Do you think your team of adventurers has what it takes to compete and win glory in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage? Durnan the proprietor of the Yawning portal in Waterdeep, is inviting teams of 2 to 6 adventurers to compete and determine who can survive the many deadly perils of Undermountain and set new records such as delving the deepest, defeating the toughest foe and more! Which teams will thrive and emerge at the end of the month as master delvers, their names permanently recorded in the heroes hall?
Leveraging an agreement with a powerful entity deep within Undermountain, Durnan has installed 6 Illithid psipods at the bottom of the entrance well which grant teams of adventurers access to the Alterdeep simulation of Waterdeep which has been expanded recently to include Undermountain. The simulated dungeon is very real to participants. Creatures can be hurt, healed, and killed in the simulation just as they can be in the real world, and a character reduced to 0 hit points makes death saving throws as normal. Any creature that joins the simulation by entering a psipod and dies in the simulation also dies for real from the shock, as though it had taken enough psychic damage to instantly kill it. On the flip side, experience earned in the simulation is no different than that earned in the real world. So any levels gained in the simulation remain with the character upon exiting.
To avoid the former fate, Durnan offers special elixirs or items that can prevent death in the real word as insurance to be purchased with gold earned or as prizes to be awarded or found within the simulation itself. He does not accept real world gold for them.
Other than those few items mentioned above, all items and treasures found in the simulation, only exist within it. But returning players will possess those items again upon re-entering Alterdeep. This allows parties to return multiple times to the simulation and progress their delve, though the simulated dungeon will be reset as soon as they leave, only recording the location where they exited. When the party re-enters the simulation they appear at the location they were in when they exited the simulation with that level fully repopulated with monsters, traps and the like. While parties can visit previously explored levels, experience is only awarded for the first visit to a particular level of the dungeon. This encourages both fully exploring a level during a delving session, but also finding a way to get to the next level for their next delving session.
Delving sessions have a 4 hour limit in real world time, though time passes differently in the simulation allowing parties to take rests, but like any dungeon, resting inside the simulation carries the danger of wandering monsters and the like. When teams emerge from the simulation they are awarded a score and if their score is high enough they are placed on the leader board and are eligible for the Hall of heroes and other prizes at the end of each month!
About the DM and Game:
This game format harkens back to the early days of D&D when players competed with each other at conventions or really wanted to challenge themselves in "Funhouse" or "Meatgrinder" dungeons such as the Tomb of Horrors and White Plume Mountain. While parties can come and go as much as they wish and explore the many levels of Undermountain, this is not meant as an ongoing campaign with character development or long plots. It is a Dungeon Delve, and a darned difficult one at that. The enjoyment is from challenging your team, earning the accolades of your peers, and hopefully having a blast doing it.
This is a free game and each 4 hour delve is scheduled in advance. While teams can delve as often as they can get on the schedule, only their latest score is recorded on the leader boards. If this sounds interesting to you then gather your party and venture forth to: https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/11788448/contest-entry-forms
About me: I've been playing and DMing D&D since the late 70's. I enjoy really challenging players as well as their characters, so both will need to be on their toes to succeed. For example I rarely allow challenges to be resolved with a basic skill roll. Rather I expect players to be specific about what they are looking for in their investigation. A passive perception might sense something is wrong, but to find the trap the player needs to describe what where and how they are looking for it. Not just rolling an investigation check to have everything revealed.
Leveraging an agreement with a powerful entity deep within Undermountain, Durnan has installed 6 Illithid psipods at the bottom of the entrance well which grant teams of adventurers access to the Alterdeep simulation of Waterdeep which has been expanded recently to include Undermountain. The simulated dungeon is very real to participants. Creatures can be hurt, healed, and killed in the simulation just as they can be in the real world, and a character reduced to 0 hit points makes death saving throws as normal. Any creature that joins the simulation by entering a psipod and dies in the simulation also dies for real from the shock, as though it had taken enough psychic damage to instantly kill it. On the flip side, experience earned in the simulation is no different than that earned in the real world. So any levels gained in the simulation remain with the character upon exiting.
To avoid the former fate, Durnan offers special elixirs or items that can prevent death in the real word as insurance to be purchased with gold earned or as prizes to be awarded or found within the simulation itself. He does not accept real world gold for them.
Other than those few items mentioned above, all items and treasures found in the simulation, only exist within it. But returning players will possess those items again upon re-entering Alterdeep. This allows parties to return multiple times to the simulation and progress their delve, though the simulated dungeon will be reset as soon as they leave, only recording the location where they exited. When the party re-enters the simulation they appear at the location they were in when they exited the simulation with that level fully repopulated with monsters, traps and the like. While parties can visit previously explored levels, experience is only awarded for the first visit to a particular level of the dungeon. This encourages both fully exploring a level during a delving session, but also finding a way to get to the next level for their next delving session.
Delving sessions have a 4 hour limit in real world time, though time passes differently in the simulation allowing parties to take rests, but like any dungeon, resting inside the simulation carries the danger of wandering monsters and the like. When teams emerge from the simulation they are awarded a score and if their score is high enough they are placed on the leader board and are eligible for the Hall of heroes and other prizes at the end of each month!
About the DM and Game:
This game format harkens back to the early days of D&D when players competed with each other at conventions or really wanted to challenge themselves in "Funhouse" or "Meatgrinder" dungeons such as the Tomb of Horrors and White Plume Mountain. While parties can come and go as much as they wish and explore the many levels of Undermountain, this is not meant as an ongoing campaign with character development or long plots. It is a Dungeon Delve, and a darned difficult one at that. The enjoyment is from challenging your team, earning the accolades of your peers, and hopefully having a blast doing it.
This is a free game and each 4 hour delve is scheduled in advance. While teams can delve as often as they can get on the schedule, only their latest score is recorded on the leader boards. If this sounds interesting to you then gather your party and venture forth to: https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/11788448/contest-entry-forms
About me: I've been playing and DMing D&D since the late 70's. I enjoy really challenging players as well as their characters, so both will need to be on their toes to succeed. For example I rarely allow challenges to be resolved with a basic skill roll. Rather I expect players to be specific about what they are looking for in their investigation. A passive perception might sense something is wrong, but to find the trap the player needs to describe what where and how they are looking for it. Not just rolling an investigation check to have everything revealed.