Badass Dungeon Crushers - Retrospective

Readers,

I bid you all a fond farewell, as this will almost certainly be the last post here on DMG42. I am happy, then, to make the capstone achievement of this little D&D blog be a summary and retrospective on the most exciting, intense, and satisfying D&D campaign I've ever run: Badass Dungeon Crushers. For those unfamiliar, BDC took nine Fourthcore dungeons, linked them all together through various means (hidden stairs, teleportation gates, etc.), and had a team of dungeoneers draw from a finite number of 50 total characters (whose race and class were determined randomly) attempt to defeat all nine dungeons.

Eleven survived.

Traps, puzzles, and horrible death was the name of the game. Blood stained the walls of this utterly brutal campaign. It was an absolute blast and taught us all many valuable lessons. Read on below for the players' look back, also provided in convenient PDF form. Follow up questions and comments can always be left here and will be forwarded on to the players as appropriate.

• BDC Campaign Primer
• BDC Campaign Log
• BDC Graveyard
• BDC Retrospective (PDF)

Salut!

APOTHEOSIS: Kaddim

KADDIM
god of knowledge, light, madness, reason, and trickery

This post discusses one of the ten new gods that have ascended to divinity and formed a new pantheon, following the destruction of the Heresiarch at the end of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch. Click here to learn more about this process.

APOTHEOSIS: Oros

Oros
god of darkness, destiny, doom, and strength

This post discusses one of the ten new gods that have ascended to divinity and formed a new pantheon, following the destruction of the Heresiarch at the end of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch. Click here to learn more about this process.

APOTHEOSIS: Talon

Talon
god of destruction, perfection, skill, and thought

This post discusses one of the ten new gods that have ascended to divinity and formed a new pantheon, following the destruction of the Heresiarch at the end of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch. Click here to learn more about this process.

APOTHEOSIS: Nettle

Nettle
god of love, nature, peace, protection, and the wilderness

This post discusses one of the ten new gods that have ascended to divinity and formed a new pantheon, following the destruction of the Heresiarch at the end of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch. Click here to learn more about this process.

APOTHEOSIS: Nelson

Nelson
god of change, freedom, hope, justice and luck

This post discusses one of the ten new gods that have ascended to divinity and formed a new pantheon, following the destruction of the Heresiarch at the end of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch. Click here to learn more about this process.

APOTHEOSIS: Brand

"I like how when I'm answering a question, I think of something I want to include in the emblem, or when I'm drawing a piece of the emblem i think of an answer to a question.  This whole process is surprisingly inter-connected.  Kudos to it!"

Brand
god of conflict, stars, the sun, and vengeance

This post discusses one of the ten new gods that have ascended to divinity and formed a new pantheon, following the destruction of the Heresiarch at the end of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch. Click here to learn more about this process.

The Symbol
A radiant sun wreathing all things in protective light, and burning all enemies with Its ring of flames.  At its center lies the swirling chaos of war and conflict, led by the sword reaching ever outward as a sun’s rays reach toward the horizon.  Finally, the Eye of Vengeance watches over all things, and meets transgressors with unyielding retribution. 

APOTHEOSIS: Xann

Xann
god of storms and tyranny

This post discusses one of the ten new gods that have ascended to divinity and formed a new pantheon, following the destruction of the Heresiarch at the end of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch. Click here to learn more about this process.

APOTHEOSIS: Tordek

TORDEK

god of civilization, creation, and life

This post discusses one of the ten new gods that have ascended to divinity and formed a new pantheon, following the destruction of the Heresiarch at the end of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch. Click here to learn more about this process.

Tordek's symbol is an abstraction of his three domains: life, civilization, and creation.  As the 2080 year old dwarf has experienced and tore down many civilizations throughout life and unlife, it seemed appropriate.  The symbol represents the hilt of a blade with the cup of life perched above it.  This serves as a reminder to all that life and civilization were built by the blade, and must be maintained by its force as well.

SND-02: Divinity (fate)

Ross sits down for some tea.

Now that the Divine Domains have been decided by your guiding hands, we will continue on our journey through the sacred. Mystic symbols have been chosen for the dungeoneers by fate and destiny, and deep questions must be answered.

Players: Two images have been randomly determined for each dungeoneer. Take these two symbols and combine them into a new, unique image to represent the symbol of your last living dungeoneer. You can us ethe shape, what it represents, being as literal or a figurative as you desire. Get creative.

Describe what this new, combined symbol represents. Some images will be simple and obvious. Others will be more difficult, but also more rewarding as we unravel the mysteries and bizarre will of the gods. Take these images, draw your new symbol by hand (no simple Photoshop tricks!), and send the picture to Dungeon Master Ross along a description of the symbol and your answers to the Six Divine Questions below. Your new god will then be displayed here on DMG42 as a monument to your achievements.

Once you have submitted your new god, you may then choose to post in the Comments your claim to create one of the remaining four gods of the dungeoneers who fell to death and darkness before entering the Heresirach's Sanctum.

SND-02: HERESIARCH'S SANCTUM

The following is intended for the play-by-post delve of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch.

Vitals + Rumors + Crusaders + Score 

SND-02: Divinity (choice)

The end is nigh. It is the eve of the final confrontation with the Heresiarch itself and the end to a 2-1/2 month long play-by-post adventure. The Heresiarch has gathered forth the divine energies of the multiverse in a grand ritual of transformation and divine apotheosis. Ten brave Crusaders have steaded this dark Fane to stop the ritual and save all Humanity.

If successful, those dungeoneers (both alive and dead) will be elevated to the statues of immortal being and bathed in the unknowable light of the divine, creating a new Pantheon to watch over the affairs of the mortals races below. Here, we will use a combination of fate and choice.

Join us, readers, as we conclude our adventure and create a Pantheon of gods.

For the players: There are 22 domains of influence in the world. Their fate has been randomly assigned to each of you. Using the Comments below, tell us all which of the 10 dungeoneers of this delve will receive which of your domains, and why. Tell us a tale of past triumph and defeat. Since Fane of the Heresiarch encompasses but a single sitting, you will clearly need to draw on fictional past adventures of the dungeoneers. The aim of this exercise is to force players to create interesting and surprising choices, growing the tale in the telling. Lastly, let’s keep an eye out to make sure each dungeoneer receives at least one domain.

Megadungeon: Equipment

I don't like the standard D&D system of equipment on multiple levels. In general, the equipment and magic item rules in 4E D&D are pointless and tedious.

In actual play, I find that the 4E magic item distribution rules encourage hoarding of consumable items, which essentially removes those items completely from play as the dungeoneers are always holding onto them for some non-existent "Final Need".

I don't like tracking encumbrance; at best it is tedious, at worst it is ignored. An ignored rule has no effect on the game and thus might as well not exist.

Badass.

Additionally, I find that wealth and coinage in D&D is almost entirely pointless beyond magic item creation, a subject I'll be getting into at another time. Mundane equipment and almost all Rituals are laughably cheap. If everything can be bought with no trouble, why bother with wealth at all?

Finally, there is the 4E "Magic Item Arms Race", a subject I've spoken on before, which irks me to no end by removing the wonder and excitement from magic items.

Here's how I fixed these problems for my Fourthcore Megadungeon.

SND-02: DOME OF INTERROGATION

The following is intended for the play-by-post delve of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch.

Vitals + Rumors + Crusaders + Score

SND-02: OBSERVATORY

The following is intended for the play-by-post delve of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch.

Vitals + Rumors + Crusaders + Score + Watchtower + Bleak Seminary + Confessional + Black Cathedral + Ashen Ambulatory + Pleasure Crypts + Catacomb Reliquary + Death Wyverns' Crucible + Prison of Frozen Gods + Observatory + Gauntlet of Walls + Blighted Grove + Chaos Maze + Mothers' Cloister

SND-02: BLEAK SEMINARY

The following is intended for the play-by-post delve of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch.

Vitals + Rumors + Crusaders + Score + Watchtower + Bleak Seminary + Confessional + Black Cathedral + Ashen Ambulatory + Pleasure Crypts + Catacomb Reliquary + Death Wyverns' Crucible + Prison of Frozen Gods + Observatory + Gauntlet of Walls + Blighted Grove + Chaos Maze + Mothers' Cloister

SND-02: MOTHERS' CLOISTER

The following is intended for the play-by-post delve of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch.

Vitals + Rumors + Crusaders + Score + Watchtower + Bleak Seminary + Confessional + Black Cathedral + Ashen Ambulatory + Pleasure Crypts + Catacomb Reliquary + Death Wyverns' Crucible + Prison of Frozen Gods + Observatory + Gauntlet of Walls + Blighted Grove + Chaos Maze + Mothers' Cloister

SND-02: WATCHTOWER

The following is intended for the play-by-post delve of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch.

Vitals + Rumors + Crusaders + Score + Watchtower + Bleak Seminary + Confessional + Black Cathedral + Ashen Ambulatory + Pleasure Crypts + Catacomb Reliquary + Death Wyverns' Crucible + Prison of Frozen Gods + Observatory + Gauntlet of Walls + Blighted Grove + Chaos Maze + Mothers' Cloister

At long last your efforts to penetrate the Heresiarch's citadel have paid off. After stepping through the mystic red smoke outside of the Heresiarch's demense, you find yourselves at the apex of a watchtower jutting from a deep hole in the surface of the Underworld. Carrion birds circle feebly through the air, viewed from a distance.

SND-01: CHAOS MAZE (Sidebar)

The following is intended for the play-by-post delve of SND-02: Fane of the Heresiarch.

Vitals + Crusaders + Chaos Maze + Score

A half-manticore, half-minotaur marauder stalks the shadowed halls of the Chaos Maze and descends upon the dungeoneers! Slaying the beast is now their only way out!

Roll initiative!

Megadungeon: Character Death

After the introduction into my Fourthcore Megadungeon (linked here), the question was asked of me:

"Dear Mega-Dungeon Master Ross,

How do you run an extended [Fourthcore] campaign with all the dying? Doesn't that get old/boring/difficult to maintain continuity/messy?"

and here, I shall reply with a quote:

" Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing."

-Tyler Durden

LET ME EXPLAIN FURTHER