MIKE'S DUNGEONS: THE DEEP LEVELS is now available!

[geoffrey]

MIKE'S DUNGEONS: THE DEEP LEVELS is now available. It is a sequel to MIKE's DUNGEONS. Here's the scoop:

MIKE'S DUNGEONS are the first 78 levels of a megadungeon. This book will take your 1st-level D&D characters all the way up to 10th level.

MIKE'S DUNGEONS: THE DEEP LEVELS are the next 39 dungeon levels (levels 79-117) that will take your 10th-level D&D characters all the way up to 14th level.

Just click in my sig, which includes a free preview of every single page of both books.

[Finarvyn]

My problem is that I haven't really had a chance to explore the first 78 levels.
Now that expands by another 39?
Looks like a great product, however. I'm hooked!

[mgtremaine]

Just hand him his money and move on ;p

-Mike

[mannclay]

Jun 29, 2020 18:04:57 GMT -6 mgtremaine said:

Just hand him his money and move on ;p

-Mike

already done...cuz excellence. 😈

[waysoftheearth]

Hi geoffrey, I just ordered both PDFs. Thanks for the epic effort and very modest price

I have a kinda "technical" question... just trying to figure out how the mega-dungeon might (or might be made to) align to U&WA's dungeon level and monsters and treasures distribution. Very roughly, U&WA has 1 to 13+ dungeon levels, with monsters of similar numbers of HD (mostly 1 to 12 HD, with a few "specials"), and treasure based on dungeon level (1 to 13+) below the surface.

Given Mike's Dungeon has 117 level, would it be "reasonably true-ish" to assume the first 10 levels are "dungeon level 1 equivalent", the next 10 levels are "DL 2 equivalent", and so on? Did you use any particularly monster and/or treasure tables--or is it all pure invention without reference to any specific tables/system? Keen to understand a little detail around how it was put together

[Finarvyn]

Ways -

(1) The monster list technically aligns with B/X and not OD&D. I think he used the Rules Cyclopedia, but I may be incorrect here.

(2) I made up my own chart much like yours, but only the first 78 levels. Then he came up with the deeper ones and my charts became obsolete. What you describe, however, is pretty much what I was trying to do. I might use 9 as my divisor instead of 10, since 117/9=13 and this seems to work out well.

Geoffrey --> OD&D
001-009 --> 1
010-018 --> 2
019-027 --> 3
028-036 --> 4
037-045 --> 5
046-054 --> 6
055-063 --> 7
064-072 --> 8
073-081 --> 9
082-090 --> 10
091-099 --> 11
100-108 --> 12
109-117 --> 13

[geoffrey]

The 117 levels of the megadungeon were designed to take a party of 7 beginning Moldvay/Cook B/X (not OD&D or Rules Cyclopedia, though any version of the Old Game will certainly work) D&D characters up to maximum level, to wit:

a 1st-level cleric up to 14th level
a 1st-level dwarf up to 12th level
a 1st-level elf up to 10th level
a 1st-level fighter up to 14th level
a 1st-level halfling up to 8th level
a 1st-level magic-user up to 14th level
a 1st-level thief up to 14th level

Roughly, each chunk of 8 or 9 dungeon levels corresponds to a human character level. The deepest 5 or so dungeon levels are for 14th-level characters.

I used the D&D Monster & Treasure Assortments as general guidelines (for both monsters and treasures) for dungeon levels 1-78, and I extrapolated from those for dungeon levels 79-117.

I hope that answers the questions. If not, give me a holler. And I hope you enjoy the dungeons!

[waysoftheearth]

Thanks guys, I will take another look from this perspective.

[waysoftheearth]

Okay, so a quick round-up of the first eight levels (roughly equivalent to OD&D's 1st dungeon level) for anyone wondering about the general "fit" with OD&D:


Rooms and Entrances
112 rooms with:
217 entrances, comprising:
-- 92 passageways
-- 118 doorways
-- 7 secret doors

34 rooms (30.4%) have 1 entrance,
54 rooms (48.2%) have 2 entrances,
21 rooms (18.8%) have 3 entrances,
3 rooms (2.7%) have 4 entrances,
An average of 1.9 entrances per room.
24 rooms (21.3%) offer a navigational choice that is not "turn back" or "go ahead".


Distribution of Monsters and Treasure
30 rooms (26.8%) have monsters only,
60 rooms (53.6%) have monsters and treasure,
1 room (0.9%) has treasure only,
21 rooms (18.8%) have neither monsters nor treasure ("empty").
Compares to U&WA p7: 16.7% monster only, 16.7% monster+treasure, 11.1% treasure only, 55.6% "empty".


Monsters
There are a total of 240 monsters in 89 rooms. Of these:
33 rooms (29.5%) have exactly 1 monster,
21 rooms (18.8%) have 2 monsters,
11 rooms (9.8%) have 3 monsters,
9 rooms (8.0%) have 4 monsters,
6 rooms (5.4%) have 5 monsters,
9 rooms (8.0%) have between 6 and 10 monsters.

By frequency, the monsters are:
4 rooms have skeletons, berserkers.
3 rooms have kobolds, zombies, orcs, bandits, warriors, giant centipedes, goblins.
2 rooms have adepts, giant rats, stirges, giant spiders, ogres, seers, giant toads.
47 other monster types each appear in 1 room only.

By most frequently occurring, the number of monsters per room are:
Skeletons: 2, 5, 5, 8.
Berserkers: 1, 2, 3, 3.
Kobolds: 5, 7, 10.
Zombies: 1, 1, 3.
Orcs: 3, 4, 5.
Bandits: 2, 3, 4.
Warriors: 2, 1, 1.
Giant centipedes: 2, 3, 4.
Goblins: 3, 5, 7.
Excepting skeletons (who would appear in numbers 1-6), these numbers align with M&TA's numbers for dungeon level 1.


Treasure
Of 61 rooms with treasure:
19 have sp,
16 have cp,
12 (19.7%) jewellery or other valuables*
10 (16.4%) have magic items
9 have gp,
6 have ep,
5 have pp,
3 (4.9%) have gems.
* Most valuable item is a bracelet worth 1,400 gp.
Compares with U&WA p7 treasures definitely having 100-600 sp; 50% add 10-60 gp; 5% add gems; 5% add jewellery; 5% add magic item.


Hope that's a useful start

[Piper]

Late to the party as always, but I just scored a copy of both works. I'm very pleased with my quick overlook of this pair of dungeons.

[geoffrey]

Nov 3, 2020 4:27:06 GMT -6 waysoftheearth said:

Okay, so a quick round-up of the first eight levels (roughly equivalent to OD&D's 1st dungeon level) for anyone wondering about the general "fit" with OD&D:


Rooms and Entrances
112 rooms with:
217 entrances, comprising:
-- 92 passageways
-- 118 doorways
-- 7 secret doors

34 rooms (30.4%) have 1 entrance,
54 rooms (48.2%) have 2 entrances,
21 rooms (18.8%) have 3 entrances,
3 rooms (2.7%) have 4 entrances,
An average of 1.9 entrances per room.
24 rooms (21.3%) offer a navigational choice that is not "turn back" or "go ahead".


Distribution of Monsters and Treasure
30 rooms (26.8%) have monsters only,
60 rooms (53.6%) have monsters and treasure,
1 room (0.9%) has treasure only,
21 rooms (18.8%) have neither monsters nor treasure ("empty").
Compares to U&WA p7: 16.7% monster only, 16.7% monster+treasure, 11.1% treasure only, 55.6% "empty".


Monsters
There are a total of 240 monsters in 89 rooms. Of these:
33 rooms (29.5%) have exactly 1 monster,
21 rooms (18.8%) have 2 monsters,
11 rooms (9.8%) have 3 monsters,
9 rooms (8.0%) have 4 monsters,
6 rooms (5.4%) have 5 monsters,
9 rooms (8.0%) have between 6 and 10 monsters.

By frequency, the monsters are:
4 rooms have skeletons, berserkers.
3 rooms have kobolds, zombies, orcs, bandits, warriors, giant centipedes, goblins.
2 rooms have adepts, giant rats, stirges, giant spiders, ogres, seers, giant toads.
47 other monster types each appear in 1 room only.

By most frequently occurring, the number of monsters per room are:
Skeletons: 2, 5, 5, 8.
Berserkers: 1, 2, 3, 3.
Kobolds: 5, 7, 10.
Zombies: 1, 1, 3.
Orcs: 3, 4, 5.
Bandits: 2, 3, 4.
Warriors: 2, 1, 1.
Giant centipedes: 2, 3, 4.
Goblins: 3, 5, 7.
Excepting skeletons (who would appear in numbers 1-6), these numbers align with M&TA's numbers for dungeon level 1.


Treasure
Of 61 rooms with treasure:
19 have sp,
16 have cp,
12 (19.7%) jewellery or other valuables*
10 (16.4%) have magic items
9 have gp,
6 have ep,
5 have pp,
3 (4.9%) have gems.
* Most valuable item is a bracelet worth 1,400 gp.
Compares with U&WA p7 treasures definitely having 100-600 sp; 50% add 10-60 gp; 5% add gems; 5% add jewellery; 5% add magic item.


Hope that's a useful start

That's a very interesting analysis! It shows my penchant for dungeons packed with monsters (about 80% of rooms) and with treasures (about two-thirds of monsters having treasure). On this point, I go with "module Gary" (whose modules are packed with monsters and treasures) as opposed to "rulebook Gary" (whose rulebooks counsel mostly-empty dungeons).