Hello, a few days ago i started to write my mega dungeon. All was good until i started to ask myself a question : how to handle when players want to leave the dungeon ? If for a reason they want to or have to go back to the surface but they are 13 levels beneath the earth, how do you do it ? And when they want to go back right to 13 floor do you allow it ?
ask yourself the question: "what would be the reason for players wanting to go back to the surface?"
If its for shopping then you can always have small settlements to trade with in the dungeon.
Everything else you should be able to provide in a mega dungeon as well. Such as change of story/action pace or change in environments.
Mega dungeon doesn't have to be completely underground either. You can have secluded island that take you upwards to the skye before going deep deep down. You can add interplanar pockets so they could enter the feywild or something for trade. Or anything else they need.
Yeah my main idea is that at some point, players will be out of torches, lantern oil, rations or any useful consumables and need to replenish it but i can't just let them out and in so easily.
My megadungeon was built as an immense underground maze because i like the good old days feel of it.
By settlements you mean actual town and city ? Like characters would be able to trade with humanoid within the dungeon ? One of the thing i was thinking of is portal in certain level that allow them to go back to the surface but not always in the nearby town. Do you think that it would be a good idea ?
I'm really new to DMing and love to learn that's why i ask so much questions, sorry if it bother you ^^"
If you give your players a quick exit from a megadungeon, consider also giving them a quick way back in, so that if they leave and come back, rather than starting the whole thing over, they can pick up at a point near where they left off.
Portals are certainly an option.
If your megadungeon is big enough, it's entirely possible that an actual settlement eventually forms somewhere within it, comprised of either adventurers who got hopelessly lost and just decided to settle down and scrape by with what they could find in the dungeon, or may a superambitious mercantile project aiming to deliver dungeoneering good to dungeoneers in the midsts of their dungeoneering; an incredibly specialized commerical niche.
If the idea of an entire settlemtn doesn't sit well with you, you could always go this route:
Another consideration would be that if the occupants of the deeper levels of your mega dungeon would raid the surface for supplies, prisoners, or sport, then they would probably construct tunnels connecting to higher regions of the dungeon, allowing them easier access to the surface realms, which then the players can use once they find them to make it back to the surface and back down to the lower levels faster.
I think it really depends on the setup of the mega dungeon. What kind of environment is each area. Are there places that provide options for the players to forage and gather resources? Such as small underground lakes for water, some fish to re-fill waterskins and get rations. What are the indigenous life forms in the region of your dungeon. Players can, and probably will, stumble on corpses of previous adventurers. Their corpses could be scavenged for possible magical items and healing potions.
I'd really try to avoid portals back to the starting point since that would just ruin the feel and purpose of a mega dungeon. Instead finding ways to get what you need in the dungeon, draining resources, forcing players to get creative with what they still have remaining or abandon it all. Providing choices...consequences and possible drama.
But if you must. You could have a gigantic underground dwarven city...sort of like a cylinder shaped city running alongside the mega dungeon. Providing ways to enter the dungeon at various heights.
I found the "merchant from RE4" to be the best idea at this moment. (they just love it when this character pop out x) ). As stated above i borrowed the individuals that might trade with the party, specially the lost adventurers party.
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Hello, a few days ago i started to write my mega dungeon. All was good until i started to ask myself a question : how to handle when players want to leave the dungeon ? If for a reason they want to or have to go back to the surface but they are 13 levels beneath the earth, how do you do it ? And when they want to go back right to 13 floor do you allow it ?
ask yourself the question: "what would be the reason for players wanting to go back to the surface?"
If its for shopping then you can always have small settlements to trade with in the dungeon.
Everything else you should be able to provide in a mega dungeon as well. Such as change of story/action pace or change in environments.
Mega dungeon doesn't have to be completely underground either. You can have secluded island that take you upwards to the skye before going deep deep down. You can add interplanar pockets so they could enter the feywild or something for trade. Or anything else they need.
Thank you for the advice ^^
Yeah my main idea is that at some point, players will be out of torches, lantern oil, rations or any useful consumables and need to replenish it but i can't just let them out and in so easily.
My megadungeon was built as an immense underground maze because i like the good old days feel of it.
By settlements you mean actual town and city ? Like characters would be able to trade with humanoid within the dungeon ? One of the thing i was thinking of is portal in certain level that allow them to go back to the surface but not always in the nearby town. Do you think that it would be a good idea ?
I'm really new to DMing and love to learn that's why i ask so much questions, sorry if it bother you ^^"
If you give your players a quick exit from a megadungeon, consider also giving them a quick way back in, so that if they leave and come back, rather than starting the whole thing over, they can pick up at a point near where they left off.
Portals are certainly an option.
If your megadungeon is big enough, it's entirely possible that an actual settlement eventually forms somewhere within it, comprised of either adventurers who got hopelessly lost and just decided to settle down and scrape by with what they could find in the dungeon, or may a superambitious mercantile project aiming to deliver dungeoneering good to dungeoneers in the midsts of their dungeoneering; an incredibly specialized commerical niche.
If the idea of an entire settlemtn doesn't sit well with you, you could always go this route:
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Another consideration would be that if the occupants of the deeper levels of your mega dungeon would raid the surface for supplies, prisoners, or sport, then they would probably construct tunnels connecting to higher regions of the dungeon, allowing them easier access to the surface realms, which then the players can use once they find them to make it back to the surface and back down to the lower levels faster.
I think it really depends on the setup of the mega dungeon. What kind of environment is each area. Are there places that provide options for the players to forage and gather resources? Such as small underground lakes for water, some fish to re-fill waterskins and get rations. What are the indigenous life forms in the region of your dungeon. Players can, and probably will, stumble on corpses of previous adventurers. Their corpses could be scavenged for possible magical items and healing potions.
I'd really try to avoid portals back to the starting point since that would just ruin the feel and purpose of a mega dungeon. Instead finding ways to get what you need in the dungeon, draining resources, forcing players to get creative with what they still have remaining or abandon it all. Providing choices...consequences and possible drama.
But if you must. You could have a gigantic underground dwarven city...sort of like a cylinder shaped city running alongside the mega dungeon. Providing ways to enter the dungeon at various heights.
Thank you all for all your help.
I found the "merchant from RE4" to be the best idea at this moment. (they just love it when this character pop out x) ). As stated above i borrowed the individuals that might trade with the party, specially the lost adventurers party.