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` Sample file 1 Old School Hacks Vol. 3: Megadungeon Mayhem A toolbox for building and improving your megadungeon Developer & Author: Tim Bannock ​ Editor: Ken Carcas ​ Layout & Handout Design: Tim Bannock ​ Cover Graphical Elements: Elena Naylor ​ Cover Art: Wizards of the Coast ​ Interior Art: Rick Hershey/Fat Goblin Games, Wizards of the Coast ​ Endless Pit, Tower Stairs : Publisher’s Choice Quality Stock Art © Rick Hershey / Fat Goblin Games ​ ​ ​ Acknowledgments: ​ Thanks to Frog God Games for creating Rappan Athuk , which rekindled my love of megadungeons, and to ​ ​ Wizards of the Coast for Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage , which proves that megadungeons transcend ​ ​ editions. Special thanks to Ken Carcas for advice on the player handout and for recommending a stronger conclusion, which turned into a whole new chapter! And to Jeremy Forbing, who gave this series its name! Extra special thanks to all the people who have supported my releases and who visit timbannock.com/rpg from time to time. I love D&D, but you are the reason I do this. Version 1 (2/1/2019) DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon SampleMasters Guild. file All other original material in this work is © Tim Bannock and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. Not for resale. Permission granted to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. Table of Contents Introduction 1 3. Escaping the Megadungeon 20 1. Fundamentals of the Megadungeon 4 Using This Chapter 20 Getting In & Out 4 It’s Not For Everyone! 20 Light, Terrain & Verticality 5 Setup 20 Light 5 Save Points 21 Terrain 6 Choose Your Destiny 21 Verticality 7 Flee 21 Fantastic Features 8 Backtrack to Save Point 22 Functional Effect 8 Negotiate for Hospitality 23 Regional and Lair Effect 9 Send the Search Party 24 Environment-Affecting Spells 9 Immediate Evac: Spell or Item 25 Tracking Time 9 Fortify A Camp - A New Downtime Activity 25 Dungeons & Dragons Time Tracker 9 Establish An Outpost 25 Time Sinks 10 Fortify A Camp 25 Option: Stuck Doors 12 4. Concluding Your Megadungeon 28 Random Encounters 12 The Setting 28 Option: Reaction & Initial Attitude 13 The Bad Guy(s) 28 Variant: Morale 14 BBEG Narrative Considerations 29 Optional & Variant Rules 15 Strategy & Tactics 30 2. The Megadungeon Experience 16 The Reward 31 Connections to the Dungeon 16 The Denouement 32 Why Adventure? 16 Dungeons & Dragons Time Tracker 33 Character Connections 16 Motives, Goals & Connections 34 Fleshing Out Your Character 16 Anatomy of Combat 35 Variant: Dungeon Bonds 17 Experience Point Awards 17 Variant: Treasure & Interaction 18 Over Combat Variant: Milestone Checklist 18 Sample file Megadungeon Mayhem end of a session to get out of the dungeon without Introduction having to play through backtracking, mapping, and other "chores" of the megadungeon experience. It's a Welcome to Megadungeon Mayhem, the third book ​ ​ great framework for running one-shots with a clear in the Old School Hacks series! Like the previous ​ ​ endpoint or providing future adventure cues while two guides, this book isn't just a simple conversion still wrapping up any single delve into the dungeon. of older edition rules or a treatise on It's not for everyone, but there are definitely "one-true-wayism." It is instead a deep-dive into the features that can be applied to nearly any game, mechanics, guidelines, tropes, and options that can with a little tweaking. take the elegant system and succinct presentation of the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons to all Chapter 4: Concluding Your Megadungeon is all ​ ​ ​ new levels. It is informed by the past, but there is a about having a good ending to your megadungeon. concerted effort to use modern game design and The bulk of it speaks to how to create and utilize a experienced at-the-table-play to bring something great Big Bad End Guy, or BBEG for short. interesting to shake up your campaign, modify the Functional tips are provided for ensuring the tone of your sessions, present new challenges to players -- as well as their characters -- are your players, and help you do all of this confidently. emotionally invested in the potential end game of the dungeon environment they’ve been trekking What's In This Book through for months or even years of game time. This particular Old School Hack contains the following: References This book uses the following abbreviations: Chapter 1: Fundamentals of the Megadungeon includes a detailed discussion of the features that Abbr Book Abbr Book make up most megadungeon environments, COS Curse of Strahd PHB Player’s Handbook providing guidance on how to shake things up and DMG Dungeon Master’s PTA Princes of the keep it interesting. A time-tracking tool is provided Guide Apocalypse along with plenty of ways to use it, making time EPC Elemental Evil Player’s TYP Tales from the spent in a megadungeon a critical component of the Companion Yawning Portal game's tension. Finally, random encounters are GGR Guildmaster’s Guide to VGM Volo’s Guide to Ravnica Monsters given two new optional rules to give DMs a little MM Monster Manual WDH Waterdeep: Dragon juice for improv, creating a unique play experience Heist every time the adventurers delve into the dungeon! MTF Mordenkainen’s Tome WDM Waterdeep: Dungeon of Foes of the Mad Mage Chapter 2: The Megadungeon Experience talks OTA Out of the Abyss XGE Xanathar’s Guide ​ about the player's side of megadungeons. to Everything Specifically, it provides a new look at Bonds so that the adventurers have plenty of reason to keep Every monster, trap, hazard, magic item, reward, or revisiting a given dungeon. Additionally, a new spell will have a reference included. When this system is presented for awarding experience points, book references products from the Dungeon providing both in- and out-of-character motivations Masters Guild, the names appear in full. for interacting with a dungeon environment over and over again. Monsters, traps, and hazards are denoted like this: red dragon. ​ Chapter 3: Escaping the Megadungeon is a unique ​ set Sampleof rules that "game-ify" episodic play. This file system governs having the PCs make a choice at the 1 Megadungeon Mayhem Magic items (and special rewards like blessings and Spells are denoted like this: magic missile. In stat ​ ​ charms, DMG Chapter 7) are denoted like this: blocks, spells don't use colored or bolded text, so potion of healing. they instead look like this: detect magic. ​ ​ ​ Any other rules reference is in bold. ​ ​ Sample file 2 Megadungeon Mayhem Sample file 3 Megadungeon Mayhem Useful lists of existing material are compiled for Chapter 1: ease of reference, and optional rules and variants are provided to mix things up. Fundamentals of the Pack your rations, pop open your wineskin, and Megadungeon grab your ten-foot pole: we're about to dive in! Megadungeons are unique in that the 'mega' portion of their name requires you -- the DM -- to really Getting In & Out think in terms of variety. Justin Alexander popularly coined the phrase "Jaquaying the Dungeon" when he wrote about how On the one hand, the dungeon environment is Jennell Jaquays -- designer of the some of the most perhaps the perfect training course for running a lauded non-TSR adventures like Caverns of Thracia, ​ ​ collaborative roleplaying game; it's basically a flow Dark Tower, Griffin Mountain, and others -- ​ ​ ​ chart of stuff that happens, and it lays out in an stressed the use of multiple paths into a larger orderly fashion specific challenges. A DM doesn't dungeon complex and between each of its levels. It need too much if any worldbuilding outside of that, boils down to several easy concepts that should and assuming the dungeon has some encounters inform all megadungeons, and most -- though not that are different than others, you're good to go. If all -- of the levels within it (remember that variety every room is square and has 3 goblins in it, you can also sometimes come from constraints). may want to rethink the design (if you made it), or pass on that adventure (if you're about to buy it). Have multiple ways into the dungeon, empowering player choices. Although a campaign can start with ​ But on the other hand, that need for variety in one cave entrance to the dungeon, having multiple rooms and monsters (and treasures and traps and so entrances that reach different areas gives players on) is magnified a thousandfold when it comes to a choices of how to revisit the dungeon. Additionally, megadungeon. Because it conceivably has many they can choose to spend time attempting to control levels (5 or more) and dozens of encounter areas per the surface world near different entrances and exits level (preferably several dozen, otherwise is it really or building a keep at higher levels to ensure a a MEGAdungeon?), balancing 'has a strong theme' specific entrance is locked down, for example. and 'has lots of interesting encounters' becomes very difficult. It's best to err on the side of Have multiple ways into the dungeon, so players 'interesting encounters' even if the ecology of the can skip stuff they might grow bored of. Restocking ​ dungeon doesn't make much sense by having such dungeon levels a couple times is great, but you can a menagerie of creatures.

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