The Lady and Tiger

Something that has really captured my imagination since I’ve heard about old-school D&D is the idea of a megadungeon. The idea of running or playing in one is exciting, and as part of my hope of transition my current game to an open table I want to craft my own¹. It can be hard to pin down what exactly makes a dungeon mega, however. Everyone probably has their own definition, and a big part of determining whether a dungeon meets the criteria is the a “I’ll know it when I see it” approach. Some of the dungeons early in the hobby that are considered to be megadungeons include Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor, Gary Gygax’s Castle Greyhawk and Jennell Jaquays Caverns of Thracia. Modern examples abound, and I’m sure a short jaunt over to your search engine will reveal a litany of massive adventures that could keep your players busy for years.

It can be difficult to define a megadungeon, and opinions differ on what constitutes one. In practice, most of the time it’s a matter of “I know it when I see it” that can leave the idea of making one of your own dauntingly vague. In order to help clear up any confusion prior to my own rough definition, I’ve included a few working definitions from a variety of different writers on the megadungeon below.

Jason Alexander of The Alexandrian offers a relatively straightforward one, boiling down the megadungeon to three required elements:

An effective megadungeon has three basic components:

1. A map.
2. A starting map key.
3. Wandering monster tables.

The Alexandrian » (Re-)Running the Megadungeon

Roger G. S. of Rules, Roles and Rolls presents the following definition, focusing instead on how many potential player characters can explore the dungeon concurrently without stepping on each other’s toes:

Here’s my short answer, assuming that “levels” and “experience points” are relevant in your game.

• It is a single adventuring site with multiple areas of increasing difficulty (challenge levels)
• with enough “experience points” (rewards of adventuring relevant to character  advancement) in each “challenge level”
• that two or more adventuring parties can advance to the character level needed to confront the next challenge level, without intruding on each other’s sources of experience.

Roles, Rules, and Rolls: What’s a Megadungeon? (rolesrules.blogspot.com)

And, last but not least, Gus L. at Dungeon of Signs offers the following definition of what qualifies as a megadungeon, identifying the narrative weight and novel appeal required for a dungeon to capture the interest of multiple player’s for long periods of time:

My definition of a megadungeon is single adventure locale that players will return to repeatedly over the course of the campaign.  This location must then be interesting and varied enough to want to return to, contain a variety of challenges and reflect changes in the larger game world.

Another key element of the nature of the Megadungeon is that it doesn’t require a reoccurring set of delvers. Players may return, but parties can change, get wiped out or wander off and the Megadungeon should be large enough to remain partially (if not largely unexplored).

Dungeon of Signs: Megadungeon Thoughts

Taking a look at each of these, we can try to synthesize our own definition of what it means for a dungeon to earn that fabled mega- prefix. A megadungeon, in my opinion at least, needs to do meet the following (admittedly loose) requirements that regular dungeons do not;

1. Posses enough content to allow multiple parties of PCs to explore without needing to contest for the same sources of XP
2. Have some procedure(s) that ensure the content doesn’t turn stale (in the old-school fashion, this would at least include a wandering encounter table)
3. Increase in difficulty as the players progress through the dungeon (whether the levels go up, down, or just sprawl out over a large region) and signpost said difficulty (typically through the delineation of dungeon levels)²
4. Present multiple routes of egress and ingress for the PCs so that multiple delves do not require treading the same ground³
5. Unlike regular dungeons, megadungeons exist to enable sandbox play and reject being cleared out or completed⁴
6. Have intelligent inhabitants and factions that the players can interact with that have their own goals that drive play⁵

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but should serve as a good jumping off point for identifying what the general goals in crafting a megadungeon should be and what play patterns are supported. Tentpole dungeons provide a stable and effective activity in sandbox campaigns (especially open tables), providing players with an engaging environment that they can explore if they have no other plans that also serves as a shared experience that brings players together. Stay tuned for follow-ups concerning my plan to craft my own megadungeon, how I hope to run my current home game as an open table sandbox, how I plan to prepare it and what I hope it ends up looking like!

1. The Alexandrian » Opening Your Game Table ↩︎
2. ars ludi » Grand Experiments: West Marches (part 4), Death & Danger (lamemage.com) ↩︎
3. The Alexandrian » Xandering the Dungeon ↩︎
4. The Alexandrian » Treasure Maps & The Unknown: Goals in the Megadungeon ↩︎
5. The Alexandrian » Keep on the Borderlands: Factions in the Dungeon ↩︎