Finished with my penultimate semester and have been enjoying the break, had a massive blog planned but never got around to polishing it to the level I wanted. Here’s a small thought about mega dungeons for your break and mine.
The megadungeon solves one video game problem in tabletop form: exploration and evolution. When first encountering a space in a video game, it seems massive, like Stormveil Castle in Elden Ring or the map in Death Stranding. It is expanded by potential: who knows how many rooms there are, what kinds of enemies there are, what kinda of traps and treasures. However, once explored, the potential is lost, and while you can spend time exploring the area and potentially finding hidden secrets, the space has shrunk. What was once massive is now small, and shrinks as you master the space further. One way to fix this problem is the way roguelike games fix it: total random generation. Every dungeon, every map, is different based on the player run. While this fixes the potential problem, it introduces a new one: it eliminates player knowledge. You can’t get to know a dungeon because the dungeon always changes.
The megadungeon fixes both of these problems with the introduction of factions: different groups in the dungeon are killed off, move to different areas, and alter existing rooms. Each exploration changes the dungeon because of the way the dungeon denizens interact with one another and the space around them. Knowledge of the space remains intact because certain layouts don’t change, but new experiences can still be found, providing the balance between player knowledge and player skill.
Building a faction list of four different groups, all with different kinds of relationships between them, is critical to making a megadungeon both alive and ever-changing. Two at war, two at uneasy peace, two unaware of each other’s existence. Factions willing to board up doors, rearm traps, and hide treasure in old rooms. I also like color and graffiti as indicators: blue tapestries, red paint, yellow flowers blooming from the walls, and so on.
One thing to consider is the adventure party as sledgehammer: the party experiences the original room, traps and all. However, after the adventurers leave, that’s when the factions make changes to that area of the dungeon. Exploration and evolution occurs at the rate of the party.
And that’s it! Expect more soon, and Merry Christmas!