My megadungeon is 50% off for the next 24 hours.

[geoffrey]

Mike's Dungeons: The Deep Levels is the Deal of the Day over at drivethrurpg.com for the next 24 hours.

That means you can get a 39-level dungeon (for character levels 10-14) for only $1.49--less than 4 pennies per level.

You can combine it with Mike's Dungeons for a complete, 117-level dungeon that will take characters from 1st to 14th level.

And you have no risk: Before you buy, you can preview every single page, every single map, every single word. So preview first, and then buy it if you like it.

link to Mike's Dungeons: The Deep Levels: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/314687/Mikes-Dungeons-The-Deep-Levels?src=DotD&from_home=1

link to Mike's Dungeons: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/295151/Mikes-Dungeons?src=also_purchased

[Finarvyn]

So if I have already bought both can I have a 50% refund? Kidding -- these are awesome dungeons and a bargain at regular price!

For folks who don't have this yet, don't bother with the previews. Just buy the thing. Once I got over my initial hurdle (I learned that I needed B/X rules handy for some of the monsters, or I had to wing it) I found that these were great for having handy when I needed a quick dungeon for an improv adventure.

I printed off both sets and put them into a 3-ring binder. They are set up so that I can see a dungeon on one face, the details on the other face. Perfect for GM'ing!

[geoffrey]

Thanks, Fin, for the kind words, and thanks to all who snagged a copy of my megadungeon. The sale has bumped it into a Silver Best Seller.

[asaki]

I nabbed it B)

Part 1 was on sale a few months ago, wasn't it? I missed out on that one (even though it's pretty cheap even without a sale).

[Finarvyn]

Sept 22, 2020 9:28:09 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Thanks, Fin, for the kind words, and thanks to all who snagged a copy of my megadungeon. The sale has bumped it into a Silver Best Seller.

I reserve my kind words for products that I actually like. This one happens to fit the bill. I also decided to scurry over to DriveThruRPG and deposit some feedback there. Mostly a copy-paste of what I wrote above.

So this was all a ploy to get Silver Best Seller ranking? Hmmm.

[hamurai]

Thanks for the heads-up, I got both sets now, too. I hope that I'll be running them as the "default" mega-dungeon some day. So far I've been using random levels as quick small dungeons.

I really like this product, too. The dungeon is not as cluttered as many other "classic" dungeons are, so both players and ref won't have to worry so much about mapping

[Finarvyn]

Sept 22, 2020 23:30:03 GMT -6 hamurai said:

The dungeon is not as cluttered as many other "classic" dungeons are, so both players and ref won't have to worry so much about mapping

Agreed. I should have pointed this out myself. It's really straightforward and I can get my group to go through anywhere between a 1/2 level and 2 levels in a game session.

I think my goal would be "one session one level" but I need to work on our timing. I think that has a certain feel to it, where each session starts a new level.

[geoffrey]

Sept 22, 2020 19:44:49 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

I also decided to scurry over to DriveThruRPG and deposit some feedback there.

Thank you! I love to see that.

[geoffrey]

Sept 22, 2020 23:30:03 GMT -6 hamurai said:

The dungeon is not as cluttered as many other "classic" dungeons are, so both players and ref won't have to worry so much about mapping

That was a big factor in making these dungeons. So many dungeon maps that I have seen are really cool to look at, but (in my opinion) are not fun in play. I know that some like the experience of mapping fiendishly twisted dungeons, but I'm not one of them!

[hamurai]

I hear you!

We've been playing the Dwimmermount mega-dungeon (at least we used to, before Covid-19) and one of the players was a huge map-making fan and insisted in me giving the correct measures so his map would be awesome. Of course, as always, in the end there were some differences of his map compared to mine. And yet, the rest of the group always had downtime, every time I described a room (and some are not just rectangles), waiting for the adventure to continue. As the ref, I grew more and more annoyed by the meticulous mapping procedure and ended up adjusting some rooms to make mapping easier, deleting rooms that were only there to delay the party. That's not how most of us enjoyed the dungeon.

Mike's Dungeon is far easier to map even when you're not using graph paper and as Fin pointed out, there's a lot more sense of progress when you don't spend 5 sessions of 5 hours each to clear the first level of the 12-level dungeon. One level per session is a great goal and with Mike's Dungeons it actually works.

Plus, my name's Mike, so I just *had* to use this

[geoffrey]

Sept 23, 2020 22:57:50 GMT -6 hamurai said:

Plus, my name's Mike, so I just *had* to use this

Awesome.

[Starbeard]

I picked up a hard copy of the advanced levels, now I'm awaiting it in the post!

I can go either way with mapping. Some of my best gaming memories involve meticulous mapping, and others involve handwaving the whole thing. It depends on who I'm playing with, what they like about playing, and the general mood at the table. On the other hand, a DM who insists on having players map, but isn't very good at delivering that kind of game, can also be a real buzzkill.

I'm not that great at it, but I typically try to reach what seems to me like a good compromise. I let the players map if they want to, but I don't give dimensions more specific than, "A large room shaped like a trapezoid, at least 50' along the longest edge; there are doors in all four walls." If they are entering an encounter, then I don't give any more details beyond any of the room's basic, obvious contents. If they are free to explore and they ask for more detail, then I'll measure out the basics for for them: "It's 60' at the bottom and 40' at the top."

If they still want more detail, like specific measurements for doors or odd angles and such, then I tick off a turn per detail and make any necessary wandering monster checks. That seems as good a way as any to allow OCD mapping, but discouraging it outside of really important cases.

Likewise, if the players don't map then I try my best to let them explore without penalty. If they say, "We go back to the room with x," then I just let them trek their way back there. If they reenter the dungeon on a later day, I'll let them automatically retrace their steps back to where they left off. However, if they flee from an encounter, and if the dungeon level has at least a few twists and turns, then I'll make them tell me "Left/Straight/Right" at every junction, and try to keep it as quick as possible (I'll randomly roll if they can't decide within a few seconds). I've tried that a few times, and it's seemed to be as good a trick as any to allow for free exploration, but still encourage at least keeping a vague mental picture of where they are.

Edit: What I really like about Mike's Dungeons is that they're straightforward enough, but with enough twists and turns, that I can run them either way without headache. For my younger nephews I just draw the map out onto a Chessex mat as they explore. For my adult friends, I've used the above method. It works just as well either way.

[geoffrey]

Sept 28, 2020 10:53:03 GMT -6 Starbeard said:

I picked up a hard copy of the advanced levels, now I'm awaiting it in the post!

I hope you find it a worthy continuation of the first book. Don't be surprised if you have to wait longer than usual to receive the book. When I ordered my copy, it took exactly 4 weeks for it to reach my house.

[Starbeard]

Sept 28, 2020 13:25:05 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Sept 28, 2020 10:53:03 GMT -6 Starbeard said:

I picked up a hard copy of the advanced levels, now I'm awaiting it in the post!

I hope you find it a worthy continuation of the first book. Don't be surprised if you have to wait longer than usual to receive the book. When I ordered my copy, it took exactly 4 weeks for it to reach my house.

DriveThru warned me pretty clearly that might be the case. I'm happy to wait, I still have the PDF to skim through.

I've only very quickly skimmed through it, though. I have a bunch of characters I've been running through the dungeon solitaire, so I want to be surprised if/when they make it past level 78.