In the past, I have stuck to smaller dungeons when making adventures. Now I think I want to tackle something bigger.
5 Room Dungeons vs Megadungeons
Honestly, as a GM and gamer, I kept my ambitions pretty low. 5 room dungeons were my standard gig. The lethality of The Fantasy Trip, and now Blades & Black Magic, just made me shy away from anything much larger.
But now I have been rethinking that approach. I really have not found a true megadungeon on the market–and I think I may want to give it a whack.
Now there are a lot of challenges to making a classic dungeon of this size, from keeping it a cohesive whole, to just having the time to just do it. I think one of the biggest challenges, though, is building a megadungeon that would work well for Blades.
The problem is with D&D, characters can become powerful enough that they can absorb the punishment of sustained combat in such a long adventure. In a game like Blades, any single combat can be debilitating–or deadly.
After discussing the issue with an esteemed colleague, Jeff Vandine, I think the solution is to spread the combats out and make the dungeon more challenging and interesting in other ways. For example, more tricks or puzzles, more clues that lead to more adventure–things like that. You want to keep the megadungeon large and challenging, and ripe for multiple adventures, but not have total party kills every session.
The Catacombs of the Cursed Eyes
All of this I am trying to fold into a big megadungeon for Blades: the Catacombs of the Cursed Eyes! It is really just a concept right now, with a rough history and general plan, but it is starting to take shape.
Of course I can’t give all the details, and it will have a lot of the usual themes from classic megadungeons, but in a Swords & Sorcery style. All of this will be set in the Middle Lands setting, but could be dropped into an existing campaign anywhere.
I’m not sure if the Catacombs can be played with starting characters yet–it may take more seasoned veterans. It definitely will in the lower levels! Those details are still being worked out.
First Things First
However… before I can get too far into this beast, there is another thing I need to finish: the Creature Creator. That has been on my plate for a bit now, and I need to crank it out.
I also need to keep working on fleshing out the Middle Lands setting and posting that info to the website. The history of the Catacombs will dovetail into that somewhat, so that is not a total loss. Still, I need to get that done, at least to the point where others can make sense of it and play in it if they want to.
And then there’s the Catacombs! That will take a while to complete. I’m sure, just like dungeon delving, there will be side trips and unexpected detours–but the prize at the end will be worth it!
So stick around, and I’ll keep everyone updated on how it is progressing!
Marko ∞
(Originally published on middle-lands.com, on 4/10/2020.)
