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Old 01-24-2020, 01:19 PM   #11
hcobb
 
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Location: Pacheco, California
Default Re: Thorsz is coming

Last thing the players remember is being on a ship in a storm before they wake up chained inside an air bubble in the middle of an octopus's garden under the sea.
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Old 01-24-2020, 02:45 PM   #12
larsdangly
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by philreed View Post
Clearly, it should be Octopus Castle.
A good use of my menagerie of Octopus-related beasts!
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Old 01-24-2020, 03:39 PM   #13
Chris Rice
 
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Originally Posted by larsdangly View Post
Agreed. When I imagine Thorsz city, I picture the look and feel of the 1st edition of the classic T&T module, City of Terror. I think it is because the best writing for TFT shares the loose, creative, funny approach that characterizes a lot of the early T&T books. I guess there isn't much to be done about it now because Steve says the manuscript arrived in close to final form, but until I see it I'll be hoping this is what is like!

But there is one thing TFT desperately needs and no one seems to be preparing to publish: it's own iconic megadungeon. Every fantasy game that has one (or more) benefits from it enormously, as megadungeons provide an insurmountable goal and a shared experience, and there is a quality of mystery not found in 'normal', short-format dungeons. It is the difference between staring down into the bottom of a swimming pool vs. staring down into a bottomless pit. The absence is particularly felt in TFT because it is so finely engineered for playing in dungeons. Of course you can play the game in any setting you fancy, but dungeons are clearly at the center of the focus. I have my own house megadungeon for TFT, but someone should really get something truly grandiose into print.
Funnily enough, I've been thinking exactly along these lines.
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Old 01-24-2020, 03:51 PM   #14
Terquem
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
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Like a vast Labyrinth under the ruins of an ancient citadel, buried below the marshes south of a vast metropolis?

Now, where have I heard of that?
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Old 01-24-2020, 05:10 PM   #15
hcobb
 
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Wait until you see the background setting of the Death Test.

I'm giving GMs license to giggle whenever the players take anything odd about this city for granted.

My role was very modest. I just asked "can that be made to work" and "why is that there"?
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Old 01-24-2020, 07:06 PM   #16
ParadoxGames
 
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By "Megadungeon", I assume something along the scope of Caves of Chaos...? I have been designing a batch of hex dungeons and maps, the majority of them hand-drawn, to fill the void in this square-grid world. I did design something midway between small map and megadungeon... but I'd like to take a stab and tackle the project.
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Old 01-24-2020, 08:18 PM   #17
larsdangly
 
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I would not consider Caves of Chaos to be a megadungeon, or even close. Anything that you can imagine clearing out back to the wall studs is too small and/or easy to be in the category I have in mind. The OSR is pretty well supplied with things I would consider megadungeons (several hundred keyed entries; big and complex enough to get genuinely lost in). Some good examples include Rappan Athuk, Stonehell, Castle of the Mad Archmage and Barrowmaze. Real old school examples include Greyhawk, Caverns of Thracia, and Ruins of Undermountain.
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Old 01-24-2020, 08:29 PM   #18
Terquem
 
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Even Palace of the Vampire Queen, five levels, average 40+ rooms per level, isn't really a MegaDungeon
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Old 01-24-2020, 09:33 PM   #19
ParadoxGames
 
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I understand now. I played a bit of D&D, as a kid, never enjoyed it, and so I'm still inexperienced in FRPG playing. Now I know what a megadungeon is.

Here's a map that I made today. Not a megadungeon, but hopefully someone would like to stock and use. It's in megahex scale. Gray are walls, red is brick walls, blue is water, brown are columns, yellow are unlocked doors, magenta are locked doors, purple are secret/hidden doors.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...88/unknown.png
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Old 01-25-2020, 05:36 AM   #20
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Dwarves of Dran dig a T's Lair of tunnels every week so perhaps the reason Cidri is so big and fluffy is that it's tunnels all the way down by this point?
Consider the physics of planet as mega dungeon...
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