Mega-Dungeons

 Why on Earth Would you Build a Dungeon?

Dragons of course. But would you really? Dungeons are in the game for two reasons. First, dungeons are or can be a fun place in which to have an adventure. Two, they serve to quietly and in the background enclose the space for a game and limit options. The second of the two is far more important than the first from a mechanical game perspective whereas the first is far more important from a game engagement perspective. Can this be bridged to create a mega-dungeon.

I Do not want to Live in a Hole!

Who would really dig a hole in the ground and live inside? It is dank, humid, musty, and dirty under the earth. Fresh air would be hard to come by, smoke would collect everywhere, and with dozens if not hundreds of occupants, a dungeon would begin to smell rank. Further, living in a hole, though easily defended is also very easily besieged. I mean, if my enemy escaped to a hole, I would not root them out, I would just collapse the entries, exits, and any venting. Then I would wait. Or not. If they tried to come out, I would have guards posted and feather them with javelins, spears, and arrows as they clambered through small escape tunnels.

Maybe it would not have been that bad. In the real world that we live in, people lived in cave complexes under the earth. In Turkey, the underground city of Derinkuyu was unearthed or rediscovered in 1963. It is a vast complex of rooms that included dwellings, taverns, storehouses, temples, schools, and other sundry spaces and could hold thousands of people. There are also dozens of entries and thousands of vents. Only a few of these underground cities have been discovered to date but the guess is that they number in the hundreds. This is not unique. From the Wieliczka Salt mines to the complex at Naours in France, building underground was not all that unusual.

I’ll take the Hole to Dying!

Why would I build a dungeon or complex underground? Why did the people who did build underground cities do so? What place do these cities hold in your game setting? I think that most agree the underground cities and fortifications were used in addition to or in lieu of castles. Underground structures are viewed as primarily defensive. Although used defensively, I do not think that explains their entire utility. I can not imagine a complex so vast as that mentioned above that it was not used on a day-to-day basis. A good daily utility is storage. The temperature underground is steady and cool making it perfect for storage of food (or an escape from the heat or cold).

The defensive nature of a dungeon is a powerful incentive to build one though. There are dragons flying around which would be more than capable of destroying entire villages and towns in a few hours or less and attacks on cities could be devastating. The dragon would not have such an easy time destroying an underground facility. Further, in a fantasy setting, there are a multitude of creatures that live underground and have no need of food from the world above. These races would have vast networks of cities and tunnels under the earth. And by vast I mean stretching into the hundreds if not thousands of miles of tunnels and habitations.

But the truth is….

The dungeon is, in its broadest sense, a game board. Like chess and checkers, to play most games there need to be limitations on actions and movement for conflicts to resolve. Just imagine a chess board with the normal number of pieces but 500 squares long and 500 squares wide. The game would never end. The dungeon generally exists as a game element to restrict actions to allow for or force conflict resolution. Mega-dungeons present a problem similar to that of a limitless chess board. There is no final conflict resolution, no clearing the dungeon, no final boss fight, the dungeon would just go on and on and on forever. 

Is that a bad thing? An infinite, or very large, dungeon with no final moment of conquest might sound a bit off-putting and perhaps not in sync with the manner in which The Game is designed, but perhaps a new vision of the world beneath is in order. The mega-dungeon is not out of the question. Huge interconnected cities or underground villages with a vast array of races and interactions are not only imaginable but likely in a world of dwarves and goblins. These dungeons can be peppered with small discreet areas to adventure in, thus managing a limited board for play, within a vast network of the world beneath.

But Who Wants to Stay Underground for their Whole Life?

Maybe there are some races who would be quite content to stay underground for their whole lives. Dwarves and goblins come to mind. There are others. Would an elf? Would a human for that matter? I think a human would actually die of some dreadful contagion without some vitamin D. So, the sun would be necessary. Anyway, there are a whole host of adventures to be had above ground, on the surface of the world for those who do not want to live underground. In fact, most settings have a vast array of continents, cultures, cities, characters, and adventures in the world above.

And here, the mega-dungeon morphs with the world above. The surface world is a mega-dungeon replete with discreet encounter areas, unique regions, cultures, languages, and areas rife for adventure. These areas are connected by roads and bisected with unique geologic features. Typically, there is no final boss fight on the surface world, rather, its just a land of adventure with dozens of boss fights. The surface world is in fact a mega-dungeon with hundreds of small game boards to contain the action at the moment. It is very similar to what the world beneath can and perhaps should look. One reflects the other. 

The World is your Mega-Dungeon

Try viewing the whole world as a mega-dungeon, both the surface, the world beneath, and even the sky above. Almost everyone is already playing in a mega-dungeon. Envisioning it in such a manner might bring life to the mega-dungeon beneath the world. Every little space on a piece of grid paper need not be filled with rooms. Tunnels can extend for miles (they do in real life). There would be areas that are densely packed and others with vast stretches of just tunnels. Just as the world above so should be the world beneath. In my personal setting that vast mega-dungeon is called the Endless Palace.