Running The World's Largest Dungeon

[Enix18]

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, The World's Largest Dungeon is a book published by Alderac Entertainment detailing a massive dungeon that houses every monster from the v3.5 Monster Manual and is designed to take the party from level 1 to 20. Sounds pretty epic, right?

Well, my players have recently expressed interest in making an attempt to conquer this legendary dungeon, and I am more than happy to oblige their death wish. However, there is one big issue I have with the WLD that I'm not quite sure how to resolve: character death.

Death is inevitable in the World's Largest Dungeon, and at least at the lower levels, ressurection is completely impossible. Thus, what to do when someone dies becomes quite a problem. While I think it would be quite a fantastic challenge to try and complete the dungeon with a single party, realistically that isn't possible with a group of first-timers in the dungeon. I am inclined to let the players roll up new characters to replace their casualties, but I was wondering how I'm supposed to find a sensible way to introduce these characters. It's not like there are just random people wandering around in the dungeon waiting to join an adventuring party...

So what do you think, folks? How should I deal with characters dying and being replaced in the World's Largest Dungeon?

[Greenish]

Maybe the same mysterious forces that dumped the party there will dump in replacements as they die.

That is to say, a wizard did it.

[DrGonzo]

Keep it a mystery, like in the Cube movies. Dump your players in the dungeon, and give them the feeling they need to escape. If one dies, the survivors of the party meet the new guy in the next room.

"You seem like a trustworthy companion"

Oh imagine the roleplaying!

[Eldariel]

Do it like Paranoia and have a replacement "clone" just fall to pretty much where the last one died.

[Magdela]

Make an extra room, where you hear someone calling for help...There's also a monster in there, possibly saving the PC for a snack.

[Amphetryon]

Death is only inevitable if people try 'standard' CO tactics, since WLD's specific house rules punish going nova, some battlefield control, and summoners unduly. A Dragon Shaman and a Warlock, normally low on the list of optimal choices, shine here. Other good options include Crusader and Knight.

Other than that, just have the new characters engaged in battle with whatever horrible great beastie (long fangs optional) lies around the next corner.

[valadil]

I haven't read WLD, nor do I intend to, but I wouldn't be surprised if Alderac gives some suggestions for how to handle death.

[Starscream]

I played this once, although I had to move when we were only about halfway done.

Our DM changed the fluff a bit. In his version, the WLD was a place in Carceri (which makes sense, it is essentially a prison), and we were all dead souls that had been consigned to Carceri as well for various reasons.

The gods had some sort of bet going. They each selected one of us and made us their champion, and had us go through the dungeon. If we made it we would be forgiven for our crimes and returned to life. If we "died" we were stuck, and a new god would put up a stake (meaning a new character would be added).

Never found out exactly what the terms of the bet were, like I said I ended up moving before we were done.

[kestrel404]

I played through the first couple of maps of the WLD once. Player death was pretty common (I died twice, and only one of the original PCs made it through to the end of the second map).

What ended up happening was that we roleplayed our way into the party, just as if we were introducing new characters anywhere else. When one of us needed to introduce a new character, either they had stumbled in the same way the rest of the party had (alone or with a group that had been slaughtered down to only them), or else they introduced an inhabitant of the dungeon as a PC.

The second option became the more common one the further we got into the dungeon. We had two goblins and a half-orc join us in this fashion. The only real exception to this was my last PC, who joined the party half-way through the second map. Her backstory was that her father (a thief/temple raider) was always getting into trouble in dungeons and her mother (a cleric of Vecna) had given her a magic amulet that allowed her to find her father in order to get him out of it. Also a one-use, two-person teleport item, which obviously didn't work in the WLD. Because I went into the dungeon with a wheelbarrow full of supplies (in case Dad was starving, or a corpse in need or a raise dead spell), I ended up being the only PC that managed to reach the party with any food remaining. Amusingly enough, in the session I missed between my PC dying and my new character showing up, the party had cremated my 'father's' corpse - and since the emergency escape teleporter didn't work, I was stuck with the party attempting to find another way out of the dungeon. Fortunately, I had basically built a replacement Rogue/Bard trapfinder, which was just what the party needed.

[Urbek]

I have a question that I cannot seem to find an answer for.

The maps show doors leading into the next region, but nothing is mentioned (or I haven't read anywhere) if they are locked, trapped, secret, etc.

Has AEG basically given the DM's artistic license to come up with the necessary requirements for how those doors operate?

[dgnslyr]

A rather large adventuring party gave up hope of completion, and set up a small town, where their descendants live to this day. They survive because they have clerics creating all that food and water. Just imagine how they would act!

"Hello, adventurer. Our people have dwelled in this cavern for five generations."

[Sleepingbear]

There are many reasonable ways to introduce replacement or new player characters or NPC's in the dungeon.

1. Followed in behind the area cleared out by the PC's to this point.

2. Arrived with a previous group but the rest of that party was recently wiped out.

3. Entered the dungeon from a different area.

4. Teleport or similar spell gone wrong.

5. Ever wonder where the void dumps all those fools who put bags of holding into portable holes?

6. Sent by higher powers as punishment.

7. Sent by higher powers to aid the important quest the PC's are on.

8. Sent by higher powers to bestow quest upon PC's.

9. Sent by higher powers to complete a quest.

10. Took a wrong turn at Alberoque.

11. I don't think this is Kansas anymore, Toto.

12. Brought into dungeon as pet for demonic being and recently escaped. Said being will be looking for their lost property and will punish those that stole it.

13. The PC didn't die, but became a ghost or other undead and is now forever trapped in the dungeon. Unless an escape can be found, this fate may well await all party members...

14. Brought into the dungeon as a special companion to a Celestial. Player has escaped and said Celestial will be quite vexed with those who led their companion astray.

15. Hired to deliver a message to the PC's from a loved one on the outside. "What do you mean I can't leave the way I came?"

16. Character wakes up in Dungeon, completely unaware how they got there.

17. Character found a one way portal and thought, "What's the worse that could happen?"

18. Another character casts a summoning spell and gets the new PC instead.

19. The character is spontaneously generated in a coccoon. They are a demon that reformed and have been granted a second chance as a mortal.

20. The character is spontaneously generated in a coccoon. They are a celestial that are being punished for failure.

That should be enough reasons to get you through Region A.

[Tanuki Tales]

I'm going to be running a group through it soon and my answer to character death is going to be the same answer to the party getting supplies and selling their loot.


There's going to be a Harvester Devil who uniquely has a way to slip in and out of the dungeon. He will set himself up as a charitable merchant to the oppressed and desperate, buying their wares for 25% listed price and selling his own for 75%. But he is an open minded and reasonable sentient, so he will take all manner of forms of payment; body parts, hit points, words, emotions, children, souls, etc.

He is in fact so mindful and devoted to his beloved patrons that he will not let them suffer the horrible fate of death before he can be paid back in full.

[Morph Bark]

A rather large adventuring party gave up hope of completion, and set up a small town, where their descendants live to this day. They survive because they have clerics creating all that food and water. Just imagine how they would act!

"Hello, adventurer. Our people have dwelled in this cavern for five generations."

THIS CAVERN-DWELLING SURVIVAL TECHNIQUE HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN MY FAMILY LINE FOR GENERATIONS.