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Thoughts on running Rappan Athuk (and deadly megadungeons in general) [SPOILERS]
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 9006304" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>I've never been in RA specifically as either player or DM (but I own the 3e version and want to convert and run (bits of) it someday), but I've both run and played/am playing in other megadungeons.</p><p></p><p>They're a tricky beast. The biggest headache, unless the party is high enough level to have easy access to long range transport, is that there needs to be a city or similar somewhere the PCs can access for supplies, training (if used), new recruits, and so on; yet having that city be located close to a megadungeon makes no narrative sense. So, the PCs are either going to be stuck in the dungeon until they run out of resources and-or characters, or are going to be doing a LOT of travelling back and forth.</p><p></p><p>I tried running the old (late 1e/early 2e) Temple of Elemental Evil, and the travel killed it - they had no long-range transport so had to ground-pound through a few hundred miles of dangerous country to get from city to dungeon (or back), and the trip to-from town was ultimately found to be more deadly than the dungeon itself. Got me fired as DM of that group, that one did. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>The other thing with megadungeons is timing: if the party stays in there, you'll likely go through very few game days but take a lot of sessions doing it. Two weeks of game time can take a year in real time. What this means is that anything going on in the outside game-world effectively grinds to a near-halt, and as DM you have to remember it all 6 months or a year later when the party finally comes up for air. (this is even more of a female-dog when you're running more than one party side-along in the setting; the one in the megadungeon more or less stops in time while the other(s) advance, knocking them way out of synch). However, if they have to travel for weeks each way to get from dungeon to town and back, suddenly you're leaping ahead through game time which can raise its own issues.</p><p></p><p>And the megadungeon has to have some means of maintaining long-term player engagement. The one I'm playing in, on bi-weekly online sessions we've been in that thing for (looks it up and says "Yikes!") a bit over 2 real-world years with no end in sight. I-as-player have long since forgotten our initial reason for going there; what keeps me engaged in the moment is that my (current) character is a greedy little thing and this place is loaded with "nick", as she calls it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 9006304, member: 29398"] I've never been in RA specifically as either player or DM (but I own the 3e version and want to convert and run (bits of) it someday), but I've both run and played/am playing in other megadungeons. They're a tricky beast. The biggest headache, unless the party is high enough level to have easy access to long range transport, is that there needs to be a city or similar somewhere the PCs can access for supplies, training (if used), new recruits, and so on; yet having that city be located close to a megadungeon makes no narrative sense. So, the PCs are either going to be stuck in the dungeon until they run out of resources and-or characters, or are going to be doing a LOT of travelling back and forth. I tried running the old (late 1e/early 2e) Temple of Elemental Evil, and the travel killed it - they had no long-range transport so had to ground-pound through a few hundred miles of dangerous country to get from city to dungeon (or back), and the trip to-from town was ultimately found to be more deadly than the dungeon itself. Got me fired as DM of that group, that one did. :) The other thing with megadungeons is timing: if the party stays in there, you'll likely go through very few game days but take a lot of sessions doing it. Two weeks of game time can take a year in real time. What this means is that anything going on in the outside game-world effectively grinds to a near-halt, and as DM you have to remember it all 6 months or a year later when the party finally comes up for air. (this is even more of a female-dog when you're running more than one party side-along in the setting; the one in the megadungeon more or less stops in time while the other(s) advance, knocking them way out of synch). However, if they have to travel for weeks each way to get from dungeon to town and back, suddenly you're leaping ahead through game time which can raise its own issues. And the megadungeon has to have some means of maintaining long-term player engagement. The one I'm playing in, on bi-weekly online sessions we've been in that thing for (looks it up and says "Yikes!") a bit over 2 real-world years with no end in sight. I-as-player have long since forgotten our initial reason for going there; what keeps me engaged in the moment is that my (current) character is a greedy little thing and this place is loaded with "nick", as she calls it. [/QUOTE]
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