Andy Pressman

@andypressman

low stakes, high jinx

he/him
andypressman.com/

Books, interfaces, games

Andy Pressman @andypressman5/10/2023, 5:36 PM

Megadungeon story game

I'm a plot-oriented GM, but I'm also a sucker for memorable "rooms," which is why I'm kinda drawn to megadungeons but have never felt equipped or particularly interested in running one.

Maybe there's a way to split the difference with a megadungeon game that's somehow plot-oriented. For the sake of my mental model, I'm imagining this taking place in a giant tower — maybe in the Gormenghast mode, where the space is so vast that no one ever leaves. Entire microcosms or biomes might be contained within.

But how to allow for plot? The early floors would be tightly defined, but the higher floors would need to be either loosely understood or mapped out as the game progresses, in order to change depending on the events of floors below. A plot could emerge and be sculpted as the game progresses.

Building a plot engine that never requires players to revisit locations, though… that might be the thorniest challenge. Maybe it's a chase, where the players pursue an individual through a seemingly-endless sequence of rooms? Or maybe there's something more physical, where the tower is slowly flooding, and you're forced to climb, climb, climb… (Maybe Snowpiercer is a good model for this, if you tightened everything into a linear trek rather than a sprawl.)

Anyway, all of this is just an excuse to work on a big Dungeon 23 map, but with an outcome that I'd be interested in playing.

#ttrpg design #Dungeon23

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in reply to @andypressman's post:

Twinkee @Twinkee5/10/2023, 5:41 PM

Oh hey, same hat. I've been stuck on the same problem, but I went with a big hole in the ground instead of a tower.

Andy Pressman @andypressman5/10/2023, 6:05 PM

Oh cool! Did you end up making any maps for it?

Twinkee @Twinkee5/10/2023, 6:25 PM

Nah. I just had loose plans. I was thinking it be more of a wilderness with biomes separated by layers and settlements/encampments scattered through out.

I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with it because I usually plan games around characters, not exploration.

Clouder @Clouder5/10/2023, 5:49 PM

How are you defining "plot" here?

Andy Pressman @andypressman5/10/2023, 6:25 PM

That's a question worth spending more time with. My impulse answer is: a narrative throughline that changes in response to the actions of the players, and which layers up to a satisfying climax through the actions of the GM. Usually when I run a game I leave a lot of space within the plot for things to careen in unexpected ways, knowing that I'll always be a few steps ahead (with a couple very big endings to the campaign always in mind). I've been reluctant to run a megadungeon because they've seemed so predefined, and I'm most comfortable having lots of room to improvise.

I guess an interesting third mode would be the ~BLORB~ https://idiomdrottning.org/blorb-principles where everything in the world is pre-defined except for plot, which is just there waiting to be discovered.

Clouder @Clouder5/10/2023, 6:46 PM

Gotcha! The two things I'd probably focus on there would be history and factions. The post you link dances around the later a bit - as soon as you start placing people in a place and giving them wants and needs, you are creating a space for plot to emerge. Just position a few of these characters in conflict with each other and create opportunities for adventurers to get involved. You're pretty much there already by breaking your tower up into microcosms and biomes - have folks on floors need something they can't get from their own biome and really want, but not enough to upset the balance of power in the tower.

History's also a fun way to layer in plot. Where did the tower come from? Why are the folks who live there trapped there? Unspooling the history of the place might lead to a hidden threat, treasure, or both!

If you have a few bucks and want an adventure that plays with factions and history - and importantly, explains its choices some - ya' might look at Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier, by Gus L. Just a head's-up that the aesthetic is kinda grimey and grotesque at places.

Andy Pressman @andypressman5/10/2023, 7:20 PM

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll give it a go, I love well-done faction set ups.

Clouder @Clouder5/10/2023, 8:07 PM

Just to make sure I don't oversell expectations, it's a single low-level adventure. It situates two or three NPCs in the dungeon as having power and motive and then goes on in the extensive back-matter to explain "And here's how player actions with these NPCs might impact the setting after the adventure." It's a useful, but limited, example there.

@zefalcon5/12/2023, 1:15 AM

I've been working on a megadungeon of my own that sprung out of gratuitous use of the DMG random dungeon tables. I'm going with the theme of "a trickster deity locked you in here to see what you'd do", but hadn't gotten much farther than that. I will admit I'm treating it as more of a videogame sort of dungeon, where once the players have "completed" an area, they advance and don't need to return at any point.

Andy Pressman @andypressman5/12/2023, 1:23 AM

A reasonable approach! One thought i had after writing that post was maybe I could go full videogamey and let players warp to any other location they’ve been to. Need my recurring NPCs!