World Map

The Megadungeon is going to placed in my world of Harrowood, south of Yew in the Northwoods.

On Mega-dungeons

Mega-dungeons are odd things.

The most simple, direct definition of a megadungeon is "A dungeon that a entire campaign can be run in and around it."

Back in the early days of D&D, random, gonzo megadungeons were not uncommon, but over time more narrative play took hold, but there is still a place for Megadungeons.

Quite a few have been published - Undermountian is a big map with little filled out.  Temple of Elemental Evil is a classic example of a fully developed Megadungeon.   Over the last ten years or so many more have been published, castle of the mad archmage, stonehell, Rappen Athuk, Barrowmaze all come to mind. 

However to run a campaign of a mega-dungeon, you have to answer a few questions.

1) Why is it there?

Is this a old mine that been expanded?   Is it a old fortress?  Was it carved down, or was it carved upwards from the underdark? 

2)  Why are the upper levels not cleared out yet?

Quite simply if any adventure group could, the upper levels would be striped bare.   Is it newly discovered?  Perhaps there was some army defeated that opened the path to it.  Perhaps it was forgotten but now bands of evil have been raiding.

3)  Funhouse, Ecological,or somewhere in between?

Funhouse duneons are just whimsical dungeons that have random things thrown into most rooms.  No real rhyme or reason, Ecological design is were each location is carefully designed, with air, food, and logic dictating the design.

Or find a sweet spot in between.

4) Where will you get the maps?

Are you going to draw them yourself?  Will you use one of the many random dungeon generators?  or use someone elses maps that allow you to use them?

5) how BIG are your levels?

Are you going with a lot of small levels?   Or are you going with fewer sprawling levels?

Campaign insperiation of the day, 2/2/20

Barrows & Wights

Everyone most annoying Blogger (that me) has started to produce his very own Retroclone.  

One reason why I been silent of late...


The goal of Barrow & Wights is to produce a variation of the classic RPG rule set that is as simple as possible for pickup play and online play. Boiling it down to the basics and allowing others to houserule to whatever flavor they wish. 

Like my "Village of Bex" this will be a totally free publication that I do not expect or plan to gain any money benefit, just hopefully someone will find it useful.  This is also a example of what one can do with artwork that is in the public domain.  So far two of the main publications are complete.  

1.  Dungeoneers Guide - Intended for players, covers levels 1-14,  This has plenty of art and goes over character creation and the seven basic classes (Cleric, Fighter, Magic User, Thief, Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling.) Combat, and how magic works.

2.   Adventuring Guide - Intended for players, this is a 13 page low art document that covers characters from levels 1-5.  This is all a experienced player would need to reference while in play.  It is also a much smaller document then the Dungeoneers guide.

The next two are to be completed.

3.  Referee Guide - Intended for referees, this will be the referee guide for Barrows & Wights, and will include everything from treasure tables to guidance on how to make a custom class for the system.   Will also have some maps and other items that will be useful to all referees.

4.  Barrows Guide This will have all the optional rules, Optional classes (Ranger, Wood Elf, Barbarian as examples), treasures great and small, custom monsters, and other rules that might be considered for the house-rules of the game.  

Thanks for your time reading this, if you have any question, corrections, proofreading and so on please let me know, as I plan to update this onwards.