Node vs. megadungeon RPG adventure design

The modern five room dungeon, arch-enemy of the megadungeon

I jumped back into D&D 5e as a DM straight from AD&D First Edition a year ago now. All my players are familiar with 5e, so our campaign is an old school retro-thrill for them.

I'm The Dinosaur DM, hauling into the light old school AD&D elements that they're unfamiliar with, in some cases for good reason. 

They're doing training between levels, for example, which was a roadblock mechanic from The Before Time, but one I always liked. It makes levelling up feel more earned, somehow. But it does slow things down, and 5e is about speeding everything up (including upleveling).

I really like Fifth Edition overall, it's much more streamlined and far more survivable. Some aspects of First Edition just weren't fun. A wizard who gets 1 spell to start spends a lot of time just trying to avoid dying. 

These days, players heavily invest in their character creation. It's less about a bunch of random no-name adventurers heading down into a dungeon to possibly become rich and powerful (or to be brutally slaughtered), and more about a bunch of already exceptional heroes setting out on their heroic journey. The specialness is baked into the 5e character from the get go, while in AD&D, only a few survivors made it to that status. 

There's a very different kind of game design philosophy at the root of it. For the most part, I think 5e takes the right path. On the other hand, it kind of defangs the fantasy world. 

I'm not out to kill characters, mind. You want to cut players slack... just not too much slack. Take away the possibility of dying, and the thrill wanes. KIll players too often and the fun wanes. 

But with the switch from characters starting out almost hapless, and trying to become exceptional, to 5e where they start out far more exceptional, is that they (quite understandably) want to prioritize their own personal journeys. Heck, the game could be called 'Heroic Journeys' (the name I gave the faux game in Dragon Garage), as the world revolves around the players much more than it used to. 

That brings me to node vs. megadungeon adventure design. 

A megadungeon is big and impersonal. It doesn't care about the players, one way or the other, and there's a  lot in there that isn't related to the player's personal journey. That, however, doesn't fit with the character focused gameplay of 5e. 

Players don't want to have to mess around with meaningless exploration: they want to get right to what's about them. To their personal journey. Who needs all that poking around in the dark?

That's where node based adventure design comes in: you create only encounters and situations that push the primary story along, and use a few random events and encounters to add a little padding/uncertainty. A node based game is far, far more streamlined and focused.

If they have to rescue someone, you set up a few key encounters along the way, but you don't have them wandering around a megadungeon trying to find their target. Players get bored quickly these days hence the popularity of the five room dungeon. 

This leads me to a fundamental question: is there any place for a megadungeon in 5e? The megadungeon doesn't revolve around the players personal mission. It's a big shift going from a character-centred universe to an indifferent, deadly universe that you're just visiting (before inevitably popping off the mortal coil). It may feel slow, unfocused, meandering, and bloated compared to modern game play. 

Personally, I like open world exploration games, where I'm not rail-roaded into fulfilling my journey (at least not right away), and I can take my time, smell the roses, kill the gerblins, that sort of thing. But that admittedly affects story flow, and can descend into meaninglessness.

The most efficient, streamlined way to tell a story through RPG mechanics is with node based adventures. It keeps things at a quick pace, and doesn't let the drama lag. And while it's more fulfilling drama and story wise... the megadungeon still feels more immersive.

What do you want from your flight of imagination?

One advantage of node based adventure design: it's a heck of a lot less work than building out an entire megadungeon complex! 

I've got 2 levels of the megadungeon keyed beneath Castle Druidun, and a third underway. I'm considering changing to node based design after that, depending on how things go with the players, and how much energy I have.

There's a really great flow map of various classic D&D dungeons here by Melan.

The quixotic quest to build a D&D 5e megadungeon: level one, part one

Level one of the Castle Druidun megadungeon!

If I knew how much work it would be to make a real megadungeon, which is almost as much work as writing a book, I probably would never have started. How far drive will compel me is an open question.

I've got 3 levels of the castle fleshed out, and 2 levels of the dungeon populated. Advice on The Internet recommends every room have at least 3 different points of interest in every room. Ugh. Considering that each level of Druidun has roughly 100 rooms, that's 300 items of interest. Keeping that interesting and varied has been... challenging. 

I started burning out on level 2. 

A decent megadungeon should have at least 10. 

Yikes.

On the positive side, players advance in level much, MUCH faster than they ever used to. From 1,500 to 2,500 points for 2nd level in AD&D to just 300 points in 5e. 

Since in the traditional megadungeon each level is pegged to the players level (3rd level of the dungeon is meant for 3rd level players), that means... the dungeon is WAY too big. To get enough experience to advance to the next level, in 5e the players may only need to clear 1/4 of Druidun! 

Maybe less.

I've had to go back and raise the lethality of the challenges players face in areas they haven't entered yet. They've already got enough XP for 3rd level. And hell yes, I'm making them go back to town and train with a mentor, as is right and proper to do, to advance in levels. Take that, 5e simplicity and streamlining!

The first Random Encounter list I did up for Druidun was filled with NPC characters and social interactions. I didn't roll often enough for encounters, ultimately only presented players with one. The other encounters seemed like the NPCs would just get grilled endlessly by the players for information which I didn't have, which would trigger paranoia and increasing demands ("Why aren't they telling us? Let's force them!"), which would be exhausting, so I dropped it and didn't bother. 

Instead, I've made monster combo encounters, of giant scorpions and kobolds, for example, that might present more interesting tactical challenges.

The first level of the dungeon is divided into different themed sections: the ancient druid tunnels are in the north west (tombs and catacombs), the halls of King Eomel in the north (dining rooms, treasure display vaults, arenas), a more recent goblin warren in the north east, the prison and formal dungeon in the east (naturally), and the dwarven mines to the south, including workshops, refineries, and furnaces. 

All of these areas have long since been overrun (in some cases multiple times) but other factions and monsters, hopefully giving the space a rich history that will be figured out by the players as they progress. 

The Eldritch Veil wizards ran sinister and forbidden magical experiments on level 1 of the dungeon (some of which are still going, even after their forced departure) and particularly in the castle itself (levels 1-3, probably extending on to level 4). Level five of the castle now is dominated by a colony of giant wasps. 

The necromancer has built his lair in the west of level 1, extending the original druid complex with fresh chambers dedicated to the God of Death, Nergul. 

The whole place has then been criss-crossed by the tunnels dug by monsters like ankhegs, umber hulks, goblins, giant ants and the like, connecting areas that would otherwise be far more defensible and offering players the opportunity to bypass dangerous sections. It also allows multiple ways to enter and leave the complex. Like water pouring into the pit on Oak Island, you can never really be sure you've cleared Druidun; the monster tide keeps pouring in. 

Each staircase is aligned to the level above it in the castle. There are notes and hints for the DM on the map, which is purely functional and not meant to be seen by the players. I can't begin to imagine the amount of work a painted player map would take.