Does anyone (preferably with direct experience) care to chime in with their opinions/advice re: running a…

Does anyone (preferably with direct experience) care to chime in with their opinions/advice re: running a…

Does anyone (preferably with direct experience) care to chime in with their opinions/advice re: running a #megadungeon (stonehell/castle whiterock/dwimmermount/barrowmaze, etc) using DW? 

Much appreciated :D

9 thoughts on “Does anyone (preferably with direct experience) care to chime in with their opinions/advice re: running a…”

  1. What defines a metadungeon? [edit: megadungeon, but I like “metadungeon” too] Could you not set an entire campaign underground? And be sure to leave blank spaces on the map?

  2. Chris Shorb Your second comment is exactly what I am pondering doing.

    Other examples would be Undermountain, Night Below, World’s Largest Dungeon… I’m sure there are others.

  3. i have run dungeons made for old dnd and other systems useing DW. ie. Death frost doom, tomb of horrors, expedition to barrier peak.  ect.

    so a few things.

     1 if you have an existing dungeon World that you pc’s have been fleshing out it isnt hard to stick the dungeon in it somewhere.  the dungeon will almost always change your world which is cool and throws curve-balls at the PC’s. the world can be filled with blanks and you can know what is in the dungeon without knowing how the dungeon will affect the world ie. my pc’s had a happy medieval fairy land kinda world then i ran death frost doom and after a few Pc’s died and messed up in that dungeon it had disgorged thousands of un-dead skeleton’s and godlike death worshiping general, a creature that forces others to swear unbreakable oaths and a mountain sized half dead God.  that changed my campaign world lol.

    2. making stat block for creatures is easy with DW.  when converting creatures from modals put most of your thought into the moves.  ie. that creature that forces others to swear oaths had very little hp or attack but you couldn’t approach him, see him, enter or exit a room he was in without speaking an unbreakable oath.  capture the gimmick or puzzel of a foe well in its moves and you have a cool DW monster whatever it’s stats are.

    3. i find dungeon world’s rules work best when PC’s are in a dungeon anyway being in a hall or a crypt makes decisions hard.  i like classic adnd moduals for instance because you literally cant sleep in a dungeon without testing against going mad or turning to stone.  adding this dimension really pushes PC’s out of their comfort zone.  choosing spells becomes super important. bringing dungeon rations, haveing torches.  resource management becomes so much more fun.  I mean how many times has your ranger just gon hunting when he runs out of rations?  in a dungeon, you only have what you brought.  there are tons of DW rules that work best when you know exactly what is ahead as a gm.  eg.  looking for traps become a really fun puzzle for pc’s when the gm has the very specific workings of a trap in a book to look at  what the PC’s touch and what they smell and who they are standing beside suddenly becomes important always.  decern realities becomes very strategic because as a GM you cant control the answers you give and some questions whont help the PC;s.  finding out what happens becomes less about making up stuff and finding out if the party has opened themselves to dangers they cant even see.  this seems harsh but as soon as they leave the dungeon the pressure dissapears.  running dungeon moduals (good ones i mean) create some very dangerous and scary places for your pc’s while keeping the narrative over-world alive and flexible.

    4 whatever thing your PC’s are looking for?  that amazing maguffin?  put it in a room in your dungeon modual.  the end your ready. it dosnt even need to be the “boss” room (if there is a boss room) stick it in any room and enjoy watching your PC’s search.  

    tables of loot and mutations and item effects and magic items ect that you find in old dungeon books are easily converted with some imagination and some dont need conversion at all.  these tables help you as a GM play to find out what happens.  

    i have never run a MEGA dungeon as in one that would take years to clear.  My players have entered some very large classic dungeons and ether decided that they were too scary, or ran in to loot the first few rooms and then cut their losess and got outa there.  a true mega dungeon would be fun but you need the kind of group that likes to hire hirelings and buy carts and donkeys and guards. the people who orgonize expeditions and get loans to pay for it to help them haul out loot and get down deep.  My players aren’t into that but there are people who love that stuff. and that can be fun all on it’s own.

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