I am excited to share the very first episode “Mysteries” of my brand new podcast Into the Megadungeon, where I interview veteran GMs about their amazing megadungeon campaigns, campaigns focused on a single adventuring location with 100’s of rooms spread across many levels.
As I was listening to this episode again this morning as I think about writing about my own megadungeon game. Hearing your discussion of the excitement of finding new ways down reminded me of something that happened in the early days of my campaign (I first wrote this on my Patreon back in November 2019)-
In an earlier session of my Castle Hochheim campaign (back in June), the party found a map that they couldn't immediately identify. It showed an entrance to a dungeon through a graveyard (chapel, 2 rows of 4 graves, and 3 mausoleums)
Since then, I've dropped hints about it to no avail. "This character hears a rumour about an entrance to the dungeon through the graveyard." Or, "That character hears that another party disappeared when they entered the dungeon through the graveyard."
About 6 weeks ago, I started sketching their approach to the castle grounds on a whiteboard in the room where we play, including a chapel, 2 rows of 4 graves, and 3 mausoleums - 12 times I've drawn that silly sketch so it would be there when the players arrived.
Lat week, the player who holds onto the maps said, "Wait a minute, that looks familiar." He laid out the 4 or 5 maps they've collected, looked them over, and almost shouted, "It's the map! It's another entrance to the dungeon through the graveyard!"
It was like a balloon popped! There was a moment of stunned silence and the whole group started to laugh, realizing that they've been walking past it (as players and as characters) and only now put two and two together.
I was super excited to see this and a notification on my normal pod tool. Then I logged into said tool and it didn't yet show the episode. Now I'm trying to decide whether to wait for it to show up there, or listen to it on another site now and then again when it does show up on my app.
I'm guessing this will deserve multiple listens, so it's not a very hard choice. :)
Just in time for the travel I'm doing! Love the reader's notes. I didn't know about Philotomy’s OD&D Musings or Fantastic Medieval Campaigns.
It's in my feed and coming up! Can't wait to listen. Any plans on getting 3d6 Down the Line podcast on to talk about Arden Vul?
I think this would be a fun one. Especially if the group sat in rather than just the DM.
As I was listening to this episode again this morning as I think about writing about my own megadungeon game. Hearing your discussion of the excitement of finding new ways down reminded me of something that happened in the early days of my campaign (I first wrote this on my Patreon back in November 2019)-
In an earlier session of my Castle Hochheim campaign (back in June), the party found a map that they couldn't immediately identify. It showed an entrance to a dungeon through a graveyard (chapel, 2 rows of 4 graves, and 3 mausoleums)
Since then, I've dropped hints about it to no avail. "This character hears a rumour about an entrance to the dungeon through the graveyard." Or, "That character hears that another party disappeared when they entered the dungeon through the graveyard."
About 6 weeks ago, I started sketching their approach to the castle grounds on a whiteboard in the room where we play, including a chapel, 2 rows of 4 graves, and 3 mausoleums - 12 times I've drawn that silly sketch so it would be there when the players arrived.
Lat week, the player who holds onto the maps said, "Wait a minute, that looks familiar." He laid out the 4 or 5 maps they've collected, looked them over, and almost shouted, "It's the map! It's another entrance to the dungeon through the graveyard!"
It was like a balloon popped! There was a moment of stunned silence and the whole group started to laugh, realizing that they've been walking past it (as players and as characters) and only now put two and two together.
I was super excited to see this and a notification on my normal pod tool. Then I logged into said tool and it didn't yet show the episode. Now I'm trying to decide whether to wait for it to show up there, or listen to it on another site now and then again when it does show up on my app.
I'm guessing this will deserve multiple listens, so it's not a very hard choice. :)
What's your app? It's on many but not all. If you tell me which one i'll get it on there.
It's there now. It just lagged a day or so. It was a great listen and my mind is spinning with ideas right now.
My main campaign has drifted from its mega-dungeon roots, but I'm deeply interested is seeing how else this kind of play can shape games.