Megadungeons

[Julian Grimm]

That is something I have taken into consideration. Right now I have the economy of Yggsburgh running norrmally. However, if the players start pumping money into it and a few more NPC parties do the same it will inflate. While I am not going for an economic sim they will see the results of those actions. Plus there is the added bonus of them having to compete with other parties for treasure and goods that are in the dungeon.

[seskis281]

Yeah, the price of magic and magic items in Waterdeep has been a constant upward trend in my current FR campaign as my group has become more and more heroic... and the availability is way down. Not only have they personally inflated the costs through market demand, but their own "legends" have begot lots of other adventuring groups emulating them.... of course, all this is aided by my NPC halfling who managed to instill the name "Fonkin's Fury" onto the group (heh, I gave 'em many months for their own chance to self-name, didn't happen), and Fonkin spending gold on an artist and writer to produce a "pulp magazine" about their adventures (with his own place somewhat embellished, naturally).

[Lurker]

.... of course, all this is aided by my NPC halfling who managed to instill the name "Fonkin's Fury" onto the group (heh, I gave 'em many months for their own chance to self-name, didn't happen), and Fonkin spending gold on an artist and writer to produce a "pulp magazine" about their adventures (with his own place somewhat embellished, naturally).

Tooooo cool !

[Zudrak]

.... of course, all this is aided by my NPC halfling who managed to instill the name "Fonkin's Fury" onto the group (heh, I gave 'em many months for their own chance to self-name, didn't happen), and Fonkin spending gold on an artist and writer to produce a "pulp magazine" about their adventures (with his own place somewhat embellished, naturally).

Tooooo cool !

Agreed.

The name Fonkin *always* hits the Hoddypeaks!

*ducks*

[Julian Grimm]

I have started stocking the first level and I have ran into a bit of a problem. Using the method given in the 1e DMG I end up with things a bit too scattered. If I wing it I end up with what I feel are too many monsters. So, does anyone have a good stocking method.

BTW Arduin, I made a dungeon for a side OD&D/BFRPG game and it just feels more like what it should be. I dunno why I feel a difference in feel but I just do. Possible side discussion?

[seskis281]

Zudrak - actually the Halfling IS named Fonkin Hoddypeak... just always one of my favorite classic names and I couldn't resist using it for a character who is an adrenaline junkie with the motto "The juice is the action and I want to squeeze the whole world!"

Julian - My approach is to 1st write out groupings of factions and types of monsters in general for the dungeon, then decide how they got there. When I wrote Danovar's Desire (a small dungeon example) I knew the Hobgoblins were a splinter of a large tribe, so stocking their numbers meant they had less numbers because they left in a huff from a larger tribe. For doing treasure I do like randomness, but will do rolls from DMG or M&T but throw out and re-roll when it's something that shouldn't possibly be just laying around.

[Zudrak]

I have started stocking the first level and I have ran into a bit of a problem. Using the method given in the 1e DMG I end up with things a bit too scattered. If I wing it I end up with what I feel are too many monsters. So, does anyone have a good stocking method.

BTW Arduin, I made a dungeon for a side OD&D/BFRPG game and it just feels more like what it should be. I dunno why I feel a difference in feel but I just do. Possible side discussion?

Julian, I happened upon an article today that reminded me of your plight. If you have access to Dragon Magazine # 115, Reid Butler's article (pp.48-49) in it just might help you, in that it has a random table for the floors of the dungeon. Perhaps using that could inspire/assist in your stocking?

[alcyone]

I'm afraid that for me, nothing works as well as careful, considered placement. One thing you might do is determine up front how much wealth the characters might find on an entire level if extraordinarily patient, brave, and diligent, break it into coin, magic items, and trinkets, and spread it out in a more or less logical way, increasing the level of protection (either guards, traps, or just clever hiding) depending on the value of the chunk you are dealing with.

There is no automated way that doesn't require some decision-making. For a lark sometimes I try to use the DMG or Engineering Dungeons without using any of my own common sense, and the results are usually pretty funny. There is nothing wrong with either of those, but you need to use them sparingly unless you want what they produce, a random dungeon.

One way to use those tables to quickly get what you want, go to http://donjon.bin.sh/adnd/dungeon/, let it generate a dungeon of the level you want, and ignore the specifics but use say, the number of monsters, the number of empty rooms, the total treasure, the number of traps, etc. It's all the DMG tables. I'm sure you are just looking for fair ballparks anyway.

Note that with donjon.bin.sh, there are several tunables, including how "scattered" you want things, so maybe this will get you where you want to be.

[Arduin]

BTW Arduin, I made a dungeon for a side OD&D/BFRPG game and it just feels more like what it should be. I dunno why I feel a difference in feel but I just do. Possible side discussion?

Relooking at the OD&D rules (Men & Magic) it WAS a rule system for a Fantasy based wargame. So, I can see the fit with a tactical game (dungeon crawl) rather than extended RP campaign that could contain NO combat in fact...

[Julian Grimm]

BTW Arduin, I made a dungeon for a side OD&D/BFRPG game and it just feels more like what it should be. I dunno why I feel a difference in feel but I just do. Possible side discussion?

Relooking at the OD&D rules (Men & Magic) it WAS a rule system for a Fantasy based wargame. So, I can see the fit with a tactical game (dungeon crawl) rather than extended RP campaign that could contain NO combat in fact...

That sums it up for me.