I guess however my twist would be that the fort and or tower will be built into the mouth of a cave kinda like Predjama Castle. Pictured here...
And here...
So yes maybe it was a Dwarven Fortress...oh wait that's been done...maybe a Wizard's...what been done too?
But I like the whole Fort, tower thing in a cave...
I gotta figure this out...crap.
Wait why again do folks go into mega dungeons?
Save the world?
Stop an under-dark invasion?
Just to see whats in there?
See this is why I hate Dungeon Crawls...never a "good" reason. I mean if I stumble across a room with a few rats and 2000 coppers at 1st level...Hell's Nine Bells, it's retirement time right?
I 'member a Undermountain campaign...had a Dwarf, Dark dwarf maybe...can't remember didn't like the guy...anyway, by 8th level, and never getting off the 1st dungeon level, I was filthy rich...done...it was over.
Maybe it's an Alignment thing?
Why would a group of Good aligned FIRST level adventurers go into a Dungeon? And why the piss did the King send a bunch of newbies to save the kingdom from invasion in the first place? What an idiot.
Next story...
Some Paizo adventure path we where playing back in the days they wrote for the Magazines, me and my soldier buddies in Iraq where working as guards in the Shacked City...long story short, the Game Master never did a good job a convincing me or my character why first level morons needed to save the day...
Maybe its just me, maybe I am requiring to much out of this, right? I mean it's a dungeon crawl, does it need a plot?
Gawds Above and Below...I need a reason...crap.
I can't do this without one.
Should a dungeon crawl be a bit rail roady when it comes to getting the PC inside? Do they all meet up at the tavern, here the rumors and low and behold march off to investigate Grim Grotto Caves?
Ok, Ok lets work this out.
I'm gonna run a poll, it will close in one week from this date, so on the 26th.
ERIC!
P.S. one day I will hire an editor....
I've been reading your blog since the summer and really enjoy it. I've been working on a Megadungeon project too, and I've been wrestling with many of the same questions. I like the idea of a "castle in a cave." What if the castle serves as a "cork" to keep the badness of the Megadungeon bottled up? There could be magical wards, and some group (monks, knights, wizards?) who are tasked with maintaining the defenses. Maybe this group sells exploration charters to fund their organization?
ReplyDeleteAs for low level adventurer motivation, I really like capitalism. The rumored wealth of the Dungeon entices the low level party and they discover all the plot hooks and hints you've planted. As they reach higher levels, the PC's then follow some grand plot (empty the dungeon of evil slavers, destroy the lich king, so on and so forth). I look forward to reading more...Keep up the good work!