Just thinking of things I've put into my megadungeon.
Major Mapping Features I've used in Felltower include:
- sections of levels only accessible from below.
- dead-end levels (you can get to them, but not usefully anywhere else from them)
- semi dead-end levels (you can get into an otherwise isolated group of levels)
- sub-levels
- partial level changes. (That is, level changes that aren't so deep that I change sheets of mapping paper.)
- caverns
- underground river
- caverns verging on worked dungeon space.
- hidden rooms and hidden areas only accessible with special gear, items, or at specific times.
Megadungeon Cliches I've used in Felltower include:
- Flooded level.
- evil temple area (in fact, the evil temple)
- feuding factions.
- Overpowered monster nodes. (As in, monsters well about the difficulty of the surrounding area.)
- entrance from underwater.
- giant staircase (rumored, not yet seen)
- entrance from a hole in the ground.
- teleporters.
- trick statues.
- 5 degree slopes. (Okay, not 5 degrees.)
- unopenable doors.
- anti-magic zones
- room of pools
- levers with unknown function.
- ridiculous monsters. Lots and lots of ridiculous monsters.
I think although I haven't tossed in a Ye Olde Magic Shoppe, a monster arena, or a gambling den run by kobolds, I've hit some of the key notes I've admired in the published adventures and published tales of adventures from old school gaming. And not a little bit of new-school video gaming, too. Not bad. Now I just need a (secret) list of stuff I need to ensure I put in.
That's a solid reference for the big ideas. The entrance from underwater is one I haven't seen too often.
ReplyDeleteI'd be riffing off of Nethack a lot if I ever ran a dungeon crawl.
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