Dungeon23 Prepping

Ideas

Main idea

I've always wanted to make a megadungeon for my world based on an old idea: a place where the gods put all the bad stuff (or the stuff that was too bad to let run wild in the world). Some of the funkier gods also enjoy tailoring certain areas to test the fools that go in (so not quite a funhouse dungeon, but some areas may contain a bit of that).

Levels Ideas

First "level" is actually a hexcrawl of the island

If needed: smaller islands around, such as the pirate island (Bermuda triangle?)

Second "level" is where the person guarding the place currently lives

The dungeon entrance is guarded by someone working for second level person

Third level, the actual megadungeon begins!

Random ideas

Add a random character in each dungeon level; this is a pregen that you can use if your character dies in this level

Eight rooms in the shape of the eight phases of the moon, contain a puzzle themed around the moon

Room where you peer into a pool/mirror/etc and can roll a 1d100, you get to see what's going on into the room number you rolled on

Safe area where everyone died of the plague, humanoid monsters in the area avoid it, afraid they'll get the disease (provides refuge if cleaned & source of corpses for necromancers)

Gnolls only exist on this island, LE group tasked by the gods to protect the area

Gnoll lighthouse keepers, use lighthouses to misdirect travellers and cause them to wreck; just once in a while will direct people properly, and then ambush them

Safe room in a forgotten corner of the dungeon, a lone person plots their escape

Tornado shaft? (shaft/cave-in that creates a tornado when traversed

Pirates work both to keep people out and keep monsters in

Carnivorous garden

Dream room (lovely dreams, will save or want to return here to rest each day, bad effects as nights go on)

Door with giant keyhole. A souled creature going through becomes a key able to open all doors that have keyholes.

Wants

Use many random tables as catalizers

Create random tables for my world to use (inspo on wandering table creation)

Start using stuff from my WA notebook

Explore one-page format with sectors / areas

Use factions a bunch (eg: gnolls vs goblins vs?)

Resources

Dungeon23 online resources

Collection of resources

Megathread

Dungeon Year Journal

Megadungeon Monday

RPG Dungeon Design by Bastionland

Dungeon features

Thoughts based on resources

Planning a Megadungeon based on XP per level

I'm not a fan of The Angry GM. I got no time to read all the rambling. But skimming through often points towards some interesting insights. Im his Megadungeon Intro, The Angry GM builds an "XP Roadmap". And that's very appealing to me, for two reasons:

1. I always imagined the megadungeon starting at level 5. Why? Because this is meant to be a "hard" place to reach and deal with. You gotta deal with sailing, pirates, and shit before you get there. This megadungeon was built by the gods in a remote area for a reason! No newbies welcomed.
2. Having a detailed idea/plan (from which I can later deviate from) of the level I want the dungeon to start with, and the level I want to end with, and use that to build a roadmap of the sort of challenges to put in the dungeon is quite appealing to me. At my table we use XP, and so far, the system works well for us.

In calculating the table, I also discovered that the math for Pathfinder's levelling medium chart, is apparently, based on 20 encounters of average difficulty.

Level	XP	XP to Level	XP per Encounter (Total/Party)	Encounters Needed
5	15,000	8.000	1,600/400	20
6	23,000	12.000	2,400/600	20
7	35,000	16.000	3,200/800	20
8	51,000	24.000	4,800/1.200	20
9	75,000	30.000	6,400/1.600	19
10	105,000	50.000	9,600/2.400	21
11	155,000	65.000	12,800/3.200	20
12	220,000	95.000	19,200/4.800	20
13	315,000	130.000	25,600/6.400	20

Interesting Questions to Think for the Megadungeon

Although intended for collaborative play, I will just answer these as I have no idea who will be my players for this megadungeon.
What terrible thing keeps out all but the most daring adventurers?

Secrecy about what this place is, confusing marine currents (bermuda triangle inspo?), and pirates make this area hard to reach, and even harder to survive.

Who or what in the dungeon dares to oppose that terrible thing?

The gnolls mostly; they have a "divine" task of keeping everyone on the island (to the dismay of goblins, who love trying to escape.

What wondrous treasure awaits intrepid explorers at the lower levels?

Divine blessings? Boons or feats? A chance to speak to a god directly and ask questions about the universe?

Who else sought the wondrous treasure? How did they die in the dungeon?

The necromancer and their party had a good run of the dungeon. Eventually, one by one they died, and the gnolls considered the last survivor: the necromancer, a good leader. For a while. When the necromancer got sick, and his zombies and skeletons went wild, the gnolls killed the necromancer and went back to using human slaves for the farms on the island.

What is the dungeon’s most frequently accessed entrance?

The fort's basement, closely followed by the goblin's rift.

What other rumors about the dungeon have you heard?

There is an island equidistant to all three continents in the middle of the ocean brimming with adventure and treasure (False, the gods wouldn't be so stupid to place it somewhere so easy to find)

The pirates guard a big secret somewhere in the ocean (True, although most people assume it is their collective treasure)

The pirates take slaves (False, it is the gnolls that do)

Siman the necromancer has died, he wanted his body to be used for necromancy, his family has put a bounty to those who can find his remains (True, his family lives in Friac'seoue)

A message in a bottle contained a plea for help; someone claims to have been pressed into service by some hyena men (True, the message can be found in Tiel)

Kaillum the Cartographer made a secret map that explains how to reach some unknown treasure island (False, Kaillum never found the island; however, some gripplis inspired by his adventures did, the map is currently in Swamp Hand, Oceasile)