MËGÄ-DÜNGËÖN!!!!!!!!!! Epic Subterranean Campaigns in 5e Dungeons & Dragons - Web DM

We explore the endless possibilities of the MEGA DUNGEON!
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Written & Hosted by Jonathan Pruitt & Jim Davis
Produced, Directed & Edited by Travis Boles
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Intro To 5th Edition - • 5th Edition Dungeons &...
Backgrounds, Feats & Spellcasters - • Backgrounds, Feats & S...
Inside Editions - • Inside Editions - Web DM
Getting Started in 5th Edition - • Getting Started In 5th...
Character Creation Part One - • Character Creation Par...
Character Creation Part Two - • Character Creation Par...
Campaigning “On Rails” - • Is Your D&D Campaign "...
Treasure - • Treasure: How Much Is ...
Player Styles - • Different Player Style...
Killing Characters - • Killing Characters Res...
Barbarians & Bards - • Barbarians & Bards - W...
Druids,Fighters, Monks, Rangers & Rogues - • Druids, Fighters, Monk...
Sorcerers, Warlocks, Clerics, Paladins & Wizards - • Sorcerers, Warlocks, C...
Beholders - • Beholders - A Classic ...
Kobolds, Goblins & Bullywugs - • Zombies in 5e Dungeons...
Red Dragons - • Red Dragons in Dungeon...
5e Dungeons & Dragons is here to stay, and Web DM is here to help!!! Jim Davis & Jonathan Pruitt have been playing Dungeons & Dragons for a combined 30+ years, and on Web DM they demystify, dethrone, and defrock this Dungeon we call Dragons! Subscribe to our channel for weekly videos on 5e Classes, Monsters, DM Tips, and more! Join Pruitt & Jim as we kick down the door and talk some serious Dungeons & Dragons!

[@WebDM]

Thanks for watching! Want more Web DM in your life? Get our podcast here: www.patreon.com/webdm

[@Shiekism]

You guys gotta do an episode on that campaign segment about WWI. How you came up with it, what you included in it, etc.

[@danepatton2252]

i love how you did the five umlauts and 10 exclamation points

[@JakeB7734]

Sentient megadungeon that calls adventurers to it -- that would be the coolest warlock patron.

[@tyleremery7088]

DM: What's your warlock's patron? Player: Literally the dungeon itself.

[@Keyce0013]

@@tyleremery7088 Not just any dungeon. THIS dungeon.

[@dudemcfurgusson7179]

The patron's entire goal is to have their warlocks bring adventurers into it so that it can feed on them, like that dude from ghost ship.

[@Jestersification]

a labaryinth granting you power and grooming you to be the monster at the center.

[@mordet2]

Watch made in abyss, that's basically the the whole story

[@DegorothAmon]

Covering a fart with the squeak of your shoes is truly the most important advice that I got out of this episode. Thanks Pruitt.

[@JPruinc]

I don't like to toot my own horn but it was pretty good advice!

[@duchessedeberne3909]

Varsidian Timestamp please

[@DegorothAmon]

34:50

[@CountNerdula1]

Sadly I don't think that it could cover the fart smell.

[@Golden_Raijin]

I teach martial arts twice a week, and the most important thing my instructor taught me was to save your farts for the moves when everyone shouts. They never know

[@carlogalbiati6157]

It would be awesome if you guys started a d&d stories series, recounting all of the cool experiences you have had

[@adventuringwolf8517]

Carlo Galbiati crossplatform action squad anyone?

[@apassionatenerd.3564]

Adventuring Wolf yeah boi

[@goreshack]

I would be SO INTO THIS

[@ChristianSteinheimer]

This would be awesome!!!

[@sloanzak]

Carlo Galbiati I agree. It seems like these two have had some fun over the years.

[@ethanlang276]

The first Diablo, is for me, the most iconic mega dungeon ever made.

[@WebDM]

+Ethan Lang oooooooh good one

[@ethanlang276]

Now that I think about it, I might run that as a mega dungeon campaign, or something like it. It seems like might convert well, maybe even adding Diablo 2 classes into it as well (Barbarians, Assassins, Druids, Necromancers, etc.)

[@politikh]

Ethan Lang If I remember correctly, Wizards had printed rules to convert 3.0 to Diablo (and Alternity to Starcraft) back in the days... or was it Blizzard??? Anywho :-)

[@ethanlang276]

Interesting. Thanks, I'll have to check out this product, whatever it is.

[@jnbaker7422]

The last stage of Diablo III is a pretty enjoyable mega dungeon

[@pyroparagon8945]

Everyone talks about the tiny hut, but no one mentions magnificent mansion, which is undetectable, has enough food for a 9 course banquet for 100 people, and have 100 servants

[@RozenockDoll]

Most people don't ever get high enough level to ever cast it.

[@mordet2]

I sure as hell ain't using my only, or one of two, 7th level spell slot so that you can sleep in a mansion, boy. You'll make do with the tiny hut.

[@philipboardman1357]

I love watching these old videos. They were, by far, the best table-top-tubers. I hope they are doing well, and someday make a return.

[@bobbytaylor6363]

Absolutely. I still watch these videos when I need inspiration

[@christopherpatterson4084]

The living dungeon is one of my favourite concepts that I've ever come across. One of my current campaigns runs around this idea and there should technically be a mega dungeon in it, but I've yet to construct it. Essentially their is a Great Old One trapped beneath the waves and has over the eons has created a dungeon around itself, which became an island. So technically the whole "island continent" that they are on is part of this dungeon. It goes so far that most of the people they are meeting are in fact the recreated souls of those who have come before and been devoured by this Great Old one. I've been slowly dropping clues as to something beneath the surface, something living, but they've no idea what's waiting for them. Can't wait for them to figure out the truth!

[@humblebumble8192]

Care to tell us what's happened?

[@Draeckon]

Christopher Patterson I love this idea. It reminds me of Darkest Dungeon, which was a great game.

[@richmcgee434]

You should be playing 13th Age. The default setting has living dungeons of all shapes and sizes that rise from somewhere deep, deep down in the underworld and rise to the surface to disgorge their monstrous occupants and lure surface dwellers to their doom. Awful lot of adventurers make their careers out of dealing with them as they surface or below, if they can intercept them while they're still oozing, clawing, or slithering upward. Living dungeons have hearts, or keystones, or brains, although their forms aren't always obvious, and wrecking them kills the dungeon so it stops spawning monsters and becomes a static location. Leave one alive and they keep breeding horrors and growing, and they may "dive" and resurface elsewhere. Scary stuff.

[@grumbeard]

Consider this one stolen. Thank you ver much!

[@christopherpatterson4084]

@@humblebumble8192 apologies, I only just saw this. To give a long story a short version: they battled through a lot of monsters and areas, eventually diving into the underneath and releasing a monstrous Death Knight. They ended up trapped in his tomb as he escaped, upon finding a way out and retuning to the surface things had... Changed. They first assumed they had been gone a long time, but soon met old friends, but the circumstances had changed. Two allies, close friends of each other, where sworn enemies now. The goodly king who wanted to protect his people was now a mad tyrant etc. Eventually they met an old wizard, mind lost to magic, who they restored through use of a greater restoration, discovered the truth. There they battle down into the maw of the island, discovered the horrific "cloning" vats, more eldritch horrors and truths before battling an aspect of the entity in the astral plain as its true form sped towards them across the cosmos. In the end they beat it, the warrior threw his flaming sword into its great eye and they escaped with clever use of the gate spell. Was damn good fun!

[@phoenixking62]

When you guys were talking about the idea of "sentient" or "living" dungeons, I couldn't help but think of Path of Exile. In Act 4, the player goes into a giant mountain that is a living being called "The Beast." Players have to go through the entrance which at first seems to be nothing more than tunnels and mines, but as they go deeper and deeper, the tunnels become fleshy with eyes and tendrils on the walls and stuff like that, and end up having to destroy The Beasts heart. It's pretty great and I've used that as inspiration for making a dungeon or two.

[@phoenixking62]

Path of Exile actually has quite a few areas that would make great dungeons in general. The Chambers of Sin, Mervail's (a siren) Caverns, The Vaal Pyramid, The Temples of Lunaris and Solaris. And with the 6 new acts in the 3.0 expansion, there's bound to be quite a few more locations that would make for great dungeon ideas.

[@JPruinc]

That's pretty cool.

[@evilbarrels2506]

I wish I found this reply two years ago, I gave up on POE because I wasn't liking the dungeons; knowing that you get stuff like this later on, I think I should redownload it.

[@chastermief839]

reeling the dolly shot back in right as Pruitt fucked up his intro was hysterical.

[@JPruinc]

Trav is a consummate professional.

[@bobbysnider1127]

WOTC really needs to support you guys. Your eps. are very helpful and I am sure many people have bought products because of you.

[@methodofinstruction1368]

I bought 5e because of these guys...

[@JPruinc]

I agree! Everyone should tell them this.

[@ooloncolluphid7904]

These guys are great ambassadors for 5e, and 5e is a pretty good version. With that said, MF WOTC! I'm still pissed at them. It took them two editions ( *three,* actually, if you round up the fucking ".5") and over a decade to get the hint. To a lot of us old 1e/2e players they went waaaaay off course. I'm just now coming around to accept d20 systems because of it.

[@RLtMD]

Yeah, to me 1st and 2nd has an amazing "feel" to it. And actually much of that same amazing atmosphere is there in 5e. Now mechanically, especially, 3.5e was a big step up, but I feel like it was missing a certain "flair". To me, 5e is the best version so far. I love the feel of it and it's mechanically great. Certain things CAN be considered problematic, but most are easily fixed. (Fx: People feeling too safe? Introduce death at a fraction of a persons HP and adjust the DC for death saves.) But the most important thing to me is that the "feel" is there and the mechanics are great, from that we have an amazing baseline for making the game WE want.

[@iX1NS0MN14CXi]

A sentient dungeon, kind of like in the last Airbender where the earth creatures kept tunneling and switch the entire map around

[@si2foo]

hmm you could simply just have gellatinous cubes slime arround that are semi sentient

[@Sean-ne3gx]

si2foo or they're being controlled by a mysterious lord of this dungeon, who is seeking structural and mazelike perfection.

[@RusUrtel]

si2foo or maybe the dungeon is a massive cube itself with tunnels and several different minds :p

[@joshfase9324]

This channel is one of the highlights of my subscription feed. Keep up the good work gents!

[@MrAces023]

Josh Fase I bet there a blast in real life lol

[@JPruinc]

Can't stop. Won't stop! Uh Uh

[@TheAccess1234]

G

[@iX1NS0MN14CXi]

Or maybe pockets of wild magic exist in the dungeon? God, my mind is racing now

[@Sean-ne3gx]

PinkCanoeDaVagoo how about whatever group lives nearest the wild magic also have a higher than average number of sorcerers too or random bleed through from one or another of the planes, not enough to travel to, but enough to make some of those spots weird.... maybe wrath of Khan style feywild forest in a cave weird...

[@iX1NS0MN14CXi]

Sean H I love that idea

[@MtgVeteran]

every metroid game

[@JPruinc]

Every. Damn. One.

[@Vegetation.]

Metroidvanias are good

[@SuperBossGiovanni]

You know you're playing D&D when someone can say "And there's the portal to Hell" so casually

[@erezamir7218]

When I hear MEGA DUNGEON I instantly think Castlevenia for some reason

[@Licjr]

Erez Amir Not a bad baseline to consider

[@LordSephleon]

The first Diablo game is another great comparison. :)

[@Bondanalloy]

castle ravenloft is a good place, and just use symphony of the night as inspiration to add stuff like caverns and whatnot

[@JPruinc]

Totally!

[@Sentrygun84]

LordSephleon the old descent to hell. Always a crowd pleaser lol.

[@mennoltvanalten7260]

15:10 Living mega-dungeon. Portrayed in fiction in Percy Jackson: The Battle of the Labyrinth, which spans all of America and is filled with basically every monster in Greek mythology and grows as needed.

[@hynekozana3299]

"The city of the dreaming books" is a great example of a megadungeon (and also my favorite book) and I actually finished my wall painting inspired by it so thanks guys great video

[@LevChern242]

You mean the book by Walter Moers? That was exactly what I was thinking about, I didn't even know it got translated into English tbh. It would make for the most dope mega dungeon.

[@braxtontye8258]

Have you guys ever thought about having an episode or even a small series of videos where you talk about past memorable experiences? I think that could make for some fantastic content!

[@blakebrockhaus347]

one resource you could use for designing levels is to play the game pixel dungeon, it is just about a single adventurer trying to get to the bottom of a mega dungeon

[@HundredYearsBoar]

What a coincidence! I just started my multi-session dungeon for my players. *sits back and gets ready to take advice*

[@tristencovarrubias4950]

I always love that look on Pruit’s face when he’s talking about the Two Round Dragon Fight that he always remembers nuking the DM’s plan… and then Jim tells him that he debuff-modded the encounter down to a regular Dragon (and Pruitt’s expression goes from fond, nostalgic reminiscence to “blank-faced” disappointment… LoL)

[@reidtaylor3037]

Your thumbnail game is on points guys! Keep on being your awesome selves. :)

[@JPruinc]

Can't be anyone else! Glad you're enjoying!

[@calvinballaka8905]

I love the dungeon in D&D for how it brings out the element of exploration - thanks for helping me put words to feelings on that! This has been another great episode! While I'm not running a megadungeon (though who knows, I might in the future), the discussion about keeping the dungeon fresh so that it has both a strong theme and "story" to discover as well as different sub-themes for the levels for variety is super useful for ALL dungeons.

[@Bondanalloy]

for the darkvision - just use a mist or magical darkness yea or dunk the party in water/goo

[@jacobwestrate5872]

Or you could create a variant rule about how darkvision works, making it more like low light vision in that there must be at least some light, however little there is. If there isn't any at all, no darkvision.

[@baileywatts1304]

Feels like a throwback to my first time DMing, when I took the term "dungeon" too literally. We had a contrivance to have the characters imprisoned very early in the campaign, and just getting out was the main goal. There was no question that the party would be allowed to rest in the dungeon, because leaving to rest wasn't an option. Their first time seeing sunlight was a major campaign milestone.

[@NikushimiZERO]

The Mega Dungeon kind of reminds me of the DLC for Dragons Dogma where you go to the Island and the further you go the stranger and harder it gets. Each room is vastly different. Similar, but different. Just really strange. That's what it kind of reminds me of.

[@KyleMaxwell]

Megadungeons are just about my favorite way to play D&D. Just started a TftYP campaign and thinking I may sew them together (not using the actual Yawning Portal) to do this.

[@patchfile]

I can't stop myself from replaying the first 15 seconds over and over... This video will take all day to watch at this rate.

[@johnbewley3119]

I love watching these videos and rewatching them. Everytime I get new ideas for my campaigns for my players, including how to involve different kinds of players into a certain kind of campaign our adventure. Thank you guys!

[@InstantSilence]

You're missing two umlauts and six exclamation points in the title :P

[@JPruinc]

Fixed

[@InstantSilence]

Awesome

[@kameronjohnson3888]

I never knew they were called umlauts

[@hamstsorkxxor]

Kameron Johnson As a speaker of a language that has a lot of umlauts, I find it hard to describe how much the title screws with brain. On one hand, I can clearly see that they have just stuck umlauts on a bunch of regular English words, no problem understanding that. On the other hand, some part of my brain actually tries to *read* what's actually written. Which of course is random gibberish, pronounced completely different from the English words. You know how, if you write the word "yellow" using blue letters and then ask them to quickly say the colour of the letters out loud, it really messes with them? Yeah, it's a bit like that.

[@thenoremac2685]

I once made a really big dungeon for my party. It had shifting corridors. Every time the party would enter a room, I'd roll a 1d4 (I had four maps per level) and all the corridors would reform along with the entrances to the chambers. There were three levels and a boss floor. We were in there for several sessions, roughly four in-game days, so it went a little longer than it should've, but the players really enjoyed it.

[@misomiso8228]

One thing you missed - it's worth making the Mega Dungeon MORE weird and unusual than you have to, as that better explains it's ratinoale and keeps the suspension of disbelief. If the PCs just go in and out of a Dungen where a Tribe of Trolls live, the Trolls will organise and fight back, where as if the Dungeon is semi sentient, or an Alien Ship sits at its center, you can make up all this weird stuff as to why the monsters are acting the way they are. Counter intuitively you have to go weirder to make it make it more 'realistic'.

[@chadherbert18]

Mega dungeons were so much fun in 2nd edition! I ran one that ended in a vast volcano cavern that housed dozens of large red dragon who were would-be suitors to the queen-mother of the red dragons - a god-like Paragon 12th age Red that was sleeping in a sinder cone overtop her insane treasure pile. The PC's - 9 or 10 of them in the 16th-18th level range wanted the treasure so bad but knew the challenge was too tough. Eventually, a Wand of Dig - lol, helped them create a very long tunnel to the base of the sinder cone and they dug into the treasure having a ton of treasure fall down on them. They buffed-up their best warrior and they attached the underside of the dragon, while their wizards readied teleport spells, in case things went wrong, and the priests brought up so many protection spells up. The warrior rolled a 19 - they cheered and looked to me - "your attach did not harm the dragon". They teleported out so fast, barely grabbing any of the treasure and never went back - lmao!!! :)

[@RoseArtemis24]

There is always something slightly satisfying about watching Pruitt fuck up the intro 😂 Fantastic episode as always by the way

[@AnimeNPC.]

most of my dungeons have pressure plate traps. the kobold run freely over them but anything heavier than the gnome gets poison darts flying at them.

[@nathanialrochester8445]

This show makes my Wednesdays less of a hump (pun intended) to cross over. Seriously, you guys are the best!

[@zephyr5321]

Awesome thanks for the tips. I have been making a 100 floor Mega Dungeon. I am having it be a test by an all powerful chaos deity to see who is worthy of his power. I have it to where the party levels every theme change which is every 2-3 floors. All for the end game of four 40th level decked out characters duking it out for infinite power.

[@lorgarbeareroftheword5836]

How did it work out?

[@jarodwootton7083]

A Mega Dungeon was used in the last campaign i played in. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[@Pazzolupo]

Leomund's Tiny Hut is easy to deal with. Use burrowing monsters. Description says dome, not sphere.

[@SkyNinja759]

Get the band of orcs to get out their pickaxes and a dig hole under the rim the hut and set a fire to snuff the oxygen and literally smoke the party out of the hut.

[@hamstsorkxxor]

SkyNinja759 Or just set the but on fire?

[@The-Kennard-System]

Leomund's Tiny Hut makes effectively a forcefield. It's not a literal hut.

[@bookfound]

Its a hemisphere.

[@Aleph-Noll]

pretty sure theres a floor to tiny hut and so its fully closed so you cant dig under it

[@novoc2081]

Love this episode. I have spent two days just listening to you guys non-stop and this is probably one of my favourite episodes you've done. I love all the stories from your games in this one. Aces. It resonates with me particularly because I too have played through a lot of those older editions up into Pathfinder where I am now... and have decided to revisit the megadungeon style by running a reskinned Pathfinder conversion of the original Temple of Elemental Evil. It has been fun and the player deaths are real even now as they are getting to 5th level (way too easy in pf). Possibly one of my favourite bits has been the near TPK in session 2. Only one wizard managed to jump out a window of the moathouse and run away while the rest of the party was burned alive. Anyhow your channel rocks. This episode rocks. You guys are awesome.

[@kilikx1x]

Whenever I think of a 'Mega Dungeon' I think of the anime "Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka". I know it's a mouth full but the world building that series is essentially completely based on a mega dungeon.

[@toddparker2377]

LOVE THIS TOPIC!!! Everything u guys put out is just gold for other DM's or GM's to mine. Thank you WEB DM for all of the work u put into this channel. It is appreciated.

[@justinjanicki6561]

The best type of mega dungeon is a Tower of Babel type of setting. Say the world ended, most races except for humans have been driven to near extinction (the last surviving members of elves, dwarves, halflings , and other magical races and mages hunted by the remaining humans, hiding in the tower.) the only continent surviving is a small island dotted with tiny villages , with the ruins of great continents that have sunken into the ocean visible on the horizon . Off the coast of the island is a massive gray tower, rising from the depths,reaching the heavens and as wide as a mountain. Perfectly lays out a mystery and a dark mega dungeon setting for the players to embark on.

[@lukegood8802]

Id love to see you guys talk about the published settings for D&D, your experience with them, how you percieve them, how their material or tone can help you in your campaign ext. Love me some Eberron talk.

[@Langtw]

One of the best references I've found is a series called "The Dungeon", each book by a different author, but overseen by Phillip José Farmer. Science-Fantasy megadungeon with aliens, humans from different time periods, giant monsters, plane hopping, the works.

[@mr.l2837]

Love your t-shirt, I'm going to see The Sword this month. Also your show is cool too

[@reecelee4277]

One of my favorite Chanel's. Keep up the great work!!!!

[@erezamir7218]

One of your best episodes and its hard to choose , all of them are amazing

[@roseytone9289]

This cannel deserves 5d20 • 1,000 more subscribers.

[@Syrbyrys]

I love the idea that a massive underground complex like a megadungeon has a genius loci (Latin, means “spirit of a place”) that shapes it and has some form of control over the actual topography and layout of the megadungeon. After all, the place is probably bathed in adventurer blood. Might even be some amalgam of adventurer souls (once enough adventurers died there) that gave consciousness in the first place, and thus the dungeon knows just how to mess with a party of adventurers.

[@kapittsalt]

You guys are reading my mind, and timely so. Thank you.

[@pieter8491]

You guys are my favourite channel. Thank you for all the content.

[@romanperryaudio]

You guys gotta release these as a podcast! I wanna be able to listen to these while I drive! Love your stuff, keep it up!

[@TheEricthefruitbat]

This is right in my wheelhouse, as DM and as Player. I love the MEGA-DUNGEON! Thank you for this video.

[@Giganfan2k1]

Faewild woods, impenetrably thick, my PC's can use a covered wagon for most of the treckking. They can try to side with a court. I like where my brain is going with this.

[@fluffdafire157]

My DM had a dungeon where the dungeon from floor to floor changed the character you were playing ( he made us make four characters which had a made up status effect called xp link) and on the 7 floor the first enemy was a frost damage and two of us were mages one was frost and the other was fire then one was a bard and the third was a cleric

[@wperdew6078]

One dungeon I have planned right now is 'possessed' by an entropic, elemental sentience. It is a pathfinder setting, but the cross over isn't much difference. If holds sway over several rooms, and can create pits, channel negative energy blasts, reverse gravity, and even manifest dead magic areas. Some fungoid creatures dwell in its area, and a forgotten wizards mechanical creatures as well..

[@lordneraxis8051]

I do not know if you have read the percy jackson series but the Labyrinth had over time become basically The mega dungeon of that series with all kinds of things hidden in it with the added horrible twist that you might go insane or just get lost since it was always changing and growing and was near impossible to navigate within it. This though has given me some ideas and i might need to start drawing a dungeon now and see where it takes me. That is generally how i create all my dungeons i start by just drawing whatever comes to mind and then figuring out what lives where and what the story behind said place is.

[@karpmageddon4155]

I loved the idea of the sentient volcano, as it reminded me of Krakoa from Marvel comics. And with that in mind, perhaps it's the reverse of what Pruitt said. Having the monsters being an extension of the entity and the call to adventurers purpose not being to "free" it of said monsters but to become food for it. Having adventurer after adventurer nobly going to free it, only to succumb to it's grasp as their psionic energies (or life force) are drained from them to help further expand it's size and power. With the ultimate goal of the entity being to consume the world, making all life one with it. Or perhaps the entity is more proactive, going the route of the Centre from DC comics. And with Tomb of Annihilation being right around the corner, a flying island with mutant dinosaurs bent on destroying the world sounds like a ton of fun. Maybe even going as far as making the island use Chult as a disguise, much like the Centre used Dinosaur Island as a disguise.

[@The_Anthologist]

I want to combine the concept of a megadungeon with an idea from one of their other videos, a campaign that takes place inside one tavern. A massive, many storied tavern with floors going up and subterranean, the guilds have permanently reserved rooms, there are stores and rooms, it is entirely possible for someone to live here and never leave. And it's the party's first day as part of the staff

[@igotsmeakabob]

eyes of the stone thief adventure from 13th Age! literally a living Megadungeon.

[@jacobchartier]

I needed this episode! Great advice guys.

[@captofthecrunch1942]

Seeing how much fun you guys had towards the end talking about basic edition, You should do an episode about basic edition/labyrinth lord. Not to mention I really only play basic and would love to see what you guys say about it.

[@Sukerkin]

:grins: Nice to know that my mega-dungeon-centred campaign that ran for a couple of decades was actually on the right lines :). Not all play took place in it of course but it was the hub upon which plot lines turned.

[@potatoefacedfox]

The sentient dungeon idea is how I played White Plume Mountain from Tales from the Yawning Portal. Keraptis was one with the mountain.

[@teun558]

This has been a great help on making my own West Marches Mega Dungeon that I run on roll20. Thanks guys!

[@zerogeass709]

A good series for this is 'The Slime Dungeon'. The dungeon is the main character and location. Dungeon in that world feed off mana, adventurers are a great source, and use treasure as bait.

[@williamozier918]

13:20. When I was a kid there was an article in Dragon magazine about two people showing up to wargame, and through miscommunication one brought his fantasy army, the other his WWII army. The article was about how they made the stats compatible. Meantime, the my father had the Time Life WWII series, one of those had experimental and unique weapons and vehicles used in the war. So a mysterious fog in our campaign dropped us into a WWII battle, happening in the future version of our campaign land. So we had to win the battle in the future against a WWII ork army using experimental weapons and vehicle. So we had to beat them, grab the loot, return to our campaign's time frame, and defeat the orks now before they become a threat then. Then we of course had to have a tank fight a dragon. Dragon wins.

[@Bluecho4]

Here's an idea for a Mega-Dungeon campaign: Some cataclysm floods the world, Waterworld style. So all the survivors of this apocalypse are sailing around in boats, trying to survive from the bounty of the sea, and looking for any land. Eventually people discover some land. That being the peak of a mountain. Which just so happens to have a dungeon on it, that burrows down into the depths. The party's ship lands on this "island", which has basically been built up over hundreds of ships lashing themselves to shore. It might be a couple levels before the party even sets foot on land proper. When they do, they assail this fortress, only to find it and the many layers beneath it are patrolled by a dozen factions of creatures. All humanoids (monstrous or otherwise) who landed on the rock, and are now trying to carve out a place for themselves in the only structure of note on this rock. It creates a situation where the party can leave at any time, but there's not a whole lot to find beyond this island. The Mega-Dungeon is the ONLY source of activity when everything is said and done.

[@goreshack]

You guys should really start a Patreon. I'd totally support you guys for this show.

[@WebDM]

+Goreshack hmmmmmmm...

[@trex2251]

The Sword!

[@TheHareedo]

Acquisitions Incorporated the "C" Team has a living dungeon "the Wandering Crypt" as its overarching plot point. Definitely worth checking out.

[@tefnutstemple7433]

I have an idea for a megadungeon. Perhaps a city was built over it, or it was built under the city. Regardless, the city now puts it to use for all of the "less-than-pretty" aspects of their city. It's a sewer! It's a prison! its slums! its subway tunnels! But, due to it being, well... a dungeon, it still has a ton of danger. The first few floors are safe enough for varying levels of settlement, with most threats being mundane (occasional swarms of vermin, muggers, escaped convicts) but past that, its more wild. Overgrown. I'm taking Pixel Dungeon as inspiration here, yes. Another idea: a dungeon is semi-sentient, and yet, it doesnt want to fuck over the party. Like the DM himself, it just wants the party to have fun, so the dungeon will occasionally nudge things in the partys favor when nothing goes right, but will never neglect to give them a challenge.

[@Draeckon]

One source of media that gave me some interesting ideas to pull from and brainstorm things about a living mega dungeon is a Light Novel/Manga/Anime with the abbreviated title of Danmachi. The mega dungeon is essentially a living entity that creates the monsters living in it, and all the monsters have a magic stone/core inside them. You could either kill the monster normally or attack the magic core directly and kill it instantly - but destroy the core in the process. An entire economy and city formed over top of this dungeon after its initial discovery, with adventurers going in, collecting magic stones from the monsters, and returning to the surface to exchange them for money from the Guild (who in turn, I think, sell it to the general populace for various uses, such as making magic lamps, as well as other magic items). Essentially, the dungeon is a [very dangerous] infinite source of money, and caused the creation of an entire society around it. But in addition to this economic aspect that I found interesting, the dungeon definitely had a malign sentience to it of sorts, such that outside of magically protected safe zones, there's really no safe place to be. You never know when monsters might pop out of the wall to ambush you, and the monsters get stronger the further in you go. The gods and goddesses of the setting, which live on the surface with humans and empower them to fight, likewise cannot go into the dungeon and use their powers. Initially this isn't really explained, but when Hestia goes inside, it turns out this is because the dungeon /hates/ the gods, and responds by sending an ultra-powerful guardian after her and the heroes with her. I would recommend reading the light novel, but seeing as how it's a action/adventure harem comedy, it probably wouldn't be to your tastes (plus the writing style is... very bare bones at times). But I've cherry-picked some interesting setting/lore bits from it after digging into the light novel. It has some dark moments to it, and the writer makes no secret of the fact that plenty of people die in this dungeon every year (particularly newbie adventurers who don't know how to pace themselves), but the dungeon is more of a backdrop for the story, rather than the total focus. The dungeon's description in the light novel tends to vary from very light to more detailed depending on what's going on in the story. Some areas are rocky caverns, others have crystalline walls, and others still are mist-shrouded forests with fields of dead trees (which some of the monsters pull out of the ground and wield as giant clubs) and tend to have an especially powerful area guardian that appears periodically (it's a very game-y type of dungeon, they're basically floor bosses). I haven't delved far enough into the series to speak about why the dungeon exists or who may have created it, but I've gained some interesting ideas from it nonetheless.

[@adam8688]

The Sword! I had an entire campaign based upon the Apocryphon album. It was awesome.

[@grandfisher5208]

Definitely borrowing that living mega dungeon idea ;)

[@SkyNinja759]

Inside a huge worm is the first thing that comes to mind. Where the players don't realize it until it's too late. The worm is large enough to eat buildings, so they're inside a 2-3 story building and as soon as they open the front door the worm takes off, leaving them inside the creature until they can find a way out or cut their own way. Obviously this couldn't be a high level dungeon because teleporting, dimension doors, etc; but level 7-11 players could really get a run for their money with this idea.

[@Grinnar]

I'm actually running a fun house mega dungeon. I have an entire guild running into this place, and I cater to their backgrounds and how they interact with other players and the NPC's who run and keep this guild operating. It's really fun, and I've gotten compliments from veteran and new players. I should mention that I'm new to DMing. Your videos have been super helpful in how I play monsters, and other things (along with other KZbin channels). It's a much more casual feel, and the intensity comes from the mystery of what the group is going to run into. How it's going to impact how the party sees the world.

[@lukecroston9577]

Jim pulling out that mega dungeon had 5 vowels for 5 umlauts, whether intentional or not was fuckin great hahaha

[@misomiso8228]

Oh, and you're right on Dark vision. I find it good to take away Darkvision from EVERYBODY, except maybe Elves who I give 'Starvision' too (they can see in starlight). It's actually a lot more fun that way, as light becomes a big issue. A magical torch taht always shines becomes on of the best magical items ever!

[@gavinbillings6535]

thank you for making this video currently i'm working on a custom mega dungeon that has a lost city above it it's 50 lvls deep and these ideas have helped more than I can describe I even invented a custom guardian for the entrance an ancient gold dragon with a soul from every other dragon type inprisoned in it and it's form and scales shift based on which version is in control they've freed the dragon using a divine favor now the dungeon awaits

[@matthewfall207]

Pruitt: "10 exclamation points" Me: immediately fact-checks him by counting the number of exclamation points

[@jeffbangle4710]

When I was introduced to D&D in the 1980's, all the local DMs only ran home-brew mega-dungeons. Although fun for a while. we always got bored long before we finished any of those dungeons.

[@jimdavis141]

Jeff Bangle that's the fate on most mega-dungeon games I've played and run in. Not much different from non-MD campaigns I've played in/run though.

[@jeffbangle4710]

I found frustrating to play week after week and never really accomplish anything. Maybe if the DMs had set up intermediate goals, like "You defeated the wizard who controls the first three levels", but instead it felt like we were just wading through waves of minions...

[@jimdavis141]

Jeff Bangle yeah, that doesn't sound fun for long. Every campaign needs goals to help give a sense of accomplishment.

[@onetruetroy]

I saw the feed on my phone screen and read those accented characters as "Mecha Dungeon". Yes!!

[@TheDavstar1]

Would the movie 'The labyrinth' count? That would be a real spooky dungeon.

[@jadinc77]

I'm running a one-off this weekend to try and hook some new players; basic idea is they are running through some tests and competitions to get their Adventurer's licenses. One of the tests is gonna be a dungeon where teams compete to return with the best treasure/magic item(s). They'll have 5 days and lots of different options to obtain the treasure (including stealing and/or teaming up with other teams). This video gave me lots of ideas on making the dungeon that feels way more alive. I've never ran a mega-dungeon and I was being WAY too unimaginative...

[@SwineofWar]

Just in time!

[@jackwoo470]

I have an idea for a mega dungeon campaign. The PCs were part of a caravan that was traveling near the dungeon, and were captured by orcs/goblins/kobolds. The party must work together to free themselves and the other prisoners and find a way to escape, accrewing supplies and manpower along the way. This would last a session or two. When they finally escape, they make there way to a nearby settlement which tells them specific details about the dungeon, and a legendary treasure at the bottom floor (Changes to whatever would entice the characters.) The players would use the town as a base to schedule expeditions into the dungeon, planning to reach the bottom floor.

[@tazyhazy5774]

coming back to watch this again now that Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage has come out and im running a campaign for that :D

[@kurpendicular2723]

Flawless opening!

[@fhuber7507]

Epic subterranean adventures were once the norm. I ran one adventure that was pure random tunnels. If the players got lost, I'd insert an earthquake and collapse everything behind them so they had no way to even try going back, they had to go on.

[@jizzosh1233]

I propose a drinking session of D&D whereupon any utterance of the word "imagination" demands a shot!

[@MrAces023]

Love wed only for this show

[@JPruinc]

I'm glad we can anchor your week.

[@MiningwithPudding]

26:00 That's kind of what has happened with every single boss encounter so far with my party. I'm just waiting for them to finish with their current campaign so I can make a campaign for them that has some of those kinds of things intentionally, and some that just can't be avoided though stuff like "we drop the roof on it's head" or "we blow it up from outside the tower while it's sleeping" (that last one basically happened, they now have a stuffed green dragon head in their tavern)

[@ooloncolluphid7904]

Another fine one, fellas. You're like a PBS weekly science special for RPG'ers. Umlaut. C'mon, everybody! OOOOmlaut... On the "fun house" dungeon... while it could run out of steam on a mega level, a fellow DM friend of mine and I have had success at running 2 or 3 session versions (as either monotony breakers or self-contained segues between campaigns). With the right group I'd be tempted to try it again on a larger scale. I think it could hold together with a strong recurring antagonist, perhaps borrowing from the Joker or a mad illusionist type. My main challenge would be to keep the carnival-themed tropes fresh. There are only so many tricks without degrading into just random, aimless wild magic shit.

[@bobbysnider1127]

2nd ed had ruins of castle greyhawk which was very good

[@bobbysnider1127]

I think it was called Greyhawk ruins

[@plcourtemanche]

They did Produce Castle Greyhawk also for !st ed ad&d then Greyhawk Ruins for 2nd ed ad&d both were real good

[@marcuswither9074]

This video has inspired me. I'm going to run a Mega-Dungeon for my group.

[@biolard5574]

This sounds a lot like the dungeons in the Etrian Odyssey games. Every game has a massive multistory dungeon inside of a mysterious tree and you have to wander around it fighting monsters and drawing a map of each of the areas. Every few floors you face a massive boss that's guarding the path to the next area, and each area is a completely new environment. Some of the areas don't make a lot of sense (one game has you go across a massive lake only to go down a flight of stairs into a desert) but they're really interesting and even have roaming monsters that you have to learn the behavior of in order to avoid fighting them.

[@jonathangrant6835]

Man you got me excited!!! Now I want to run one too!!! Amazing stuff A1