Mega dungeons are one of those weird genre conceits which can only exist in games; there’s simply no way they would work in real life; and that’s what makes them fun. As I sat pondering what to run for my group, I quickly decided I wanted to build my own. Now, it’s been a long time since I made anything with as much prep as a true dungeon, and I’ve never written an adventure for 5E. In other words, this sounded like a fun challenge! Also, I’ve matured a lot as both a DM and player over the last several years, and I’m looking forward to putting those lessons to use.

So step one — what type of adventure am I going to run? Every dungeon needs a general plot and theme; something which ties the various aspects of the place together (unless you’re running a “funhouse” dungeon, which is a post for another time). I know I want something that’s not a generic “evil orcs in a hole” kind of scenario. I like dark, twisty things with tentacles and madness, and love video games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Darkest Dungeon. In short, I want something creepy and unsettling, with stories the players (and I) can discover as they delve. Also, I want this game to evoke an old-school vibe, even though we’re playing 5E. That means it needs to be deadly, and encourage the players to find solutions which don’t always involve sticking things with the pointy end.

I haven’t landed on a solid hook yet, but I’ve got a few brewing, which means it’s time to talk about prep.

As I’ve discussed multiple times, I am not a huge fan of prepping for games, and I’ve fully embraced the narrative style of running things; that is to prepare as little as possible, and let everyone at the table discover stories together. This is a problem when running a mega dungeon, or any dungeon, really. After all, you’ve got to know where the players are, and where they are headed. You have to understand the theme, and know what’s at the end (or middle, or bottom) of the dungeon. Also, dungeon crawls are predicated on loot, which means you need to have some tasty rewards at the ready. When it comes to a mega dungeon — which is really a long series of linked, regular dungeons — these problems are doubly important. When players enter the dungeon at level 1, you need to have clues and hooks to lead them into the depths, so you can bring all of that around again at level 10.

It would seem, then, that the mega dungeon is going to be the thing which breaks my “as little prep as possible” ethos. After all, most mega dungeons are planned in the extreme; every room or area is populated with creatures, treasure, and descriptions. Even something like Stonehell — a truly excellent mega dungeon — is fully prepped, and it only uses simple, one-line descriptions for things. Traditionally, the most “low prep” way to go about building a dungeon has been to randomly roll for everything, and that means you’ve got to build various tables for things. All of these are excellent, tried-and-true methods for creating a vast, sprawling dungeon. But frankly, I’m an adult, with responsibilities and other hobbies. In short, I want to find a way to create a meaningful, fun, challenging adventure with as little homework as possible.

Challenge accepted.