Castle Blackstone Log 1: Megadungeon Epiphanies

 

South

Center

The formatting on mobile for this website is a fucking nightmare.

Here it is folks, I finally finished about half of Sub level 1a. It is huge, and goes off the center map upwards and to the left. I have my hands full and i'm not even at level 2 yet.

 I've realized now why Megadungeons that work well are held in such high regards. To balance this fine art of balancing playable content to map quality to sheer gargantuan size is nothing to scoff at.

This is gauntlet of effort, discipline and creative power that will last me years. 

In terms of actual game content, what we have so far is quite an upscale in the odd. I spoke before about the 30 ft wide Dwarven Architectural Tunnel in Southern portion, and it seems like this will be a multi-level feature. I forgot all about Dungeon Highways, and their purpose as landmark pathways through a Megadungeon so rolling this up randomly was great.

The various rooms in the Southern map are closer to your typical Dungeon affair. Emptiness, and monster ecologies with lair treasures. There is however a very young Brass Dragon in Cavern #13, with some decent loot and the missing Orb of Lore from one of the nearby rooms. This section also includes a secret area leading to a literal Castle Greyhawk style Elevator down a few levels. 

The Center Map is dubbed "The Upper Armories of The Third Deep" (Double reference, guess what they are)

It was the armory/supply cache and mini settlement of the Dwarven workers who were originally contracted to build the dungeon. It's been hundreds of years since that time, i've decided these Dwarves ended up expanding and descending once the original dungeon's creator was no longer around.

 This place remains only an abandoned repository/settlement of the Dwarves, a place of respite... Meaning old Dungeon Creator had a place where they could flaunt some of the weird, mysterious, enticing things they were beginning to be able to do with enough free time and money. 

Many concealed doors, a greater emphasis on aesthetics with Cocobo Wood doors and carved Archways are the key feature here.

Only one room keyed so far, behind Obsidian Glass trapped within a Rune Circle lies an Imp. Seemingly, they are just a curiosity to look at. Like a rat in a cage suspended in limbo.

Oh yeah and the map goes off the paper again, now in 2 directions. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay....