the other hand, I'm able to watch out for him in the fortress and the streets and markets outside Yam are not especially safe. So I tell myself though I cannot deny that his presence is a comfort to me when we face with the horrors of Eibon.

We have made plans to reenter the fortress in a few days time and Heraphalmos has agreed to accompany us.

…

I saw a lady
and I saw myself
everything hurt so bad for so long
it was so bad forever
I can't go back
why would anyone go in there?
we're going to see the priests tomorrow, but i dont think i'm hurt. Maybe one of the others is. probably Mern. I hope Sweeper is okay.
I think the serpenthelm is helpful?
I trust him and Mern and Ballard and Sweeper
but I dont ever want to go back into Eibon

Hello, I'm Heraphalmos...

"...I clean up after the mercenaries and eat their scraps. I made sandals out of a torn wineskin that they threw away. The first time I wore them I got drunk! But now I have these nice velvet shoes with curly toes. They were expensive, more than ten gold pieces! But now I'm rich and can afford nice things. The Corsairs gave me many coins, more than ten silver coins and more than ten electrum coins. I get to eat tonight!

I was sweeping up the dung and garbage in the mercenary bazaar when I saw them approaching. There was a pretty little girl, an old man with one eye and his arm in a sling, the loud one, a really handsome man and a little man-child who had weapons and armor and everything! But what caught my eye as I was sweeping was how the mercenaries all were grumbling and looking uncomfortable as they left the bazaar. They never all leave the bazaar, that's where they play dice and gossip and drink wine. Sometimes they forget some wine and I get to get drunk. That was before I was rich, now I can get drunk and eat real food every day!

The Corsairs approached me and asked why the mercenaries were leaving, the one that talked to me was the really handsome one, he has a nice voice! I listen to the mercenaries as they gossip so I knew that they were mad that so many had died before with the Corsairs and that they also didn't like the loud one. The little girl looked mean when she heard that and they left.

They came back later and the loud one was wearing a different helmet and cloak. He was pretending that he was someone else. I like to have fun! The handsome one, his name is Ballard, that's a nice name, he asked me to come with them to pick up treasure and carry it. They said I didn't have to fight or open things and would get some of the treasure. That's why I'm rich and now and not dead!

We up to that scary fortress and I got to climb a rope onto a big grill where I climbed down a ladder. There were dead hyena men and dead giant frogs and dead giant lizards and dead people. It smelled bad. They dead people and monsters looked like scraps. I think something had been eating them!

I also saw a door that was black fog and a trap door and a long hallway that we walked down. We found some rooms and some of them got scared, but especially the old man with one eye. We found a statue with a big rag over it. The brave little man-boy lifted off the rag with a spear and it was a wood statue of a beggar. I think the man-boy is so brave because he is crazy because he started talked to the statue. I didn't see or hear the statue talking, and nobody else did. Maybe the little man was playing a game like how the loud one was pretending to be someone else? I caught the loud one because he used his invisible magic one time so I told him. I won that game!

The little man said that the statue told him that they needed to get his remains from ten feet below the ground beneath them. They argued but the little man really wanted to win his game and he went down some stairs where there was a bunch of skinny scary looking people. They were as skinny as I was but their eyes were white and they had long stringy strands of hair. Did you know that I am bald? That's why I made a hat out of rags. But also because the sun would hurt it in summer and winter is cold.

They called them Coopers. They were hissing and grunting and one of the sorcerers used magic and put them all to sleep. The little man-child is nice. He said that we should let them live, but the loud one stayed behind. I think he might have killed them because the mercenaries say that he is not a nice man.

We found a sunny room with stairs down. The little man is brave and went down with the handsome man named Ballard. They are both nice so I went down with them. It was underground and there were lots of bones. More than ten!

The little man found a big hole. It was more than ten feet deep and there were two gargoyle statues with big axes and a big stone skull with dried blood on it. Most of them were scared and stayed upstairs.

The little man made us break all of the bones. There were more than ten and it took us a long time. I used my broom to clean up the mess. My arms are too skinny for me to break bones. Than the loud one pushed the gargoyle statues down the hole. That was nice of him, they were scary.

They tied the little man to a rope and put him down the hole. It was deep. He said he was picking up coins and started talking to a lady that I could not see. I wasn't in the hole. I'm not that brave!

The little man was pulled up the rope. He was muttering "too deep, too deep!" and looked scared. I noticed that because he never looks scared even when the others were scared. The old one is scared a lot of the time.

We heard a lady in the hole. She was asking for help and the loud one pushed the big stone skull down the hole and we went back to town.

We came back later. We went in a big court-yard. The walls were high, over ten-feet tall! There was a bridge build across the top of it. It looked like the place I grew up that was built under a bridge.

They were talking about a big diamond that one of them had heard about. It was worth over ten gold pieces and the angry little girl said that she found it with her witchcraft and pointed up at a corner of the walls. It was high-up.

The loud one is strong. He threw a grappling hook all the way up to the bridge!

The handsome man, his name is Ballard, he is brave and he climbed up the rope and tied another rope to the big stone teeth at the top of a wall. We climbed up and than the loud one pulled the old man up the rope. The old man can't climb, one of his arms doesn't work.

We were on a roof-top, we were really high up, but there were walls that were even taller! There were a bunch of doors and two little buildings. The little man looked and said there was more Coopers in one and the old one got scared.

The little man opened a door on the other building but someone was inside and asked him to close it. The little man is nice and he shut the door.

The loud one and the little one opened another door and went in. They were inside and than a big wall of magic darkness appeared and all of them were inside it except for Ballard. He was watching out for the Coopers.

The old man came out and he was extra-scared. The little man came out and he was cut up really bad and was bleeding a lot. Than the little mean girl came out.

The little man is brave. He was really hurt but he went back and looked for his friend the loud one. So did the old man, he was braver than he usually is. They didn't find him and were sad. The mean little girl got angry and started talking about magic items and we went back to town. That's when they gave me all this money and now I'm rich!

Tales Told in the Itinerant camp outside the city of Yam:

From a pair of burly, hairry mercenaries in plate mail:

"The Loud One wasn't with them so we accepted a commission, but only after intense negotiation. The Mean Witch Girl wanted us to agree to open door and chests and otherwise acts as innocent sheep driven through a field to be bitten by the poisonous serpents in lieu of the Shepard. She got angry when informed that we did nothing of the sort and informed her of the brotherhood's code regarding such menial tasks. That nonsense was soundly rejected, but they also tried telling us that we were bound to attack and fight to the death regardless of the foe! She informed us that if we fled that our payment was default, a simple enough accommodation that appeased her somewhat. She looks like a pretty little girl, but do not be fooled as she has the heart of a viper my friend!

We ascended a rope to the killing floor above the western gate and the little brave man-child descended one of many iron ladders. He yelled about huge frogs and went silent, our brothers descended and there were sounds of wet flappings, snarls, clashing steel, and rending flesh.

Two shaggy grinning hyena men with notched swords and axes held in their jaws climbed the ladders and the Little Mean Girl and the Frightened Old One-Eyed Man used their sorcery to render them asleep. One fell back down a ladder shaft and the warrior with the babbling name jumped down after it, I saw his knee hit the ladder and his head hit the shaft edge as he went down and I heard a great knocking and clattering.

Three of our brothers were slain the battle, we found the remains of several frogs the size of large dogs and more hyena men. There was also an archway filled with opaque black mist, a long corridor, and a trapdoor leading down.

At that point we were ready to return to Yam, but two huge gecko like lizards dropped from the ceiling and one of them engulfed the babbling one in its jaws and started eating him; chaos ensued as they ran along the ceiling, the other one snapping at us, before we slew them, but the one with the babbling name was well chewed and dead. We made it back here without any more incidents.

Days later we heard that the Loud One had returned. We had returned with three of our fraternity dead and only some silver to show for it; it was decided that our fraternity would not work for these delvers until they return from some runs bearing worthy treasure and without any dead, missing their face, or otherwise maimed or disabled.

When we saw their party approaching the mercenary bazaar, we all had other business to attend to and made our leave. I did hear that they hired the elderly idiot that cleans up after us and eats our scraps, the one with sandals made from wineskins and the broom made out of twigs, to serve them as some sort of lackey and he has been seen with many silver and electrum coins!"

Two More Megadungeon Musings

- It can be worthwhile to total up an estimate of the gold piece value of the treasure on a level and compare it to how much XP a character of the appropriate level need to gain a level, that way you can figure out "This region for 6th-level character has enough treaure XP for 10 6th level characters to reach 7th level."

- When you're generating treasure hoards with multiple gems and jewelry (such a treasure type 5-30 gems and 10-60 jewelry) save yourself some hassle and make one gem or jewel of incredible worth; i.e. instead of rolling for 20 gems rolls one gem and multiply the value by 20. This way you end up with fabulously valuable treasures that may have rumors about them.

Megadungeon Centred Campaign Musings

- While stocking a level with random procedures, it can be fun to mix things up, roll two encounters, and combine them. It can be simple, like "Okay, this gang of evil Clerics has a Manticore pet/mount" or "If I combine a Disenchanter and a Flail Snail I'll have a super-awesome Fiend Folio Fiend!" This is something that Type IV got right in principle, regardless of the Affliction-shirt wearing Poochy-esque EXXXTreeme! implementation.

- Having a variety of human-types on the megadungeon monster stocking matrices works out pretty awesome; it's definitely something OD&D got right with all the Lords, Necromancers and Evil High Priests on the dungeon encounter tables. With my tables I have the AD&D standby bandits, berserkers, and NPC parties, but I also have Clerics, Fighters, Magic-Users and Thieves. You end up with wacky cults, super-villains, and Dr. Frankensteins in your dungeon.

- Jeff Rients' XP For Exploration idea is pretty awesome, and genre-appropriate, and I do try and implement with having bonus XP for compiling a caver/explorer-esque of an area, but you can also put it into effect by having extra money randomly scattered on the floor when you stock.

- When mapping it's fun to put in areas that are inaccessible, incomplete trans-level connections, etc., and put in something down the line. This can Jaquay your dungeon.

- Dark Souls, Dwarf Fortress and Nethack are all great console and computer rpgs that are full of awesome megadungeon DM inspiration, everything from layout to mercilessness.

- You can never have enough monster books. If you have enough you can stock a "kiddie pool through to shit creek without a paddle" megadungeon without doing the giant rat/kobold/centipede/goblin/orc/etc. thing. You can even be counterrevolutionary, a do the whole Raggi-sian "Only Unique Monsters According to Trve Literary Principles" by cherry picking from a pile of books and not reusing.

- It would be nice to have a set of wide and deep megadungeon monster stocking tables that has sub-matrices by level for categories such as Undead, Guardian, Ecology, Soldiers, etc. like the awesome tables that Roger from Rules, Roles and Rolls compiled and the procedures for stocking Tekumel dungeons from the Pettigrew selections.

- The AEG Ultimate Toolbox random table book would be a lot more useful if the ink-guzzling photshop margins had a header that stated WHAT the chapter was about (such as DUNGEONS or NPCs) instead of just saying "CHAPTER 5." Also if you have five d20 tables for the same thing you could have one d100 table instead.

- I wish Michael Curtis wrote a "Dungeon Encyclopedia," Zak S. wrote a Vornheim-equivalent for dungeons, that the OSR publishers were releasing MORE monster books instead of variantions of the Keep on the Borderlands and the Holmes Basic dungeon.

- This and This are really useful for stocking a megadungeon (and is why I'm always whining about Swords & Wizardry not using Treasure Type); did anyone ever make one for dungeon-by-level stocking according to OD&D and the DMG Appendix A?

- The way OD&D gave every sword and Alignment (and a 50% chance to be intelligent) makes sense when you realize how many dang magic swords piles up in a megadungeon; it's worthwhile to take some time to differentiate them.

- If the party is surprised by a monster, it's really fun to do as Raggi suggest and not even describe the monster at all, "Bradan stumbles back with a bloody gash across his torso and 13 points of damage!" leaving the players to confusedly sputter about what's going on.

- It's even more fun for the DM to take a smoke break at this exact point.

- When the party is beat up and bailing on the dungeon back to town it's fun to make the players roll the random encounter dice.

Fortress Eibon Rumor Mill

Talk heard around the camel-kebab and fermented-goat's milk vendors in the itinerant camp outside of the walls of Yam.

From a mercenary equipped with plate mail and a spear:

"We found a hole in the murder floor above the western main gate entrance tunnel. The little man-child Columbo threw a rock tied to a rope through the grating of the murder floor and bravely ascended and scouted ahead by himself. We found a room full of decayed furniture and foodstores and three white devil-hounds with blazing blues eyes like that of a sabre-toothed tiger killed three of my mercenary brothers and crushed the windpipes of three of the adventurers: the old sorcerer, the dwarf-slave with the girl-like face, and Gagner the fighter. It took many many blows but we slew the demon beasts. Two of the adventurers were living but comatose after the battle, but the feminine dwarf-slave's throat had been torn out! Although the sorcerer and fighting-man recovered, Gagner was so unmanned by his battle-wound that he left their party!"

A week later from another mercenary in new plate mail with a polearm:

"We climbed a rope up into the murder floor above the western gate tunnel. We found the scene of a bloody slaughter with the scattered and gnawed remains of huge white devil-hounds and fighting-men. The delver's gathered several measures of silver from the unclean beasts feces-strewn lair. We encountered some eagle-sized moths that flew at the delver's glowing swords. The cleric was lighting a torch to burn the moths; they all flew at it, became engulfed in flames and began flying at us while dripping burning oil. The graybeard wizard, girl-child and the cleric ran away but the pygmy and loud one and my brothers but them down. We found some hashish and opium worth 600 gold coins, the loud one kept trying to attempt a deceit and keep the intoxicants for himself but we were like iron-jawed wolves my friend and did not let these itinerant tomb-robbers take our share of the bounty.

We went down a long tunnel and came upon a swarm of child-sized fleas. The old man used a sorcery to render them all asleep and they were crushed. We were flanked by a band of unclean shriveled grabbing man-things but they were cut down.

We ascended a stair and came upon a hideous slime slug-thing that attacked our heads and made some of us attack each other while others babbled and defecated like animals. The cowardly old warlock attacked it with a stick and beat it soundly before the loud one, who had been cowering using some invisibility charm, cut it down.

We found some treasure and decided to return to Yam. Reflecting upon our lucartive yet risky venture one fact was distinct in the minds of all us mercenary brothers. The loud one had tried to get us to open chests for him and set off traps in his stead. He was like an oily weasel-snake that hisses loudly and schemes to take all for himself and I would not work for his gold ever again my friend!

On our way back to the exit the little pygmy warrior found a purse of gold coins that ate part of his hand before it was sent back to the hells of greed."

Tales From Fortress Eibon...

"We had heard rumours of bejeweled skulls, occults of death, and swords that protected and aid in the slaying of an oppenent. So far two parties had died in these towers. one total party death and another where only one survived. He was our leader as we entered through the Northern sallyport, one of the three entrances, across the courtyard inhabited by distracted but none the less size of the dogs cricket like creatures.

There were five of us, three fighters, a cleric and a magic user. We made our way into the building off the East side of the courtyard encountering nought but a large empty chamber. We followed our leader to the place where he had recently fled and lost all companions. It was the farthest door on the North side of the wall. We peered inside to see bodies piled on one another. Pale and shrunken, loose skin weighing heavy on empty dehydrated tissue. There was the sound of a fountain to accompany us while we stripped these dead companions of anything useful.

After we were done we maneuvered over the fallen to fight these giant grotesque deadly fleas, with compact dark shelled bodies, their disgusting sharp proboscis finding any weakness in our armour. There were but three left and still they damaged our prepared party. It wasn’t until broadswords were drawn and injuries sustained that the fleas were finally conquered. The platinum and gold pieces were gathered from the stone floor as quickly as was able and we all came out of that room a fair bit richer but we wanted more. Exploring the South wall we came upon a hall that led off to up to five different rooms. The first held nothing and the second four mushrooms up to ones waist grew out of a floor thick with musty rotting burlap sacs. We moved on

Room with rotting sacks, one was cut open to reveal decaying bolts of cloth with nothing of worth but a gaudy tapestry of a woman in an erotic pose.

Monsters: Hags with cleavers. camouflaged as burlap sacs. Emit an odour comparable to rotting vegetables. Killed the one who led us, quickly and easily. We fled as there were eight of them but when we did return thes only sign of the hags or our fallen ally was a stain of blood on the floor. This was a room off the West side of the corridor we found on the East South entrance out of the main hall. As we exited we were assaulted by the flying heads of the three four feet high mushrooms. They came whirring at great speeds with clear intent of harming us..."

[Flailsnails] Prepare to Die - Fortress Eibon

This past Sunday saw the initial session of my Dark Souls-inspired [Flailsnails] Fortress Eibon Megadungeon, using OD&D with supplements as the rules.

The basalt towers of Fortress Eibon, located outside the archaic silk road city of Yam, was inhabited by untold generations of a clan of Sorcerer-Aristocrats until a hundred years ago when it's masters were overwhelmed by the black magic they sought to control and their names were erased from history.

The Nine Towers of Fortress Eibon thrust 210 feet into the skies, it's walls stand 130 feet tall. Tales speak of dungeons extending as far below the earth as it towers above the ground.

This past Sunday several adventurers sought fortune within it's walls. Rumors speak of ten(!) of them falling to giant fleas, and one being cut down by sour-smelling bundles, as well as as Cleric reaching the second level of experience.

I currently have 9 levels comprising 829 rooms mapped and stocked of Fortress Eibon, and my intent is to run it at my home group games and Red Box Vancouver on a regular basis.

Semi-Random Megadungeon "Saturday Night Special" Generation Using Existing Resources

Read here for a definition of megadungeon "Saturday Night Specials." The below procedures can also be used for generated lair/mini/micro-dungeons as well.

Step 1

Roll a d20 and cross reference the result with the dungeon level on this chart that is for use with the excellent "The Underworlds" article from The Best of the Journal: The Pettigrew Selections. This determines the nature of the Saturday Night Special. Although this above table is designed for use for Tekumel games, it should be useful for most mileus. Results may refer to an ancient/ruined City, Palace, Fortress, etc., or a discrete portion of the megadungeon being used for the generated purpose by the current inhabitants (City = Warren of Derro; Palace = Pleasure Den of a Rakshasa; Fortress = Secret Headquarters of an Assassin Cult; etc).

Note that I strongly recommend the aforementioned The Pettigrew selections as a random megadungeon element generation resource, available from Tita's House of Games.

Also note that shrines and temples should have a fair chance of containing some fabulous treasure that horribly curses those that thieve it; a wonderful horror comic and pulp fiction cliche that seems woefully underrepresented in D&D.

I interpret Wizard's Tower to represent a magician's lair and not necessarily a subterranean tower; although an ancient tower buried deep in the earth by the ages or a tower in a gigantic cavern are both pretty cool.

For my usage Canals means constructed or artificial subterranean waterways: sewers, the Black Reservoir, cave rivers all fall in this category.

Nexus Point is a technical Tekumel term for "transdimensional wormhole portal thingy;" in the context of this method we can use it for teleportals, micro-planes, dimensional gates, time travel device, etc.

In the original article Ancient Tunnel refers to the Humanspace Empire era subways tunnels deep in Tekumel's crust; for non-science fantasy-ish campaigns they obviously refer to Atlantean or Lemurian equivalent relics.

Step 2
Generate a name for the special with the Beyond The Black Gate - Random Megadungeon Area Name Generator.

Step 3
Use Dave's Mapper to generate a map of the area of the special; note that you can turn on a 10-foot grid with the buttons along the top. This serves as a workable maze generator, and this does the trick for caves.What I do is generate a geomorph-map and than only use the portions that appeal to me while rearranging elements so as to remove the regular corridor placement. For most specials you probably only need a handful or two of rooms, for usage with Step 4 you will need roughly 8 to 20 rooms (d6+d8+6?).

Step 4
Using the elements generated in Steps 1, 2 & 3, think of a theme for the Saturday Night Special. For example: On level 6 of the megadungeon I generate a result of "Palace," the name "Screaming Archmaze of the Bone God," and with Dave's Mapper and the maze generator I cobble together a sprawling maze. Obviously the luxurious yet labyrinthine domicile of some sort of powerful undead aristocrat with a a functioning small cult.

Now go over to Playing D&D With Porn Stars and Read This. What you do is come up with lists of monsters, traps and treasures appropriate for your Saturday Night Special, start with the first room and work your way to the last room dicing up the contents as you go.

For the palace maze of the Bone God I come up with the following monster list off the top of my head.
8 - Villain: The Bone God, the Lich-ified remains of a God-Emperor from ages past
7 - Lieutenants: Hoochie-mama Vampire consorts
6 - Guardian Beast: Pet Froghemoth
5 - Assistant Managers: Mummy Cleric
4 - Tough Guys: Cultists with Cleric or Magic-user leader
3 - Grunts: Talkative zombie guards
2 - Servants: Dancing & singing skeleton butlers & maids
1 - Vermin: Eye Dropper

Note: Yes, I pretty much come up with the idea of putting a Froghemoth in every dungeon I think of, regardless of how wildly inappropriate it is.

Step 5
Flesh out with Tricks, Traps and Empty Room Design from the Hack & Slash blog. Also, the Wilderness Hexploration Document from the New York Red Box forum has a decent temple generator as well as other random generation resources, you could use the Island tables from it to determine what's on a island in a Canals special.

Anomalous Subsurface Environment Released!

I'm a little late in the game to be cheerleading this, but everytime I've been reminded of it I've only had my primitive iPhone handy (crap for blog posts)

But Patrick Wetmore of Henchman Abuse has released the first part of his gonzo science-fantasy megadungeon "The Anamalous Subsurface Environment" in PDF and POD.

"Put those dark elves back in their box and get your gonzo on! Riches, glory, and super-science await the bold and the clever in the deep places under the ground. This module describes the dinosaur- and wizard-infested future of the Earth, the city of Denethix, and the first level of the megadungeon that beckons from below: the Anomalous Subsurface Environment."

I haven't grabbed a copy yet (budgeting...) but I definately will. I have an adventure by Pat for The Jewel Throne that is awesome and oh-so Jack Vancian, and Melan/Gabor Lux gives it his seal of approval, so I'm sure this thing is a real barn-burner. Plus is is the first part of a alpha-numerically coded series ("ASE1") which I would like to see more of in the OSR.

One Hour Dungeon Map

Pat from the excellent Henchmen Abuse asked me how long it takes for me to make on of my megadungeon maps; my estimate was one hour...with the caveat that I spend hours afterward idly adjusting and altering the maps (usually while watching the boob tube with the Warden); dungeon mapping is a two phase affair with me: first the preliminary map, and than aforementioned adjustments

As an experiment, I decided to see how much dungeon I could map in an hour. I set a timer for one hour and took pencil to paper, with the end result below (I cheated and numbered the rooms after the time limit expired).

Apparently, the biggest influence on my dungeon maps seems to be the fire escape plans in large buildings... Anyways, although I like this map it seems to be screaming for "The Adjustment Phase." There's far too many samey rectangular rooms; it's lacking in architechtural features such as fountains, statues, and pillars; there's only one connection to another level; many of the rooms are far too big (a lot of these maps would make more sense at a 5-foot-per-square scale); and some of the empty spaces are screaming for "shadow complexes" of rooms accessible by secret door; and I prefer blacking about the solid areas surrounding corridors and chambers for easier visualization of the layout.

I didn't have any idea what the theme of this level would be before drawing it, but the layout makes me think of museum (top right-hand section) meets Resident Evil scientific complex...video & computers games seems to have a strong influence on my dungeon levels.

The obvious next step in this experiment is to give myself one hour to stock and key the map...

[Spoilers]Dungeons and Dungeons

Just as a friendly disclaimer, players in any of my games should refrain from reading this.

Work Progresses on my Algol Megadungeon, which now consists of a ten level complex with 1138 rooms; at this point, aside from the first level, I've been focusing on the mapping before stocking and detailing the lower levels, although I have some monsters, treasures and features roughed out.

Below is the first level; in play it's been pretty barren and picked over. The southeast portion of the top map is an ancient convention center facility; the large chambers in the southwestern potion of the top map are ancient supply storage hangars, long since stripped aside from several barrels of "dimetheloxychloxcyanidateonium..."; the spiraling and flooded center potion of the bottom map is the House of the Snail, the aforementioned snail being some sort of savant or oracle. There's a staircase to a submerged portion of the fourth level in the center of ole Mollusk Manor. I dig how the silhouette of this level turned out.

The second level; the upper map is actually the first draft of what became the northern map of the first level; I still liked the map, for both it's rectangular "city block" layout and also how it made me think of tomb complexes. The southern map is primarily the remains of a suicide cult temple, as well as a gladiatorial arena presided over by evil robed skeletons.

 The third level; the western region is a maze of chambers of "baroque decrepitude," whereas the eastern portion is some sort of scientific research facility. The topmost map is the uppermost level of another temple complex. One feature of all three maps is that I placed "major avenues" of corridors and chambers without doors, to allow the free passage of inhabitants sans hands or equivalent.

You may notice that compared to my previous Algol Megadungeon post that I've incorporated the previous version's second and third levels into the current second level; and also that I've further modified and expanded the maps.

For the fourth level and downwards the dungeon becomes four "sub-dungeons" and two side-levels, including a couple of Indiana Jone-esque "deathtrap treasure mazes."

Megadungeon Maps (Spoilers!)

Disclaimer: If you are a player in one of my games than you damn well know better than to be looking at these or the comments ;)

Below are the maps for the first four "main" levels of my Algol megadungeon; there are a few multi-level side dungeons as well. Click to embiggen:

The main area of the first level, with more to the south.

The southern region of the first level, SPOILER "The House of the Snail," the eponymous inhabitant being some sort of invertebrate savant./SPOILER

The second level.

The third level, SPOILER which I think of as an "offside mezzanine"; the connections between the second, third, and fourth levels are complicated by an adjoining complex of levels, the maps of which have not been posted./SPOILER

The forth level, SPOILER with architecture dissimilar to that of the above regions./SPOILER

Blair's Big Dumb Planet Algol Megadungeon

Apologies for the lack of posting lately, I've been sick and somewhat run down. Work and illness have been interfering with my gaming, and the latest Fallout installment has been sucking up a lot of my attention as well.

But I've been a doing a bunch of work on my Algol megadungeon. At this point, I have the following mapped out:

Level 1 - 143 rooms
Level 2 - 144 rooms
Level 2.B - 39 rooms
Level 3 - 82 rooms
Level 3.B - 9 rooms
Level 3.B.3 through to 3.B.7 - 34 rooms
Level 4.A - 28 rooms
Level 4.B - 22 rooms
Level 4.C - 22 rooms

The level labeling system is kind of funky right now; the oddball named levels are sub-levels or sub-complexes within the megadungeon. Of course there are byzantine interconnections between the levels.

I've paid attention to the erudite Gabor Lux's past works analyzing dungeon construction and flow, and the big levels are designed with that in mind by incorporating "loops" within the dungeon avenues. In effect there are several "neighborhoods" within each main level, as well as "freeways," complexes of corridors that allow one to travel throughout much of the differing areas of the level without having to deal with doors or major barriers; thereby allowing the giant worms and flying jellyfish means of traversing the dungeon.

A big influence has been Empire of the Petal Throne's Underworld and megadungeon innovator M.A.R. Barker's work. For my own game, one of the tentpoles of the megadungeon monster stocking will be from D&D variant EPT. The other three tentpoles being Carcosa, Arduin and the original Fiend Folio (including White Dwarf FF content), with some cherry picking from Talislanta. In any published version most such critters would be replaced with original or OGL content, but in my own game I get to use Gorbels without turning them into little exploding, clinging toddler-robots first.

As an aside, I've read previous online musings about using the Fiend Folio as an alternate Monster Manual instead of the aforementioned MM, and I have to say, I can see it working. There's definitely a nice range of humanoids in the kobold-equivalent to ogre-equivalent spectrum. Plus, forget everything you know about Gibberlings and read them with through a pulp Swords & Sorcery lens.

I'm going with a sparse monster distribution, with 1 "encounter" for every six rooms or so; with allowances for some encounter groups controlling several rooms. The general vibe I'm going for with this aspect is vastly ancient, abandoned decrepitude punctuated with moments of terror. With pockets of really bad areas.

At the 1-to-6 monsters placement-to-room ration, it works out to 24 monster encounters for the first two levels...which is quite a lot, and leaves me with a lot of room on my plate for the Tekumel/Arduin/Carcosa/Fiend Folio buffet...

Further Musing on the Tekumel Underworld Feature Table

I've been thinking about that Tekumel Underworld Contents Table I posted a couple of days ago.

Although it is presumably for usage in a Empire of the Petal Throne campaign, the contents seem eminently useful for bog-standard vanilla fantasy, as well as weird gonzo fantasy. I really dig how the table is organized along the lines of traditional D&D "dungeon levels."

Let's start with Levels 1-3. Looking at the table, at the upper, "basic" levels of a dungeons complex, the probability breakdown is as follows:
City - 20%
Catacombs - 20%
Shrine - 10%
Temple - 5%
Tomb - 15%
Cache - 5%
Maze - 25%

Hohoho, chances are that adventurers are going to have to content with a maze during their initial forays into the dungeon complex! Although many dungeons are "maze-y" I interpret this to be a confusing, complex labyrinth. It may have been constructed with the intention of it being a maze, or it may be a complex of rooms and tunnels that have degraded and crumbled into a confusing mess.

Cities and catacombs are both even at 20%. I imagine cities to be the ruins of a fairly large settlement, somehow sunk into the earth by telluric forces or else initially constructed in the subterranean regions. I can also see a city result indicating a complex of rooms and passages inhabited by some variety of social, sentient beings such as trad D&D fare such as goblins and orcs.

Catacombs brings to mind tunnels with heaps of bones piled in niches, piled up to make walls, dessicated corpses linign the walls, and so forth. A cross between the Catacombs of Paris and "The Real Life Beherit Album Cover" of the Palermo Catacombs. Whereas tombs contain corpses in sturdy sarcophagi, the bodies are just piled up or hung from the walls in catacombs!

Tomb...is a tomb. Not much exposition or imagineering needed here! Usually good loot and dangerous traps and/or guardians. The James Ward tables for tombs from The Best of Dragon Vol.1 would be a good resource.

I imagine a shrine to be a single or handful of rooms, a simple(r) fane. Perhaps still functioning, perhaps abandoned.

Temple brings to mind a sprawling complex, an underground cathedral, inhabited by hordes of crazed cultists. Shrines are dusty, temples are bejeweled.

Cache?!?! Despite the incongruity, cache works for me. Imagine the Ancient or Dark Ages version of a bomb shelter. Some rich noble and their family/followers builds a hidden underground bug-out shelter in case of disaster or a need to hide. As long as the contents haven't been looted, there should be some good stuff in a cache!

One Little Chart That Says So Much...

While looking up the info on the Empire of the Petal Throne reprints, I stumbled across this table for generating the nature of Tekumel underworld complexes by "dungeon level."

I'm definitely going to have to put it in my collection of useful DM tables, and I think I may have to order "The Pettigrew Selections" for the Underworlds article alone!

Further Sightings of the Black Ziggurat!

Under the Dying Sun (and a very meta- manifestation as well!)
The Ebon Zikkuract (a very literal tesseract manifestation and now we have the word "zikkuract!")
The Black Ziggurat of Riskail (You know Riskail? That hot, new weird fantasy setting with all the talented writing and artwork...plus their Black Ziggurat has a Shoggoth!)
And what's This? Only the Black Ziggurat of GREYHAWK! (Which also contains an imprisoned Satan-figure and a lightsabre...)
EDIT: I'm hating myself for forgetting The Black Ziggurat of the Mutant Future!