Plane of Dungeonscape [Archive] - Wizards Community

Plane of Dungeonscape [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Ugavine
06-03-07, 07:54 AM Do bear with me, I'm an old hand at GMing, but not at DMing, I'm still relatively new to D&D. My only DM experience so far is running a group up to level 5 in Eberron.

Buying the recently published Dungeonscape sourcebook has given me a great lead into a new campaign. I'm sure it has been done before, but I was going to create a demi-plane where the wholes plane is a Dungeon - The Dungeonscape.

So I've been brainstorming a few ideas on the setup and possible adventures.

Dungeonscape is a self contained dungeon within a sphere at least 1000 miles across.
The Dungeonscape was created by a group of Wizards/Sorcerors to experiment and to hide away their wares.
As the 'scape was used for experiments, traps and monsters can appear almost at random, and out of their usual enviroment.
There are doorways on many Material Planes (Greyhawk, Eberron, Krynn, etc.) to the Dungeonscape, but the doors out of the Dungoenscape are hidden, locked and protected - this is meant to be a Wizards vault after all.
Planeshift works into the Dungeonscape, but not out of it.
The wizards/sorcerors that created the Dungeonscape are believed (wrongly) long dead, and are referred to as the Dungeon Lords.
There are seven Dungeon Lords including a Human Wizard, Beholder Lich Sorceror and a Mind-Flayer Sorceror.
Groups of people that have become trapped in the Dungeonscape have formed small towns and communities.
There are many false Dungeon Lords who would try to claim domain over the Dungeonscape. These are merely tyrants with no power over the Dungeonscape.
The 'scape has many pockets of dungeons, many of which can only be accessed via dimension doors that can be found throughout the Dungeonscape. None of these doors lead away from the Dungeonscape.
Gate-Keepers are Wizards that live in the Dungeonscape maintaining and repairing the dimension doors.
The Architects are the ones who maintain the Dungeonscape. They are the decendants of the original architects who maintain the Dungeonscape through some sense of duty.
Pockets of other planes exist within the Dungeonscape, so taking the wrong dimension door could prove disasterous (eg. walking dungeon full of water or fire) as not all doors open both ways.
This is a wizards vault, and as such there are many powerful artefacts hidden away within the Dungeonscape.

Adventure idea

Start with the characters recently trapped in the Dungeonscape and about to become Troglodyte food. From there they must solve the puzzle that opens the doorway deeper into the Dungeonscape.
Find a small community that is under attack from a Dungeon Lord wannabe Orc Shaman and his lil' horde of uglies.
And explorer employs PCs on a quest to find the 'Outside' of the Dungeonscape. When they eventually do they inadvertantly let in an evil Dragon (future adversary) who has been trying to gain access. Finding the surface is not a way out of the Dungeonscape - and there is nothing there!

As I said, this is still a brainstorming idea at present, and more idea's are more than welcome.

I'm getting a real positive vibe for this campaign already. :cool:
sciborg2
06-03-07, 07:03 PM check out Death's Gate by Weis and Hickman, their Labyrinth (a plane serving as a prison for the losing race in a magical war that reflects anger and hatred) might prove to be a good inspiration.

you can prolly get a general idea off the net.
Ugavine
06-04-07, 05:23 AM cheers, I'll look that up :cool:
Naderion
06-04-07, 05:56 AM I think the Idea is cool.
Warforged Goblin
06-04-07, 08:32 AM A Dragon magazine (I forget the number) listed a number of little-used demiplanes, of which the Demiplane of Dungeonland (no joke) was named, but not fleshed out. I haven't found much on it anywhere, but you may have better luck than I.
DracoPhoenix
06-04-07, 09:16 AM Cool idea, Though you could go as far as to put the size down as infinite.

It could also be made into the destination of the maze spell, with a duration instantaneous (ie. one way). Might need to make it a L9 spell with a hefty xp price though.

How about the tag line:
"They came for the glory & gold, now they just want to get out with their lives..."
Millennium
06-04-07, 10:09 AM Please tell me I'm not the only one who first read "The Dungeonscape" as "Thy Dungeonscape"...

Oh, and here's another vote for the Death Gate Cycle. It's an awesome series, and the Labyrinth concept sounds like it would work very nicely here.
The Ubbergeek
06-04-07, 01:03 PM I was thinking one day of making a D&D version of it, eheheh... It's cool.

The Labyrinth would have an Evil compound for sure - it was sort of sentient, and the Labyrinth who was supposed to be only a prison became like the Death Dungeon in those fighting fantasy book... The monsters there where killers - like those regenerating AND spawning insectoids.
Ugavine
06-04-07, 01:41 PM I like the idea that the wizards that created it were not of the same alignment, there were good and evil. So some pockets may hold vile beasts the good wizards have imprisoned.

Cool idea, Though you could go as far as to put the size down as infinite.

I did consider that at first. But I then had this vision of the PCs walking down this seemingly endless tunnel, opening a great door and walking out on the surface of the Dungeonsacpe, looking up at the stars out into space. Then, by accident, they waken a Gargantuan Dragon that has been waiting for a century for someone to open the door so he can enter the Dungeonscape with evil in mind. Maybe even a Dragon-Lich that seeks The Book of the Dead hidden deep within.

But, the Sphere could change in size. And then I did mention it being full of pocket dimensions.
Pitiless_Interfector
06-04-07, 03:19 PM I get the feeling your original idea required intelligent design; i.e. a definite creator who could be named as the father of the plane. But an interesting idea would be a plane of dungeons that really was infinite and had no sentient creator. Perhaps any dungeon that becomes utterly forgotten (i.e., no one alive or undead remebers where it is, and no book or scroll mentions the way) and stays that way for a millennium or so is pulled into a special plane. Imagine: an entire plane composed of tacked-together dungeons from forgotten worlds. Perhaps ancient treasures from an earlier eon or a far-distant, dead planet (or even a dead Alternate Material Plane) could be found there, with terrible, equally enigmatic guardians and traps preventing them from being looted to nothing at an appreciable pace. Perhaps the larger dungeons, upon being cleaned out, become strongholds, way-stations, and trading posts for the adventurers who cleaned them out. An entire society could be based here, with taverns, mirabicaries, temples, and inns built into the ruins of cleaned-out dungeons. This would be an intriguing idea. It would largely eliminate both the necessity and the possibility of leaving the dungeons for supplies, rest and healing. It would be the perfect setting for a true kick-in-the-door, old-school loot-'em-up game.

Possible names:

The Vault (slang)
The Vaulted Arches (legitimate name/technical colloquialism or abbreviation)
Clozethys, the Endless Maze (Eberron-style name)
The Vaulted Arches of Portarus (MotP-style name)
caeruleus
06-04-07, 03:20 PM While I recommend Weis and Hickman's Death Gate Cycle, their Labyrinth isn't a dungeon. Sure it's got caves and so forth, but it's mostly wilderness.

I don't remember the name or the publisher, but there's a third-party d20 product that uses one massive dungeon as a campaign setting. I think the idea is that the PCs wake up in this place remembering having just died. It's a type of afterlife. I dunno any other details about it, but it's an interesting way to continue a campaign after a TPK.

It might be worth mining some ideas from, if you come across it. But what you present sounds pretty cool, especially the "experimental" nature of it.
aelryinth
06-04-07, 03:40 PM The Demi-Plane 'Dungeonland' is actually a play on the name "Wonderland". It D@Difies Alice in Wonderland, and is actually a much beloved 1E module...and quite fun to play through, if you have or have not read the books. Jack, that Knave, he stole those tarts, and took them quite away...

===Aelryinth
jokey665
06-04-07, 06:14 PM I think the idea is that the PCs wake up in this place remembering having just died. It's a type of afterlife.

Makes me want to make a GANTZ-styled campaign.
Kassil
06-05-07, 06:48 AM I don't remember the name or the publisher, but there's a third-party d20 product that uses one massive dungeon as a campaign setting. I think the idea is that the PCs wake up in this place remembering having just died. It's a type of afterlife. I dunno any other details about it, but it's an interesting way to continue a campaign after a TPK.

It's Dungeon World, by Fast forward Entertainment. Honestly the book could've been done a lot better. As it is it amounts to a crude-feeling stack of vaguely-related dungeons that just happen to be controlled by the enigmatic Keepers.
Ugavine
06-05-07, 08:20 AM I know there was the 'Worlds Largest Dungeon' on the market a while ago, but it was way too expensive for my tastes & wallet.
Kassil
06-05-07, 01:31 PM I know there was the 'Worlds Largest Dungeon' on the market a while ago, but it was way too expensive for my tastes & wallet.

Still is. It's better done than Dungeon World (should bloody well hope so for the $100 pricetag, eh?) but still could use improvement - nothing but darkmantles, it feels like, in the first section, and it delivers on the 'one of every SRD monster' in letter rather than spirit. Still, it's a good enough resource.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ugavine 06-03-07, 07:54 AM	Do bear with me, I'm an old hand at GMing, but not at DMing, I'm still relatively new to D&D. My only DM experience so far is running a group up to level 5 in Eberron. Buying the recently published Dungeonscape sourcebook has given me a great lead into a new campaign. I'm sure it has been done before, but I was going to create a demi-plane where the wholes plane is a Dungeon - The Dungeonscape. So I've been brainstorming a few ideas on the setup and possible adventures. Dungeonscape is a self contained dungeon within a sphere at least 1000 miles across. The Dungeonscape was created by a group of Wizards/Sorcerors to experiment and to hide away their wares. As the 'scape was used for experiments, traps and monsters can appear almost at random, and out of their usual enviroment. There are doorways on many Material Planes (Greyhawk, Eberron, Krynn, etc.) to the Dungeonscape, but the doors out of the Dungoenscape are hidden, locked and protected - this is meant to be a Wizards vault after all. Planeshift works into the Dungeonscape, but not out of it. The wizards/sorcerors that created the Dungeonscape are believed (wrongly) long dead, and are referred to as the Dungeon Lords. There are seven Dungeon Lords including a Human Wizard, Beholder Lich Sorceror and a Mind-Flayer Sorceror. Groups of people that have become trapped in the Dungeonscape have formed small towns and communities. There are many false Dungeon Lords who would try to claim domain over the Dungeonscape. These are merely tyrants with no power over the Dungeonscape. The 'scape has many pockets of dungeons, many of which can only be accessed via dimension doors that can be found throughout the Dungeonscape. None of these doors lead away from the Dungeonscape. Gate-Keepers are Wizards that live in the Dungeonscape maintaining and repairing the dimension doors. The Architects are the ones who maintain the Dungeonscape. They are the decendants of the original architects who maintain the Dungeonscape through some sense of duty. Pockets of other planes exist within the Dungeonscape, so taking the wrong dimension door could prove disasterous (eg. walking dungeon full of water or fire) as not all doors open both ways. This is a wizards vault, and as such there are many powerful artefacts hidden away within the Dungeonscape. Adventure idea Start with the characters recently trapped in the Dungeonscape and about to become Troglodyte food. From there they must solve the puzzle that opens the doorway deeper into the Dungeonscape. Find a small community that is under attack from a Dungeon Lord wannabe Orc Shaman and his lil' horde of uglies. And explorer employs PCs on a quest to find the 'Outside' of the Dungeonscape. When they eventually do they inadvertantly let in an evil Dragon (future adversary) who has been trying to gain access. Finding the surface is not a way out of the Dungeonscape - and there is nothing there! As I said, this is still a brainstorming idea at present, and more idea's are more than welcome. I'm getting a real positive vibe for this campaign already. :cool:
sciborg2 06-03-07, 07:03 PM	check out Death's Gate by Weis and Hickman, their Labyrinth (a plane serving as a prison for the losing race in a magical war that reflects anger and hatred) might prove to be a good inspiration. you can prolly get a general idea off the net.
Ugavine 06-04-07, 05:23 AM	cheers, I'll look that up :cool:
Naderion 06-04-07, 05:56 AM	I think the Idea is cool.
Warforged Goblin 06-04-07, 08:32 AM	A Dragon magazine (I forget the number) listed a number of little-used demiplanes, of which the Demiplane of Dungeonland (no joke) was named, but not fleshed out. I haven't found much on it anywhere, but you may have better luck than I.
DracoPhoenix 06-04-07, 09:16 AM	Cool idea, Though you could go as far as to put the size down as infinite. It could also be made into the destination of the maze spell, with a duration instantaneous (ie. one way). Might need to make it a L9 spell with a hefty xp price though. How about the tag line: "They came for the glory & gold, now they just want to get out with their lives..."
Millennium 06-04-07, 10:09 AM	Please tell me I'm not the only one who first read "The Dungeonscape" as "Thy Dungeonscape"... Oh, and here's another vote for the Death Gate Cycle. It's an awesome series, and the Labyrinth concept sounds like it would work very nicely here.
The Ubbergeek 06-04-07, 01:03 PM	I was thinking one day of making a D&D version of it, eheheh... It's cool. The Labyrinth would have an Evil compound for sure - it was sort of sentient, and the Labyrinth who was supposed to be only a prison became like the Death Dungeon in those fighting fantasy book... The monsters there where killers - like those regenerating AND spawning insectoids.
Ugavine 06-04-07, 01:41 PM	I like the idea that the wizards that created it were not of the same alignment, there were good and evil. So some pockets may hold vile beasts the good wizards have imprisoned. Cool idea, Though you could go as far as to put the size down as infinite. I did consider that at first. But I then had this vision of the PCs walking down this seemingly endless tunnel, opening a great door and walking out on the surface of the Dungeonsacpe, looking up at the stars out into space. Then, by accident, they waken a Gargantuan Dragon that has been waiting for a century for someone to open the door so he can enter the Dungeonscape with evil in mind. Maybe even a Dragon-Lich that seeks The Book of the Dead hidden deep within. But, the Sphere could change in size. And then I did mention it being full of pocket dimensions.
Pitiless_Interfector 06-04-07, 03:19 PM	I get the feeling your original idea required intelligent design; i.e. a definite creator who could be named as the father of the plane. But an interesting idea would be a plane of dungeons that really was infinite and had no sentient creator. Perhaps any dungeon that becomes utterly forgotten (i.e., no one alive or undead remebers where it is, and no book or scroll mentions the way) and stays that way for a millennium or so is pulled into a special plane. Imagine: an entire plane composed of tacked-together dungeons from forgotten worlds. Perhaps ancient treasures from an earlier eon or a far-distant, dead planet (or even a dead Alternate Material Plane) could be found there, with terrible, equally enigmatic guardians and traps preventing them from being looted to nothing at an appreciable pace. Perhaps the larger dungeons, upon being cleaned out, become strongholds, way-stations, and trading posts for the adventurers who cleaned them out. An entire society could be based here, with taverns, mirabicaries, temples, and inns built into the ruins of cleaned-out dungeons. This would be an intriguing idea. It would largely eliminate both the necessity and the possibility of leaving the dungeons for supplies, rest and healing. It would be the perfect setting for a true kick-in-the-door, old-school loot-'em-up game. Possible names: The Vault (slang) The Vaulted Arches (legitimate name/technical colloquialism or abbreviation) Clozethys, the Endless Maze (Eberron-style name) The Vaulted Arches of Portarus (MotP-style name)
caeruleus 06-04-07, 03:20 PM	While I recommend Weis and Hickman's Death Gate Cycle, their Labyrinth isn't a dungeon. Sure it's got caves and so forth, but it's mostly wilderness. I don't remember the name or the publisher, but there's a third-party d20 product that uses one massive dungeon as a campaign setting. I think the idea is that the PCs wake up in this place remembering having just died. It's a type of afterlife. I dunno any other details about it, but it's an interesting way to continue a campaign after a TPK. It might be worth mining some ideas from, if you come across it. But what you present sounds pretty cool, especially the "experimental" nature of it.
aelryinth 06-04-07, 03:40 PM	The Demi-Plane 'Dungeonland' is actually a play on the name "Wonderland". It D@Difies Alice in Wonderland, and is actually a much beloved 1E module...and quite fun to play through, if you have or have not read the books. Jack, that Knave, he stole those tarts, and took them quite away... ===Aelryinth
jokey665 06-04-07, 06:14 PM	I think the idea is that the PCs wake up in this place remembering having just died. It's a type of afterlife. Makes me want to make a GANTZ-styled campaign.
Kassil 06-05-07, 06:48 AM	I don't remember the name or the publisher, but there's a third-party d20 product that uses one massive dungeon as a campaign setting. I think the idea is that the PCs wake up in this place remembering having just died. It's a type of afterlife. I dunno any other details about it, but it's an interesting way to continue a campaign after a TPK. It's Dungeon World, by Fast forward Entertainment. Honestly the book could've been done a lot better. As it is it amounts to a crude-feeling stack of vaguely-related dungeons that just happen to be controlled by the enigmatic Keepers.
Ugavine 06-05-07, 08:20 AM	I know there was the 'Worlds Largest Dungeon' on the market a while ago, but it was way too expensive for my tastes & wallet.
Kassil 06-05-07, 01:31 PM	I know there was the 'Worlds Largest Dungeon' on the market a while ago, but it was way too expensive for my tastes & wallet. Still is. It's better done than Dungeon World (should bloody well hope so for the $100 pricetag, eh?) but still could use improvement - nothing but darkmantles, it feels like, in the first section, and it delivers on the 'one of every SRD monster' in letter rather than spirit. Still, it's a good enough resource.