Over the last couple of weeks I've been struggling with working on my megadungeon. It feels like a chore and I am just not excited about it anymore. While trying to figure out why I was in this funk, I realized that there are many problems contributing. Here is what I've found.
The Megadungeon Misunderstanding
Another big issue that I had was that I wanted to run a megadungeon, but didn't know what one was. I had never GMed, or played in a game with a megadungeon, so my understanding of one was based on what I read (mostly through play reports of others).
I didn't let this bother me because I figured that I could translate my experiences with video games that I thought were Megadungeons, namely the Diablo and Torchlight games. But I was in constant conflict, the ideas didn't seem to stack up correctly. It wasn't until I stared looking more into megadungeon design that I realized that I was just thinking of long or big dungeons, not megadungeons.
Due to this, I've recreated the first floor of my dungeon 4 times. I've redone the side view several times, and I still haven't gotten much done on the first floor in the way of actually detailed and stocked rooms.
I love the idea of a megadungeon, but I'm still struggling on making it work. Part of the reason that I wanted to do one was to have a space that can be "living" and wouldn't require me to draw up a new dungeon every week, but the up front time investment is making it hard to get to the point where I can reuse it. It's also difficult to create large complexes that makes sense, are fun, and provide a variety of options for a group of adventurers.
Possible solutions: Find a copy of Ruins of Undermountain, and convert it? Give up on the megadungeon idea all together?
Honestly, I've already taken parts of Undermountain, and my other "level 1" and merged them together. I now have a dungeon with a central hub area that branches out to other areas. It still needs a lot of work, but it is better fitting with he megadungeon design.
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