tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post8689394502303498082..comments2024-03-25T21:52:03.310-05:00Comments on Hill Cantons: Planescape's Missing MegadungeonChris Kutalikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-57021917346989291722012-01-31T11:57:18.210-06:002012-01-31T11:57:18.210-06:00True, although I'm not sure whether all the en...True, although I'm not sure whether all the entrances connecting to the same relatively small area would come across as strange and mythicky, or small and constrained. Like if the players explore part of the dungeon, leave, hike across the city and re-enter only to shortly find themselves in the same vicinity, is the feeling that they're still exploring the same dungeon worth losing the feeling of there being endless miles of subterranean corridors? Maybe.<br /><br />I suppose this being Sigil, intra-city portals linking together distant dungeon levels are another way to go.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07090296806321882601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-2922932356338803422012-01-31T11:14:56.669-06:002012-01-31T11:14:56.669-06:00True this, if there was ever a place that would be...True this, if there was ever a place that would be considered to have the reality-bending of the Mythic Underworld it would be Down Below.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-74826191171626622372012-01-31T11:03:33.500-06:002012-01-31T11:03:33.500-06:00Weird dungeon spatial warping?
This. It's the...<i>Weird dungeon spatial warping?</i><br /><br />This. It's the dungeon underneath the City of Doors. Of course there are going to be weird space(time) warping effects. <br /><br />Want to get across the city quick? Head down into the Catacombs and start hiking. Just watch out for the otyughs, the CHUDs, the hydras that got flushed away by bored kids...Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04072272223837426211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-44251297893105275162012-01-30T16:55:14.310-06:002012-01-30T16:55:14.310-06:00My main concern would be keeping the feel of "...My main concern would be keeping the feel of "dungeon navigation", which off the top of my head means: the players' choice of direction is limited, their choices are semi-informed (there's something to differentiate between directions), they can't always directly travel the route they want, and there's a time/danger factor (wandering monsters and so forth).<br /><br />What I'm thinking now is a hex map with hexes belonging to different "dungeon terrains", e.g. 'grottoes', 'unstable passageways', 'grand halls', etc. Connections between adjacent hexes are marked, and where there's no connection there's no way to travel between those two hexes. Where there is a connection, the players can tell what sort of terrain lies in that direction, or at least get a general indication ("The tunnels leading north seem to be very old and crumbling"). Specific hexes can be marked as holding sublevels, landmarks and so on, any of which can be expanded down or outwards as need be. You can add new areas by placing them below or above the main tunnels of any hex, or by requiring players to "search" a hex, wilderness style, before they find a dungeon.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07090296806321882601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-44867928391505740052012-01-30T15:30:10.805-06:002012-01-30T15:30:10.805-06:00"some edited stuff from the walkthroughs and ..."some edited stuff from the walkthroughs and the few crumbs in the canonical material."<br /><br />This would be all the encouragement I need :)migellitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-81388050992538509072012-01-30T13:49:15.448-06:002012-01-30T13:49:15.448-06:00Since there isn't much in the canonical materi...Since there isn't much in the canonical material you won't get much online other than from the walkthroughs for the computer game (some quite exhaustive). There's a brief write-up on UnderSigil here: http://www.planewalker.com/encyclopedia/undersigil<br /><br />Hmm so I might just put together some edited stuff from the walkthroughs and the few crumbs in the canonical material. It's too bad I am up to my eye-ball's in projects or I would take up doing a mega-dungeon there in a heartbeat. <br /><br />I can only encourage others haha.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-81020590967577233822012-01-30T13:17:06.720-06:002012-01-30T13:17:06.720-06:00As I've never played the computer game, and th...As I've never played the computer game, and the option really isn't in the cards for me currently, is there a place on the web I can visit for more information about the dungeons under Sigil?<br /><br />Failing that, would you be willing to work up a setting supplement for the Sigil Catacombs Chris? :)migellitohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-5602946785194693812012-01-30T13:15:22.775-06:002012-01-30T13:15:22.775-06:00It's a similar problem (though several miles l...It's a similar problem (though several miles larger in surface area) that the Tekumel undercities have. Barker's original map for Jakalla's underworld was a massive piece of tiny-squared paper and it still is way too small to account for the square mileage that it should represent if you take the surface map at it's scale. <br /><br />In my own Jakalla my woefully small sections are banded off with convenient tunnel collapses. If the party was really determined I thought I'd flesh those areas out if they managed to excavate them. <br /><br />Personally I think this is a good kind of problem to have--having lot's of room to spread out in. <br /><br />I think you could account for it in a number of ways: 1. use something like my pointcrawl system where you have sub-levels represented somewhat abstractedly on a large-scale map with connectors representing such and such amount of time/space with empty tunnels, or 2. use a hex map like what was used in the old D series of AD&D modules to represent the vast underworld.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-39832555736788648892012-01-30T13:07:45.300-06:002012-01-30T13:07:45.300-06:00I am thinking of it in relative terms, I would rec...I am thinking of it in relative terms, I would reckon that those who have fond memories of the computer game are of several orders of magnitude larger in number than those that had. And even compared to the big workhorse tabletop settings like Forgotten Realms and (maybe) Greyhawk that it is relatively more obscure. <br /><br />Which is a shame.<br /><br />That's a good point about the extra-planar dungeons, there are great suggestions thrown in the material for such. But for a low to mid-level entre into the setting it's a shame that you don't have something like an undercity to run players through.Chris Kutalikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01414743509426875792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-47029999715686929132012-01-30T12:46:44.263-06:002012-01-30T12:46:44.263-06:00My trouble with the Catacombs is that, in a way, t...My trouble with the Catacombs is that, in a way, they're too big. On the one hand I like the idea of the entire torus being riddled with dungeon passages. But if I have one entrance in the Twelve Factols and another entrance in the skull library, ten miles away, how can I ever link them up in a way that matters? For all practical purposes they're two separate dungeons. Do I "cheat" with miles and miles of empty passageways? Weird dungeon spatial warping?Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07090296806321882601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-58486196137389796832012-01-30T12:44:06.884-06:002012-01-30T12:44:06.884-06:00"Why didn't the tabletop version rocket i..."Why didn't the tabletop version rocket into cult status too?"<br /><br />Didn't it? Planescape remains one of the most fondly remembered settings in D&D's history, right up there with Dark Sun. Even after the end of AD&D 2e, I heard about Planescape games being run using other systems (I briefly participated in an attempt using FUDGE).<br /><br />In general, the really awesome dungeons were out on the planes themselves. I remember in Hellbound one dungeon made of a giant wire mesh with the souls of sinners bound to it, so that you were trodding on people as you moved around. It was super creepy.John Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17318244888477546773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1389986049507804094.post-16414931917965496042012-01-30T12:43:12.949-06:002012-01-30T12:43:12.949-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07090296806321882601noreply@blogger.com